Forde Lives

Why create a website about Gerhard Forde’s work? Why call it Forde Lives? Is it not Jesus who lives, and Forde or any of us in him? Surely the man himself would cringe, like Luther would at the thought of people calling themselves “Lutherans,” wouldn’t he? Indeed, perhaps a little. Our purpose, our “core actions” at this site are to succor, provoke and examine.

Succor: I for one felt a profound loss at the death of Gerhard Forde. I saw many at his funeral service who were similarly moved. What particularly strikes me is that, yes, we were sad like anyone is at funerals. And we can’t turn to Gerhard in person for a Word anymore. When things were intense and seemed to call for a sense-of-the-theologically-brilliant-in-everyday-life, we could turn to Forde. We might substitute Forde’s books, but knew that if we had to, we could probably get ahold of the guy to comment on them or on our particular concern in person. Now we are to have just the books? What if we could roust out a bunch of those who were taught by him instead? And show to each other that there’s a great many of us, quietly going about the work that Dr. Forde helped inspire us to do? Yes, that would be better than nice words about Gerhard. Yes, this site isn’t going to be made or seen by every student he ever had. But fordelives.com is intended as a kind of beacon, to say, “Hey, here’s some people who remember, and who choose to talk about it. You know, just in case you need to know where to find some of those kinds of people. You’ll probably know why you need this, when the moment is upon you.”

Provoke: Can you name a few people in your mind who would flip right out if they caught sight of the words Forde Lives? I sure can. This site will cause consternation among those people. Can you name a few people who would laugh out loud? We wish to similarly provoke those folks. Is the wide world prone to falling right to sleep when you mention “theology” to it? Heck yes. They may see a Forde Lives sticker and be all “who the heck is Ford?” or “Did they mispell Frodo?” We’re putting their lackaday devil may care ignorance on notice too!

Examine: Forde treated with very particular subjects of the will, God, Jesus, Luther, proclamation, theology, Christology, homiletics. I think his work has wider implications and I want to start unpacking it on other subjects. We’re going to examine the world through our eyes that have been influenced by his. I want to see “WHEN one understands the will to be bound and theology is for proclamation and Christ is for you…THEN what are the implications for ethics, medicine, science, media, culture, and so on?