Includes bibliographical references (pages 277-284) and index.

Foreword / James Arne Nestingen -- Forde's life / Nicholas Hopman -- Forde's works : a guide to the Essential Forde / Mark C. Mattes -- "Forde lives!" / Steven D. Paulson -- The position of orthodoxy -- The critical problem : the place of law in the theological system -- Theodosius Harnack -- Gospel as the end of the law -- The Lutheran view of sanctification -- Two ways of being a theologian -- The Argument about God -- Luther and Erasmus -- Heidelberg Disputation : thesis -- Heidelberg Disputation : theses 26-28 -- Luther's "ethics" -- Law and sexual behavior -- The meaning of satis est -- Lex semper accusat? Nineteenth-Century roots of our current dilemma -- Systematic theology is for proclamation -- The preached God -- Heidelberg Disputation, theses 19-21 -- Speaking the Gospel today -- Something to believe: a theological perspective on infant baptism -- The Lord's Supper as the testament of Jesus.

"No twentieth-century American understood Luther's law-gospel distinction better than Gerhard O. Forde. This volume collects many of Forde's most influential writings, which expounded the meaning of this distinction and explored its theological significance. Each selection contains relevant historical background, as well as Forde's unique, contemporary understanding of the law-gospel distinction and its implications for other theological topics, including death and resurrection, the bondage of the will, good works, preaching, thological method, and the sacraments. A comprehensive editiorial introduction, including a brief biography of Forde, an inter pretive essay on his writings, and a sketch of his legacy, rounds out this essential tome." -- Back cover.