In this early work from "one of the defining theologians of American Lutheranism" (James Arne Nestingen, Dialog), Gerhard O. Forde provides a superlative interpretation of more than 150 years of modern law-gospel debate. In presenting this history, he examines the positions of such outstanding theologians as J. C. K. von Hofmann (the "father of Heilsgeschichte"), Theodosius Harnack, Albrecht Ritschl, Karl Barth, Werner Elert, Helmut Thielicke, Gustaf Wingren, and Hans Iwand, before offering his own proposal for an understanding of the gospel as God's final word which "breaks the continuity of the law." Contemporary students of the law-gospel dialectic will find here a wealth of critical background, as well as the groundwork for Forde's mature thinking on the work of Christ, gospel, law, and eschatology.