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Donald G. Bloesch

American theologian (1928–2010)

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His own denomination, in which he was an ordained minister, was the United Church of Christ (UCC). He was raised in the Evangelical and Reformed Church, now merged with the UCC, in which his father and both his grandfathers were also ordained ministers. The "E and R" was a representative of evangelical pietism, a movement that emphasized personal piety, a discerning, educated laity, a reliance on scripture, and an acceptance of the mystical side of Christianity.

Life

Born on May 3, 1928, in Bremen, Indiana, Bloesch received his undergraduate degree from Elmhurst College in Elmhurst, Illinois. He earned his Bachelor of Divinity (BD) at Chicago Theological Seminary in 1953, and his PhD at the University of Chicago in 1956. He did postdoctoral work in Europe at Oxford, Basel, and Tübingen. He served as president of the Midwest Division of the American Theological Society.

From 1957 until his retirement in 1992, Bloesch was a professor of theology at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary in Dubuque, Iowa, where he continued as a professor emeritus. The seminary's library serves as the repository of his papers.

In 1997, a Festschrift was published in his honor called From East to West: Essays in Honor of Donald G. Bloesch. He died on August 24, 2010.

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