Evangelical Exegetes Hall of Fame III: G.E. Ladd

This article on George Eldon Ladd is available from Theopedia.

George Eldon Ladd (1911-1982) was professor of New Testament exegesis and theology at Fuller Theological Seminary in Pasadena, California.

Ladd, ordained a Baptist minister in 1933, was a pastor in New England from 1936 to 1945. He became an instructor at Gordon College of Theology and Missions (now Gordon-Conwell Divinity School), Wenham, Mass. from 1942-45, associate professor of New Testament and Greek, 1946-50, head of department of New Testament, 1946-49. In 1950-52 he was associate professor at Fuller Theological Seminary, Pasadena, Calif, becoming professor of biblical theology in 1952.

Ladd's magisterial work, A Theology of the New Testament, has served thousands of seminary students since its publication in 1974. This work was enhanced and updated by Donald A Hagner in 1993.

Ladd was one of the more notable modern proponents of Historic Premillennialism. He argued for this position in The Meaning of the Millennium: Four Views, R. G. Clouse, editor (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 1977).

Selected publications
The Gospel of the Kingdom. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1959.
A Commentary on the Revelation of John. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1972.
The Last Things (An Eschatology For Laymen). Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1978.
A Theology of the New Testament. 2d ed. Edited by Donald A. Hagner. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993.
The Presence of the Future. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.

My note: I think Ladd's enduring contribution was to two main things: (1) He introduced evangelicals to inaugurated eschatology and so saved them from both hyper-dispensational and liberal views of the kingdom. (2) He did his best to make mainline and liberal scholars take notice the contribution that evangelical were making to biblical studies.