Frederick Herzog (1925 - 1995) was a
professorThe meaning of the word professor varies. In some English-speaking countries, it refers to a senior academic who holds a departmental chair, especially as head of the department, or a personal chair awarded specifically to that individual...
of
systematic theologySystematic theology is a discipline of Christian theology that attempts to formulate an orderly, rational, and coherent account of the Christian faith and beliefs. Inherent to a system of theological thought is that a method is developed, one which can be applied both broadly and particularly...
at
Duke UniversityDuke University is a private research university located in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day town of Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1892...
. An impassioned champion of
civil rightsCivil and political rights are a class of rights and freedoms that protect individuals from unwarranted government action and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression....
, his academic focus was
liberation theologyLiberation theology is a school of theology within Christianity, particularly in the Roman Catholic Church. It emphasizes the Christian mission to bring justice to the poor and oppressed, particularly through political activism. Its theologians consider sin the root source of poverty, the sin in...
.
A native of
North DakotaNorth Dakota is a state located in the Midwestern region of the United States of America; on the Canadian border halfway between the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. North Dakota is the 19th largest state by area in the U.S.; it is the 3
rd least populous, with just over 641,481 residents as...
, Herzog earned his doctorate from
Princeton UniversityPrinceton University a private university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League and is considered one of the Colonial Colleges....
after having studied in
GermanyGermany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered to the north by the North Sea, Denmark, and the Baltic Sea; to the east by Poland and the Czech Republic; to the south by Austria and Switzerland; and to the west by France, Luxembourg, Belgium,...
and
SwitzerlandSwitzerland , officially the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 states named cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities...
, where he was an assistant to professor
Karl BarthKarl Barth was a Swiss Reformed theologian whom critics hold to be among the most important Christian thinkers of the 20th century; Pope Pius XII described him as the most important theologian since Thomas Aquinas. Beginning with his experience as a pastor, he rejected his training in the...
. He was ordained to the ministry of the
United Church of ChristThe United Church of Christ is a mainline Protestant Christian denomination principally in the United States, generally considered within the Reformed tradition. The UCC formed in 1957 with the union of the Evangelical and Reformed Church and the Congregational Christian Churches...
, the successor to the German Reformed denomination of his childhood. In 1960, he joined the faculty at
Duke Divinity SchoolThe Divinity School at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina is one of thirteen seminaries founded and supported by the United Methodist Church. It has 39 full time and 18 part time faculty and over 500 full time students....
. Herzog taught
Christian theologyChristian theology is discourse concerning Christian faith. Christian theologians use Biblical exegesis, rational analysis and argument to understand, explain, test, critique, defend or promote Christianity...
at Duke until his sudden death during a faculty meeting in 1995. In the spring of 1970, he wrote the first North American article on liberation theology, and in 1972 his
Liberation Theology was published. In
Justice Church Herzog extended his methodology for liberation theology in North America. During the final ten years of his life, his writings were strongly affected by his work in Latin America, especially Peru where he assisted with the support of a Methodist-Related Seminary, the cause of which he was championing at the moment of his death.
His daughter,
Dagmar HerzogDagmar Herzog is the Daniel Rose Faculty Scholar and a professor of history at the Graduate Center, City University of New York. She has published extensively on the histories of sexuality and gender, theology and religion, Jewish-Christian relations and Holocaust memory, and she has edited...
, is professor of history at the
CUNY Graduate CenterThe Graduate School and University Center of The City University of New York is the sole doctorate-granting institution of the City University of New York. It is housed in the former B...
in
New YorkNew York is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States and is the nation's third most populous. The state is bordered by New Jersey and Pennsylvania to the south, and Connecticut, Massachusetts and Vermont to the east...
.