UCC theologian, the Rev. Donald G. Bloesch, died Aug. 24, 2010, at the age of 82 in Dubuque, Iowa.

Bloesch was a professor of theology at the University of Dubuque Theological Seminary from 1957 until 1992. He remained as professor emeritus at the seminary until his death.

Best known beyond the seminary as the author of the seven-volume "Christian Foundation Series" and a two-part systematic theology, "Essentials of Evangelical Theology, Vols. 1 and 2," Bloesch was also the primary author of the Dubuque Declaration, a foundational statement of the UCC's "evangelical renewal" organization, the Biblical Witness Fellowship – first founded in 1978 as the United Church People for Biblical Witness.

Bloesch's critique of the UCC's liberal theological leanings was tempered by his warnings of conservative orthodoxy's missteps. "In liberalism truth is dissolved so that only an amorphous experience remains. In rigid orthodoxy truth is frozen into a formula or credo. But there is hope that it can be brought back to life."

Gabriel Fackre, Abbot Professor of Christian Theology Emeritus at Andover Newton Theological School in Andover, Massachusetts, said of Bloesch in a Christianity Today interview, "He had a significant impact, I think, in regard to bringing evangelicals closer to ecumenicals.

"In other words, any evangelical theologian who traces his theological lineage to Barth, and P.T. Forsyth, and evangelical catholicity … anyone who is influenced by this kind of what I call 'ecumenical evangelicalism,' would count Don as a major figure in drawing people into dialogue with the larger Christian community."

Bloesch's middle-ground approach, known as a Theology of Word and Spirit, was the basis for and the title of the first volume of his "Christian Foundation Series."