Books by Gustaf Wingren

...[C]oncern about the [inherited doctrine of vocation and its relevance for modern life] was generated out of the complexities and frustrations especially of industrial life, and it has produced a voluminous literature of a popular and semi-popular kind which has served to drive home the problem of daily work upon the conscience of contemporary Christians, and also to provide certain resources for handling it. In addition to this varied literature, the last years have also seen a very general discussion of the question at every level of church life: in ecumencal conferences, in the curricular material of the major denominations, and in conferences and study groups of all kinds. About the urgency and importance of the problem of vocation there is now no doubt. But now we find that the rather simple formulae in which we have been dealing with it do justice neither to the Biblical and Reformation inheritance, nor to the profound dilemmas that appear not only in industry, but in every area of professional and commercial life. The problem now is not only to equip our lay-people with fuller theological resources for the understanding of the meaning of discipleship, but to utilize their practical experience of day-to-day dilemmas and day to-day decisions. ...Gustaf Wingren''s conscientious analysis of Luther''s teaching on the matter...remains our prime resource for the understanding of the relation of faith and works. Nothing could exceed the patience and thoroughness with which Wingren has combed through the Luther corpus.... [I]t will serve to put the full range of Luther''s insight at the disposal of those who care for theology as part of their care of all the Churches. Alexander MillerStanford University

Wingren claims that in a theologian like Irenaeus there are parts of the Biblical message which are interpreted in greater clarity and power than in any later period of Christian thought. As such, this book deserves the sympathetic attention of theologians both Catholic and Protestant. To summarize it is nearly impossible in view of the richness and fullness of the discussion. We may say, however, that for Irenaeus God made man for growth, yet man was defeated by that Satan whom God also created. The Son of God served to recapitulate and reverse Adam's fall and to restore humanity's lost God-given potentiality for growth. In the Church, through word and sacrament, Christ's benefits are made available to all. In the final consummation, when man becomes like God he is in actual fact becoming man. God and man are not fundamentally in opposition to one another.The only thing to add about Wingren's book is that it must be read. There are very few studies of classical Christian theology which come close to it in clarity, completeness, or convincing power.

This book is a continuation of the development of thought begun by the author in his Creation and Law, published in 1961. Together the two books cover most of the great themes usually considered in a work of dogmatics. Though this book is not organized and written as a dogmatics in the formal sense, the author treats in it the major doctrines of the Christian faith: the relation of law and gospel, the two natures of Christ, sin, grace, sacraments, the Word of God, etc.Running through and informing the discussion of these and other doctrines is one major theme: the relation between creation and redemption. Taking his cue from Irenaeus, Wingren defines this relation in a variety of ways. Because he takes the relation between creation and redemption so seriously, Old Testament Prehistory comes to its own. The first article of the Creed is more than that the stress on the humanity of Christ rules out all docetism: the church is understood as the body of Christ fulfilling its mission through preaching, and the parousia is not merely the end but the fulfillment of creation. In the final analysis, however, Wingren's dogmatics has an ethical thrust of profound significance for our understanding of living a Christian life in our workaday world. His careful analysis of the relation between creation and redemption, as epitomized for the Christian in baptism, prevents an unambiguous affirmation of the church as completely redemptive, or of creation as wholly good or wholly evil. The eschatological dimension of life - life lived between the beginning and the end - becomes a dominant feature of the Christian's posture in the world until Christ is all in all.Wingren here completes his argument for a due regard for the three articles of the Creed as the best key to the structure of Biblical truth and the best defense against the tendencies in contemporary theology to force it into monistic philosophical molds. The argument is impressively presented and demands serious consideration. Wingren is unquestionably one of the most vigorous participants in the current discussion of the problems of theological method and procedure. - George S. Hendry Princeton Theological SeminaryGustaf Wingren is a weighty theological thinker. He will in all likelihood become increasingly influential both in the United States and on the world scene. GOSPEL AND CHURCH is a study in combination of classical theological solidity and modern theological flexibility. Although the Lutheran tradition shapes Wingren's basic thinking, his theology is always in the grand style of ecumenical concern and creativity. - Nels F. S. Ferre Andover Newton Theological SchoolGustaf Wingren (1910-2000) was Professor of Systematic Theology at Lund from 1951-1977. His other books include 'The Living Word' and 'Creation and Law'.