Gospel and Church

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 Seminary

Gustaf 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 School

Gustaf Wingren (1910-2000) was Professor of Systematic Theology at Lund from 1951-1977. His other books include 'The Living Word' and 'Creation and Law'.