”Om vetekornet inte faller i jorden och dör…” En undersökning av Gustaf Wingrens vetekornsteologi

Sammanfattning: The aim of this thesis is to examine how Gustaf Wingren’s theology can be understood as a grain of wheat theology, and to answer the thesis’ main question: How can Gustaf Wingren’s grain of wheat theology contribute to a theological discussion today? The aim is to show new aspects of Wingren’s theology and especially of his grain of wheat theology. The thesis shows that the theme of life and death exists as a clear center in the metaphor of the grain of wheat in the Gospel of John 12:24. These two aspects – life and death – can be seen as inevitably intertwined. The essay moves in a synthesis of death and birth, suffering and restoration, powerlessness and power, as well as meaninglessness and meaningfulness. I understand Wingren’s grain of wheat theology as a theology that deserves to be used and further developed today. The thesis also argue that Wingren’s theology is compatible with a feminist theological and philosophical perspective – in the sense that Wingren strongly expresses the idea of creation: the human as bodily, the given value of every human being and the change in God’s law and creation. Wingren is put in dialogue with the German feminist and liberation theologian Dorothee Sölle, among others.