Book Description

""This brilliant and judicious book is a hermeneutically based analysis of the very significant theology of Gustaf Wingren. Uggla makes Wingren's theology--in all its conflictual glory--come alive again through both an analysis of Wingren's major works and a moving narrative of his singular eventful life: a major work on a major theologian."" --David W. Tracy, University of Chicago ""Uggla takes the genre of intellectual biography to new heights. 'What Theology Is and What It Ought to Be' is the subtitle of Gustaf Wingren's debate book The Silent Interpreter; it also works as a subtitle for what this eloquent interpreter, Bengt Kristensson Uggla, achieves as he navigates the seas of academic and public theology with scholarly rigor and hermeneutical elegance. We are given a powerful testimony of why and how the church needs theology."" --Antje Jackelen, Archbishop of Uppsala ""This is probably the definitive biography of the great Swedish theologian Gustaf Wingren. Uggla writes with scope and theological nerve, and with a sense of wit and detail."" --Niels Henrik Gregersen, University of Copenhagen REVIEWS OF THE SWEDISH EDITION OF THE BOOK (FOR FRONT MATTER) ""It is a rich, stylistically brilliant and exciting work [...] Bengt Kristensson Uggla has created an intellectual masterpiece about a complex theological personality. When reading the book, it becomes clear how much we risk losing if we let Gustaf Wingren remain in oblivion. A reading experience of large dimensions."" --KG Hammar, former Archbishop of Uppsala, Sydsvenska Dagbladet ""This is a large and impressive work. Bengt Kristensson Uggla has the advantage that he writes extremely well / ... / The book is a shocking and highly interesting reading about a constantly struggling person."" --Mary Schottenius, cultural journalist, Dagens Nyheter ""An extremely readable book, initiated, well-informed and committed."" --Svante Nordin, Professor of History of Ideas at Lund University, Svenska Dagbladet ""An important book on an important theologian / ... / also if you belong to Wingren's critics, as I do, Kristensson Uggla's book is rewarding and thought provoking. For me, it meant that I had to re-examine some of my criticism. / ... / Gustaf Wingren continues to amaze even after his hundredth birthday."" --Anders Jeffner, Professor of Theology at Uppsala University, Kyrkans Tidning ""A magnificent and fascinating biography"" --Dr. and Reverend Arne Fritzon, Sandaren ""When Bengt Kristensson Uggla takes on the task of writing about Gustaf Wingren, it immediately becomes exciting / ... / it deserves its place among standard works of our business and for future Swedish theologians."" --Dr. and Reverend Hans Andreasson, Tro & Liv Bengt Kristensson Uggla is Amos Anderson Professor of Philosophy, Culture, and Management at the Swedish-speaking Abo Akademi University in Finland, and Associate Professor at Stockholm School of Theology. His publications include Ricoeur, Hermeneutics, and Globalization (2010) and Trust and Organizations: Confidence across Borders (2013).