I can count on one hand the number of books I’ve read about wine. Actually, I don’t even need fingers because it’s only this one. This is in part because I’m not a big fan of wine. But, it’s also because there aren’t exactly a whole shelf of books out on there on wine and theology, which is the combo that drew me into this one.
If you were to draw a Venn Diagram of people with PhD’s in historical theology and people who grew up on wineries, Gisela Kreglinger might be the only one in the center. Holding that distinction makes her especially qualified to write a book like The Spirituality of Wine. In it, she presents readers with a theological perspective on wine in the Bible, church history, and its continued use in the sacraments. This is brought to a crescendo in her chapters on wine’s relationship to feasting and the human senses as a way to appreciate the goodness of God.
This is only half the book mind you. But, it was important to start here before a later chapter deals with alcohol abuse. Even then, abuse is dealt with after a chapter on the proper use and health benefits of wine (in moderation). After dealing with the potential abuse of alcohol, Kreglinger offers readers a chapter on wine and soul care and particularly what we can learn about them in relation to viticulture.
It is in this discussion that Kreglinger explains how vines are sturdy plants that “can grow and thrive in the most adverse circumstances and produce fruit where no other fruit-bearing plant can grow.” However, it is important to note that when left alone, “they grow like weeds and are not particularly concerned to produce fruit.” She then goes on to explain how vintners deals with this tendency of vines:
An important role of the vintner is to cultivate vines in the direction of healthy growth and fruitfulness. Part of cultivating the vines is to prune their branches and tie them onto wires, along which they can grow. The vintner does this to expose the leaves and the growing clusters of fruit to the right amount of sunlight to ensure that the fruit ripens properly. This process is complex, and crucial for growing grapes (210).
This helps illumine the comparison Jesus draws in John 15 to God the Father as a master vintner. In making this comparison, Jesus “speaks of God as a loving Father who is concerned about his vineyard and its calling to be fruitful.” Kreglinger then notes that “as we open ourselves up to God’s love in Christ, as we allow God the Father/vintner to prune our lives toward fruitfulness, we become free to love one another.” She concludes, “Just as a vineyard is meant to produce good grapes for choice wine to gladden the hearts of humanity, so are members of the church called to love one another, find true joy, and share it with the world.”
While this is the ideal, it doesn’t often come to fruition. One reason why has to do with an interesting connection with stress or suffering. An earlier chapter does a bit of a deep dive on the methods of vintners through interviews. In a section on irrigation, one of the vintners explains why he does not usually irrigate his vineyards, except in cases of exceptional heat and drought. He does this because “vines need to be stressed in order to produce good wine; when vines are stressed by growing in soil that is somewhat dry, the vintner can make wines with more interesting flavors.” He goes on to explain, “The vines’ main goal is to produce fruit, and if they are not stressed a little, they become merely vegetative and do not concentrate on producing fruit. The stress on the vine signals to the plant that it is time to think about reproducing rather than just growing more leaves” (160).
My mind, maybe like yours since I primed it, goes to the passages in the New Testament that talk about believers bearing fruit, as well as the suffering entailed by the Christian life. Believers, like vines, need a sufficient amount of stress to produce fruit rather than being merely vegetative. As a good heavenly vintner/Father, God knows exactly how much this might mean for each of our lives. As we are pruned and properly irrigated, we are able to produce the fruit of the Spirit.
This connection is one of several careful readers will glean from reading Kreglinger’s book on wine. It’s actually been a while since I finished reading it, and I might be due for a re-read to contemplate further the ways wine is used in Scripture and church life. It might even make we want to have a glass, but we’ll see!
[Review copy received courtesy of Eerdmans. Thanks!]