Book Review: Walter Brueggemann
The Prophetic Imagination
Table of Contents
Walter Brueggemann was a Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary, and author of many books on Hebrew Bible interpretation, biblical theology, and the task of preaching in the contemporary world. This book review will address Brueggemann’s, The Practice of Prophetic Imagination, which speaks to the prophetic preaching imagination positioned against the dominate imagination which is fastly held by a world audience.
Prophetic utterance in the Old Testament is the practice of prophetic preaching required and needed from pastors for their congregation, per Brueggemann.[1] Brueggemann’s goal in this book is to help guide pastors who are seeking to incorporate the methods of the Old Testament prophets into their modern life scenarios. Brueggemann’s opening chapters help identify prophetic criticism and prophetic energizing as ministry tasks, by highlighting the words and lives of Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Moses. This is centered in the idea of a YHWH imagination that is counter to conventional idolatries within the church and conventional atheism. Brueggemann describes this anthropological proclivity to reduce reality into a manageable proportion, while imagining a sense of autonomy in which there is no accountability to anyone. This type of inevitable thought process creates the concept of might makes right, and fosters national exceptionalism, specifically American exceptionalism. The pastor who desires to engage the prophetic preaching imagination must stand against such notions with the courage to poetically and skillfully convey YHWH as a more adequate and finally more reliable reality other than the dominant narrative that has infiltrated the church as truth and beyond critique.[2] An emancipated imagination is a form of discipline that dares to evoke imaged language and metaphors intended on unsettling both the political and economic norms of empire. Brueggemann describes these methods as daring utterances which are utilized to displace old truisms that were trusted far too much.[3]
The prophetic preacher imagination presents a different quality of YHWH against the dominant narrative that struggles with the reality of loss from those who thought judgment could never happen to them. Brueggemann helps describe this type of woe within Israel who chanted “shalom, shalom” so long that they believed it, then came destruction.[4] The voice of the prophetic preacher also inserts the images of YHWH’s loss in the covenant, and the inevitability of consequence birthed from the arrogance of men’s hearts. The loss is experienced on both sides of the covenant and the idea of loss being transposed into divine judgment should be fostered in such a way that loss makes sense and acknowledges the governance of YHWH. This brings the grieving hearts back to the covenant and provides a way for a changed worldview.
Brueggemann’s prophetic preaching imagination imagery takes on the topic of loss through divine judgment which he describes as not just a simple supernatural intrusion but an inescapable outworking of deeds by the community which will evoke consequences.[5] It is a connecting of the dots that the dominant imagination refuses to acknowledge, and the prophetic methods of criticism and energizing are there to help engage with such loss and lament, thus abetting it toward the ultimate aim of relinquishing that which has been lost. The prophetic preacher now brings in the imagination that no longer lingers but moves on toward YHWH who brings newness and renegotiates the covenant again, and the inserted image of a risen Christ brings a newness of imagining that refuses the confinements of modern rationality.[6] Brueggemann insists that the prophetic ministry of this YHWH imagination brings in an alternative way of thinking for the church, who can embrace compassion, joy, and justice in the Kingdom of God and then share it within their community arena. Ultimately, the prophetic preacher is called to see YHWH clearly, while seeing the congregation clearly and then utilizing a skillful poetic prose that breaks down the natural human barriers generated by a dominant and false image of what is really true.
Brueggemann’s opening thesis describes the preacher as a scribe who handles the old text and permits them to be seen with force and authority in a contemporary realm. He is clear that the preacher is not a prophet but rather a handler of the old prophetic tradition into the now.[7] Brueggemann indicates that the Old Testament image of YHWH doesn’t fit the conventional theology of today’s frame of thinking, nor the past. There are many who have imagined a remote God, who is uninvolved in the world, and there are others that simply imagine a God focused on our health and wealth, which aligns with our nationalist views of nation, party, race, and ideology. Brueggemann describes these two positions as irrelevant transcendence or cozy immanence, which neither consider the discipline required to see an image of YHWH outside of a cultural observation and understanding. The summation of Brueggemann’s thesis of imagining continues into a derivative thesis which defines and separates the reality of YHWH as being more adequate and reliable than the dominant narrative, which is considered truth, that excludes a proper understanding of God and His role in this covenant with humanity. Brueggemann writes that the dominant narrative is one of self-invention, competitive productivity, and self-sufficiency, and the role of the preacher who handles the prophetic text inevitably holds the responsibility of inserting the defining agency of YHWH into the contemporary worldview in order for there to be growth and change.[8]
Brueggemann describes the prophetic voices of the past as ones still speaking to the church of modernity and destined to bring the reader into the literary lives of those Old Testament prophetic voices. Brueggemann describes the new beginnings offered for the Israelites as they embarked on their exodus from Egypt, under Moses’ leadership, which described Moses working against the patriarchal hierarchy of the Pharaoh, but at the same time was forming a new community centered on YHWH’s freedom, governed by compassion and justice. This was a new way of thinking for this generation that didn’t exploit or oppress those being governed. This new social identity was proliferated through Moses’ methods of both criticism and energizing. The critique given by Moses offered a public expression of grief within the Jewish community, and the energizing technique helped paint a new imagination into the hearts of minds of Israel which were being offered a new future and a hope. This was clearly an epistemological process of transformation for a nation of people which Brueggemann describes as a gift from God which was more than just social justice but rather an alternative consciousness. This alternative consciousness stood in direct opposition of the royal consciousness established by Solomon who rejected the Mosaic imagination by removing the freedom of God’s covenant and replacing it with the monopoly of power.
This royal consciousness found throughout many kings of Israel is paralleled by Brueggemann with the mindset of American Christianity. The mantras of the United States which hail the land of the free and the home of the brave, leader of the free world, a city set upon a hill, and manifest destiny, are claims of exceptionalism that readily melds God into country just as the Israelites exemplified.[9] This consciousness of royalty must be met with the prophetic preaching if the numbness toward death is to be met with the language of grief. Brueggemann describes the grief of loss as being shared with YHWH who grieves along with us through covenant and desires our liberation from deceptions. The destruction of fidelity within that covenant grieves both parties. Brueggemann quotes Ezekiel where YHWH stands to argue his case with His people:
Ah, you shepherds of Israel America who have been feeding yourselves! Should not shepherds feed the sheep? You eat the fat, you clothe yourselves with the wool, you slaughter the fatlings; but you do not feed the sheep. You have not strengthened the weak, you have not healed the sick, you have not bound up the injured, you have not brought back the strayed, you have not sought the lost…I myself will search for my sheep… (Ezek. 34: 2-4, 11)
This block quote brings Brueggemann’s idea into a cohesive reading in the Old Testament which pairs the reality of the nation of Israel with that of the United States. This is an example of energizing the church of modernity into the reality of the past mistakes made by God’s covenant people. There is a resonance of pain and death paired with the poor and oppressed in our world, along with the clarity of responsibility from the church. The arguments made by Brueggemann were evenly paired with excerpts from Hosea, Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Micha, and various other Old Testament literature and brought evenly into our current anthropology. Brueggemann effectively brings a call to action by channeling the prophetic voices of the past into our current reality. To utilize the old-world literary text and its methodologies is of great benefit to gather the sheep into the house of YHWH, and where the royal consciousness negotiates against hope the prophetic imagination inspires new gifts to be given.
Brueggemann’s strengths revolved around his concise correlation between the anthropological humanity of the past with the anthropological humanity of the present. This book presents a real toolbox for pastoral staff and leadership in the Christian community by pointing to the sacred text by which it has based its foundation upon. Brueggemann’s ability to pair the call for social reform with the grief of society is quite compelling by calling for a deep personal resonance with the pain and the plight of the poor. This type of sympathetic connection must be genuine, and it must be publicized in the arena of public discourse. In order for this acknowledgment to permeate the dominant worldview it must be delivered through a subconscious impartation through poetry and parable. Brueggemann brings a realistic alternative to reach the ears that aren’t willing to hear, just as Jesus did as he told stories that stirred the imagination and helped the listener to come to the appropriate conclusion from an internal dialog. The artistry of the prophetic preacher brings hope to form and pen to story before a stiff necked people unwilling to capitulate.
[1] Walter Brueggemann, The Practice of Prophetic Imagination: Preaching an Emancipating Word, (Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2012), 1.
[2] Brueggemann, The Practice of Prophetic Imagination, 3.
[3] Brueggemann, The Practice of Prophetic Imagination, 22.
[4] Brueggemann, The Practice of Prophetic Imagination, 49.
[5] Brueggemann, The Practice of Prophetic Imagination, 71.
[6] Brueggemann, The Practice of Prophetic Imagination, 128.
[7] Brueggemann, The Practice of Prophetic Imagination, 2.
[8] Brueggemann, The Practice of Prophetic Imagination, 5.
[9] Brueggemann, The Practice of Prophetic Imagination, 26.
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