In Memoriam of Gustavo Gutierrrez and Walter Brueggemann – Part 2
Walter Brueggemann: A Prophet for our Time
Hear the word of the Lord…
For the Lord has an indictment against the inhabitants of the land.
There is no faithfulness or loyalty,
And no knowledge of God in the land.
Swearing, lying, and murder, and stealing and adultery break out.
Bloodshed follows bloodshed.
Therefore, the land mourns, and all who live in it languish:
Together with the wild animals and the birds of the air,
Even the fish of the sea are perishing.
(Hosea 4:1-3)
Hosea’s lament is stunningly resonant today. Renowned Scripture scholar, beloved teacher and regular preacher in United Church of Christ communities, Walter Brueggemann devoted his scholarly career and his life to pointing that out and drawing the necessary challenging conclusions for faith communities. Like the ancient prophets, he called us to fidelity to our call in a contemporary satiated consumer culture, to fidelity to the word of God, to a God of justice and righteousness, of steadfast love, of compassion and mercy. What does fidelity to God and the covenantal demands require of us today? An answer was his gift to us.
Walter Brueggemann’s was not interested in detailed textual analysis alone. Woe betides students who failed to make the required move to interpret the current social reality in light of their textual analysis, fine as it might be. Gone was the prized “A”!
A short blog does not do justice to the lasting contribution of Walter Brueggemann. Let me simply offer a sense of his main argument in his own words. The Prophetic Imagination, one of Brueggemann’s early and best-known books, envisions an alternative prophetic community whose task is both to criticize and energize:
“On the one hand, it is to show that the dominant consciousness (which I have termed “royal”) will indeed end and that it has no final claim upon us. On the other hand, it is the task of the alternative prophetic community to present an alternative consciousness that can energize the community to fresh forms of faithfulness and vitality…. It is the task of prophetic imagination and ministry to bring people to engage the promise of newness that is at work in our history with God.” 62
At great cost to themselves, the prophets of old preached fidelity to the word of God. Throughout a lifetime of exploring ever more deeply the implications of their message, Walter Brueggemann has left us a blueprint for a communal response. May he rest in peace.
-Sister Joyce Murray, csj
