Books by Walter Brueggemann

This book suggests a fresh hearing of the Gospel in the traditions of the Old Testament. Israel's affirmation of faith is many-sided. One of the dimensions which has been largely neglected in our use of Scripture are those traditions which affirm the world, celebrate culture, and affirm human responsibility and capability. Such affirmations from the Bible sound strange to our ears, but they are no less scriptural and no less Gospel. This stress and the literature which express it are, of course, not all of Scripture but they are an important element. I have argued here that for our moment in cultural history, these elements in Scripture provide our best opportunity to make contact between biblical faith and the culture in which we do our 'faithing.' To that end I have tried to penetrate the teaching and intention of the wisdom traditions, especially as they are embodied in the book of Proverbs. The study of the wisdom traditions of the Old Testament is only beginning and there are many unresolved questions. But we knowenough to suggest some directions for theological reflection. On the basis of the wisdom traditions I have tried to pay attention to the cultural world in which they had meaning, for that world was not unlike our own. --from the Foreword Contents 1. Religious Despisers of Culture 2. The Trusted Creature 3. Theology Fit for a King 4. Tempted to Commodities 5. The Meaning and Maturity for Current Theology 6. The Wise Man as a Model for Ministry 7. Uneasy Reflections from a Son of Neoorthodoxy

Within a culture that is presently shaped by values of hopelessness, Walter Brueggemann looks at the biblical text and finds the resources for a hope within history, a hope that challenges hopelessness and dispair. Hope within History describes how individuals and churches can grow even when at odds with their social context, addresses the...

This book offers the best current handling of Pentateuchal traditions as they operated in the past and as they help the church now. Hans Walter Wolff sees Israel's faith tradition as a continuous kerygmatic response to a variety of cultural challenges. Walter Brueggemann introduces this dynamic view of tradition. Both authors approach the...

New and different readings of biblical texts are one consequence of a growing awareness of the environmental crisis and how it relates to social relations, especially in urban settings. Walter Brueggemann explores readings from Isaiah and how they relate to the environment and urban crisis. He approaches the readings as an artistic-theological...

Prominent biblical scholar and author Walter Brueggemann studies three passages from the books of Samuel, using the methods of literary criticism and rhetorical analysis. He examines the ways the themes of power, divine providence, and David's personality cohere in the biblical narrative to explain David's rise to power and assumption of the...

Focusing on Psalms 78, 105, 106, and 136, Walter Brueggemann considers these psalms on their own terms and then takes up two issues that move in opposite interpretive directions: the Psalms in relation to the historical writing of modernity and the Psalms in relation to the voices of marginality. Brueggemann attempts to enter Israel's past as...

Every faith community knows the challenges of inviting new members and the next generation into its shared life, without falling into an arid traditionalism or a shallow relativism. Walter Brueggemann finds a framework for education in the structure of the Hebrew Bible canon, with its assertion of center and limit (in the Torah), of challenge (in the Prophets), and of inquiry (in the Writings). Incorporating best insights from canonical criticism, Old Testament theology, and pedagogical theory, this revised edition is introduced by Amy Erickson of Iliff School of Theology.

In this informative and keen look at contemporary trends in Old Testament theology, Perdue builds on his earlier volume The Collapse of History (1994). He investigates how a variety of perspectives and methodologies have impacted how the Old Testament is read in the twenty-first century including: literary criticism; rhetorical criticism, feminist, womanist, and mujerista theologies, liberation theology; Jewish theology; postmodernism; and postcolonialism. Perdue provides a sensitive reading of the aims of these approaches as well as providing critique and setting them in their various cultural contexts. In his conclusion, the author provides a look at the future and how these various voices and approaches will continue to impact how we carry out Old Testament theology.

In this completely revised edition, Brueggemann examines four different sets of David narratives, each reflecting a particular social context, social hope and community. Thus these stories offer a distinctly different mode of truth concerning this pivotal biblical figure.

These studies on the prophetic texts from the Hebrew Bible cover a wide range of topics, challenging the reader to confront the issues of faithfulness, responsibility, and justice in an ever-changing world. Brueggemann explores how these prophetic traditions have the potential to continually resonate in our contemporary communities and individual lives. Rather than "dead words" to kingdoms no longer in existence, the Israelite and Judean prophets have an enduring impact on how God challenges our values, our perspectivesand our very lives. Brueggemann has become well known for providing fresh perspective on ancient texts, always in conversation with great thinkers and people of faith.

These twenty-two sermons from a master interpreter demonstrate how ancient texts can speak to the whole gamut of human experience even now. Included in Walter Brueggemann's purview are keen observations about the timeless issues of human life, both personal and social: the pain we face, often inflicted on each other; the use and abuse of power; the weakness and fragility of life; the redemptive power of faith; and much more.

Drawing on specific texts that speak to cosmic hurt and personal possibility, Walter Brueggemann demonstrates the essential connection between faithful reading of the biblical text and faithful living in a world of banal, yet threatening values. He assesses the nature of obedience today in such areas as ministry, justice, the land, education, hospitality, and the contemporary imagination.

The Christian gospel, says Brueggemann, is too easily preached and heard. Too often technical reason and excessive religious certitude reduce the gospel to coercive, debilitating pietisms that mask the text's meaning and freeze the hearers heart. With skill and imagination, Brueggemann demonstrates how the preacher can engage in daring speech-differently voiced and therefore differently heard. This speech, as suggested by the Bible itself, is "poetic" speech, enabling the preacher to forge communion in the midst of alienation, bring healing out of guilt, and empower the hearer for "missional imagination." As an alternative to theological/homiletical discourse that is moralistic, pietistic or scholastic, Brueggemann proposes preaching that is artistic, poetic, and dramatic. The basis for the 1989 Lyman Beecher Lectures at Yale Divinity School, Finally Comes the Poet is a unique and transforming guide for powerful preaching.

This text introduces the book of Psalms and provides an exposition of each psalm with attention to genre, liturgical connections, societal issues and the psalm's place in the book of Psalms as a whole. The treatments of the psalms feature a close look at particular issues raised by the text and the encounters between the world of the psalm and the world of contemporary readers. The exposition of each psalm provides a reader's guide to the text in conversation with relevant theological issues.

In this volume, Walter Brueggemann focuses on Second Isaiah (Isaiah 40-55), believed to be written by a second exilic poet, and Third Isaiah (Isaiah 56-66), a third group of texts that rearticulate Isaianic theology in yet another faith situation. Brueggemann discusses both the distinctiveness of the texts and their canonical relatedness.Books...

In the last several years, Walter Brueggemann's writingshave directly addressed the situation of Christiancommunities in today's globalized context, with itsconsumerist lifestyles, vast inequalities, and near-imperialexercises of power. His insights, forged in rugged encounterswith the texts of the Old Testament, are sharp, painful, andindispensable. In the People of Israel Brueggemann finds amodel of an alternative community - anchored in YHWH, ever exploring new possibilities, and prophetically bentagainst empire.Part I: The Word Redescribing the WorldPart II: The Word Redefining the PossiblePart III: The Word Shaping a Community of Discipleship

"No scholar of this generation has had a greater fire in his bones for communicating the word of God than Walter Brueggemann. These essays on Jeremiah exemplify his insistence that criticism should lead to interpretation, and remind us again why prophets like Jeremiah still matter in the 21st century." - John J. Collins, Holmes Professor of Old Testament, Yale "Like Fire in the Bones is a gift to the churches and to anyone interested in prophetic literature with its harsh rhetoric, blazing visions, and demanding yet merciful God. Jeremiah may have had fire in his bones, but Brueggemann sets fires with his pen. He shows how Jeremiah speaks into the abyss of historical catastrophe with speech that matches experience. He underlines the disputatious political character of theological speech. He reiterates Jeremiah's call to covenant loyalty even in the face of religious and government forces that suppress and silence words of life. He illuminates Jeremiah's bare-boned hope for a world in the thrall of empire and social amnesia. If ever there was need for imaginative rereading of Jeremiah and of the texts of common life, it is now. At this, Brueggemann is a master." - Kathleen M. O'Connor, William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament, Columbia Theological Seminary "Jeremiah, the longest book in the Bible, is neglected much too often by preacher and teacher alike. That neglect is due, in significant part, to the prophet's often-sharp words that strike too close to home, in his own generation and in ours. It is telling that the prophet Jeremiah, the focus of these essays that span much of Walter Brueggemann's prophetic ministry, has been in his head and heart for such a long time. Again and again, Brueggemann's own words have mirrored Jeremiah to us, and the times in which we presently live could profit from hearing them again." - Terence E. Fretheim, Elva B. Lovell Professor of Old Testament, Luther Seminary

Against the easy assurance of a too-enculturated religion, Walter Brueggemann refocuses the preaching task around the decentering, destabilizing, always risky Word that confronts us in Scripture if we have the courage to hear.

"To pursue the matter of "revelation in context," I will address an exceedingly difficult text in the Old Testament, Joshua 11. The reason for taking up this text is to deal with the often asked and troublesome question: What shall we do with all the violence and bloody war that is done in the Old Testament in the name of Yahweh? The question reflects a sense that these texts of violence are at least an embarrassment, are morally repulsive, and are theologically problematic in the Bible, not because they are violent, but because this is violence either in the name of or at the hand of Yahweh." -from chapter 2

The land was one of the most vibrant symbols for the people of ancient Israel. In the land-gift, promise, and challenge-was found the physical source of Israel''s fertility and life, and a place for the gathering of the hopes of the covenant people. In this careful treatment, Walter Brueggemann follows the development of his theme through the major blocks of Israel''s traditions. The book provides a point of entrance both to the theology of the Old Testament and to aspects of the New Testament-even as it illuminates crucial issues of the contemporary scene. In this fully revised version, Brueggemann provides new insights, as well as updating the discussion, notes, and bibliography.