Walter Brueggemann is still writing books. More precisely, he’s writing in blog form, and a publisher has compiled these into a book. We might not have thought it important enough to review that book here, except that it contains some marvelously important reflections. Not to mention that Brueggemann, who is now 90 years old, is probably the most recognized Protestant Christian biblical scholar in the world today.
There is an opening prayer that is worth the price of the book. Written in poetic lines, Brueggemann tells us that it is a reflection on John chapter 9, from the New Testament. He calls this “Life Outside Our Homemade Cages,” and it begins:
“We live conveniently in our homemade cages of explanation.
We live comfortably in our cages of cause and effect.
We liberals live in our cages of being smarter and more woke;
We conservatives live in our cages of being better grounded and more reliable.
In our cages of ideology, we sense our control, our ability to explain, our capacity to link cause to effect, to connect deed to consequence.”
This sets the tone for a theologian’s diagnoses of Christian divides and squabbles today and cultural trends that show families and friends divided over any number of issues.
In some of the short chapters, the occasion that gave rise to their writing in blog form is evident, and their inclusion in the book seems designed most of all for Brueggemann completists. But at other times, chapters seem essential for the present moment. In one of these, “Unemancipated!,” Brueggemann writes about a book called Slave Bible that was first published in the United Kingdom in 1807 and quickly made its way to the United States, where it was used by white masters to subjugate their Black slaves.
Brueggemann takes the occasion to “take stock of my own church,” and the results are honest and searing. These pages are both fascinating and important for any white Christian in the United States today, particularly in this time of resurgent white Christian nationalism. Brueggemann’s conclusion on the subject is indicative of his life’s work: “It turns out that the Bible is not designed for 'masters.' It is rather designed for slaves on their way to freedom where they may dance and sing and live in newly given wellbeing.”
