Posts tagged with "Walter Brueggemann"

God, What's with All the Questions?

If you’ve been following my blog recently, you will know that I have just finished reading Brueggemann’s An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible.  In the book, one of his primary points is the Old Testament picture of God is as partner in dialogue in contrast to the picture of God within classical theology.  I thought this morning’s lectionary reading from Genesis 3 was a good illustration.  I can imagine this conversation had the characters of Adam and Eve been versed in classical theology. I’m paraphrasing of course:

God: Adam, where are you?

Adam: What do you mean where am I?  Aren’t you supposed to be everywhere?  And, you can’t find me?  I’m right over here.  I was hiding because I’m naked.

God: Who told you that you are naked?  You’ve eaten from the tree I told you not to eat from.

Adam: Of course I did.  You knew I was going to do that ahead of time in your divine foreknowledge, didn’t you? Didn’t you? So, why did you put that tree here in the first place if you knew I was going to eat from it?

God: …

Adam: Anyway, the woman you put here gave me the fruit, and I ate it.

God: Eve, why would you do such a thing?

Eve: God, what’s with all the questions?  You’re supposed to be the omniscient one here.

God: …

Okay. Thanks for bearing with another one of my poor attempts at humor.

Brueggemann on Metanarrative

This will be the last installment of me posting excerpts from An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible.  Overall it was a good read (as well as a quick one), though I enjoyed the first part of the book more than the latter.  I think his analysis of YHWH as a partner in a dialogue provides a helpful corrective.

Beyond that, the tendency when trying to present a theology of a particular testament or both testaments or any particular Biblical book is to leave out those little parts that don’t fit within the overall systematization.  When reading texts that take this approach (e.g. just about any Systematic Theology book I have ever read – though admittedly I have probably had a poor sampling)  I normally end up asking myself, “But what about this or that text in Ezekiel … or Job … or Jeremiah …?”  Brueggemann does a good job of not giving privilege to one stream of thought.  The picture of Old Testament theology then is a bit messy, which I think makes it more realistic.

One quibble would be that Brueggemann moves away from this messiness a bit in the last chapter.  He explicitly states that this is not what he is trying to do, but I think it is almost inevitable that things get simplified a bit too much when one starts to try to make charts or illustrations like those in his final chapter.  The picture of Israel’s life, the life of the human person, the life of the nations, etc. becomes a three or four step process.  But, I think it is to Brueggemann’s credit that he avoids this until the very end.

At any rate, I thought I would give one last excerpt from the book that I thought noteworthy.  Here is Brueggemann on metanarrative:

I am profoundly ill at ease with the use of the term metanarrative, by which I mean simply a more-or-less coherent perspective on reality.  I am ill at ease, first, because I am impressed with the plurality, diversity, and fragmented quality of the Old Testament text, and I have no wish to engage in reductionism. Second, I am ill at ease with the term because I take seriously, along with my deconstructionist friends and colleagues, Jean-Francois Lyotard’s suspicion of metanarrative with its hegemonic potential …

Me too.

Brueggemann Quote on the Wisdom Traditions

I am still reading through Brueggeman’s An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible.  I will probably finish tomorrow, but I’ve been posting some quotes from the book I have thought noteworthy along the way (see HERE and HERE).  I may post a more substantial review if I have the time (doubtful with thesis work).  At any rate, I thought this was another quotable line on the wisdom traditions:

… the wisdom traditions make clear that obedience is not slavish, fearful conformity to rules and laws (from CH3 – again no page numbers as I’m reading on my Kindle).

Brueggemann on the Canonizing Process

Have continued reading Brueggeman’s An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible this afternoon.  Since I didn’t get a great deal of Brueggemann in seminary I didn’t realize how quotable he is.  Some of this may be old hat to some of my readers, but I liked this little gem from chapter 2 (sorry, no page number for you – reading on my Kindle 2):

… while there are surely tensions of the kind that can be identified critically, Israel in its theological self-articulation insisted always on taking seriously both sides of the tension, and finally refused to opt for either side as a full and faithful resolution of its way with YHWH.  This is evident in the canonizing process, which in the end is an accommodation of accents in tension in the community of faith.

Brueggemann on the Defining Category for Faith in the Old Testament

I started reading Walter Brueggemann’s An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible this afternoon. And, I thought this line from the Preface worthy of quotation:

This suggests that the defining category for faith in the Old Testament is dialogue, whereby all parties-including God- are engaged in a dialogic exchange that is potentially transformative for all parties … including God.

“The defining category for faith in the Old Testament is dialogue ….” I like that.  I have enjoyed the first chapter of the book thoroughly, but I see why I didn’t get any Brueggeman in seminary.  The idea that anything could be transformative for God? … I can hear the apologists as I write this …