Walter Brueggemann's Prophetic Imagination (Conrad Kanagy) -- A Review
WALTER BRUEGGEMANN’S PROPHETIC IMAGINATION: A Theological Biography. By Conrad L. Kanagy. Foreword by Samuel Wells. Minneapolis, MI: Fortress Press, 2023. Xxxi +215 pages.
If you are a preacher, at least in
Mainline Protestant circles, you know the name of Walter Brueggemann. He
continues to be one of the most influential Old Testament scholars of our day
and has been for the last half-century. Brueggemann is a leading Bible scholar,
but he is not just an academician. He is first and foremost a scholar who works
on behalf of the church. We who preach and teach have come to value his wisdom
and insight, whether it comes to us through his books and commentaries or his
speeches and sermons. Even when I don’t agree with his assessment, he still
makes me think. I have had the privilege of not only reading Brueggemann but meeting
him. In fact, I moderated a panel discussion that involved responses to earlier
presentations and his responses. What makes him somewhat unique is that not
only does he write about the prophets, especially Jeremiah, but also has the
countenance and bearing of a prophet. I've only encountered him in recent
decades, but his tall lanky body, balding head, and scruffy beard give that
vibe. The question is, who is Walter Brueggemann? Where did he come from and
how did he become such an influential scholar, teacher, and preacher?
The answer to the questions raised
by enquiring minds is given to us, at least in part, by Conrad Kanagy, in his
biography of Walter Brueggemann. Kanagy’s biography quite appropriately carries
the title Walter Brueggemann's Prophetic Imagination: A Theological
Biography. Kanagy’s title draws from Brueggemann’s best-known and most
influential book: The Prophetic Imagination, a book that was originally
published in 1978 and continues to speak to preachers and scholars. Perhaps the
reason why that book and Brueggemann himself continue to speak is because, as
Samuel Wells, in his Foreword, writes “Walter believes in the God of the
Scriptures.” He doesn’t avoid the difficult biblical passages but instead
invites us to deal with them, rather than sanitize and refract to render a more
wholesome deity” (pp. x-xi). In other words, he believes in the God found in
the text. He is also a theologian who believes in the church. Thus, again
quoting from Wells in words I can affirm: “Most people who’ve read his books or
attended his sermons see Walter as a towering figure, mission only sandals and
a crooked figure to be [a] hectoring prophet of the Old Testament.” Of course, he is much more than that, and
Kanagy tells that fuller story.
The author of this biography is
Conrad Kanagy, a professor of sociology at Elizabethtown College. Now it may
seem odd that a sociology professor would write a biography of a biblical
scholar, but it is not as odd as you might think. That is because Brueggemann
not only studied sociology as an undergraduate at Elmhurst College, but he has
drawn liberally from sociology and the social sciences in his biblical
scholarship. As for Kanagy, as a sociologist, he has focused his attention on
American and global Christianity. It is in that context that he “first met Walter
Brueggemann in the library stacks of Elizabethtown College." It's not that
Brueggemann was visiting the college, but it was there in 2006, while
researching his own Mennonite denomination, that he stumbled upon Brueggemann's
books as he was looking for commentaries on the Book of Jeremiah. The book through
which he encountered Brueggemann was The Prophetic Imagination. What he
discovered there was the revelation “that perhaps God was in the middle of the
church mess I had uncovered. Perhaps God was even responsible for the
mess!" (pp. xiii-xv). He again turned to Brueggemann's works in 2021 as he
was working on a sermon on racism even as some members of his congregation had
come under Donald Trump's spell. In this case, Kanagy wrote to Brueggemann seeking
guidance, a query that Brueggemann answered. Kanagy asked Brueggemann whether
there was a biography that could do for him than what The Prophetic
Imagination had done for him a decade and a half earlier. Brueggemann wrote
to tell Kanagy that he couldn’t come up with a biography of the sort Kanagy had
asked for, which led Kanagy if he could write Brueggemann's story. Though, as
Samuel Wells notes, Brueggemann is a shy man he agreed to the request, though
he didn’t believe there was much to write about. Brueggemann might not have
thought there was enough material to fill a biography, Kanagy’s biography
demonstrates that there is much to be learned from Brueggemann's story.
Kanagy makes an important point. He
hasn’t attempted to interpret everything Brueggemann has written. While there
might be value in such a book, which would likely be highly technical, Kanagy seeks
to paint in broad strokes Brueggemann’s life, seeking to show how his writings,
teaching, and preaching have impacted so many people and churches. Therefore, Kanagy
tells the story of a man who has influenced so many people that is based on a
series of Zoom calls with Brueggemann along with interviews with colleagues,
friends, and students. From that foundation, Kanagy seeks to "look into
Walter's inner life with God, searching for the answer to what of divinity has
produced and sustained the quality and quantity of Walter's work." What we
learn is that there are no categories that fully describe his own spirituality,
but it is there.
Kanagy divides the story of
Brueggemann's life into three parts using the idea of The Prophetic Imagination
as the central lens. Beginning in Part 1, we encounter two chapters. The
opening chapter introduces us to Brueggemann the scholar who discovered the
prophetic imagination as the way to understand Scripture. We learn here that
Brueggemann was committed to his scholarship, trying to find time away each
day, writing (long hand) the equivalent of twelve pages double-spaced each day
in about two to three hours. His understanding of the text was influenced
greatly by his doctoral mentor James Muilenburg, who introduced him to
rhetorical interpretation as an alternative to the dominant historical-critical
method, which both Muilenberg and his students found static and didn't speak to
modern concerns. After graduating from Union Seminary with his Ph.D. he
returned to his beloved Eden Seminary, where he not only did his seminary work but
where his father had studied before him. He began teaching at Eden in 1961, but
it was not until 1978 that his breakthrough book, The Prophetic Imagination,
was published. Before that took place, Brueggemann had taken on the role of
dean of the seminary at a time when the seminary was in decline and the
possibility of closure was real. Thus, he tried to combine scholarship,
teaching, and administrative leadership. In this chapter, we are not only
introduced to his scholarship but also to his origins as the son of a pastor in
the Evangelical Synod of North America, an expression of the Prussian Union.
His people had come from Germany and settled in Missouri, which is where Eden
was situated. It was a seminary that had been led by H. Richard Niebuhr and had
educated his brother Reinhold. Together the Niebuhrs had a profound influence
on the seminary. One thing to note here is that Kanagy doesn't take us
chronologically through Brueggemann's life. We will come and go in time. But
the chapter does introduce us to his childhood, at least briefly before taking
us to Union Seminary. One thing that is very important to this story is the
influence of his father, who was rather poorly trained and very poorly paid,
but who was committed to his ministry and the importance of education for both
Walter and his brother Edward. We also learn here that Brueggemann, who was
brilliant, always felt a bit under-educated due to his origins. Of course, the
success of The Prophetic Imagination changed all of that.
If the first chapter lays the
foundation, the second chapter "Where Prophets Come From" takes us
back to Brueggemann's origins. We gain a clearer insight into his childhood and
education, along with the influence of his parents. One of the things we learn
is that as a teenager, with the permission of his father, he and his brother
would attend the black church on the edge of town, gaining insight into the
lives of people different from him. That would influence his later commitment
to social justice. We learn more here about his father's calling and the roots
of the Evangelical Synod, which would later merge with the German Reformed
Church before merging into the United Church of Christ. The churches that made
up the Evangelical Synod had their origins in the Prussian Union, an ecumenical
merger of Lutheran and Reformed churches in Prussian that took place in the
nineteenth century. The pastors who led these churches in places like Missouri
were originally missionary pastors who tended to be poorly educated and paid.
While this was true of Brueggemann's father, his father made sure he was well-educated.
Nevertheless, it is out of this ethos that a prophetic imagination was born in
Brueggemann.
If Part 1 offers us Brueggemann’s origin
story (and I've only hinted at what is there), in the three chapters in Part 2,
we delve more fully into Brueggemann's scholarship. In chapter three titled
"Imagination Everywhere" we discover that in a world of specialists,
Brueggemann chose to be a generalist. This placed him at the edge of the
academy, at least until the publication of The Prophetic Imagination. That
book provided a platform for Brueggemann to speak to both the church and
academy, prophetically telling each that they had been domesticated and needed
liberating.
When I saw that a biography of
Brueggemann was forthcoming, I knew I had to get a review copy from the publisher.
I wanted to know what made him tick, and then share the news with others.
Having read the book, I can say that I now have a better sense of Brueggemann’s
life and message. As I read his story, I discerned both why I appreciated
Brueggemann’s work and words, even as those words have at times made me feel
rather uncomfortable. In many ways, it confirmed what I believed about him, but
now I know more about the origins of his story. I also came to a better
understanding of why I appreciate his work, and that is his commitment to the
text of scripture. As a progressive Christian, I find some in my camp's attempts
to distance themselves from scripture unsettling. It's not that we must embrace
everything literally without interpretation, but scripture should be the
touchstone of our faith. Brueggemann shows us how and why this is true. In that
regard, Kanagy does a nice job connecting the dots. While I thoroughly enjoyed
Kanagy’s biography—Walter Brueggemann’s Prophetic Imagination, I did
discover several problematic editing issues. For instance, in several places,
names were misspelled, such that at points he called Jim Wallis Jim Wallace. He
also added an H to Reinhold Niebuhr’s name, calling him H. Reinhold. The H
belongs with Richard, something he fails to do in the book. Additionally, there
is a reference to the “Book of Hezekiah.” While he did discuss Hezekiah, there
is no such book of Hezekiah (except in jokes). These are not big issues, but
they detract from the story and could be avoided with a little better editing. Despite these issues, I can say that I truly
enjoyed reading Kanagy’s theological biography of one of the most influential
scholars of our day. What he demonstrates with this biography is that there is
much that can be said about Walter Brueggemann, despite Brueggemann’s
suggestion otherwise. So, if Brueggemann has influenced you, you will want to
read Walter Brueggemann’s Prophetic Imagination, even as you continue to read Brueggemann himself.
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