I met him only a handful of times, long after his books became standard fare in both mainline and evangelical seminaries. What stood out for me was his character — he was humble and kind and generous with his time — rare qualities among those of his renown. He was also incisive, candid, and courageous, refusing to soften his message to alleviate discomfort or offense.

I will never forget the time he gave a lecture to a crowd of church goers who had eagerly showed up to hear him speak. With skillful precision and insight, he laid bare how the church in North America had capitulated to the dominant culture’s imperialist tendencies and quest for power. At the end of the lecture, the crowd responded with thunderous applause and a standing ovation. Had they not heard his indictment, I wondered? Were his words not like a sword to the heart? But I would learn that he was one of the few people who could offer public critique in a way that was received by his listeners as the act of love and earnestness for the church with which it was offered.  

I’m talking, of course, about Walter Brueggeman. On June 5, 2025, Brueggemann took his final breath and went home to be with the Lord. I watched the livestream of the funeral at my kitchen table, joining countless others in person and online to pay final respects to a pastor, teacher, and scholar who had such a profound influence on the church, and also on my own study of the Bible and Christian faith. Based on the countless tributes on social media, I know I am not alone.

Brueggemann is best known for his 1978 book, The Prophetic Imagination. But if you asked around among biblical scholars, pastors, and lay persons, they might also mention his seminal work on the Psalms, his Old Testament theology, his interest not just in what texts say but what they do, or his volumes of collected sermons and prayers. He was a biblical scholar of and for the church, awakening the church to her own idolatries and calling her back to covenanted faithfulness and prophetic hope.  

Reflecting on Brueggemann’s contributions over the last couple of months, I’m struck by the gift that his body of thought is to the church in this particular historical moment. I think it’s fair to say that the church is in a state of crisis — not only because of declining numbers and diminishing percentages of young people going to church. But also because Christian Nationalism has championed, even normalized, theological distortions and divisiveness that is fundamentally in opposition to the aims of the gospel.

All of this has left many Christians confused, paralyzed, and uncertain about what it means to follow Jesus or be faithful disciples. What do we do when those we have entrusted with power carry out unfathomable cruelty and injustice and claim to do it in God’s name? How do we respond to these unsettling realities? 

Not surprisingly, Brueggemann has a lot to say that might be helpful. One might point to, for instance, his sharp analysis of the complicity of the church in the values of the empire or his description of prophetic ministry as not only critiquing the dominant construal of reality, but also imagining alternative possibilities for shaping communal life. Or one might think of Brueggemann’s insistence that God is a real and active presence who is deeply invested and committed to his world even if we can’t always see it.  A God who weeps over the cries of the oppressed, who has compassion on those who suffer, whose anger burns against those who perpetuate injustice, whose steadfast love and covenant fidelity never ceases.

One might note Brueggemann’s understanding that Christian faithfulness means trusting God enough that you are free to love your neighbor.  Or point to his conviction that hope is a daring act of resistance against oppressive societal forces. To hope is to relinquish the dominant world of consumerism and nationalism, even lament that world, in order to receive the world that God longs to give us. A new reality, a new creation, characterized by God’s generous rule, peace, and justice. 

Over the next five Sundays, I hope to share some of the themes in Brueggemann’s work that I have found particularly wise and insightful for understanding and responding to our current moment. But I don’t want to do this alone. As such, I am appealing to the RJ community and inviting you also to share in the comments over these Sundays in August, those quotes, ideas, themes in Brueggemann’s work that you have found particularly impactful, that have shaped your understanding of God or the Christian faith or lent insight into the challenges that the church is facing today.  

My hope, in this series of blogposts, is not only to honor Brueggemann’s legacy, but also, using Brueggemann’s work, to brainstorm together what we as the church can do in this moment. What does it look like to live faithfully as followers of Christ today? Let’s together engage in some Brueggemann-style holy and subversive prophetic imagination!