The prophetic imagination (edition 1978)

brilliant. ( )

Did you ever suffer through a puzzle until you found that one piece you needed to get it done? This is like that. Excellent, excellent treatment of what might be termed the "city" or "royal consciousness" or the "political" and the believers role as a dissenter. This book more than any other has given me resources necessary to articulate criticism of the state and state churches, materialism, consumerism, and all the other isms castigating the world. It does this not by providing its own if different isms, but by exploring what the bible has to say of oppression and the role of the prophet in relieving oppression. Too much material in the bible is devoted to the role of the prophet as dissenter not to take Brueggemann's argument seriously. This is a well written sobering book. I highly recommend The Prophetic Imagination. ( )

“We need to ask not whether it is realistic or practical or viable but whether it is imaginable. We need to ask if our consciousness and imagination have been so assaulted and co-opted by the royal consciousness that we have been robbed of the courage or power to think an alternative thought.”

The Prophetic Imagination is about the intersection of courage and creativity necessary to be a civil dissenter. In the quote above, ‘royal consciousness’ may stand in for ‘capitalism’ or ‘consumerism’ or even just ‘ease of complacency.’ Prophetic figures step out – break out – in order to critique the oppressive but self-perpetuating systems of domination upon which societies are built. This is not without consequences. Like, for example, crucifixion.

This isn’t exactly a book about Jesus, nor really formal theology. But it does consider Jesus’ ministry alongside other social movements in order to think through the political responsibilities of Christianity today. Our namesake was a radical who led people into a compelling but terrifying alternative vision of destabilizing society, and was enough of a threat to the system to be executed by the state. And with this understanding of the origins of the faith, Brueggemann argues, Christians today should feel compelled to face ongoing injustices even (especially!) at the expense of upsetting comfortable but corrupt regimes. ( )

I know I like Brueggemann, but I'm still working on getting into his writing. ( )

Second edition; originally published in 1978, now "fully revised and updated." Brueggmann relates the Old Testament to issues in contemporary society.