Carrying on the Brueggemann legacy: Time to embrace the call to prophetic imagining

When news came of Walter Brueggemann’s passing on June 5 at the age of 92, I found myself, like many pastors, skimming the books published by the prolific author and renowned Old Testament scholar that sat on my shelves.

Each title spoke of key moments in my own ministerial formation, from that of a starry-eyed seminarian to somewhat beleaguered, yet still hopeful, rural pastor who has by God’s grace returned to my first calling, that of writing.

It was Brueggemann’s words in The Prophetic Imagination, considered his most influential book, selling more than a million copies, that I treasured the most. As I flipped through its dog-eared pages, I wondered how many pastors underlined in red ink Brueggemann’s observation that “hope is the refusal to accept the reading of reality which is the majority opinion.”

Those words had been both my comfort and strength when well-intentioned colleagues questioned my eagerness to walk through the valley of the shadow of death where these country churches are often seen residing in. Where the majority opinion was that of hopelessness, I heeded Brueggemann’s words, choosing to imagine the limitless God possibilities waiting to burst forth on many a forgotten cow path.

Walter Brueggemann instilled in this now ordained Presbyterian, who at 10 years old stood at the baptismal font of the Rutherford Congregational in New Jersey, embarrassingly sandwiched by cooing infants, to always have faith in the redeeming power of God.

He never gave up on God

Conrad L. Kanagy, former professor at Elizabethtown College in Pennsylvania, is grateful as well for Brueggemann’s steadfast belief in the redeeming power of God — a belief that that had the ability to reassure others when faith was failing.

“Walter never gave up on God,” said Kanagy.

Even when writing about the most depraved issues of the day, Kanagy says Brueggemann would follow the dire commentary with two simple yet profound and powerful words: but God.

The world might be falling into chaos, but God…

Wars are escalating, but God…

Climate change is wreaking havoc, but God…

With the commanding voice of a prophet echoing that of Jeremiah, whom Brueggemann was often likened too, he relayed to a modern audience the ancient messages of hope that lurked in the lament and of promised restoration that came after judgement.

“It was a message he never tired of,” said Kanagy.

Kanagy first learned of Walter Brueggemann while working on a Mennonite Church USA survey in the early 2000s. Seeking to biblically frame the findings, it was Brueggemann’s name that kept coming up in his research. It would be the start of a trusted friendship that led to Kanagy writing the scholar’s biography, Walter Brueggemann’s Prophetic Imagination. It was blessed by Brueggemann and published by Fortress Press in 2023.

The man beyond the scholar

It’s been a little over a month since Brueggemann’s death. The rave reviews of a life well lived in terms of secular successes and academic accolades have been written and published, read and shared. But a question still lingers.

Who was Walter Brueggemann beyond the larger-than-life persona of Old Testament scholar who could have easily passed for an ancient prophet himself, leaving those in his presence with a feeling of trembling and awe?

When tasked with the assignment to write about Walter Brueggemann for the UCC News Digest, I found myself uncharacteristically daunted by it. I couldn’t shake this feeling that I was being asked to take off those proverbial sandals for I would be standing on holy ground.

I shared my trepidation with UCC colleagues who had known Brueggemann, who was ordained in the United Church of Christ in 1958. They all assured me that I was not alone in feeling this way. The consensus was that “Walter had that impact on people.”

Brueggemann was the son of August Brueggemann, a Midwest rural pastor in the Evangelical and Reformed Church, an antecedent of the United Church of Christ. He was rooted deeply in the evangelical tradition of German Pietism. There was no escaping the German stoicism and arrogance woven in his DNA. According to colleagues, Brueggemann appeared “daunting to many.”  But once you got past that, they said you would find an encouraging and kind scholar of the church who spoke at many UCC installations and seminary graduations.

The Rev. Dr. Jane Fisler Hoffman, a student of Brueggemann’s when he taught at Eden Theological Seminary — he joined the seminary in 1961 and left in the late 80s to then teach at Columbia Theological Seminary —  tells of a joke often shared among friends of how Walter was just like anyone else, putting on his pants one leg at a time.  “But while writing and publishing a book at the same time,” she laughed.

It was no secret that Brueggemann was most at home at his desk working. He was a voracious reader and just as voracious writer. He amazed pastors when he published so quickly a book addressing the Covid crisis just one month after the official March 2020 lockdown. Many jokingly wondered if truly he was a prophet able to foresee the future. In April 2020, orders were being placed for Brueggemann’s Virus as a Summons of Faith: Biblical Reflections in a Time of Loss, Grief, and Uncertainty.

He dared to destroy what others knew

The Rev. Dr. Charles (Chuck) Mize, former pastor of Glenview Community Church in Illinois, who now, in his retirement, pastors Southminster Presbyterian Church, remembers Brueggemann as the man who “destroyed” everything he and his Eden Theological Seminary classmates knew about the Old Testament.

“Having Walter as a professor was a seismic event,” said Mize. “He had this power and passion to reform and reshape the Hebrew narratives. Yes, he destroyed everything we thought we knew, but he then reconstructed it.”

It just wasn’t the content of Brueggemann’s teaching that was captivating. It was his presentation as well that embodied the passionate longing and lament of the Hebrew prophets.

“He had a way about him. He was dramatic and provocative,” said Mize.

Fisler Hoffman, who was an Eden classmate of Mize’s, remembers those passionate discourses as well.

When asked to jot down her memories of Brueggemann, the pastor who once served as associate conference minister in Southwest Ohio as well as interim conference minister for Southern California Nevada Conference, admitted to being “almost stymied.” Fisler Hoffman, who authored Covenant | A Study for the United Church of Christ, remained in touch with Brueggemann throughout her ministerial career, and while close friends, she, too, felt a bit daunted. That soon gave way when the memories of his constant support and affirmation of her gifts flooded her mind.

“We wrote letters and emails and would share thoughts and tackle pastoral challenges as they arose,” said Fisler Hoffman. In one email she admitted to Brueggemann her doubt about God.

“He didn’t make a big deal about it but shared some of his thoughts,” she recalled. She then asked if he ever had doubts about God. His reply: He didn’t.

“Somehow that encouraged me and though I still struggle at times, his affirmation still speaks to me,” said Fisler Hoffman.

While certain of God’s love and presence, Brueggemann was not without his own struggles. Mainly that of regrets.

In the end, what really matters?

It was with his trusted biographer, Kanagy, that Brueggemann admitted to questioning if what he did in life really had any value.

“Walter had a very human side and said to me one day that he wasn’t sure if anything he did had value. He also admitted to having to work to stay in the place of grace. Now, Walter knew there was God’s grace, but he did have some regrets towards the end of his life, which is common as we all begin to take inventory towards the end,” said Kanagy.

One regret in which Kanagy has shared openly on social media platforms since Brueggemann’s death was his statement that “I’ve regretted my habitat was among liberals.”

“That has caused quite a stir. But Walter never strayed from his German evangelical roots where it was more heart religion than head religion,” said Kanagy.

And like the Hebrew prophets, Brueggemann, says his biographer, felt misunderstood and was struggling to sort it all out. “He was trying to forge a new way forward — a third way that went beyond liberals and conservatives,” said Kanagy.

The world has lost a great Biblical scholar, and I still find myself a month after Brueggemann’s death skimming through the pages of his books. As I do, I realize something.

Brueggemann wouldn’t want any of us to skim through his writings and perhaps use a quote or two in a sermon. Rather, Brueggemann would want the next generation of pastors and ministry leaders to do something radical.

He would urge us to take him up on his invitation to engage with and grapple over the ancient Hebrew texts. He would want us to allow the divine mystery to finally set free our imaginations — prophetic imaginations that lead to an unimaginable new path, one paved with hope in God rather than pavers of popular opinion.

A memorial service will be held (and publicly live-streamed) on Saturday, July 19 at 2 p.m. at Central Methodist Church in Traverse City, Michigan.

---

Content on ucc.org is copyrighted by the National Setting of the United Church of Christ and may be only shared according to the guidelines outlined here.