The Collected Sermons of Walter Brueggemann

by Brueggemann, Walter

• ISBN13: 9780664234454
• ISBN10: 0664234453
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2011-09-16
• Publisher: Westminster John Knox Pr

Summary

Well-known Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggemann has contributed much to biblical scholarship in many ways. He has also been a powerful preacher through the years. This collection of sermons demonstrates Brueggemann's fidelity to biblical texts, which come alive with meaning in our contemporary world. The book features a biblical index as well as a foreword on Brueggemann's preaching by Samuel Wells of Duke University. Brueggemann also reflects on his preaching as a part of this volume.

Excerpts

All these texts bear witness to the power of God for new life. That is why we are here. God is at work giving new life. The question is how to receive it. We can receive it fearfully like the Sadducees and hold on to the old rules which give us petty assurance. Or we can turn loose of our life in praise and thanksgiving and doxology, knowing that the power for life and the gift of life overwhelms our fear and our despair.

God's power for life rightly leaves us speechless. We can be speechless, like the Sadducees and go back to plot how to stay in control one more day. Or we can be speechless in amazement, like David, able only to say "thou, thou, thine," because we find no words for the new reality.

The power of life is not a religious fantasy. It is a fresh lease on keeping our baptism in the face of injustice and poverty and alienation. It affirms to us that God has not yet quit and God will have God's way. We are on our way with God, rejoicing, praising, surrendering, and obeying. We will then address this age with care and compassion, knowing that the age to come is quite safe in God's mercy.

--from "The Threat of Life: Permitting Its Intrusion"