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Sabbath as Resistance, New Edition with Study Guide: Saying No to the Culture of Now
In this new edition that includes a study guide, popular author Walter Brueggemann writes that the Sabbath is not simply about keeping rules but rather about becoming a whole person and restoring a whole society. Brueggemann calls out our 24/7 society of consumption, a society in which we live to achieve, accomplish, perform, and possess. We want more, own more, use more, eat more, and drink more. Brueggemann shows readers how keeping the Sabbath allows us to break this restless cycle and focus on what is truly God, other people, all life. Perfect for groups or self-reflection, Sabbath as Resistance offers a transformative vision of the wholeness God intends, giving world-weary Christians a glimpse of a more fulfilling and simpler life through Sabbath observance.
150 pages, Kindle Edition
First published January 3, 2014
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4748 people want to read
About the author
Walter Brueggemann
311 books566 followersWalter Brueggemann was an American Christian scholar and theologian who is widely considered an influential Old Testament scholar. His work often focused on the Hebrew prophetic tradition and the sociopolitical imagination of the Church. He argued that the Church must provide a counter-narrative to the dominant forces of consumerism, militarism, and nationalism.
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April 11, 2020
While I am not in line with all of the author's theology, I greatly appreciated the theme of sabbath. Especially since as I write we have all been handed a sabbath rest by God in the form of the reaction to the Corona Virus of social distancing. We moderns desperately need sabbath and I believe Brueggemann when he says there are great benefits from taking a break from covetous living.
I had planned to practice Lent more delibrately this year. That plan became more of a reality than I anticipated and this little book helped me put it all in perspective.
I had planned to practice Lent more delibrately this year. That plan became more of a reality than I anticipated and this little book helped me put it all in perspective.
July 10, 2014
There are some truly great insights in this book. The theme of Sabbath as Resistance to the break-neck pace of life and unending pursuit of material wealth and achievement is a message the church of our day (particularly the North American church) needs to take to heart. This book is (thankfully) not a legalistic volume of "thou shalt nots", nor does it spiritualize away the meaning of Sabbath rest - it really means resting from our labours. The Sabbath is a call to resist the dehumanizing gods of perpetual frenzy and to actively trust God rather than the unceasing work of our hands and the limits of our credit cards, to provide our needs.
Keeping Sabbath rest is a powerful witness in the midst of a culture that never seems to slow down and that is always working, always buying, always acquiring, always on the go - what the author calls a culture or economy of "acquisitiveness". Brueggemann looks primarily to Exodus, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Amos to argue that Sabbath is resistance to anxiety, coercion, exclusivism and multitasking. There are many great insights into the frenetic and destructive nature of our daily lives and into the balance and perspective that Sabbath provides. Brueggemann contrasts the Mosaic command of Sabbath rest with the command of Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt to unceasing labour and ever-increasing production. He further draws the parallel between YHWH's example of rest, which was to be imitated by humanity, with that of the pagan gods who always demand bigger, stronger, faster, more, etc., because they are insecure and must force others down to elevate themselves. As YHWH called Israel out of a culture of slavery to the system of unending forced labour to build the Egyptian empire, so God still calls his people out of the materialistic cultural ethos of the day to rest and trust to his provision of their needs. Arguing from Deut., Isaiah and Amos, Brueggemann calls the reader to covenant "neighbourliness" rather than commoditization of people, with the ensuing enmity, constant competition, inhumanity, violence, etc., that entails. Brueggemann calls the church to reject the acquisitive nature of our culture and economy (constantly producing and acquiring more) and to return to the practice of Sabbath rest as a way of imaging YHWH and resisting the modern gods of materialism, power, violence and coercion which would enslave everyone. I agree with much of what the author has to say here, even if I think he presents a rather unbalanced picture since without an accompanying theology of work one could walk away with an unbiblical and perpetually negative view of labour, work ethic, competition, etc. Our current culture also has an unbiblical view of rest, exchanging it for leisure/pleasure, often striving frenetically so that we can waste time on empty time wasters. Hopefully this will not be the only work one reads on Sabbath. I believe that this is a much needed message for a church that is often very confused about Sabbath observance, if not completely ignorant of it. While this is certainly not all that needs to be said about the Sabbath, it is definitely valuable and often prophetic (imagine calling church families to forgo Sunday sports for worship and rest with God's people!...that's enough to get you thrown naked into a pit).
However, as Brueggemann expands on this theme, it becomes increasingly clear that he views the wealthy and powerful captains of industry, banking elite, free-market capitalists, etc., as the ones who most resemble Pharaoh and the slave-driving Egyptian gods. While he is certainly correct that very often these groups are guilty of fostering a culture of acquisitiveness and greedily demanding unending production, he fails to balance the picture with the fact that there are consumers out there who, just as greedily, continue to purchase and acquire. If modern capitalist producers are the present day Pharaohs, then modern consumers are willingly enslaved because we want the leeks and onions that Pharaoh hands out. Also, while it is wrong to steal, it is not wrong to gain wealth trough lawful trade. Brueggemann seems to look for regulations to limit the acquisitiveness of our modern society and apparently hopes redistribution of wealth will mitigate materialism, care for the needy and bring about neighbourliness as a replacement the dehumanizing commoditization of people. This seems to me to be a big blind spot in his diagnosis of the problem as well as his prescription of a solution. While he recognizes the place of Sabbath, of rest, and of trusting God to provide (in the teachings of both the the OT and NT), he seems to want government to regulate how much the wealthy classes can accumulate, how much industry is allowed to expect from labour, and hopes to thereby curb greed. But government seems to me to be the worst offender of all when it comes to commoditizing people and fostering greed. For all his talk of resistance to the traditional power structures of our society, the author seems too trusting of the biggest traditional power holder of all, socialist and redistributionist governments and their multi-layered bureaucracy of regulators. Brueggemann sees capitalism as the equivalent of Pharaonic Egypt, but it could be more accurately argued that modern socialist and centralist governments (rather than the so-called free market which actually doesn't currently exist), are the more consistent and direct comparison. Brueggemann rightly identifies covetousness as the opposite spirit to the spirit of Sabbath rest. However, more than once he speaks of those in power and those with affluence as the ones perennially guilty of covetousness and of commoditization of life and thereby trampling the rights of the needy. This is not a fair picture of the outworking of the sin of covetousness. Sometimes the very passages he quotes to argue his point, that those in power covetously prey on the poor and needy and commoditize people and creation, prove that covetousness is actually a sin that all people, regardless of socio-economic standing, are guilty of. In presenting the covetousness inherent in an acquisitive economy which tramples the "rights of the needy" Brueggemann quotes Jeremiah 6:13 and argues that the prophet is accusing the "urban leadership", "from priest to prophet", of preying on and dealing falsely with the rural agrarian populations. Jeremiah shows that it was very often the civic/spiritual leadership that, in their greed and covetousness, preyed on the people. The problem is that Brueggemann speaks as though it is only leadership and the affluent who covet, whereas Jeremiah 6:13 plainly says, "From the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely." Note the double use of "everyone". In many places which Brueggemann sees the leaders, the power holders, and the affluent as the greedy and covetous ones, the Bible sees all people as guilty of the sins of greed and covetousness. The command against covetousness and the command to keep the Sabbath were given for everyone because these are areas of sin toward which everyone is prone - "from the least of them to the greatest, everyone is greedy for unjust gain". One recalls the Israelites in their wilderness wandering, greedily remembering the onions and leeks of Egypt and wanting to trade their freedom for slavery once again because they were dissatisfied with mannah and quail. This was not the sin of the leaders but of the people. Also, once in the land, it was not just the leaders who forgot that the houses they did not build and the fields and orchards they did not plant were all a gift from God. In their complacent comfort, the whole nation forgot what God had done for them and simply accumulated and basked in their wealth, turned to idols, ignoring the wellbeing of their neighbours as they had first forgotten the mercy of God. Both in their dissatisfaction in the wilderness and in their over-stuffed comfort of the promised land, all the people fell into covetousness and greed. The sins of greed, covetousness, and lack of faith in God's ability to provide are not sins which reside only in socio-economic structures but live first and foremost in the selfish and sinful human heart. It is just as covetous and greedy for the government to look to the resources of the wealthy and want to tax them exorbitantly and redistribute the wealth as it is for wealthy captains of industry to set up unsafe factories and fill them with child labour to increase their profit margin. The poor man who plans how he can confiscate and redistribute the wealth of the "haves" is just as greedy as the rich industrialist who plans how he can increase his profit margin by abuse of the "have nots". Both men selfishly bow to the god of mammon in the liturgy of covetousness. Failing to acknowledge this leaves Brueggemann unbalanced in his critique.
So, some very good wisdom here, even though this is neither a fulsome description of what the Sabbath is (worship is barely mentioned), nor a wholistic diagnosis of the sins against the Sabbath we see in Scripture or in today's church [*It ought to be noted that the author did not intend this work to be a complete theology or praxis of Sabbath]. Neither is this a balanced prescription of how obedience to Sabbath keeping ought to look. Because the author focusses on disobedience to Sabbath rest on a communal, institutional and cultural scale (which admittedly is worthy of examination), he leans toward macro, socio-economic and regulated solutions. But greed and covetousness are fundamental to the fallen human condition and such sins, like all sin, will only be fought through the gospel of Jesus Christ and the triumph over and freedom from sin accomplished there. Brueggemann doesn't very clearly point us to the cross for individual redemption and without that there can be no true community renewal or institutional reformation. Any solution to Sabbath disobedience must begin with covenant faithfulness flowing from a grateful community of the redeemed. Turning from the gods of the age necessarily involves turning to Christ. Perhaps (hopefully) this is assumed by the author, but in a book like this (albeit brief), it needs to be clearly spelled out as the foundation which provides the basis to all else he says. While gleaning from and being informed by Jewish Sabbath practice is certainly not inconsistent with theology intended for the church, it is not clear (to this reader at least) how Brueggemann's view of Sabbath is transformed by the Christ event (or if it isn't, why not). Separated from the ultimate Sabbath rest that the Messiah brings and toward which the weekly Sabbath points, keeping Sabbath is just a work of human effort which will itself morph into an idol just as destructive as mammon. Keeping all this in mind, the church would benefit from, as part of a holistic understanding of the fourth commandment, viewing Sabbath as resistance to the false gods and the self-reliant and materialistic mindset of our age. Recommended with caveats.
Keeping Sabbath rest is a powerful witness in the midst of a culture that never seems to slow down and that is always working, always buying, always acquiring, always on the go - what the author calls a culture or economy of "acquisitiveness". Brueggemann looks primarily to Exodus, Deuteronomy, Isaiah, and Amos to argue that Sabbath is resistance to anxiety, coercion, exclusivism and multitasking. There are many great insights into the frenetic and destructive nature of our daily lives and into the balance and perspective that Sabbath provides. Brueggemann contrasts the Mosaic command of Sabbath rest with the command of Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt to unceasing labour and ever-increasing production. He further draws the parallel between YHWH's example of rest, which was to be imitated by humanity, with that of the pagan gods who always demand bigger, stronger, faster, more, etc., because they are insecure and must force others down to elevate themselves. As YHWH called Israel out of a culture of slavery to the system of unending forced labour to build the Egyptian empire, so God still calls his people out of the materialistic cultural ethos of the day to rest and trust to his provision of their needs. Arguing from Deut., Isaiah and Amos, Brueggemann calls the reader to covenant "neighbourliness" rather than commoditization of people, with the ensuing enmity, constant competition, inhumanity, violence, etc., that entails. Brueggemann calls the church to reject the acquisitive nature of our culture and economy (constantly producing and acquiring more) and to return to the practice of Sabbath rest as a way of imaging YHWH and resisting the modern gods of materialism, power, violence and coercion which would enslave everyone. I agree with much of what the author has to say here, even if I think he presents a rather unbalanced picture since without an accompanying theology of work one could walk away with an unbiblical and perpetually negative view of labour, work ethic, competition, etc. Our current culture also has an unbiblical view of rest, exchanging it for leisure/pleasure, often striving frenetically so that we can waste time on empty time wasters. Hopefully this will not be the only work one reads on Sabbath. I believe that this is a much needed message for a church that is often very confused about Sabbath observance, if not completely ignorant of it. While this is certainly not all that needs to be said about the Sabbath, it is definitely valuable and often prophetic (imagine calling church families to forgo Sunday sports for worship and rest with God's people!...that's enough to get you thrown naked into a pit).
However, as Brueggemann expands on this theme, it becomes increasingly clear that he views the wealthy and powerful captains of industry, banking elite, free-market capitalists, etc., as the ones who most resemble Pharaoh and the slave-driving Egyptian gods. While he is certainly correct that very often these groups are guilty of fostering a culture of acquisitiveness and greedily demanding unending production, he fails to balance the picture with the fact that there are consumers out there who, just as greedily, continue to purchase and acquire. If modern capitalist producers are the present day Pharaohs, then modern consumers are willingly enslaved because we want the leeks and onions that Pharaoh hands out. Also, while it is wrong to steal, it is not wrong to gain wealth trough lawful trade. Brueggemann seems to look for regulations to limit the acquisitiveness of our modern society and apparently hopes redistribution of wealth will mitigate materialism, care for the needy and bring about neighbourliness as a replacement the dehumanizing commoditization of people. This seems to me to be a big blind spot in his diagnosis of the problem as well as his prescription of a solution. While he recognizes the place of Sabbath, of rest, and of trusting God to provide (in the teachings of both the the OT and NT), he seems to want government to regulate how much the wealthy classes can accumulate, how much industry is allowed to expect from labour, and hopes to thereby curb greed. But government seems to me to be the worst offender of all when it comes to commoditizing people and fostering greed. For all his talk of resistance to the traditional power structures of our society, the author seems too trusting of the biggest traditional power holder of all, socialist and redistributionist governments and their multi-layered bureaucracy of regulators. Brueggemann sees capitalism as the equivalent of Pharaonic Egypt, but it could be more accurately argued that modern socialist and centralist governments (rather than the so-called free market which actually doesn't currently exist), are the more consistent and direct comparison. Brueggemann rightly identifies covetousness as the opposite spirit to the spirit of Sabbath rest. However, more than once he speaks of those in power and those with affluence as the ones perennially guilty of covetousness and of commoditization of life and thereby trampling the rights of the needy. This is not a fair picture of the outworking of the sin of covetousness. Sometimes the very passages he quotes to argue his point, that those in power covetously prey on the poor and needy and commoditize people and creation, prove that covetousness is actually a sin that all people, regardless of socio-economic standing, are guilty of. In presenting the covetousness inherent in an acquisitive economy which tramples the "rights of the needy" Brueggemann quotes Jeremiah 6:13 and argues that the prophet is accusing the "urban leadership", "from priest to prophet", of preying on and dealing falsely with the rural agrarian populations. Jeremiah shows that it was very often the civic/spiritual leadership that, in their greed and covetousness, preyed on the people. The problem is that Brueggemann speaks as though it is only leadership and the affluent who covet, whereas Jeremiah 6:13 plainly says, "From the least to the greatest of them, everyone is greedy for unjust gain; and from prophet to priest, everyone deals falsely." Note the double use of "everyone". In many places which Brueggemann sees the leaders, the power holders, and the affluent as the greedy and covetous ones, the Bible sees all people as guilty of the sins of greed and covetousness. The command against covetousness and the command to keep the Sabbath were given for everyone because these are areas of sin toward which everyone is prone - "from the least of them to the greatest, everyone is greedy for unjust gain". One recalls the Israelites in their wilderness wandering, greedily remembering the onions and leeks of Egypt and wanting to trade their freedom for slavery once again because they were dissatisfied with mannah and quail. This was not the sin of the leaders but of the people. Also, once in the land, it was not just the leaders who forgot that the houses they did not build and the fields and orchards they did not plant were all a gift from God. In their complacent comfort, the whole nation forgot what God had done for them and simply accumulated and basked in their wealth, turned to idols, ignoring the wellbeing of their neighbours as they had first forgotten the mercy of God. Both in their dissatisfaction in the wilderness and in their over-stuffed comfort of the promised land, all the people fell into covetousness and greed. The sins of greed, covetousness, and lack of faith in God's ability to provide are not sins which reside only in socio-economic structures but live first and foremost in the selfish and sinful human heart. It is just as covetous and greedy for the government to look to the resources of the wealthy and want to tax them exorbitantly and redistribute the wealth as it is for wealthy captains of industry to set up unsafe factories and fill them with child labour to increase their profit margin. The poor man who plans how he can confiscate and redistribute the wealth of the "haves" is just as greedy as the rich industrialist who plans how he can increase his profit margin by abuse of the "have nots". Both men selfishly bow to the god of mammon in the liturgy of covetousness. Failing to acknowledge this leaves Brueggemann unbalanced in his critique.
So, some very good wisdom here, even though this is neither a fulsome description of what the Sabbath is (worship is barely mentioned), nor a wholistic diagnosis of the sins against the Sabbath we see in Scripture or in today's church [*It ought to be noted that the author did not intend this work to be a complete theology or praxis of Sabbath]. Neither is this a balanced prescription of how obedience to Sabbath keeping ought to look. Because the author focusses on disobedience to Sabbath rest on a communal, institutional and cultural scale (which admittedly is worthy of examination), he leans toward macro, socio-economic and regulated solutions. But greed and covetousness are fundamental to the fallen human condition and such sins, like all sin, will only be fought through the gospel of Jesus Christ and the triumph over and freedom from sin accomplished there. Brueggemann doesn't very clearly point us to the cross for individual redemption and without that there can be no true community renewal or institutional reformation. Any solution to Sabbath disobedience must begin with covenant faithfulness flowing from a grateful community of the redeemed. Turning from the gods of the age necessarily involves turning to Christ. Perhaps (hopefully) this is assumed by the author, but in a book like this (albeit brief), it needs to be clearly spelled out as the foundation which provides the basis to all else he says. While gleaning from and being informed by Jewish Sabbath practice is certainly not inconsistent with theology intended for the church, it is not clear (to this reader at least) how Brueggemann's view of Sabbath is transformed by the Christ event (or if it isn't, why not). Separated from the ultimate Sabbath rest that the Messiah brings and toward which the weekly Sabbath points, keeping Sabbath is just a work of human effort which will itself morph into an idol just as destructive as mammon. Keeping all this in mind, the church would benefit from, as part of a holistic understanding of the fourth commandment, viewing Sabbath as resistance to the false gods and the self-reliant and materialistic mindset of our age. Recommended with caveats.
July 30, 2015
Brueggemann uses the Sabbath as a prism through which we understand economics and social relations and the ideological assumptions embedded in each.
“The demands of market ideology pertain as much to consumption as they do to production” (Brueggemann xii). It is “Pharaoh’s insatiable script.”
“Wherever YHWH governs as an alternative to Pharaoh, there the restfulness of YHWH effectively counters the restless anxiety of Pharaoh” (xiii).
Sabbath and the First Commandment
God is embedded in a narrative and cannot be known outside that narrative (2). The Sabbath commandment is drawn into the Exodus, whose narrative matrix is that of YHWH.
The economics of Pharaoh:
every socioeconomic system will be legitimized by some god (3).
The system is designed to create endless surplus, and thus endless storerooms.
*it makes a fetish of the market. The market generates a desire for commodities of a social value, making us want even more commodities, which takes on a life of its own.
*It creates anxiety.
*Pharaoh is anxious about the food monopoly (26).
*It is an ontology of violence (30-31).
The Sabbath is a commitment to covenant (relationship) rather than commodity (bricks). Most of the ten commandments have something to do with the horizontal “Other,” my neighbor. The economics of Pharaoh does not allow for neighborliness. The economics of the Sabbath demands it.
Thesis: “Sabbath is a bodily act of testimony to alternative and resistance to pervading values and assumptions behind those values” (21).
Resistance to Anxiety
Anxiety makes neighborliness impossible (26). God counters anxiety with neighborliness.
Resistance to Coercion
The prosperity of the land will eventually lead to two economic systems: possession or inheritance (38).
The aim of market ideology is to make us forget our rootage and to let ourselves be defined by alien expectations (39). The Sabbath makes us remember that God broke the cycle of coercive production.
Resistance to Exclusivism
Whom does Brueggemann think are the “Insiders?” Brueggemann suggests that Isaiah 56 reworks Dt 23 so that Sabbath is the criterion of membership (54). A Sabbath person is defined by justice, mercy, and compassion, and not competition, achievement, and production.
Sabbath and the Tenth Commandment
The 10th commandment rejects an attitude of “and a forced action to secure what is craved” (71). Given that the term “neighbor” occurs 3x in the commandment, it is also about preserving the neighborhood.
Brueggemann speculates, albeit with some justification, that these were agrarian peasants and the commandment ultimately applied to protecting them against urban elites, which in today’s terms meant:
*state power
*corporate wealth
*legal sharpness
*credentialed religion
In conclusion, the tenth commandment, and Sabbath-practice in general, is a safeguard for a certain way of organizing social power in the interest of the neighborhood (77).
“The demands of market ideology pertain as much to consumption as they do to production” (Brueggemann xii). It is “Pharaoh’s insatiable script.”
“Wherever YHWH governs as an alternative to Pharaoh, there the restfulness of YHWH effectively counters the restless anxiety of Pharaoh” (xiii).
Sabbath and the First Commandment
God is embedded in a narrative and cannot be known outside that narrative (2). The Sabbath commandment is drawn into the Exodus, whose narrative matrix is that of YHWH.
The economics of Pharaoh:
every socioeconomic system will be legitimized by some god (3).
The system is designed to create endless surplus, and thus endless storerooms.
*it makes a fetish of the market. The market generates a desire for commodities of a social value, making us want even more commodities, which takes on a life of its own.
*It creates anxiety.
*Pharaoh is anxious about the food monopoly (26).
*It is an ontology of violence (30-31).
The Sabbath is a commitment to covenant (relationship) rather than commodity (bricks). Most of the ten commandments have something to do with the horizontal “Other,” my neighbor. The economics of Pharaoh does not allow for neighborliness. The economics of the Sabbath demands it.
Thesis: “Sabbath is a bodily act of testimony to alternative and resistance to pervading values and assumptions behind those values” (21).
Resistance to Anxiety
Anxiety makes neighborliness impossible (26). God counters anxiety with neighborliness.
Resistance to Coercion
The prosperity of the land will eventually lead to two economic systems: possession or inheritance (38).
The aim of market ideology is to make us forget our rootage and to let ourselves be defined by alien expectations (39). The Sabbath makes us remember that God broke the cycle of coercive production.
Resistance to Exclusivism
Whom does Brueggemann think are the “Insiders?” Brueggemann suggests that Isaiah 56 reworks Dt 23 so that Sabbath is the criterion of membership (54). A Sabbath person is defined by justice, mercy, and compassion, and not competition, achievement, and production.
Sabbath and the Tenth Commandment
The 10th commandment rejects an attitude of “and a forced action to secure what is craved” (71). Given that the term “neighbor” occurs 3x in the commandment, it is also about preserving the neighborhood.
Brueggemann speculates, albeit with some justification, that these were agrarian peasants and the commandment ultimately applied to protecting them against urban elites, which in today’s terms meant:
*state power
*corporate wealth
*legal sharpness
*credentialed religion
In conclusion, the tenth commandment, and Sabbath-practice in general, is a safeguard for a certain way of organizing social power in the interest of the neighborhood (77).
April 5, 2019
Brueggemann is liberal in his approach to Scripture, and that comes out in the book, but the book is beneficial with regard to its main insight. This insight is that the Sabbath is “a visible insistence that our lives are not defined by the production and consumption of commodity goods. Such an act of resistance requires enormous intentionality and communal reinforcement amid the barrage of seductive pressures from the insatiable insistence’s of the market...It is an alternative to the demanding, chattering, pervasive presence of advertising and its great liturgical claim of professional sports that devour all our ‘rest time.’” The Sabbath prioritizes our worship of God and our trust in God, and serves as a barrier against covetousness.
May 8, 2016
Brueggemann starts off strong in making a Biblical case for the Sabbath and its importance. While there is some good paragraphs that encourage further thought and study, the book ultimately falls apart as it continues. It seems as though he argues that, if you observe the Sabbath, then you will keep from breaking the other commandments in the 10 Commandments. And yet, if you don't, you're giving yourself up to breaking the other commandments and will inevitably do so. While I understand this train of thought, I don't necessarily see the answer being the Sabbath so much as repentance unto Christ. I know Christians who do observe the Sabbath and yet continue to covet and so on. Perhaps Brueggemann would say those Christians are not truly observing the Sabbath.
I find it also odd the amount of time he spends developing chapters on the other commandments. It comes off as a bit unstructured and too broad in scope. The title of the book suggests he will discuss the Sabbath throughout and offer reasonings for it and the practical applications of it in today's society. Instead, he attempts to string the commandments together to say, "observe the sabbath" and it just doesn't work. It was also quite annoying in the amount of times Brueggemann repeated himself.
Overall, there's a few good paragraphs worthy of consideration but I can't help but believe there are superior books available on the subject that stay focused on the task at the hand and build a worthwhile defense for the Sabbath.
I find it also odd the amount of time he spends developing chapters on the other commandments. It comes off as a bit unstructured and too broad in scope. The title of the book suggests he will discuss the Sabbath throughout and offer reasonings for it and the practical applications of it in today's society. Instead, he attempts to string the commandments together to say, "observe the sabbath" and it just doesn't work. It was also quite annoying in the amount of times Brueggemann repeated himself.
Overall, there's a few good paragraphs worthy of consideration but I can't help but believe there are superior books available on the subject that stay focused on the task at the hand and build a worthwhile defense for the Sabbath.
January 31, 2020
If I felt as I read Walter Brueggemann’s Sabbath as Resistance that I didn’t loooove it, that’s probably partly because I picked it up right after finishing a book by John Walton. For me, not many authors can top Walton when writing about the Old Testament. However, Brueggemann makes some excellent points about Sabbath-keeping, in the Bible and now. The six chapters look at Sabbath particularly in light of its place in the ten commandments. Brueggemann sees the Sabbath commandment as affirming the previous three and directly connected to the following six. The book’s six chapters examine Sabbath in relation to the other commandments and as a reaction against cultural norms that, Brueggemann believes, keep us from being fully in God’s presence.
Early on, Brueggemann explains Sabbath as it was received and implemented by the Israelites. I hadn’t thought before of what a change this would have been, coming from slavery under Pharaoh that surely didn’t allow for a one-day-a-week rest. Through Sabbath, God was proving his ability to provide for his people, and he was also teaching his people about the monsters we become (like Pharaoh) when we give in to the desire for more possessions. What must that have been like for a wandering, displaced group of refugees used to a life of endless brick-making slavery?
I was especially intrigued by Brueggemann’s assertion in the final chapter, that covetousness is connected to human nature that tends toward a distinction between the “urban elites” and the “agrarian peasants.” Covetousness motivates the elites to bring their education and privilege to bear upon the possessions of the peasants, who can’t defend themselves in the elite contexts. It’s in mindfully keeping the Sabbath that we remind ourselves that we are not merely the things we own, and therefore we needn’t be controlled by the endless hunger for more during the week. I’d always regarded Sabbath as a “day of rest,” but Brueggemann points out what that might mean—not just “stopping doing stuff,” but instead training our minds and bodies to rest in God’s provision and trust him in all of life. There’s a lot to think about in this short book.
I’ll close with a quote that sums up a lot of what Brueggemann is talking about throughout the book, and that really resonated with my thinking as I read:
Early on, Brueggemann explains Sabbath as it was received and implemented by the Israelites. I hadn’t thought before of what a change this would have been, coming from slavery under Pharaoh that surely didn’t allow for a one-day-a-week rest. Through Sabbath, God was proving his ability to provide for his people, and he was also teaching his people about the monsters we become (like Pharaoh) when we give in to the desire for more possessions. What must that have been like for a wandering, displaced group of refugees used to a life of endless brick-making slavery?
I was especially intrigued by Brueggemann’s assertion in the final chapter, that covetousness is connected to human nature that tends toward a distinction between the “urban elites” and the “agrarian peasants.” Covetousness motivates the elites to bring their education and privilege to bear upon the possessions of the peasants, who can’t defend themselves in the elite contexts. It’s in mindfully keeping the Sabbath that we remind ourselves that we are not merely the things we own, and therefore we needn’t be controlled by the endless hunger for more during the week. I’d always regarded Sabbath as a “day of rest,” but Brueggemann points out what that might mean—not just “stopping doing stuff,” but instead training our minds and bodies to rest in God’s provision and trust him in all of life. There’s a lot to think about in this short book.
I’ll close with a quote that sums up a lot of what Brueggemann is talking about throughout the book, and that really resonated with my thinking as I read:
Sabbath is variously restraint, withdrawal, or divestment from the concrete practices of society that specialize in anxiety. Sabbath is an antidote to anxiety that both derives from our craving and in turn feeds those cravings for more. Sabbath is an arena in which to recognize that we live by gift and not by possession, that we are satisfied by relationships of attentive fidelity and not by amassing commodities. We know in the gospel tradition that we may indeed “gain the whole world” and lose our souls (Mark 8:34–37). Thus Sabbath is soul-receiving when we are in a posture of receptivity before our Father who knows we need them (Luke 12:30). (85)
September 23, 2022
An insightful series of essays on the Sabbath as the defining Old Testament practice of ancient Israel. Bruggemann offers a thorough and creative approach to these texts that feels incredibly relevant and applicable to modern life. He approaches the socioeconomic realities of life in the ancient world far more than merely approaching the “spiritual” implications of these texts, putting the need for Sabbath in conversation with the forces of empire, commodity, and restlessness which are alive and well in our time as well. Very much recommended!
June 12, 2024
I thought this would be a practical book on how Christians can practice the Sabbath in modern times. It really isn’t. It is a theological study of the fourth commandment and how it is intertwined with the others. A good point is how Sabbath strikes back at the culture of “commodity”, the author’s frequent term for greed/materialism. Another is that Sabbath relates to care of neighbor since the commandment is also for the foreigner and servant among Israel. However, Brueggemann chases these ideas down political and economic rabbit trails that are a stretch or unwarranted. I recommend better books on this topic.
March 10, 2020
A commentary on the Exodus and giving of the Ten Commandments that roots itself in our contemporary imagination, and is a call to leave behind the pattern of coercion that is marked by anxiety, exclusion, and multitasking.
“Do you, when you wake up in the night, remember what you were supposed to have done, vexed that you did not meet expectations? Do you fall asleep counting bricks? Do you dream of more bricks you have to make yet or if bricks you have made that were flawed? We dream so because we have forgotten the exodus!”
So important today- I wholeheartedly recommend!
“Do you, when you wake up in the night, remember what you were supposed to have done, vexed that you did not meet expectations? Do you fall asleep counting bricks? Do you dream of more bricks you have to make yet or if bricks you have made that were flawed? We dream so because we have forgotten the exodus!”
So important today- I wholeheartedly recommend!
Read
October 14, 2025This is not a knock against this book at all, but I picked this up to try to work through my Sabbath angst, and this did not scratch that itch.
Some pretty radical ideas about sabbath’s implications for wider economic systems. I want to think more about what it means to cease from multi-tasking on the Sabbath (aka stopping work but planning for how you will continue working). But alas, the Sabbath angst remains.
Some pretty radical ideas about sabbath’s implications for wider economic systems. I want to think more about what it means to cease from multi-tasking on the Sabbath (aka stopping work but planning for how you will continue working). But alas, the Sabbath angst remains.
January 11, 2022
I enjoyed Walter Brueggemann’s Out of Babylon, and when I came across this, the title alone was a great hook – the idea of the Sabbath as a form of resistance to the never-ending demands of late-stage capitalism. Brueggemann’s basic thesis is that the Fourth Commandment is not only more significant than it looks, it’s also arguably the centerpiece of the list – a bridge between Commandments 1 to 3 and 5 to 10. The book offers a concise exploration into just why God felt it necessary to stick that particular commandment in the list in the first place.
Without giving too much away, it’s not simply to celebrate the event of God “resting” on Day 7 of creation – it’s largely to do with the context of the Exodus from Egypt where the Hebrews were enslaved for 400 years, but it’s also a command to resist any economic system that demands endless non-stop work and requires immediate and ever increasing consumption. Brueggemann argues that the Sabbath offers an alternate system that in turn creates a society better enabled to fulfil God’s other commands – especially Jesus’ “first and greatest” commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.
It’s a short and interesting take, and one I am of course rather sympathetic to. Brueggemann covers a lot of bases, and makes a good case. That said, this is more of a Bible study exercise than a manifesto, and doesn't offer any concrete steps to implement this on a personal or policy level. Then again, there’s really only one step: take one day off a week and relax. You can tell your boss it’s for religious reasons.
Without giving too much away, it’s not simply to celebrate the event of God “resting” on Day 7 of creation – it’s largely to do with the context of the Exodus from Egypt where the Hebrews were enslaved for 400 years, but it’s also a command to resist any economic system that demands endless non-stop work and requires immediate and ever increasing consumption. Brueggemann argues that the Sabbath offers an alternate system that in turn creates a society better enabled to fulfil God’s other commands – especially Jesus’ “first and greatest” commandment to love your neighbor as yourself.
It’s a short and interesting take, and one I am of course rather sympathetic to. Brueggemann covers a lot of bases, and makes a good case. That said, this is more of a Bible study exercise than a manifesto, and doesn't offer any concrete steps to implement this on a personal or policy level. Then again, there’s really only one step: take one day off a week and relax. You can tell your boss it’s for religious reasons.
March 1, 2022
This book started strong with a good analysis of the Sabbath’s tie to Israel’s deliverance from slavery. I would encourage anyone to read that section, but beyond that, the book is not really about the Sabbath. It merely uses the Sabbath as a platform for a thinly veiled political stance, even quoting Karl Marx.
In reality, the book is a study of socioeconomics and materialism, which is vital to discuss in the Western church. It’s a major stumbling block for believers, but this book is more about our relationship to consumerism than our relationship with God.
Because of this, some of the biblical arguments seem stretched, and the solid exegesis that is there, becomes repetitive, returning to the same point again and again.
There’s next to nothing in this book about a healthy way to approach the Sabbath, pursuing a closer relationship with Christ in the Sabbath, or the benefits of God’s design for resting in and with Him during the Sabbath.
Although it addresses a real concern in the church, this book will not lead you to experiencing a healthy Sabbath.
In reality, the book is a study of socioeconomics and materialism, which is vital to discuss in the Western church. It’s a major stumbling block for believers, but this book is more about our relationship to consumerism than our relationship with God.
Because of this, some of the biblical arguments seem stretched, and the solid exegesis that is there, becomes repetitive, returning to the same point again and again.
There’s next to nothing in this book about a healthy way to approach the Sabbath, pursuing a closer relationship with Christ in the Sabbath, or the benefits of God’s design for resting in and with Him during the Sabbath.
Although it addresses a real concern in the church, this book will not lead you to experiencing a healthy Sabbath.
February 21, 2018
Really quite disappointing - for such a well known scholar, the exegesis is flimsy at best (I had a professor who would have written thin next to large portions of the books), he shows almost no cultural sensitivity to the ANE context, and to top it all off, the book isn't even practical (no, adding a study guide does not make it practical).
Oh, and did I mention he seems to confuse the Pharaoh of Joseph's time with the Pharaoh of Moses' time? At best, it's a deliberate obfuscation, at worst...well, he seems to have forgotten they weren't the same.
Oh, and did I mention he seems to confuse the Pharaoh of Joseph's time with the Pharaoh of Moses' time? At best, it's a deliberate obfuscation, at worst...well, he seems to have forgotten they weren't the same.
July 17, 2025
Rest in peace! I was very sad when I found out that Walter Brueggemann had died just about a month ago. He was an appreciated Biblical scholar and theologian focused on the Old Testament. He was especially well known for his understanding of prophetic work: “It is the vocation of the prophet to keep alive the ministry of imagination, to keep on conjuring and proposing future alternatives to the single one the king wants to urge as the only thinkable one”. According to this understanding, he himself can definitely be seen as a modern day prophet: he was very critical of American consumerism and nationalism.
This book is definitely not missing a certain prophetic dimension in that sense. It is a study of the concept of Sabbath in the Jewish tradition, its underlying principles and what applying them in today's world could look like.
As most readers will know, at its most basic, Sabbath can be defined as a religious ritual in Judaism in which "certain workaday activities and ordinary busyness are suspended and brought to a halt" once a week for a whole day. While Orthodox Jews are still living out this ritual in a quite radical way, according to the "letter", so to speak, Brueggemann insists more on the "spirit" of this law.
Generally he understands it as a "cultivation of inaction in body and spirit". Nowadays we are used to being on "the initiating end of all things" - we want to always be in control. In contrast to this, during Sabbath rest, one "tries to stand in the cycle of natural time, without manipulation or interference". From my personal experience I can say that this is a refreshing and needed exercise which always leaves my mind refreshed.
Even more than just a personal exercise, Sabbath has a societal dimension for Brueggemann. In our current context of market society, it serves as an act of resistance: by keeping Sabbath one is visibly insisting that our lives are not defined by the production and consumption of commodities. In some countries, such as Germany for example, this might manifest as the fact that almost all shops are closed on Sundays and maybe even in the fact that parking is free almost everywhere on Sunday here.
What Brueggemann points at is indeed a huge problem. In our consumerist society we define ourselves by what and how much we can buy. As others have pointed out, the fact that we constantly compare ourselves with each other (especially now in the age of social media), is something that keeps us busy (work more to be able to buy more) and keeps us from uniting against the exploitative powers that be (to use the expression as coined by Walter Wink). One needs only to look at the CEO-to-worker pay ration from the 1970s in comparison to today to understand that something deeply wrong has happened. While in 1970 the ratio was at about 11:1, by 2023 the average CEO of a major U.S. company earns more than 260 times what the median worker in the same company earns. I could write much more about this and how the doctrine of individualism is used to mask such injustices, but let us for now return to Brueggemann and the concept of Sabbath.
Inequality is hardly a new phenomenon, and Sabbath, according to Brueggemann, has an equalizing power: "Sabbath is the great day of equality when all are equally at rest. Not all are equal in production. Some perform much more effectively than others. Not all are equal in consumption. Some have greater access to consumer goods [...] Because this one day breaks the pattern of coercion, all are like you, equal—equal worth, equal value, equal access, equal rest."
This equality fosters what Brueggemann understands as the final purpose of Sabbath: the creation of the "neighborly reality of the community beloved by God", which can be understood, among other things, as an environment of security, respect, dignity and love.
I want to end the review with one final quote from the book which sums up the problem again, and thus indicates why the idea of Sabbath is still prophetically potent, even if each one of us might find his or her own way of practicing it: "Indeed, our consumer society is grounded in the generation of artificial desires, readily transposed into urgent needs. The always-emerging new desires and new needs create a restless striving that sets neighbor against neighbor in order to get ahead, to have an advantage, and to accumulate at the expense of the other. The power of such a compulsion to 'get,' of course, negates neighborly possibility."
This book is definitely not missing a certain prophetic dimension in that sense. It is a study of the concept of Sabbath in the Jewish tradition, its underlying principles and what applying them in today's world could look like.
As most readers will know, at its most basic, Sabbath can be defined as a religious ritual in Judaism in which "certain workaday activities and ordinary busyness are suspended and brought to a halt" once a week for a whole day. While Orthodox Jews are still living out this ritual in a quite radical way, according to the "letter", so to speak, Brueggemann insists more on the "spirit" of this law.
Generally he understands it as a "cultivation of inaction in body and spirit". Nowadays we are used to being on "the initiating end of all things" - we want to always be in control. In contrast to this, during Sabbath rest, one "tries to stand in the cycle of natural time, without manipulation or interference". From my personal experience I can say that this is a refreshing and needed exercise which always leaves my mind refreshed.
Even more than just a personal exercise, Sabbath has a societal dimension for Brueggemann. In our current context of market society, it serves as an act of resistance: by keeping Sabbath one is visibly insisting that our lives are not defined by the production and consumption of commodities. In some countries, such as Germany for example, this might manifest as the fact that almost all shops are closed on Sundays and maybe even in the fact that parking is free almost everywhere on Sunday here.
What Brueggemann points at is indeed a huge problem. In our consumerist society we define ourselves by what and how much we can buy. As others have pointed out, the fact that we constantly compare ourselves with each other (especially now in the age of social media), is something that keeps us busy (work more to be able to buy more) and keeps us from uniting against the exploitative powers that be (to use the expression as coined by Walter Wink). One needs only to look at the CEO-to-worker pay ration from the 1970s in comparison to today to understand that something deeply wrong has happened. While in 1970 the ratio was at about 11:1, by 2023 the average CEO of a major U.S. company earns more than 260 times what the median worker in the same company earns. I could write much more about this and how the doctrine of individualism is used to mask such injustices, but let us for now return to Brueggemann and the concept of Sabbath.
Inequality is hardly a new phenomenon, and Sabbath, according to Brueggemann, has an equalizing power: "Sabbath is the great day of equality when all are equally at rest. Not all are equal in production. Some perform much more effectively than others. Not all are equal in consumption. Some have greater access to consumer goods [...] Because this one day breaks the pattern of coercion, all are like you, equal—equal worth, equal value, equal access, equal rest."
This equality fosters what Brueggemann understands as the final purpose of Sabbath: the creation of the "neighborly reality of the community beloved by God", which can be understood, among other things, as an environment of security, respect, dignity and love.
I want to end the review with one final quote from the book which sums up the problem again, and thus indicates why the idea of Sabbath is still prophetically potent, even if each one of us might find his or her own way of practicing it: "Indeed, our consumer society is grounded in the generation of artificial desires, readily transposed into urgent needs. The always-emerging new desires and new needs create a restless striving that sets neighbor against neighbor in order to get ahead, to have an advantage, and to accumulate at the expense of the other. The power of such a compulsion to 'get,' of course, negates neighborly possibility."
July 25, 2021
Put down the phone! Celebrate time stoppage!
Brueggemann slams this one down the throats of all would-be multitaskers and complex world lovers that we are with this unbelievable treatise on Sabbath as a theological and socio-economic resistance to the “Egypt / Pharaoh esche” workaholic, commoditization-driven economy they lived in then and we live in today.
We think we trade money for phones or money for fuel, but what we are actually doing most of the time, is against YHWH’s beautiful order of creation and especially his initiative for wholistic Sabbath rest from work for the people of God.
This book is FAR from the cutsie book around Sabbath, written by the billionaire pastor flying from island to island encouraging you to rest.
This is THE Biblical exposition on the fourth commandment, and it’s requirements and expectations around the neighbors we see and don’t see, and the “neighborhoods” we inhabit in the world today.
This book will change you, shift viewpoints and radically alter your perspectives on Sabbath and what Shalom really looks like to Jesus. Go for it.
Brueggemann slams this one down the throats of all would-be multitaskers and complex world lovers that we are with this unbelievable treatise on Sabbath as a theological and socio-economic resistance to the “Egypt / Pharaoh esche” workaholic, commoditization-driven economy they lived in then and we live in today.
We think we trade money for phones or money for fuel, but what we are actually doing most of the time, is against YHWH’s beautiful order of creation and especially his initiative for wholistic Sabbath rest from work for the people of God.
This book is FAR from the cutsie book around Sabbath, written by the billionaire pastor flying from island to island encouraging you to rest.
This is THE Biblical exposition on the fourth commandment, and it’s requirements and expectations around the neighbors we see and don’t see, and the “neighborhoods” we inhabit in the world today.
This book will change you, shift viewpoints and radically alter your perspectives on Sabbath and what Shalom really looks like to Jesus. Go for it.
August 2, 2022
2022 bk 218. I wish I had read this as part of a book discussion group. This book pushed for thoughtful consideration of the meaning and practice of sabbath, not just as a day of rest and worship. Brueggemann's interpretation of the sabbath of a means to resist the consumerism, the busyness of our modern lives, the intrusion of all things meant to keep us from the love of God are best considered in a group. Even so, I will still carry some questions from the book into my own life about how I keep the Sabbath.
December 31, 2022
Books about spiritual practices have to walk the fine line between being overly academic and being too prescriptive/legalistic. This short little book offers a beautiful picture of why we Sabbath and left room for me to imagine how to implement the practice of Sabbath in my own life.
“Sabbath is an antidote to anxiety…[it] is an arena in which to recognize that we live by gift and not by possession, that we are satisfied by relationships of attentive fidelity and not by amassing commodities.”
“Sabbath is an antidote to anxiety…[it] is an arena in which to recognize that we live by gift and not by possession, that we are satisfied by relationships of attentive fidelity and not by amassing commodities.”
August 6, 2019
This is a wonderful book that I highly recommend. It offers a very helpful way of thinking about Sabbath and its meaning for our relationship with God and our lives today. It fits very well with Brueggemann's Prophetic Imagination and has a study section if you wish to use it for a religious education course.
August 14, 2021
Recently, I’ve been more intentional about living a life of restfulness. Sabbath as Resistance has only enhanced and enriched my journey towards restful living.
The author is not only a masterful expositor of the texts, but also a soul who knows the heart of the Father. So many quotes. So many lessons. So many moments of awe and wonder.
If you, like me, have the tendency to allow the pursuit of more steal your joy, I totally recommend this book.
The author is not only a masterful expositor of the texts, but also a soul who knows the heart of the Father. So many quotes. So many lessons. So many moments of awe and wonder.
If you, like me, have the tendency to allow the pursuit of more steal your joy, I totally recommend this book.
January 2, 2023
I'll probably need to read this one twice. I would recommend reading s.g. chapter and then the book chapter to get more out of it. It took a while to get into this one. I'll call it a 3+ for now. The word acquisitiveness will stick with me. I did like the prayers opening each chapter of the study guide.
March 27, 2025
This is an important, paradigm-shifting book! In just 90 pages, Brueggemann demonstrates that the practice of Sabbath keeping is crucial for Christians as an act of resistance to a culture obsessed with production and consumption and an alternative that enables us instead to live in a culture of neighborliness. As I followed his case for how the other commandments hinge on our practice of rest/work stoppage, I felt grieved for how deeply our culture is entrenched in consumerism, viewing people as commodities for profit instead of relating to one another as beloved neighbors. This was a perfect read for the season of Lent and moved me into a space of lament.
July 23, 2025
A short but intense treatment on the sabbath. Some elements were challenging and deeply scriptural, but also from a slight more liberal viewpoint.
July 8, 2018
As a Seventh-day Adventist I've practiced Sabbath-keeping for my entire life, from sundown Friday to sundown Saturday, at some times better than others, but it has been a fixture within my life, requiring me to ask for different exam schedules during University, and not attending friends birthday parties as a child. I've heard dozens of sermons preached on the Sabbath, but I don't know that I've ever heard or read something quite like this book.
In my memory most of the sermons I've heard on the Sabbath focus on the covenant with God to worship, and the benefits of rest to the individual. This book incorporates both of those things, but it goes beyond those things, to look at the Sabbath as a community practice - something that is not just an individual practice, but is also a community neighborlyness - and it feel bizarre to me that nearly four decades into my life, this idea should be so new.
Walter Brueggemann presented something that in this present moment feels like the sort of life-breathing air. Connecting the Ten Commandments to the cultural context of Pharoah and the Slaves coming out of Egypt, he looks at the Sabbath in light of the worldly tendency towards productivity and as a be all and end all and the end result makes Sabbath feel radical in all of the ways that it both was and wasn't to me at a child. Rather than 'don't go swimming on Sabbath', this look at 'Keep the Sabbath Day' promotes not just the rest and worship of Sabbath, but also suggests a worldview that goes deeper than worship on the Sabbath day, and feels like a resistance that is truly against the productivity measured, acquisition driven, 'if you're rich you've been blessed' society that we live in.
I read a library copy, but I want to pick up my own and dig into ways I could make this practice in my own life.
In my memory most of the sermons I've heard on the Sabbath focus on the covenant with God to worship, and the benefits of rest to the individual. This book incorporates both of those things, but it goes beyond those things, to look at the Sabbath as a community practice - something that is not just an individual practice, but is also a community neighborlyness - and it feel bizarre to me that nearly four decades into my life, this idea should be so new.
Walter Brueggemann presented something that in this present moment feels like the sort of life-breathing air. Connecting the Ten Commandments to the cultural context of Pharoah and the Slaves coming out of Egypt, he looks at the Sabbath in light of the worldly tendency towards productivity and as a be all and end all and the end result makes Sabbath feel radical in all of the ways that it both was and wasn't to me at a child. Rather than 'don't go swimming on Sabbath', this look at 'Keep the Sabbath Day' promotes not just the rest and worship of Sabbath, but also suggests a worldview that goes deeper than worship on the Sabbath day, and feels like a resistance that is truly against the productivity measured, acquisition driven, 'if you're rich you've been blessed' society that we live in.
I read a library copy, but I want to pick up my own and dig into ways I could make this practice in my own life.
April 7, 2019
“Sabbath as Resistance” is an apt title. This book is really a nonviolent call to arms–to resist the powers and principalities of consumerism and hostility that have always been engrained in every age. There were moments while reading this book where I could feel the falseness of this present world, and I would have to simply look around for a while just to take it all in. The sinister forces that keep people independent from one another in implicit rivalry are once again named and denounced in this book. And I felt equipped to be more neighbourly as a matter of militant practice. I would even recommend this book to staunch atheists - there is staunch wisdom here. The world would be a better place if we all told Pharaoh, “No More Bricks.”
November 1, 2014
Sabbath as Resistance (2014) calls on us to abandon our slavery to modern capitalism and consumerism, embracing instead a trusting attitude towards a God who takes care of our daily needs. Brueggemann writes, “I have found this study to be an important existential one for me. I know about the restless anxiety of not yet having done enough.” To put that in context, Sabbath as Resistance is one of six books this retired theology professor has published this year alone.
See my full review here: http://wordsbecamebooks.com/2014/11/0...
See my full review here: http://wordsbecamebooks.com/2014/11/0...
January 12, 2018
This book was pretty short but VERY dense. At one point I was giving myself a hard time because I hadn’t finished it yet, and I was a couple weeks into 2018 and hadn’t finished a book yet.
Now, I am content with how fast I read it, because it’s jam packed with information and wisdom. I think I still skimmed some parts more than I should have..
It was actually a great book to begin 2018 with, because it sets the tone of rethinking your life in terms of the Sabbath. A great quote of the book says, “when you keep the Sabbath, you live all seven days differently.”
Now, I am content with how fast I read it, because it’s jam packed with information and wisdom. I think I still skimmed some parts more than I should have..
It was actually a great book to begin 2018 with, because it sets the tone of rethinking your life in terms of the Sabbath. A great quote of the book says, “when you keep the Sabbath, you live all seven days differently.”
August 26, 2019
This slim volume is made up of 6 chapters. Chapters 1-3 were amazing. Brueggemann stayed with the text of Scripture and made fascinating connections and applications. However, by the end of chapter 3, he seemed to have used up his best ideas. The remainder of the book struck me as repetitious and, unfortunately, politically partisan.
November 10, 2017
I read this book, a birthday present fom my son Michael, while flying to Clevelad for the Common Global Ministries Fall 2017 meetings. Why not get closer to God while a citizen of the City in the Sky, part of the one million people in flight at any given moment in time? Walter Brueggemann is one of my favorite theologians, an elder statesman of the United Church of Christ. In under 100 pages, he insightfully lays out the case for Sabbath observance as a revolutionary act, an act of resistance against the 24/7/365, BUY NOW culture of ceaseless activity and endless greed in which we live in 21st century America.
Brueggemann is a noted Hebrew Scriptures scholar. His analysis of the socio-economic realities surrounding the commandment to cease work on the seventh day reveals the depth and breadth of his knowledge of the ancient Hebrew texts. He makes a compelling case that the fourth commandment (Sabbath rest) is tied directly to the following six commandments, especially the tenth commandment, which prohibits coveting anything belonging to one's neighbor. We rest from labor associated with amassing wealth so that we might be good neighbors in community. We take time to remember that we are God's holy people--people who do not murder or steal or lie or cheat on our marriages; people who do not covet our neighbors' goods.
Brueggemann also ties Sabbath rest to the Gospels and the Epistles. He is nothing if not thorough in his research and exposition of the way the theme of Sabbath observance is woven into Christian practise. He distinguishes authentic Sabbath keeping from the negative, rule bound version common in the American church in the past three centuries. It is not about refraining from dancing or playing cards. It is about life-affirming forms of resistance, including resistance to anxiety, coercion, exclusiveism, and multitasking. Each item of resistance listed is a chapter in this book. According to Brueggemann, we resist making more bricks for Pharoah's pyramids so that we can build community with our neighbors in ways that feed our souls. I particularly appreciated the analogy he makes between the royal pyramids of Egypt and the current socio-economic hierarchy in which the 99% work to support the live styles of the wealthiest 1%. It occurred to me that there is a pyramid on the U.S. dollar bill. It was not put there as a symbol of unending greed, but it can serve as such.
I highly recommend Sabbath as Resistance--Saying No to the Culture of Now.
Brueggemann is a noted Hebrew Scriptures scholar. His analysis of the socio-economic realities surrounding the commandment to cease work on the seventh day reveals the depth and breadth of his knowledge of the ancient Hebrew texts. He makes a compelling case that the fourth commandment (Sabbath rest) is tied directly to the following six commandments, especially the tenth commandment, which prohibits coveting anything belonging to one's neighbor. We rest from labor associated with amassing wealth so that we might be good neighbors in community. We take time to remember that we are God's holy people--people who do not murder or steal or lie or cheat on our marriages; people who do not covet our neighbors' goods.
Brueggemann also ties Sabbath rest to the Gospels and the Epistles. He is nothing if not thorough in his research and exposition of the way the theme of Sabbath observance is woven into Christian practise. He distinguishes authentic Sabbath keeping from the negative, rule bound version common in the American church in the past three centuries. It is not about refraining from dancing or playing cards. It is about life-affirming forms of resistance, including resistance to anxiety, coercion, exclusiveism, and multitasking. Each item of resistance listed is a chapter in this book. According to Brueggemann, we resist making more bricks for Pharoah's pyramids so that we can build community with our neighbors in ways that feed our souls. I particularly appreciated the analogy he makes between the royal pyramids of Egypt and the current socio-economic hierarchy in which the 99% work to support the live styles of the wealthiest 1%. It occurred to me that there is a pyramid on the U.S. dollar bill. It was not put there as a symbol of unending greed, but it can serve as such.
I highly recommend Sabbath as Resistance--Saying No to the Culture of Now.
December 16, 2024
Got put on Brueggemann by Pádraig Ó Tuama. I see why! Very satisfying, sharp readings in/on/around the sabbath. Really, this book centers on the ten Sinai commandments. It's just that Brueggemann argues (rightly I think) that the fourth commandment to the sabbath is the core of the ten. To him, the sabbath enables and grounds the other nine. Most enlightening is his articulation of sabbath as divestment from commodity consumption/production. If sabbath is restfulness, then its opposite is restlessness. Brueggemann locates evidence for this reading by contextualizing the other 9 commandments. The first three involve singular worship of God. The latter six involve neighborliness and community. The sabbath underpins both insofar as it is incommensurate with a culture of commodity. If you worship commodity, you cannot worship God; if you are driven by commodity, you will undercut and destroy community instead of building it.
While at times this books repeats and slows down, it's short, and was originally published online in different venues, I think. The joy of the book for me was seeing well-worn biblical stories take a radical edge under Brueggemann's analysis. I'll give one example.
The Pharoah of Exodus was forcing the enslaved Hebrews to make bricks because he needed to store surplus grain. There was no rest, no human care--at multiple points, people were instructed they would have to find their own straw for bricks but still be required to deliver the same amount. And all of this for storage silos for surplus grain that is functionally nothing more a symbol of wealth. It's so resonant! While reading a passage from Alice Driver's book on Tyson literally came to mind, the one where Tyson supervisors told employees during 2020 they were "feeding the country" as they worked long hours in extremely unsafe (covid and otherwise) conditions. Meanwhile the chicken was being sold abroad!
While at times this books repeats and slows down, it's short, and was originally published online in different venues, I think. The joy of the book for me was seeing well-worn biblical stories take a radical edge under Brueggemann's analysis. I'll give one example.
The Pharoah of Exodus was forcing the enslaved Hebrews to make bricks because he needed to store surplus grain. There was no rest, no human care--at multiple points, people were instructed they would have to find their own straw for bricks but still be required to deliver the same amount. And all of this for storage silos for surplus grain that is functionally nothing more a symbol of wealth. It's so resonant! While reading a passage from Alice Driver's book on Tyson literally came to mind, the one where Tyson supervisors told employees during 2020 they were "feeding the country" as they worked long hours in extremely unsafe (covid and otherwise) conditions. Meanwhile the chicken was being sold abroad!
December 31, 2020
In this stunning examination of the social justice implications of Sabbath, Brueggemann speaks simultaneously with the intensity and clarity of a prophet and with the tenderhearted concern of a pastor for the more complete flourishing of God's people.
He begins by demonstrating that in issuing the Sabbath commandment, God sets himself up as an explicit alternative to the obsessive production system of Pharaoh. His people can trust him to provide enough, rather than constantly working for more and more in a context in which even those at the top can never rest from the anxiety of accumulation. Not only that, he links Sabbath to the first and second commandments against idolatry, insisting that objectification - whether of God or of others - destroys the relational in favor of a focus on instrumentality and personal gain. In allowing us to gain distance from the achievement-oriented economy that isolates us, Sabbath offers us the opportunity to remember that we are rooted in community, and that seeking the common good is what will ultimately lead to our own fulfillment. This transformation requires a new approach - one in which resources are not personal possessions to be commodified, but a shared inheritance to be stewarded. It's not enough to take a break from capitalism once a week; we need, in Brueggemann's words, to "seven" our lives because Sabbath is "an occasion for reimagining all social life away from coercion and competition to compassionate solidarity." It is only when we carry God's restfulness and our reliance on His economy into the rest of our lives, when we work to ensure that everyone has access to this restfulness on an equal basis, that we will rediscover our own dignity and identity as God's people in an enhanced relationship with Him and with one another.
This book is an essential read for anyone who wants to live in a way that shows God's heart to the world.
He begins by demonstrating that in issuing the Sabbath commandment, God sets himself up as an explicit alternative to the obsessive production system of Pharaoh. His people can trust him to provide enough, rather than constantly working for more and more in a context in which even those at the top can never rest from the anxiety of accumulation. Not only that, he links Sabbath to the first and second commandments against idolatry, insisting that objectification - whether of God or of others - destroys the relational in favor of a focus on instrumentality and personal gain. In allowing us to gain distance from the achievement-oriented economy that isolates us, Sabbath offers us the opportunity to remember that we are rooted in community, and that seeking the common good is what will ultimately lead to our own fulfillment. This transformation requires a new approach - one in which resources are not personal possessions to be commodified, but a shared inheritance to be stewarded. It's not enough to take a break from capitalism once a week; we need, in Brueggemann's words, to "seven" our lives because Sabbath is "an occasion for reimagining all social life away from coercion and competition to compassionate solidarity." It is only when we carry God's restfulness and our reliance on His economy into the rest of our lives, when we work to ensure that everyone has access to this restfulness on an equal basis, that we will rediscover our own dignity and identity as God's people in an enhanced relationship with Him and with one another.
This book is an essential read for anyone who wants to live in a way that shows God's heart to the world.
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