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The Prophetic Imagination
In this challenging and enlightening treatment, Brueggemann traces the lines from the radical vision of Moses to the solidification of royal power in Solomon to the prophetic critique of that power with a new vision of freedom in the prophets. Here he traces the broad sweep from Exodus to Kings to Jeremiah to Jesus. He highlights that the prophetic vision and not only embraces the pain of the people but creates an energy and amazement based on the new thing that God is doing.
151 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1978
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About the author
Walter Brueggemann
312 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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Displaying 1 - 30 of 337 reviews
May 20, 2013
It is almost cliche to say that our world has been numbed into apathy about a great many things, spirituality included. If fact, I believe it would be fair to say that many Christians have found their faith to be drained of mysticism and imagination. Taught that mysticism is evil or somehow against the Bible (untrue), evangelicals exhibit the same kind of legalism we point out in others. Services become a matter of "stand, sit, pray, sit, stand, [perhaps raise hands], sit, stand, listen to preacher and study the word like a textbook". My take could sound a bit harsh, but perhaps the urgency of needing new hope, a new language of hope, a new prophetic voice of compassion in a world that allows apathy to endure legalism is the better point I'm trying to make. Brueggeman opens wide the doors of heart, mind, body and soul so that believers can accept new breath from God into their lives. Challenging the dominant culture, he pokes into places taboo and pries into our social conscious an unconscious to become a true holy irritant.
January 14, 2022
This book will be headed straight for the "every student must read" list. The list is short and doesn't necessarily contain my personal favorite books, but the books that are so helpful, so resourceful, that I cant imagine being a serious student and not engaging it. I have seen this book on so many bibliographies and heard it referenced so much, and now I know why.
In typical Brueggemann fashion, he has taken a short and concise read and power-packed it with meaning and things to consider. The book is "easy to read" and consume, but is also dense with subject matter and still likely comes in at a higher grade level for comprehension. It certainly is coming from a more academic perspective.
Yet the book is not solely aimed at the study of the prophetic. In a way that rivals Heschel, Brueggemann has truly taken time to consider who the prophet is and what the prophet does. But he also conducts this conversation in a way that begs us to consideration the implications for our world and what prophetic imagination we may need today. The book is one part study, one part reflection/application, and one part road map and is a must-read for any leader hoping to take the Text effectively into a [church]world that needs badly to be changed.
In typical Brueggemann fashion, he has taken a short and concise read and power-packed it with meaning and things to consider. The book is "easy to read" and consume, but is also dense with subject matter and still likely comes in at a higher grade level for comprehension. It certainly is coming from a more academic perspective.
Yet the book is not solely aimed at the study of the prophetic. In a way that rivals Heschel, Brueggemann has truly taken time to consider who the prophet is and what the prophet does. But he also conducts this conversation in a way that begs us to consideration the implications for our world and what prophetic imagination we may need today. The book is one part study, one part reflection/application, and one part road map and is a must-read for any leader hoping to take the Text effectively into a [church]world that needs badly to be changed.
January 18, 2010
I had a lot of trouble with this book. I wanted to like it given how many people in so many corners have commended it to me. And there is true insight here, but I feel those insights are concealed by a theological project that cannot be maintained. Suffice it to say that when I read the prophets I do not see what he sees. This is likely my own failing, and if he is right I want to know it.
Nevertheless, his position is that the Kingship in Israel was a step backwards from the Mosaic "revolution" and that the Prophets and then later Jesus called Israel away from Kingship back to the original vision of Moses. An interesting thought for sure, and an intriguing one, but I was left unconvinced. I was thus unconvinced in three areas, 1) Kingship as regression, 2) affluence is bad, 3) the social vision of the Prophets.
(1) As regards the first, that the Kingship in Israel as a regression from the Mosaic establishment, I cannot but think Bruggermann is missing the big picture. He regards all Kingship, Kingship in itself, as bad. He tells us that "by the time of Solomon in 962 . . . there was a radical shift in the foundations of Israel's life and faith. . . . the shift has no doubt begun and been encouraged by David . . . the entire program of Solomon now appears to have been self-serving achievement with its sole purpose the self-securing of king and dynasty" (pp. 30) and goes so far as to claim that the "Jerusalem temple" was "surely the Canaanization of Israel" (31). Strong and, most importantly, universal claims.
It was not the sinful Solomon of later life that did these things, but Solomon from beginning to end. How this is squared with clear Scriptural testimony to the contrary is beyond me, for Bruggermann never addresses the fact that building the Jerusalem temple was God's idea in the first place (2 Sam. 7). Wisdom, at least in Solomon, according to Bruggermann, is "an effort to rationalize reality, i.e., to package it in manageable portions" (31). This simply is not the case. Granting the fact that Solomon was a fan of wisdom, the portrayal of Wisdom personified in Proverbs is completely positive, and nowhere else in the Bible can be found the slightest suggestion that this presentation of her is wrong. Further, wisdom was always encouraged by God, and in fact Solomon's achievement of wisdom is not a regression away from the Mosaic institution, but is instead its fulfillment (Deut 4:6; 34;9; 2 Sam. 14:20).
Further still, Solomon's request for wisdom is portrayed positively and his wisdom is said to be governing Israel to "do justice" (1 Kings 3:28). In the narrative, Solomon is the first fulfillment of the Abrahamic promises, something which Bruggermann quotes but apparently does not realize. He quotes 1 Kings 4:20-23, which includes mention of "Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea," a clear allusion back to God's promise to Abraham (Gen. 22:17-18). This passage in Genesis also says that through Abraham "shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice" (22:18). This too finds its first fulfillment in Solomon, whose wisdom was greater and more famous than any in the Gentile worlds (1 Kings 4:30-31); his wisdom brings the glory of the Gentiles in, a direct fulfillment of the promise to Abraham (1 Kings 4:34). Far from being a regression, Solomon's reign is a fulfillment of the older order.
(2) Bruggermann's second point to which I object is that affluence is bad. It is, however, necessary to temper my point here by saying that obviously an affluence which is self-serving and inwardly focused is no good - but to say that is to say no more than what God Himself has said. There is nothing wrong with wealth and riches and affluence, but when affluence becomes consumerism, then the problem begins and then my own denunciations are initiated. To establish the (obviously evil) affluence of Israel, Bruggermann quotes 1 Kings 4:20-23 and notes that "never before had there been enough consumer goods to remove the anxiety about survival" (32), and apparently our response to this terrible state of affairs is to shake our heads sadly and say "darn!" It really is too bad the "world of scarcity" (32) and daily struggles for survival that exemplified the "counter-culture of Moses" (32) have been eliminated. He does not seem to understand that the two incidents he points out (manna from heaven and unleavened bread - taking only what is needed for the basest of survivals) were both incidents as Israel wandered futilely in the desert as punishment for cowardice. Scraping for survival is not conducive to domesticating the world (taking dominion) or the advancement of culture.
Bruggermann also clearly believes in the zero-sum fallacy, arguing that "eating that well means food is being taken off the tale of another" (33). This too is not true, for the text clearly tells us that this great affluence was among "every man" of Israel: "every man under his vine and under his fig tree" had safety (1 Kings 4:25), telling us they had their own properties and gardens. Not only, but "all who came to King Solomon's table, each one in his month. They let nothing be lacking" (1 Kings 4:27), and all Israel "ate and drank and were happy" (1 Kings 4:20). The whole land dwelt in peace and safety (1 Kings 4:24). This is not a narrative of evil consumerism. These are clear fulfillments of the promised blessings for faithfulness given to . . . Moses (Deut. 28). Notice how much affluence God promises to Moses, by the way; if Israel is faithful God will bestow her with economic affluence and political influence (Deut. 28:4-5, 8, 10-13), just as came about under Solomon's reign. The writer of Kings is clearly alluding back to Moses and Abraham in depicting the rise of Solomon's kingdom. Nevertheless, all of this wealth was a temptation, and thus God warned Israel through Moses (!) that the riches they will aquire could be their downfall if they were not received in faith (Deut. 8:17-18), and it is precisely this that Solomon forgets later in his reign. If we relegate some of Bruggermann's comments on the dangers of affluence to the sinful end of Solomon's reign, then I can begin to agree with him more. It is not kingship that is sinful, but rather sinful kingship; it is not affluence, but ungrateful affluence that is evil. We must not forget to share with one another in our bounty (2 Cor. 8:13-14) in an imitation of the self-giving of the Triune fellowship.
(3) Bruggermann's reading of the prophets, I think, also loses sight of what they were really getting at. They were not pre-modern hippies, wandering around spreading alternative communities, subversive narratives, and anti-imperial sermons. They were not criticising the Kingship as such, nor were they there to give the people hope (in fact, most of the time just the opposite). Rather, the prophets came to announce to Israel their sin before God by going after other gods, playing the harlot to God-their-husband, revealing their liturgical and corruptions, and laying before them their sins. They were God's covenantal lawyers bringing to bear upon Israel the lawsuit of the covenant (much as I loath the law-categories). Insofar as Bruggermann emphasizes elements that come as part of the rejection and turning from (mostly) liturgical (but also social, it must be admitted) sin is to the extent that he has confused the prophetic role in my estimation.
Happy to be corrected, of course.
Nevertheless, his position is that the Kingship in Israel was a step backwards from the Mosaic "revolution" and that the Prophets and then later Jesus called Israel away from Kingship back to the original vision of Moses. An interesting thought for sure, and an intriguing one, but I was left unconvinced. I was thus unconvinced in three areas, 1) Kingship as regression, 2) affluence is bad, 3) the social vision of the Prophets.
(1) As regards the first, that the Kingship in Israel as a regression from the Mosaic establishment, I cannot but think Bruggermann is missing the big picture. He regards all Kingship, Kingship in itself, as bad. He tells us that "by the time of Solomon in 962 . . . there was a radical shift in the foundations of Israel's life and faith. . . . the shift has no doubt begun and been encouraged by David . . . the entire program of Solomon now appears to have been self-serving achievement with its sole purpose the self-securing of king and dynasty" (pp. 30) and goes so far as to claim that the "Jerusalem temple" was "surely the Canaanization of Israel" (31). Strong and, most importantly, universal claims.
It was not the sinful Solomon of later life that did these things, but Solomon from beginning to end. How this is squared with clear Scriptural testimony to the contrary is beyond me, for Bruggermann never addresses the fact that building the Jerusalem temple was God's idea in the first place (2 Sam. 7). Wisdom, at least in Solomon, according to Bruggermann, is "an effort to rationalize reality, i.e., to package it in manageable portions" (31). This simply is not the case. Granting the fact that Solomon was a fan of wisdom, the portrayal of Wisdom personified in Proverbs is completely positive, and nowhere else in the Bible can be found the slightest suggestion that this presentation of her is wrong. Further, wisdom was always encouraged by God, and in fact Solomon's achievement of wisdom is not a regression away from the Mosaic institution, but is instead its fulfillment (Deut 4:6; 34;9; 2 Sam. 14:20).
Further still, Solomon's request for wisdom is portrayed positively and his wisdom is said to be governing Israel to "do justice" (1 Kings 3:28). In the narrative, Solomon is the first fulfillment of the Abrahamic promises, something which Bruggermann quotes but apparently does not realize. He quotes 1 Kings 4:20-23, which includes mention of "Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea," a clear allusion back to God's promise to Abraham (Gen. 22:17-18). This passage in Genesis also says that through Abraham "shall all the nations of the earth be blessed, because you have obeyed my voice" (22:18). This too finds its first fulfillment in Solomon, whose wisdom was greater and more famous than any in the Gentile worlds (1 Kings 4:30-31); his wisdom brings the glory of the Gentiles in, a direct fulfillment of the promise to Abraham (1 Kings 4:34). Far from being a regression, Solomon's reign is a fulfillment of the older order.
(2) Bruggermann's second point to which I object is that affluence is bad. It is, however, necessary to temper my point here by saying that obviously an affluence which is self-serving and inwardly focused is no good - but to say that is to say no more than what God Himself has said. There is nothing wrong with wealth and riches and affluence, but when affluence becomes consumerism, then the problem begins and then my own denunciations are initiated. To establish the (obviously evil) affluence of Israel, Bruggermann quotes 1 Kings 4:20-23 and notes that "never before had there been enough consumer goods to remove the anxiety about survival" (32), and apparently our response to this terrible state of affairs is to shake our heads sadly and say "darn!" It really is too bad the "world of scarcity" (32) and daily struggles for survival that exemplified the "counter-culture of Moses" (32) have been eliminated. He does not seem to understand that the two incidents he points out (manna from heaven and unleavened bread - taking only what is needed for the basest of survivals) were both incidents as Israel wandered futilely in the desert as punishment for cowardice. Scraping for survival is not conducive to domesticating the world (taking dominion) or the advancement of culture.
Bruggermann also clearly believes in the zero-sum fallacy, arguing that "eating that well means food is being taken off the tale of another" (33). This too is not true, for the text clearly tells us that this great affluence was among "every man" of Israel: "every man under his vine and under his fig tree" had safety (1 Kings 4:25), telling us they had their own properties and gardens. Not only, but "all who came to King Solomon's table, each one in his month. They let nothing be lacking" (1 Kings 4:27), and all Israel "ate and drank and were happy" (1 Kings 4:20). The whole land dwelt in peace and safety (1 Kings 4:24). This is not a narrative of evil consumerism. These are clear fulfillments of the promised blessings for faithfulness given to . . . Moses (Deut. 28). Notice how much affluence God promises to Moses, by the way; if Israel is faithful God will bestow her with economic affluence and political influence (Deut. 28:4-5, 8, 10-13), just as came about under Solomon's reign. The writer of Kings is clearly alluding back to Moses and Abraham in depicting the rise of Solomon's kingdom. Nevertheless, all of this wealth was a temptation, and thus God warned Israel through Moses (!) that the riches they will aquire could be their downfall if they were not received in faith (Deut. 8:17-18), and it is precisely this that Solomon forgets later in his reign. If we relegate some of Bruggermann's comments on the dangers of affluence to the sinful end of Solomon's reign, then I can begin to agree with him more. It is not kingship that is sinful, but rather sinful kingship; it is not affluence, but ungrateful affluence that is evil. We must not forget to share with one another in our bounty (2 Cor. 8:13-14) in an imitation of the self-giving of the Triune fellowship.
(3) Bruggermann's reading of the prophets, I think, also loses sight of what they were really getting at. They were not pre-modern hippies, wandering around spreading alternative communities, subversive narratives, and anti-imperial sermons. They were not criticising the Kingship as such, nor were they there to give the people hope (in fact, most of the time just the opposite). Rather, the prophets came to announce to Israel their sin before God by going after other gods, playing the harlot to God-their-husband, revealing their liturgical and corruptions, and laying before them their sins. They were God's covenantal lawyers bringing to bear upon Israel the lawsuit of the covenant (much as I loath the law-categories). Insofar as Bruggermann emphasizes elements that come as part of the rejection and turning from (mostly) liturgical (but also social, it must be admitted) sin is to the extent that he has confused the prophetic role in my estimation.
Happy to be corrected, of course.
April 22, 2025
This moral vision of the prophetic tradition being fully realized in the person of Christ is one of the reasons I continue to find myself a Christian these days. It's hard to walk away from a passion and vision so beautiful that it seems that it couldn't be false.
Tremendous book as relevant now (perhaps more?) then when it was originally published decades ago. Admittedly, I don't know what to make of some of his interpretive decisions, and I read the book quickly. But I certainly recommend this book for a challenging, accessible, and provocative read.
Tremendous book as relevant now (perhaps more?) then when it was originally published decades ago. Admittedly, I don't know what to make of some of his interpretive decisions, and I read the book quickly. But I certainly recommend this book for a challenging, accessible, and provocative read.
March 21, 2008
Reading this book was the first time I began to understand the Old Testament (or the Hebrew Scriptures). Brueggemann posits that a prophets job is to critizice, to point out the areas where a religious community is acting in opposition to God's principles, and energize, to encourage the community to return to God's love. This can be applied to such people as King David, Jeremiah, Amos, Abraham, and is to be reflected in modern-day preachers as well. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in understanding the Hebrew Scriptures more fully.
Read
August 4, 2011Great in terms of propheticness, weak in terms of solution. Brueggemann appears to advocate perpetual socialist crisis as the ideal for living faith. A number of problems with his approach: he advocates that community must be formed around a prophetic leader. I agree, sort of. But for WB this prophetic leader is useless unless he has something to prophesy against. Thus there should be a perpetual bad guy, preferably white, male, and capitalistic. The philosophical marxism should be immediately apparent: perpetual crisis for perpetual flux and change.
Actually, for all of his talk about eschatology, he advocates a de-eschatologized marxism: perpetual class warfare without the "eschatological moment" when class is eliminated.
This book, for all of its problems, has its good moments. Unfortunately, its good moments only apply to communities that are highly disciplined and are able to appropriate their freedom in responsible manners. I have to be delicate here: WB picks some racially sensitive issues, but frames the debate in terms that the true solution cannot be mentioned (e.g., while it is good to talk about speaking the truth to power, this isn't always the reason that communities are oppressed. They can be lazy or idolatrous, etc; in fact, poverty often has moral implications/roots. Merely blaming the white guy without addressing the issue perpetues--oops!--the problem).
Actually, for all of his talk about eschatology, he advocates a de-eschatologized marxism: perpetual class warfare without the "eschatological moment" when class is eliminated.
This book, for all of its problems, has its good moments. Unfortunately, its good moments only apply to communities that are highly disciplined and are able to appropriate their freedom in responsible manners. I have to be delicate here: WB picks some racially sensitive issues, but frames the debate in terms that the true solution cannot be mentioned (e.g., while it is good to talk about speaking the truth to power, this isn't always the reason that communities are oppressed. They can be lazy or idolatrous, etc; in fact, poverty often has moral implications/roots. Merely blaming the white guy without addressing the issue perpetues--oops!--the problem).
November 9, 2013
This is the best book I have ever read for understanding the prophets and prophecy genre in the Bible. Brueggemann points out that the work of a prophet is to criticize and energize. Provocatively, he opines that liberal Christianity is good at criticizing the Church and that conservative Christianity is good at energizing it. The two sides hold the related priorities of the compassion/justice of God and the freedom of God, respectively.
Moses is a prophet who calls out to the people of God in a way that re-imagines what that community could be. He is speaking out against the royal establishment as part of an oppressed people group.
In the period of Solomon, the leaders of Israel are well within the royal establishment. Thus the temptation is for the freedom of God and compassion for the marginalized to both be subverted into the interests of the King. The task of the prophet here was to break through the numbness of the royal consciousness. Lament is the primary tone of prophets toward the royal consciousness.
Israel is again the minority culture during the life of Christ, and in his prophetic role, Jesus counters the claims of the royal consciousness and stands in solidarity with the marginal. The resurrection announces the freedom, power, and justice of God.
The Church, likewise, must continually be a self-criticizing and energizing agent, by recovering its disruptive faith tradition and creating an underived community.
I highly recommend this book for those who want to understand the prophecy genre in the Bible. Also recommended for those take on a prophetic role (such as preaching), as the book points the way toward assisting other Christians in envisioning a more faithful community.
Moses is a prophet who calls out to the people of God in a way that re-imagines what that community could be. He is speaking out against the royal establishment as part of an oppressed people group.
In the period of Solomon, the leaders of Israel are well within the royal establishment. Thus the temptation is for the freedom of God and compassion for the marginalized to both be subverted into the interests of the King. The task of the prophet here was to break through the numbness of the royal consciousness. Lament is the primary tone of prophets toward the royal consciousness.
Israel is again the minority culture during the life of Christ, and in his prophetic role, Jesus counters the claims of the royal consciousness and stands in solidarity with the marginal. The resurrection announces the freedom, power, and justice of God.
The Church, likewise, must continually be a self-criticizing and energizing agent, by recovering its disruptive faith tradition and creating an underived community.
I highly recommend this book for those who want to understand the prophecy genre in the Bible. Also recommended for those take on a prophetic role (such as preaching), as the book points the way toward assisting other Christians in envisioning a more faithful community.
December 15, 2023
Brueggemann’s concept of “prophetic imagination” serves as an interpretive lens through which to read Scripture, specifically cracking open the value of the Biblical prophetic books. Prophets are not merely goofy magi that live in the desert and see the future (though some of them may fit that description!). It is more helpful to think of prophets as those who speak the truth and whose destabilizing language penetrates society’s lies and numbness to envision a better future, a future that more closely aligns with the will of God. They transcend the contemporary milieu, they see through oppressive hegemonies, they call out the brokenness latent in the current social moment. No lie is safe around a prophet. Perhaps the fundamental prophetic question is, “In what ways are things not the way that they should be, and what should our response be to that imperfect reality?” This is always a crucial question to broach, and prophets shout the answer against the tide of culture, those in power, and the enemies of God.
While The Prophetic Imagination does especially enrich readings of the prophets, Brueggemann’s ideas render the theme of justice visible throughout Scripture. Jesus’s subversive ethics, levitical law remembering the widow and orphan, and radical Hebrew economics all point to God’s relentless passion for the marginalized/outcast/Other. In communities stricken with apathy, alienation, systemic injustice, and individual brokenness, the Word of the Lord, carried by the prophet, imagines another way. This imagination catalyzes action.
“This is the problem with the promissory newness of the gospel: it never promises without threatening, it never begins without ending something, it never gives gifts without also assessing harsh costs.”
While The Prophetic Imagination does especially enrich readings of the prophets, Brueggemann’s ideas render the theme of justice visible throughout Scripture. Jesus’s subversive ethics, levitical law remembering the widow and orphan, and radical Hebrew economics all point to God’s relentless passion for the marginalized/outcast/Other. In communities stricken with apathy, alienation, systemic injustice, and individual brokenness, the Word of the Lord, carried by the prophet, imagines another way. This imagination catalyzes action.
“This is the problem with the promissory newness of the gospel: it never promises without threatening, it never begins without ending something, it never gives gifts without also assessing harsh costs.”
July 1, 2020
I'm without word on this book!
This book brings me a new way to see the suffering in the world and like a Christian how I might to embrace the grief and show the hope in Christ!
I recommend this book ever!
This book brings me a new way to see the suffering in the world and like a Christian how I might to embrace the grief and show the hope in Christ!
I recommend this book ever!
October 8, 2025
4.5 -- A reframe of Christian story / ideas for me that I definitely resonated with. The empire of static numbness definitely helped me to think about how capitalism operates on us where we become 1) exploited workers and 2) exploiting consumers (similar to Jonathan Tran's book, lol) -- numb to the cries in our heart that want freedom, and numb to neighbors who we see as transaction more than human.
Seeing lament and grief as absolutely necessary to healing / ushering in the new thing that God is doing also seems true to me -- but something about the logic of it broke down a bit as I was reading the arguments and scripture evidence cited. I think it makes sense as an overall concept. How it operates, a bit mysterious.
Seeing lament and grief as absolutely necessary to healing / ushering in the new thing that God is doing also seems true to me -- but something about the logic of it broke down a bit as I was reading the arguments and scripture evidence cited. I think it makes sense as an overall concept. How it operates, a bit mysterious.
June 14, 2025
This is the third or fourth time I’ve read this book, and even in very different life seasons, and each time I find it to be one of the most impactful books I’ve ever read.
Prophetic Imagination is grounded in the Christian faith, and challenges the current dominant reality/status quo by 1) acknowledging and experiencing grief and despair in whatever suffering is currently happening, and 2) offering hope in a new, alternate consciousness, a reality that specifically speaks to those otherwise oppressed and marginalized by the dominant one.
10/10. 5 stars. Life-changing. However, you want to rate it, it’s one of the best.
Prophetic Imagination is grounded in the Christian faith, and challenges the current dominant reality/status quo by 1) acknowledging and experiencing grief and despair in whatever suffering is currently happening, and 2) offering hope in a new, alternate consciousness, a reality that specifically speaks to those otherwise oppressed and marginalized by the dominant one.
10/10. 5 stars. Life-changing. However, you want to rate it, it’s one of the best.
April 5, 2008
Brueggemann is a refreshingly brilliant OT scholar who wrestles with the text and draws scarily prophetic application. This book really makes me take a hard look at the dominant cultural script in America.
February 18, 2008
This is an important read for those who care about both thoeology and art.
February 24, 2025
Endings are real, weeping is real (57). This book is of this moment, energizing the role of grief personally and communally. I feel validated. Walter Bruggemann resists the totalistic tendencies of evangelicalism; opting for an embodied recognition of grief and lament. Often in reading this book, I experienced awe. We do well by paying attention to our bodies reaction to death, its coldness and immediate pain. Our reactions are sacred.
God in Christ wept in a brutal confrontation with death, releasing our imaginations. My hope is that we, by reading this book, resist myths that disqualify grief.
God in Christ wept in a brutal confrontation with death, releasing our imaginations. My hope is that we, by reading this book, resist myths that disqualify grief.
October 21, 2024
I expect this to be a book I return to again and again. I resonate with Brueggemann's vision for the church and life with Christ. There are rich implications for pastoring and artistry. His ideas will inspire and influence my ministry, research, and personal practice.
May 22, 2023
Probably my favorite book of all time.
January 21, 2025
Brueggemann explains in a manner how we are solely responsible on expanding the way we disciple to others. With multiple versions of imaginations we can possess, we cannot truly say we have tried everything to show our walk of faith to someone who is still blind like a child. We have to have faith and a strong stance on totalitarianism POVs, hopefulness and knowing your brain can expand to reaching out on walks of faith to be a disciple. What are you sacrificing to be God’s prophet? Are you truly speaking prophetically admitting that you are awaiting to enter into the gates of Heaven and you either died getting there or you came with a crowd of people behind you? Either way, you’re showing faith in different walks of life. Different imaginations. Different groups of people in our societies, environments or cultures has a very different walk of faith than you, but what if you switched cultures? Would your faith walk be changed or enhanced?
September 12, 2016
Walter Brueggemann’s book “The Prophetic Imagination” is a book that addresses a worthwhile subject but proposes all the wrong answers. He contends that the contemporary American church is “so largely enculturated to the American ethos of consumerism that it has little power to believe or to act.” I can hardly quarrel with his premise. The problem I have with Brueggemann is that his book doesn't provide any biblically sound answers.
Bruggermann's reading of the prophets loses sight of God’s purposes. He contends that it was the task of the prophetic community “to present an alternative consciousness that can energize the community.” Brueggemann seems to view God as nothing more than a bystander. Suffice it to say that when I read the prophets I do not see what he sees. They were not calling the people to an “alternative reality.” They were not criticizing the King, nor were they there to give the people hope. Rather, the Old Testament prophets spoke to Israel in times of moral crisis. A prophet was and is a spokesperson for God. He admonishes, warns, directs, encourages, intercedes, teaches and counsels. He brings the word of God to the people of God and calls the people to respond.
A second, significant problem with the book is its language. Brueggemann’s "conversational style" produces a verbose and jerky read. His thoughts are disorganized, as he engages in a rather messy attempt to create a new lingo. One reviewer rightly referred to it as “high-brow babble.” The emergent and universalist language of “consciousness” and “alternative realities” made me uneasy and greatly hindered my understanding of his book.
I had a lot of trouble with this book. It seems to me that this is humanism with a Christian label slapped on it. He has done nothing more than supply his own reasoning to the understanding of scripture. I was frankly misled by the many reviews that so highly commended his book. Had I known that Brueggemann was a liberal theologian from the emergent culture, I would never have read the book. If you're looking for answers to concerns about the consumer mentality that pervades much of the western church, don't look to this book for any help. If you’ve not really read the prophets and are willing to settle for inaccurate biblical references espousing social justice, then you might like this book.
Bruggermann's reading of the prophets loses sight of God’s purposes. He contends that it was the task of the prophetic community “to present an alternative consciousness that can energize the community.” Brueggemann seems to view God as nothing more than a bystander. Suffice it to say that when I read the prophets I do not see what he sees. They were not calling the people to an “alternative reality.” They were not criticizing the King, nor were they there to give the people hope. Rather, the Old Testament prophets spoke to Israel in times of moral crisis. A prophet was and is a spokesperson for God. He admonishes, warns, directs, encourages, intercedes, teaches and counsels. He brings the word of God to the people of God and calls the people to respond.
A second, significant problem with the book is its language. Brueggemann’s "conversational style" produces a verbose and jerky read. His thoughts are disorganized, as he engages in a rather messy attempt to create a new lingo. One reviewer rightly referred to it as “high-brow babble.” The emergent and universalist language of “consciousness” and “alternative realities” made me uneasy and greatly hindered my understanding of his book.
I had a lot of trouble with this book. It seems to me that this is humanism with a Christian label slapped on it. He has done nothing more than supply his own reasoning to the understanding of scripture. I was frankly misled by the many reviews that so highly commended his book. Had I known that Brueggemann was a liberal theologian from the emergent culture, I would never have read the book. If you're looking for answers to concerns about the consumer mentality that pervades much of the western church, don't look to this book for any help. If you’ve not really read the prophets and are willing to settle for inaccurate biblical references espousing social justice, then you might like this book.
April 1, 2020
I struggled with this book. A lot.
While I understand and respect Brueggeman’s position on prophecy - and agree - that a prophets call is both to criticize and encourage. I think it’s ignorant to make the judgment that it’s politically/socially motivated. It felt more like propaganda than anything. And this was infuriating because I was looking forward to this book.
What got me was his comment that God wanted to socially upheave Egypt. And Moses’ role was to basically tear down the social structure of Egypt. Moses’ role was to reinstate the covenant relationship between Israel and Yahweh. It was not politicized. It was about holiness. If God was after sheer social upheaval than Moses murdering the Egyptian would have been ok. But no - Moses couldn’t free Israel without the burning bush moment. God is bigger than politics and to politicize him does a disservice And limits Him.
Do I think we should be critical of mindsets and the royal consciousness? Yes. Absolutely. I think we should always be critics and aware of what we are saying yes to purely out of comfort.
But never at the expense of the full picture of God. He’s after covenant relationship and holiness.
While I understand and respect Brueggeman’s position on prophecy - and agree - that a prophets call is both to criticize and encourage. I think it’s ignorant to make the judgment that it’s politically/socially motivated. It felt more like propaganda than anything. And this was infuriating because I was looking forward to this book.
What got me was his comment that God wanted to socially upheave Egypt. And Moses’ role was to basically tear down the social structure of Egypt. Moses’ role was to reinstate the covenant relationship between Israel and Yahweh. It was not politicized. It was about holiness. If God was after sheer social upheaval than Moses murdering the Egyptian would have been ok. But no - Moses couldn’t free Israel without the burning bush moment. God is bigger than politics and to politicize him does a disservice And limits Him.
Do I think we should be critical of mindsets and the royal consciousness? Yes. Absolutely. I think we should always be critics and aware of what we are saying yes to purely out of comfort.
But never at the expense of the full picture of God. He’s after covenant relationship and holiness.
December 21, 2016
12/21/2016: read again. And can't think of a more penetrating, immediate must-read for "orphaned believers"-- to borrow the OtR lyric. Filled with insight and commentary on the OT that bears remarkable and necessary relevance to today.
6/22/2015: A book I will return to again and again.
6/22/2015: A book I will return to again and again.
March 3, 2023
I think I will always be inspired, challenged, and moved by the words in this book.
July 28, 2014
Brueggemann's imagination about how to live out kin-dom continues to challenge me to expand my thinking process.
December 27, 2022
Excellent read, helpful for reframing the prophetic task from either a mere railing against society now, and a mere looking forward to things to come.
Particularly good were the sections on Jeremiah's ministry as the weeping prophet as necessary to the prophetic task:
"Hope expressed without a knowledge of and participation in grief is likely to be false hope that does not reach despair." (67)
And the section on compassion as a force that cannot be corrupted by empire (or royal order in his words).
Excellent read. Also fairly approachable.
9.6
Particularly good were the sections on Jeremiah's ministry as the weeping prophet as necessary to the prophetic task:
"Hope expressed without a knowledge of and participation in grief is likely to be false hope that does not reach despair." (67)
And the section on compassion as a force that cannot be corrupted by empire (or royal order in his words).
Excellent read. Also fairly approachable.
9.6
March 21, 2025
A phenomenal book, like all of Brueggemann’s writings. The early chapters were not quite as clear and accessible as I would have liked, but each chapter gets progressively better, and I can’t stop thinking about this book in everyday life.
August 14, 2025
one of the most important books I've ever read. eager to re-read this regularly.
December 13, 2020
Brueggemann explains the true and specific nature of prophecy. He argues beautifully that the real purpose of prophetic imagination is to criticize the current political and economic status quo while energizing the faithful to see and realize a new reality. His readings of Old Testament prophets are incisive and stunning, as is his treatment of the entire topic.
February 8, 2024
Walter Brueggemann’s 1978 book The Prophetic Imagination is now a classic of Christian non-fiction. Its chief emphasis is that the role of the prophet is to imagine a world that those invested in the current systems of power could not. Or to cite Brueggemann:
“The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.”
The Prophetic Imagination has influenced both the faithful waiting on the fulness of Christ’s kingdom as well as the less patient among us who think that some kind of makeshift utopia–usually progressive politically–might be achievable this side of the second coming.
And indeed, there are lessons here for radicals. The status quo of today was often the radical vision of yesterday. While such a vision is seen as radical, it is therefore also seen as inherently unrealistic. An America free from King George? A communist Russia operating outside of the control of the Czar? Ridiculous. But then it happened: the idealistic became mundane, even inevitable. Unfortunately, it is also shown to be not all that it was cracked up to be.
There are two lessons here for libertarian Christians:
We can make a world that is freer, more voluntary, less coercive, and more prosperous. Not only that, but Christians are encouraged to tap into our prophetic calling of promoting an alternative way of life instead of being domesticated to the purposes of corrupt power.
Even the best of possible worlds prior to Christ’s return will not be perfect. That’s the kingdom we’re waiting on Christ to inaugurate, and we better not forget it.
While Brueggemann helpfully gives us some language that can be used to express these truths, The Prophetic Imagination also at times suffers from a farsightedness that is so forward looking that it’s unable to see the truth even when it’s right before our eyes.
For instance, Brueggemann’s vision is one which deals in unhelpful false dichotomies rooted in the ideology of Marxism. When we look at the world through the lens of bad oppressor/good oppressed, some things will look clearer, but other things will be obscured. When applied to the Bible, this dichotomy can become a reading in search of a text.
So, for example, Brueggemann insists upon an almost totalizing prophet versus king hermeneutic for reading the Bible: the prophet imagines a new and just world even though the king can only see–and only wants others to see–an unbreakable status quo extending infinitely into the horizon. Or, as Brueggemann writes:
"God knows, and his prophet knows with him, that it is end time. The king does not know, never knows, what time it is because the king wants to banish time and live in an uninterrupted eternal now."
This dichotomy between prophetic imagination and the royal status quo can be seen in Scripture in a number of places, but is it as pervasive as Brueggeman claims? For instance, the prophet Nathan felt compelled to challenge King David for his unjust crimes against Bathsheba and Uriah; but he was not so opposed to the Davidic kingship that he was unable to speak forth God’s promise that David would one day have an Heir whose kingdom would last forever. Jesus is likewise known for challenging the dominant culture and the “royal consciousness” more than perhaps any other prophet. Yet even He encouraged fidelity to the kingdom of God and to Himself as King. In fact, His messianic profile is famously one of prophet, priest, and king coming together as one.
Brueggeman spies a tradition within the text of Scripture that reflects the “royal propaganda” of “the Jerusalem establishment” and gives “questions of order priority over questions of justice.” This mindset “brings with it certain costs [that] are paid by marginal people who do not figure in the ordering done by the king.” Leaving aside how this proposed contradiction within the text challenges the historic Christian view of biblical inspiration, we can also ask if it consistently applies to our lived experiences. So, for instance, does order always serve oppression? Ask a mom who lives in a high crime neighborhood what she thinks of the chaos and violence that consistently threaten the safety and well-being of her children. Would she prefer more order, or less?
Moving past the question of whether order is necessarily in tension with justice, we can posit another that Brueggemann assumes he knows the answer to: is every injustice in society profitable? Some are to be sure–American slave owners profited from the labor of their slaves even if slaves and non-slave owning whites were hurt by it. But who benefited from segregation? Who was helped by limiting the productive output of millions of creative, hardworking individuals for something as insignificant as the color of their skin? Sometimes societies create bad rules because enough of its collective members think it's the right thing to do, not because some people want to oppress others.
Because he sees the world through this either/or, oppressor/oppressed framework, Brueggemann also engages in the kind of zero sum thinking that has become all too common in the populist age in which we live. His sentiment that "eating [very] well means food is taken off the plate of another" is just as at home in Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders as it would be in Karl Marx, but it’s blessedly untrue–the product of economic illiteracy and envy. In point of fact, there is not a limited supply of prosperity–or if there is, we haven’t found it yet. As Ronald Bailey and Marian Tupy have noted in their excellent book Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know, the expansion of capitalist principles has meant a rapid, dramatic, and sudden reduction of extreme poverty as the world’s poor find themselves with more economic opportunities than ever before. The leftwing rejoinder to this reality is almost inevitably that while the poor may be richer, the wealthy have become even wealthier still. Brueggeman expresses this concern about income inequality with another of his simplistic dichotomies: "economics of equality versus economics of affluence." But would we rather live in a world where centralized force can make us all equally poor, or a free world where all of us benefit but some benefit more than others? Are we actually concerned about prosperity for all, or do we just want to punish the rich at any cost?
This is not to say that God has no special concern for the least of these, or that we will escape His judgment if we do not share this concern. According to Matthew 25, God is present with those who suffer unjustly; and if we wish to curry God’s favor, we must stick up for and assist the oppressed. One of the most effective ways we’ve discovered to do this is through the classical liberal tradition of expanding the freedom of markets and creating simple rules that are fair for everyone.
But is this concern for helping the least of these adequately reflected in the spirit of our age, which uses intersecting identities of victimhood as a measure to evaluate inherent worthiness?
Despite these serious flaws, Brueggemann does at least one very important thing with this book: he gives Christians permission to live as if the prophetic vision of the kingdom of God is true–to put away our swords and trust God even when we suffer violence and oppression:
“The formation of an alternative community with an alternative consciousness is so that the dominant community may be criticized and finally dismantled. But more than dismantling, the purpose of the alternative community is to enable a new human beginning to be made.”
In the work of Jesus, “that new future in which no one believed was born in staggering amazement, for it was correctly perceived as underived and extrapolated and therefore beyond human understanding (Phil 4:7) and human control. It is the task of every would-be prophet to present such underived and extrapolated newness. It is the claim of every would-be prophet that the newness is possible only because God is God, and God is faithful to the promised newness.”
“The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.”
The Prophetic Imagination has influenced both the faithful waiting on the fulness of Christ’s kingdom as well as the less patient among us who think that some kind of makeshift utopia–usually progressive politically–might be achievable this side of the second coming.
And indeed, there are lessons here for radicals. The status quo of today was often the radical vision of yesterday. While such a vision is seen as radical, it is therefore also seen as inherently unrealistic. An America free from King George? A communist Russia operating outside of the control of the Czar? Ridiculous. But then it happened: the idealistic became mundane, even inevitable. Unfortunately, it is also shown to be not all that it was cracked up to be.
There are two lessons here for libertarian Christians:
We can make a world that is freer, more voluntary, less coercive, and more prosperous. Not only that, but Christians are encouraged to tap into our prophetic calling of promoting an alternative way of life instead of being domesticated to the purposes of corrupt power.
Even the best of possible worlds prior to Christ’s return will not be perfect. That’s the kingdom we’re waiting on Christ to inaugurate, and we better not forget it.
While Brueggemann helpfully gives us some language that can be used to express these truths, The Prophetic Imagination also at times suffers from a farsightedness that is so forward looking that it’s unable to see the truth even when it’s right before our eyes.
For instance, Brueggemann’s vision is one which deals in unhelpful false dichotomies rooted in the ideology of Marxism. When we look at the world through the lens of bad oppressor/good oppressed, some things will look clearer, but other things will be obscured. When applied to the Bible, this dichotomy can become a reading in search of a text.
So, for example, Brueggemann insists upon an almost totalizing prophet versus king hermeneutic for reading the Bible: the prophet imagines a new and just world even though the king can only see–and only wants others to see–an unbreakable status quo extending infinitely into the horizon. Or, as Brueggemann writes:
"God knows, and his prophet knows with him, that it is end time. The king does not know, never knows, what time it is because the king wants to banish time and live in an uninterrupted eternal now."
This dichotomy between prophetic imagination and the royal status quo can be seen in Scripture in a number of places, but is it as pervasive as Brueggeman claims? For instance, the prophet Nathan felt compelled to challenge King David for his unjust crimes against Bathsheba and Uriah; but he was not so opposed to the Davidic kingship that he was unable to speak forth God’s promise that David would one day have an Heir whose kingdom would last forever. Jesus is likewise known for challenging the dominant culture and the “royal consciousness” more than perhaps any other prophet. Yet even He encouraged fidelity to the kingdom of God and to Himself as King. In fact, His messianic profile is famously one of prophet, priest, and king coming together as one.
Brueggeman spies a tradition within the text of Scripture that reflects the “royal propaganda” of “the Jerusalem establishment” and gives “questions of order priority over questions of justice.” This mindset “brings with it certain costs [that] are paid by marginal people who do not figure in the ordering done by the king.” Leaving aside how this proposed contradiction within the text challenges the historic Christian view of biblical inspiration, we can also ask if it consistently applies to our lived experiences. So, for instance, does order always serve oppression? Ask a mom who lives in a high crime neighborhood what she thinks of the chaos and violence that consistently threaten the safety and well-being of her children. Would she prefer more order, or less?
Moving past the question of whether order is necessarily in tension with justice, we can posit another that Brueggemann assumes he knows the answer to: is every injustice in society profitable? Some are to be sure–American slave owners profited from the labor of their slaves even if slaves and non-slave owning whites were hurt by it. But who benefited from segregation? Who was helped by limiting the productive output of millions of creative, hardworking individuals for something as insignificant as the color of their skin? Sometimes societies create bad rules because enough of its collective members think it's the right thing to do, not because some people want to oppress others.
Because he sees the world through this either/or, oppressor/oppressed framework, Brueggemann also engages in the kind of zero sum thinking that has become all too common in the populist age in which we live. His sentiment that "eating [very] well means food is taken off the plate of another" is just as at home in Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders as it would be in Karl Marx, but it’s blessedly untrue–the product of economic illiteracy and envy. In point of fact, there is not a limited supply of prosperity–or if there is, we haven’t found it yet. As Ronald Bailey and Marian Tupy have noted in their excellent book Ten Global Trends Every Smart Person Should Know, the expansion of capitalist principles has meant a rapid, dramatic, and sudden reduction of extreme poverty as the world’s poor find themselves with more economic opportunities than ever before. The leftwing rejoinder to this reality is almost inevitably that while the poor may be richer, the wealthy have become even wealthier still. Brueggeman expresses this concern about income inequality with another of his simplistic dichotomies: "economics of equality versus economics of affluence." But would we rather live in a world where centralized force can make us all equally poor, or a free world where all of us benefit but some benefit more than others? Are we actually concerned about prosperity for all, or do we just want to punish the rich at any cost?
This is not to say that God has no special concern for the least of these, or that we will escape His judgment if we do not share this concern. According to Matthew 25, God is present with those who suffer unjustly; and if we wish to curry God’s favor, we must stick up for and assist the oppressed. One of the most effective ways we’ve discovered to do this is through the classical liberal tradition of expanding the freedom of markets and creating simple rules that are fair for everyone.
But is this concern for helping the least of these adequately reflected in the spirit of our age, which uses intersecting identities of victimhood as a measure to evaluate inherent worthiness?
Despite these serious flaws, Brueggemann does at least one very important thing with this book: he gives Christians permission to live as if the prophetic vision of the kingdom of God is true–to put away our swords and trust God even when we suffer violence and oppression:
“The formation of an alternative community with an alternative consciousness is so that the dominant community may be criticized and finally dismantled. But more than dismantling, the purpose of the alternative community is to enable a new human beginning to be made.”
In the work of Jesus, “that new future in which no one believed was born in staggering amazement, for it was correctly perceived as underived and extrapolated and therefore beyond human understanding (Phil 4:7) and human control. It is the task of every would-be prophet to present such underived and extrapolated newness. It is the claim of every would-be prophet that the newness is possible only because God is God, and God is faithful to the promised newness.”
December 1, 2020
This is one of the most formative books on my faith, and I will need to re-read it. Brueggemann is essential reading for Christians in the modern world--especially in the time of BLM and COVID, when injustice is perhaps more "obvious."
Brueggemann's thesis, that the prophet is one who both has and reveals the ability to dismantle systems of injustice by disrupting what Brueggemann calls "the royal conscious," will ring especially true with people who value language and articulation. Framing the prophets' use of poetry, Brueggemann argues that *voice* is the most threatening agent to empire. Here is a quote to illustrate his idea:
"The language of empire is surely the language of managed reality, of production and schedule and market. But that language will never permit or cause freedom because there is no newness in it. Doxology is the ultimate challenge to the language of managed reality, and it alone is the universe of discourse in which energy is possible" (18).
God, and the language we use for and about God, is energizing, dynamic, and will always produce life. It is just, in other words. So, for Christians who are readers and writers, Brueggemann proves helpful in articulating precisely *why* and *how* reading and writing can fundamentally alter reality in positive, new ways.
Brueggemann's thesis, that the prophet is one who both has and reveals the ability to dismantle systems of injustice by disrupting what Brueggemann calls "the royal conscious," will ring especially true with people who value language and articulation. Framing the prophets' use of poetry, Brueggemann argues that *voice* is the most threatening agent to empire. Here is a quote to illustrate his idea:
"The language of empire is surely the language of managed reality, of production and schedule and market. But that language will never permit or cause freedom because there is no newness in it. Doxology is the ultimate challenge to the language of managed reality, and it alone is the universe of discourse in which energy is possible" (18).
God, and the language we use for and about God, is energizing, dynamic, and will always produce life. It is just, in other words. So, for Christians who are readers and writers, Brueggemann proves helpful in articulating precisely *why* and *how* reading and writing can fundamentally alter reality in positive, new ways.
September 23, 2024
Walter Brueggemann posits there are two consciousnesses through which people can perceive the world.
One, he calls the "royal” or “imperial” consciousness (which I would describe as the dominant or mainstream consciousness.) This is the consciousness of generally established order -the ordered, hierarchical society we see in the world around us and which is presented in the Hebrew scriptures as the Davidic/Solomonic kingdom. It is this consciousness that tacitly accepts dynamics of power and presumes militarism, consumerism, nationalism, religiosity.
Against this, prophets emerge to offer an "alternative" consciousness. This is the message brought by Moses, the Hebrew prophets, and Jesus. As Brueggeman writes, "It is the vocation of the prophet to keep alive the ministry of imagination, to keep on conjuring and proposing alternative futures to the single one the king wants to urge as the only thinkable one."
How prophets accomplish this is the subject of Brueggemann’s book and its implications for ministry and church are pretty astounding. This is a book I'll return to.
One, he calls the "royal” or “imperial” consciousness (which I would describe as the dominant or mainstream consciousness.) This is the consciousness of generally established order -the ordered, hierarchical society we see in the world around us and which is presented in the Hebrew scriptures as the Davidic/Solomonic kingdom. It is this consciousness that tacitly accepts dynamics of power and presumes militarism, consumerism, nationalism, religiosity.
Against this, prophets emerge to offer an "alternative" consciousness. This is the message brought by Moses, the Hebrew prophets, and Jesus. As Brueggeman writes, "It is the vocation of the prophet to keep alive the ministry of imagination, to keep on conjuring and proposing alternative futures to the single one the king wants to urge as the only thinkable one."
How prophets accomplish this is the subject of Brueggemann’s book and its implications for ministry and church are pretty astounding. This is a book I'll return to.
October 17, 2017
I absolutely love the cover, but alas, the book seemed to me tediously repetitive. One problem with a book like this, being as influential as it is (I wanted to like it!), is that a lot of its thought has already been filtered down through other books I have read. As others point out, there are also some questionable interpretations made by Walter Brueggemann regarding the biblical text; I cannot speak to that but it does feel like Brueggemann reads the present into the past. I do appreciate the call to carry out the "prophetic imagination;" one of the problems of the contemporary church is we lack the ability to inculcate such an imagination.
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