A Small Window Into a Devoted Life
A Review of
The Emancipation of God: Postmarks on Cultural Prophecy
Walter Brueggemann
Conrad Kanagy (Editor)
Paperback: Fortress Press, 2024
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Reviewed by Joel Wentz
The phrase, “We should preach with the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other,” is most likely a watered-down version of an insight from the 20th-century theologian Karl Barth, but as a preacher and minister, I think of it frequently. The lifelong challenge of the Christian public thinker, or preacher, is to stay abreast of two wide streams (or as John Stott put it, “between two worlds”): cultural critique, current events, news, politics; as well as biblical scholarship, exegesis and theological methods. Surely one of our greatest living examples of how to maintain a confident presence in both of these “worlds” is the scholar Walter Brueggemann. If this seems like a bold claim, then let me assure you this is sustained by the sharp and consistent thinking displayed in the recent collection of essays (all of which were originally published as online blog posts) titled The Emancipation of God and edited by Brueggemann’s recent biographer Conrad Kanagy.
Truthfully, I have a bit of a love-hate relationship with essay collections. In addition to the fact that such collections can vary wildly in style and consistency (especially in a volume cobbled together from disparate authors), I generally tend to prefer the experience of receiving a sustained, deeply developed argument over the course of a long monograph. At their best, however, essay collections can provide sharp, economic and lucid writing over a wide range of subjects. Or, in the case of Brueggemann’s writing, display how a single thinker can engage so many seemingly-unrelated areas of study with consistent acumen.
Indeed, some of my concerns do bear out in Emancipation. There is some variance in quality. A few chapters could have benefited from more pages to develop their provocative insights (such as “On Gerrymandering Texts” or “Hoe! Hoe! Hoe!”), and occasionally it is hard to see the connective thread between the how the essays are organized, ostensibly in three sections: “The Emancipation of God,” “The Emancipation of the Church,” and “The Emancipation of the Neighborhood.”
These quibbles aside, however, an honest reader cannot put down Emancipation without experiencing a profound respect for Brueggemann’s remarkable fluency in the entire biblical canon (particularly the Old Testament texts), his voracious reading (of both fiction and non-fiction) and his tireless prophetic calls against the evils of empire, oppression, exploitation, racism, and the like. The fruit of Brueggemamn’s lifetime of learning is displayed in his ability to connect scriptural texts to modern issues.
“Wir Sind Da!” respectfully calls upon a Cherokee declaration of resistance to American imperial domination, and connects it to Jewish resistance during the Holocaust as well as prophetic texts from the Hebrew scriptures like Jeremiah. One of my favorite chapters, “Two Farmers…Two Ways” draws upon the fiction of Wendell Berry and connects his insights to the Deuteronomic wisdom of “choosing life” over death. “I Bet on You” draws upon biographical material of Supreme Court justices like Henry Frankfurter and Oliver Wendell Holmes, connecting their interpersonal loyalty to the story of Samuel and Eli, and in a final example, “The Results Men” draws upon one historian’s concept of “results men” and their role in the harsh colonial advancement of the British Empire, connecting this idea and role to characters like Joab under the Davidic dynasty in the story of Israel.
These are merely a handful of the surprising connections that are contained in this collection of 25 essays, and the result of observing such a wide range of mastery over literature, as well as insatiable curiosity, is simply inspiring. Brueggemann brought together a lifetime of study and pastoral work, and embodies what many of us aspire to be: intellectually humble, rigorous in scholarship, culturally engaged, prophetic and always deeply respectful of scripture. The Emancipation of God is a small window into a life devoted to all the above, and if anything, is another timely reminder of the gift of Brueggemann’s life and legacy.
Joel Wentz
Joel Wentz is currently the Executive Pastor at Missio Dei Church in Portland, Maine. He previously served in college campus ministry with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship. In addition to reading and writing, his passions include tabletop gaming, music, and coffee. His favorite book genres are epic fantasy and epic theology. He lives in Portland, Maine with his wife and son, and his personal writing and podcast are at: joelwentz.com
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