(RNS) — Walter Brueggemann, probably the most broadly revered Bible students of the previous century, died Thursday (June 5) at his house in Michigan. He was 92.
The writer of greater than 100 books of theology and biblical criticism, Brueggemann was professor emeritus of Previous Testomony research at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, till his retirement in 2003.
His specialty was the Hebrew Bible and particularly the Hebrew prophets, and his books have been aimed primarily at clergy and church leaders. However by sermons, Brueggeman’s ideas, have change into acquainted to many churchgoers.
Although ordained, Brueggemann by no means served as a pastor of his personal church. He was, nevertheless, a a lot wanted and eloquent preacher and lecturer.
“He had unimaginable solution to discern what was occurring on the earth and the church and to talk into that with a a lot wanted phrase,” mentioned Conrad L. Kanagy, professor emeritus at Elizabethtown Faculty in Pennsylvania, who wrote a biography of Brueggemann and edited a few of his books.
Brueggemann’s books have been broadly influential, particularly in mainline Protestant circles. His 1978 “The Prophetic Creativeness” bought greater than one million copies and stays a basic that’s nonetheless ceaselessly assigned in mainline seminaries. Within the e-book, he confirmed how the biblical prophets, referred to as to think about a special world, disrupted politics and the dominant tradition and its assumptions.
Brueggemann himself was vital of American consumerism, militarism and nationalism.
“It’s the vocation of the prophet to maintain alive the ministry of creativeness, to maintain on conjuring and proposing future alternate options to the only one the king needs to induce as the one thinkable one,” he wrote. Breuggemann was text-focused however resisted the dominant modes of biblical interpretation as a result of they put distance between the reader and the textual content. He sought to assist pastors hear God’s voice throughout the biblical textual content.
Brueggemann was born in Tilden, Nebraska, in 1933. His father, a pastor within the German Evangelical Synod of North America, ordained him. He and his brother, Ed, grew up in Blackburn, Missouri.
As a youngster, Brueggemann and his brother visited a Black church on the sting of city. It later influenced his dedication to social justice.
His tutorial journey started at Elmhurst Faculty (now college), in Elmhurst, Illinois. He went on to review at Eden Theological Seminary and Union Theological Seminary. He obtained a Ph.D. in schooling from St. Louis College, whereas instructing at Eden Theological Seminary in St. Louis. He left Eden for Columbia Theological Seminary, a Presbyterian faculty, in 1986.
Brueggemann, nevertheless, remained an lively minister within the United Church of Christ. He was a frequent speaker at its conferences in addition to a mentor to numerous church leaders.
He’s survived by his spouse, Tia, and by his sons James and John and their households.
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