Resisting Denial, Refusing Despair: And Other Essays - Paperback

by Walter Brueggemann (Author)

This collection of essays constitutes an attempt to work faithfully at the generative interface of the Bible and our life in the world. This interface variously yields, in our attentiveness, assurances and summons and often empowerment for the work of faith. That work of faith is in our moment urgent, given the force of evil and violence among us, performed by willing thuggery, by dark money, and by the hidden manipulation of social power in hurtful ways. Given such social reality, it is Brueggemann's hope that these pieces may be a source of strength and support for those who resist and refuse those nefarious forces in our midst. Thus he intends that these pieces give voice to the assurance and summons of the gospel, so that we may be able to live differently in the world, differently in ways that are marked by forgiveness, generosity, and hospitality. Such living is in the face of great pressure toward scorekeeping, parsimony, and fearful exclusion. Such living is a way of joy and hope that is on offer nowhere else. It is Brueggemann's intent to contribute as he can to the "hopes that drive us onward," in resistance to "the fears that hold us back."

Author Biography

Walter Brueggemann is William Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament Emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary, Decatur, Georgia. He has published widely on the Old Testament as well as contemporary hermeneutical reflections, including, from Cascade Books: David and His Theologian (2011), A Pathway of Interpretation (2008), Embracing the Transformation (2014), The Practice of Homefulness (2014), Truth-Telling as Subversive Obedience (2011), Virus as a Summons to Faith (2020), and A Wilderness Zone (2021).