Finally Comes the Poet: Daring Speech for Proclamation

Rating:
Summary: Old Testament Prophet--Poet--Preacher
Review: "Finally Comes the Poet" is the descriptive title of my recently discovered 'theological tome.' For those of us who search the latest theological tomes for one that misses boredom-This is It!

Prof. Brueggemann engages one's creative imagination to describe the "generative power of biblical texts to summon and evoke new life." He considers "preaching as a poetic construal of an alternative world...whose purpose is to cherish and open the truth."

My review is a contrast, even unnecessary alongside the comments of Fred B. Craddock on the book jacket. "Here we have what we have come to expect from Walter Brueggemann; a fired imagination, harnessed and disciplined...offering what the gospel offers, that is an alternative world."

Brueggemann creates four possibilities for healing within the biblical texts in his chapter entitled, Numbness and Ache or The Strangeness of Healing: 1) We cannot alone work our own healing. It requires a priest. 2)Healing requires the submission of some thing of value. 3) Healing is the enactment of atonement... 4) The act of putting away the poison of guilt is done not by ourselves but on our behalf by the priest...

My prayer is for these poetic thouhts to move you to be challenged by our inspired Old Testament prophet-poet-preacher, who is totally at home in the New Testament...I Dare You!

Chaplain Fred W. Hood

Rating:
Summary: A Superb Articulation of Biblical Spirtuality
Review: In this engaging work, Walter Brueggemann offers an excellent paradigm for relating the biblical text to contemporary life through an understanding of the importance (political, epistemological and ethical) of "the Poet." The Poet speaks, and in so doing imaginitively construes a counterworld that subverts and offer imaginative alternatives to the hegemony of the dominant culture. For poetic resources, Brueggemann turns to the biblical text, particuarly the pslams and prophetic portions of Scripture. Through an examination of such passages Brueggemann recounts the importance of speech as the liberating form of dialog leading to "doxological communion" with God. Through the voice of the Poet, in all his experience of alienation, rage, restlessness and terror, the event of speech between the Poet and God opens up the prospects for authentic newness and communion that would have been impossible if silence was kept.

This book will serve as an excellent read to those interested in preaching, prayer and church life. Brueggemann's innovative and invigorating apprach to the biblical text breaths new life into the study of Scripture and opens up new and exciting possibilities for reading Scripture in ways that enliven the spiritual life and inform Christian politics and community life. Highly reccommended.

Rating:
Summary: Fresh words urgently needed today
Review: It is impossible to overstate how important this book is for us who yearn for the Gospel to be once again spoken with ardor and relevancy to our 'fearfully complacent' congregations/nation. This is the eighth of Professor Brueggemann's books I have read, and he is a critically needed prophetic voice in our very own wilderness.