Ship of Fools: Brueggermann

Thread: Brueggermann Board: Oblivion / Ship of Fools.

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Posted by simwel (# 12214) on :

I have not read any of his books. Could shipmates give me a steer as to where to start and which of his works is the most accessible

Posted by Moo (# 107) on :

Brueggermann is a theologian and preacher as well as a Bible scholar. I think this thread would do better in Purg.

Moo

Posted by Adam. (# 4991) on :

For a start, he's Brueggemann, not Brueggermann, which might help you search for him. Ι've benefited from a lot of his work, even if I find him unduly negative about the potential to be "surprised by grace" in contemporary culture (he's more into lamenting and denouncing).

His Prophetic Imagination is probably the best introduction to his ideas in general, but if you're more interested in getting to know him through seeing him interact with a particular book of scripture then I'd recommend his commentary on Genesis in the Interpretation series, or Message of the Psalms (ahead of his Psalms commentary)

Posted by Truman White (# 17290) on :

His stuff on the Psalms is cracking. Read that.

Posted by leo (# 1458) on :

I've just read his 'Great Prayers of OT' - not his best but it coiuld revolutionise the way we understand prayer.

Posted by 3rdFooter (# 9751) on :

Simwel,
It does depend on why you are reading Brueggemann. His better work does tend to be of a fairly academic nature so it tends not to be light reading. His thinner works tend to lack the evident scholarship that give the other works 'weight'. He is never going to be another Henri Nouwen.

The first book I read was 'The Land'. I would say it is accessible in that it has a single theme viewed from a bunch of standpoints. I had to write a critique for college so I had to go looking for flaws. I came away thinking it was pretty good actually and develops his ideas in some interesting ways.

'Theology of the Old Testament'* is definitely one for the scholars, the insomniacs and the lonely.

3F

[Spelling error]

* or The Bumper Book of Old Testament FUN!!' as we called it a college.

[ 24. October 2015, 19:21: Message edited by: 3rdFooter ]

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