In Memoriam: Walter Brueggemann Part 1 (Re-Release)

Brueggemann wasn’t simply a scholar, he was a prophet. This is not hyperbole. This is a precise analysis of his vocation as one who devoted his life to the Sacred Scriptures of a dangerously free God. He was a poet as are the prophets, he would insist. His “prophetic imagination” was shaped by a lifetime of dedication to the texts that demanded of him pathos, lament and a consciousness counter to empire.

He was a person of the kind of prayer that undergoes the kind of grace that requires doing justice, and loving mercy and a scholarship from a deep humility before the Scriptures while walking with the God they witnessed to. I will tell my grandchildren of the three days my brother Don and I stayed with Tia and Walter Brueggemann. I will tell stories of how Elaine and Ched Myers introduced me to Walter a few years prior and how I got to have lunch with one of the greatest Hebrew Bible scholars in the world and start a friendship. I will tell of how I got to introduce my mate Jono Martin to Walter and how I snapped a cheeky moment as my friend Traci took a selfie with the Bruggz coz we are giddy fans. I will tell of his humour, humility and indomitable brilliance that was paired with a warm kind curiosity.

Unquestionably one of my biggest influences, I’m always reading Walter when preparing for a sermon, and not merely in the Old Testament. I first read Walter at the age of 22 and haven’t stopped. Yet I haven’t come close to reading his over 100 books. I’ve literally led hundreds of people through his “The Prophetic Imagination” and it is in my top 5 greatest books of Christian discipleship.

Walter, your life was a blaze with God’s justice and I’m thankful for the ways you set me on fire.

Rest in Peace.

- Jarrod McKenna