The Prophetic Imagination, 2nd Edition

First published in 1978, The Prophetic Imagination offered instruction and inspiration to members of the church community and served as a practical supplement to college and seminary courses on the biblical prophets. In the preface to this new edition, Walter Brueggemann explains that with this small book “I more-or-less found my own voice as a teacher in the church” (ix). And what a teacher he has become. But lest readers look to The Prophetic Imagination as a course textbook on the prophets, Brueggemann explains that “this book intends to serve the practice of the church” (xvi). Indeed, readers do well to remember that the book developed out of lectures presented to ministers of the United Church of Christ and Disciples of Christ (xxiii). It is as much a meditation on biblical prophecy for people today as it is an investigation of prophecy in ancient Israel. The premise of the book and the thread that unifies its elements is Brueggemann’s judgment that “the task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us” (3). In general, Brueggemann explains that this involves a process of first criticizing and then energizing, with the goal of developing a consciousness alternative to what he terms the “royal consciousness. [Full Review]