Real World Faith - by Walter Brueggemann (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

Real World Faith articulates a faith that is effectively linked to our real world, the world of our bodies and of the body politic. The real world of our bodies causes us to be largely preoccupied with our health, security, dignity, and sexuality, and causes concern for food and shelter for ourselves and for our neighbors. The real world of the body politic puts us in inescapable touch with issues of money, power, weapons, policies, treaties, taxes, and trade agreements. These are the matters that occupy us most of the time on most of our days. They are the proper agenda of our faith, because our faith consists in trust in the One who governs our bodily life in the world. Our interpretive work is to try to articulate the ways--albeit hidden ways--in which the agency and character of God make effective contact with our world. This is real-life faith.

Review Quotes

For decades Walter Brueggemann has shown us how biblical texts speak potently to our individual and communal lives, our responsibilities to one another, and our care for the world around us. Real World Faith continues this urgent and prophetic work. Brueggemann demonstrates how faith in God transforms how we understand our physical and our social-political bodies and requires of us courageous and timely theological interpretation that is never settled, never static. Brueggemann urges us to "insist otherwise" that the Holy One matters--and matters decisively--in the world today. --Christine Roy Yoder, Columbia Theological Seminary

Real World Faith is another gift Walter Brueggemann offers to the church, a gift forged in his own faithful attention to his calling, and a gift we eagerly unwrap in anticipation of being surprised and encouraged by Good News. --Erskine Clarke, author of Dwelling Place and By the Rivers of Water

Real World Faith is an aptly named collection in which Walter Brueggemann advocates for a liberated and liberating faith that will not conform to empire, nor be silenced by privilege. Brueggemann is that rare biblical scholar whose work spans the chasm between biblical studies and practical theology. The essays vary in tone from commentary, to reflection, to word study, to exhortation, to--dare I say--love letters. They combine his commitment to the church with his unmatched exegetical imagination, his scholarly discipline, and his love of scripture. Evocative, compelling, and soul stirring, these are words for those of us who are "here alive today" (Deut. 5:3). These essays are meant to be read again and again. --The Rev. Judy Fentress-Williams, Virginia Theological Seminary