Yesterday I learned of the death of theologian Walter Brueggemann at the age of 92. Like many theologians of my generation and beyond, I was deeply influenced by him—his work is central to mine in creation spirituality. In fact, I just counted 11 times that I cited him in my Original Blessing book alone.
Immediately I went to my bookshelf and pulled down six books of his. Since my bookshelves are not perfectly in order, I no doubt have more. Among the titles were these: The Prophetic Imagination; The Land; The Bible and Postmodern Imagination; In Man We Trust: The Neglected Side of Biblical Faith; Praying the Psalms.
One of my favorite texts from Brueggemann that I have employed numerous times—it helps to underscore why art as meditation—the way of the prophets—is so central to any training in creation spirituality that I have designed. It is from his book, The Prophetic Imagination, which sold over one million copies in his lifetime—and for good reason: Every totalitarian regime is frightened by the artist….Indeed, poetic imagination is the last way left in which to challenge and conflict the dominant reality.
And another, about humans being entrusted with divine responsibility: What God does first and best and most is to trust his people with their moment in history. He trusts them to do what must be done for the sake of his whole community.
When I was directing our ICCS (Institute of Culture and Creation Spirituality) at Mundelein College in Chicago from about 1976 to 1983 (when we moved it to Holy Names College in Oakland), we invited Walter to lecture in our program. I remember sitting next to one of our students who was a poet, and she turned to me half-way through his talk and said: “This guy wears his testicles on his tongue!” That was her way of saying he was an impressive and passionate speaker.
The poet’s name was Lee Pieper and I cite one of her short poems in my Original Blessing book:
Blessed be
the beds that bring us down
to worship one another
in the night—
Never; oh never naked
enough
to know the
Being of the other.
And another, which surely owes something directly to Brueggemann who was such a great scholar of the prophets:
Many are called
but most are frozen
in corporate or collective cold,
these are the stalled
who chose not to be chosen
except to be bought and sold.
Another special connection I had with Brueggemann was through I think his only doctoral student, for whom he directed a doctoral thesis (at least this was the case the last time I heard). Dr. Helen Kenik was a former Dominican sister and a member of our faculty for several years at ICCS at Holy Names College, who published a very foundational article in my book, Western Spirituality: Historical Roots, Ecumenical Routes. Called “Toward a Biblical Basis for Creation Theology.” There she lays out the theme of “royal personhood” that is so central to a prophetic and creation spirituality that is engaged in politics for the common good and the commons.
Thank you, Walter, for your writings and teachings and students over the years!
Adapted from Matthew Fox, Original Blessing, pp. pp. 81, 83, 134, 286.
See also: Helen Kenik, “Toward a Biblical Basis for Creation Theology,” in Fox, ed., Western Spirituality: Historical Roots, Ecumenical Routes, pp. 27-75.
See also Fox, Confessions: The Making of a Post-denominational Priest.
And Fox, Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth.
And Fox, The A.W.E. Project: Reinventing Education, Reinventing the Human.
And Fox, The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood for Our Time.
And Fox, “Deep Ecumenism, Ecojustice, and Art as Meditation,” in Wrestling With the Prophets, pp. 215-242.
And Fox, “Jesus and Democracy,” in Trump & the MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ, pp.31-50.
To read the transcript of Matthew Fox’s video meditation, click HERE.
Banner Image: A collage of covers from the more than 100 books Walter Brueggemann wrote. From his website.
Queries for Contemplation
Did Walter Brueggemann’s works influence you directly or indirectly over the years? Isn’t it amazing what a teacher’s vocation can do for others?
Recommended Reading
Original Blessing: A Primer in Creation Spirituality
Matthew Fox lays out a whole new direction for Christianity—a direction that is in fact very ancient and very grounded in Jewish thinking (the fact that Jesus was a Jew is often neglected by Christian theology): the Four Paths of Creation Spirituality, the Vias Positiva, Negativa, Creativa and Transformativa in an extended and deeply developed way.
“Original Blessing makes available to the Christian world and to the human community a radical cure for all dark and derogatory views of the natural world wherever these may have originated.” –Thomas Berry, author, The Dream of the Earth; The Great Work; co-author, The Universe Story
Western Spirituality: Historical Roots, Ecumenical Routes
In this book, Fox gathers scholars from various cultures and traditions such as Helen Kenik, Jon Sobrino, Nicolas Berdyaev, Rosemary Ruether, M. D. Chenu, Mary Jose Hobday, Ronald Miller, Monika Hellwig, James Kenney, Justin O’Brien and others to approach creation spirituality from many traditions and many angles.
“An exciting and important book…a pleasant alternative to the oppressive burden of the fall/redemption tradition.” ~ New Review of Books and Religion
Confessions: The Making of a Post-Denominational Priest (Revised/Updated Edition)
Matthew Fox’s stirring autobiography, Confessions, reveals his personal, intellectual, and spiritual journey from altar boy, to Dominican priest, to his eventual break with the Vatican. Five new chapters in this revised and updated edition bring added perspective in light of the author’s continued journey, and his reflections on the current changes taking place in church, society and the environment.
“The unfolding story of this irrepressible spiritual revolutionary enlivens the mind and emboldens the heart — must reading for anyone interested in courage, creativity, and the future of religion.”
—Joanna Macy, author of World as Lover, World as Self
Creation Spirituality: Liberating Gifts for the Peoples of the Earth
Fox’s spirituality weds the healing and liberation found in North American Creation Spirituality and in South American Liberation Theology. Creation Spirituality challenges readers of every religious and political persuasion to unite in a new vision through which we learn to honor the earth and the people who inhabit it as the gift of a good and just Creator.
“A watershed theological work that offers a common ground for religious seekers and activists of all stripes.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
“I am reading Liberating Gifts for the People of the Earth by Matt Fox. He is one that fills my heart and mind for new life in spite of so much that is violent in our world.” ~ Sister Dorothy Stang.
The A.W.E. Project reminds us that awe is the appropriate response to the unfathomable wonder that is creation… A.W.E. is also the acronym for Fox’s proposed style of learning – an approach to balance the three R’s. This approach to learning, eldering, and mentoring is intelligent enough to honor the teachings of the Ancestors, to nurture Wisdom in addition to imparting knowledge, and to Educate through Fox’s 10 C’s. The 10 C’s are the core of the A.W.E. philosophy and process of education, and include: compassion, contemplation, and creativity. The A.W.E. Project does for the vast subject of “learning” what Fox’s Reinvention of Work did for vocation and Original Blessing did for theology. Included in the book is a dvd of the 10 C’s put to 10 video raps created and performed by Professor Pitt.
“An awe-based vision of educational renewal.” — Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat, Spirituality and Practice.
The Reinvention of Work: A New Vision of Livelihood For Our Time
Thomas Aquinas said, “To live well is to work well,” and in this bold call for the revitalization of daily work, Fox shares his vision of a world where our personal and professional lives are celebrated in harmony–a world where the self is not sacrificed for a job but is sanctified by authentic “soul work.”
“Fox approaches the level of poetry in describing the reciprocity that must be present between one’s inner and outer work…[A]n important road map to social change.” ~~ National Catholic Reporter
In one of his foundational works, Fox engages with some of history’s greatest mystics, philosophers, and prophets in profound and hard-hitting essays on such varied topics as Eco-Spirituality, AIDS, homosexuality, spiritual feminism, environmental revolution, Native American spirituality, Christian mysticism, Art and Spirituality, Art as Meditation, Interfaith or Deep Ecumenism and more.
Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election
Matthew Fox tells us that he had always shied away from using the term “Anti-Christ” because it was so often used to spread control and fear. However, given today’s rise of authoritarianism and forces of democracide, ecocide, and christofascism, he turns the tables in this book employing the archetype for the cause of justice, democracy, and a renewed Earth and humanity.
From the Foreword: If there was ever a time, a moment, for examining the archetype of the Antichrist, it is now…Read this book with an open mind. Good and evil are real forces in our world. ~~ Caroline Myss, author of Anatomy of the Spirit and Conversations with the Divine.
For immediate access to Trump & The MAGA Movement as Anti-Christ: A Handbook for the 2024 Election, order the e-book with 10 full-color prints from Amazon HERE.
To get a print-on-demand paperback copy with black & white images, order from Amazon HERE or IUniverse HERE.
To receive a limited-edition, full-color paperback copy, order from MatthewFox.org HERE.
Order the audiobook HERE for immediate download.
