by Bill Wylie-Kellermann

When I was a student at Union Seminary in New York, Abraham Heschel taught at Jewish Theological Seminary across the street. Though he died within my first year, the author of The Prophets, was notorious, it was said, for being the professor who actually believed in God. Something related might be said about Walter Brueggemann who crossed over to the ancestors and saints June 5. 

He was an eminent scholar, among those like Norman Gottwald who altered the landscape of biblical studies by bringing sociological analysis to interpretation, and for such reason presided for years in the biblical guild. Yet, as a discipline, he was eminently readable and accessible to movement and church for whom the work was ultimately intended. 

In the early days of Kirkridge, when the motto of “Picket and Pray” was being envisioned, he joined a student work camp to build the project. He’s in a group photo among the histories in our Lenape Room at Turning Point.

Once in a footnote to Israel’s Praise, he cited a 1985 order of the Pretoria regime prohibiting Blacks from singing Christmas carols in the townships because they generated such revolutionary energy. The newspaper report quoted a South African police agent: “Carols are too emotional to be sung in a time of unrest…Candles have become revolutionary symbols.” Which is to say, he could write an analysis of the world-shaking and world-making power of Israel’s liturgy and psalms, but then put out a book of prayers for our own moment. He prayed. He imagined a new world with all his heart. He invited us likewise.

For many of us, The Prophetic Imagination, was the way into his whole body of hundred- volume works. It invoked the radical power of the poetic word, indeed the very living Word, to subvert and critique imperial and kingly power. In likewise making the prophetic vocation accessible, he summoned us to transformation. And then would turn around and publish his sermons on surviving and flourishing in exile.

I confess to neglecting his book, Chosen? Reading the Bible amid the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict, including the criticism it provoked, but am glad to see it lifted now, as the State of Israel assaults the moral legacy of Judaism with Palestinian genocide. It’s a grief otherwise tended by raw lamentation, the wailing cry of Hebrew scripture. And marks a conversation for which I’d still yearn.

Walter was indeed generous beyond words with his time and encouragement. In the years since our Methodist Annual Conference moved to Traverse City, I’ve had yearly coffee or lunch with him. A last hand-scrawled note said he’d begun palliative care, clearly a synonym for hospice. I missed conference this year intending a visit later in the month. So, my grief is compounded.

A few years ago he wrote of my wife Jeanie (and our dear Director’s Mom): 

Of course, all of us are precious in God’s sight. But some of “all of us” stand out because of their freedom, their courage, and their tenacity. We call them “saints.” Jeanie Wylie-Kellermann was one such! She embodied gospel passion that led her beyond herself to a rich network of justice and restoration…Jeanie’s life was a mighty and joyous contradiction of the pitiful “normal” that now assaults us. She knew, deep in her bones, about otherwise.”

I report it only to add, that he too was one such. Thanks be to God.