It's a beautiful day for a book. Somehow God heard my plea for warm weather and sunshine. I got both. It's 70 degrees here. It's baffling. So I enjoyed this sunshine by finally finishing the last 30 pages of Walter Brueggemann's Mandate to Difference.
I'm not convinced that this collection of essays does serve as an invitation to the contemporary church. It doesn't really fuel the fire in my mind. Yes, I certainly agree that liberal (or so-called liberal) churches need to affirm their faith in the Biblical "script." And yet, I think Brueggemann's urge is really to clergy -- not to churches. I think it might be more worthwhile to pray and discern how we observe sabbath together (as this is the central thesis he repeats). I don't think it's just about clergy.
However, I am Congregational. I believe in the power of the pew. I don't like hierarchy and I have no idea how my sister denominations do it. I know it works for them. I just don't get it -- and so I want this invitation to actually be to the church, not just clergy. The problem is that he writes (and speaks) to the academy so that this book would be hard to do with church people that constantly remind me that they "don't know anything about the Bible."
Ahem. This turned into a rant. Clearly, it struck a chord. Perhaps that's the invitation. I'll have to think more about it. And if you happen to read it, I'd be curious what you think.
1 comment:
This book is on my shelf but I haven't gotten around to it yet. My SP, a friend of Brueggie's liked it (not surprising). :-)
I'm working on "The Travels of a T-Shirt in the Global Economy" and "Irresistible Revolution" and also "A Church of Her Own"...it's busy on my couch. :-) So far I'm not finding the Irresistible Revolution to be irresistible. It hasn't said anything I thought was new...and it's been putting me to sleep regularly. :-)
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