CENTER DAY 2008:
June 24, 2008
Ft. Lauderdale, Florida

Living Between Two Narratives:
Covenant or Control
Rev. Dr. Walter Brueggemann

Narrative and covenant are important grounding for religious faith and understanding. Even those of us who are distant from the narratives of Jewish and Christian Scripture dip into them for vision and insight, especially concerning our own UU concept of covenant. Many of us find ways to use the narratives of our Unitarian and Universalist history to throw light on present day challenges.

The Rev. Dr. Walter Brueggemann is a major scholar and educator on the scope and complexity of Old Testament Scripture. In his teaching, he brings vast knowledge of world philosophy and literature to the service of Biblical interpretation, and he focuses on the power of Biblical narrative as it illuminates social situation in the past and in the present. He says, “Biblical faith narrates reality around a passion for covenant. But within the Bible itself there is an alternative narrative that is preoccupied with security and control. These narratives operate in acute tension within the Bible. In this presentation I will consider that same contestation between narratives as it continues in our own societal setting. The invitation of faith is to live in that tension and make alternative decisions that concern the future of the world.”

Dr. Brueggeman was the Millaim Marcellus McPheeters Professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur Georgia until his retirement in 2003. He also had a long tenure as a professor at Eden Theological Seminary in Webster Groves, Missouri, and he is an ordained United Church of Christ (UCC) minister. He has two sons and four grandchildren.

Among the many books the has written are the volumes in the well-respected Interpretation Biblical Commentary Series on Genesis and 1st and 2nd Samuel, the major repositories of narrative in the Old Testament. Brueggemann writes for the whole range of audiences: scholars, clergy, and lay people. He is also a contributing editor for Sojourners and for Christian Century. He has lectured widely in the United States, in Europe, and in Israel, but this CENTER Day will be the first time that he will be speaking specifically with Unitarian Universalist religious leaders, and he is looking forward to this