Book Review: Testimony to Otherwise

Walter Brueggemann, Testimony to Otherwise: The Witness of Elijah and Elisha (Chalice, 2001), 140pp (with thanks to Chalice Press for a review copy)

Walter Brueggemann is a prolific writer, having written and edited over 30 books in the last 25 years. A leading Old Testament theologian of his generation. What I like especially about Brueggemann is first he is a preacher and he writes for preachers and second he is reader of and specialist in the whole Old Testament. This short book is another fantastic offering.

In chapter one he argues that a theme in the Old Testament is  about choice, what he calls 'either/or'. So its either follow Baal or follow Yahweh. He writes, 'Israel, in order to be the people of Yahweh, must be endlessly engaged in an intentional decision for Yahwism ...' (p.7). Where there seems or appears to be no choice, the Old Testament witness provides 'an imaginative Or.' This is seen most clearly in Second Isaiah, where the  situation is a return from Exile seems impossible and Yahweh seems defeated, but in the midst comes the word of Yahweh beginning with 'comfort' and building to a new hope and faith. Second Isaiah allows Israel to see there is an 'either/or'.

In chapter two, Brueggemann explores the idea of 'otherwise', that the givenness of a situation can be challenged by otherwise. So in the history 1 and 2 Kings, the narratives of Elijah and Elisha are a testimony to otherwise - that the royal account of reality does not have to be: the stories ... open to the listeners in daring imagination the claim that the world does not need to be perceived  or engaged according to dominant shapings of power, to privileged notions of authority, to conventional distributions of goods, or to standard definitions of what is possible' (p.35).

Chapters three to six take the themes of 'either/or' and 'otherwise' and discusses them in relation to specific texts (the stories of Elijah and Elisha).

If you've never read Brueggemann this a great place to start. The book faithfully reads the stories of Elijah and Elisha and draws out the meanings and connections for today's world. Brueggemann always challenges the church to be the church and Testimony to Otherwise is no different and in a world where the possibility of 'otherwise' seems to hidden, this kind of imagination and hope is sorely needed.

Comments

[Dogfreid]

I read Brueggemann's The Bible Makes Sense months back and I thought it was all right. He's a creative thinker, though a little soft on some of the major themes of Scripture.