I have a number of works by Brueggemann in my Logos Library and want to begin reading through them. Does anyone have suggestions as to how this would best be accomplished - where to start, etc?
Michael, are you looking for technical advice (how to read a book in Logos) or recommendations about where to start with Brueggemann?
If the latter, it would help to know what works you have.
I don't know which titles by him you have, so I don't know what you should start with. But in my experience, nobody else's recommendation of what book of a given author to start with can trump your own poking around in them and just starting with the one that grabs your attention the most. That is, unless a series of them are intentionally written to be read in a certain order, but I don't think that is the case with any of Brueggemann's books.
The only book of his that I've read so far is Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy. It was excellent but very challenging. You might not want to start with that one. It was assigned for a biblical theology class I TA'ed for Bruce Waltke, and the assignment was to critique it. Waltke took issue with Brueggemann's approach in many ways, some of which were:
On the other hand, the strengths in it which Waltke pointed out or taught me to notice were:
Thank-you Adam and Rosie. Yes I was looking for some tips on which books to start with. I have the 24 volume Brueggeman Collection http://www.logos.com/product/25191/walter-brueggemann-collection which includes the following:
I also have "Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute, Advocacy" http://www.logos.com/product/15710/theology-of-the-old-testament-testimony-dispute-advocacy I have started with The Word That Redescribes the World: The Bible and Discipleship.
I have created a Layout with all of his books. In the left-hand pane I have my preferred translation. The right hand pane is split in two horizontally. The top pane contains all of his books that I have in my library. The bottom pane is my reading pane which is for the book that I am currently reading and any that I have completed as I read through his works. I do this my simply pulling a book from the top pane to the bottom pane. I leave the top pane and small as possible so I can just see what books are there and have as much reading space as possible. My left pane is about 1/3 the size of my screen and the right panes fill up the rest of the screen. I tried to copy and paste my screen but couldn't figure out how to do that with my Toshiba laptop.
Thanks again for your help, much appreciated.
Michael
If I may start off with paraphrasing Rosie, nothing beats the engagement you can have when you take a book on a topic which interests you and dig in. So if there is a title that seems interesting to you - JUMP IN!!!!
The book that I have heard the most about is The Prophetic Imagination. In many ways this would be standard choice. But for me, I found The Land to be a fine introduction to his way of engaging the Bible.
Brueggemann is one of my favorite OT scholars. The Prophetic Imagination, as Ken mentioned, is a 'standard' of sorts. It'd be a great place to start, but Spirituality of the Psalms is an outstanding little book, too. Either would be a great place to start.
