Book Review: The Word Militant by Walter Brueggemann

Review by Andy Mills

Bruggemann has built a reputation as the Old Testament scholar of choice among progressive evangelicals, and having used his commentaries they are thought provoking as well as full of relevant insight. He also has a reputation of refreshing thinking regarding preaching, and so I looked forward to reading his book The Word Militant: Preaching a Decentering Word.

The book is a collection of essays and articles that Brueggemann has written for a variety of publications and so is best read not by sequential reading but by reading and then reflecting on each individual chapter, letting the wisdom of how to wrestle with preaching God’s word with integrity in a world removed in culture and time from its original context. It is not a book of unconnected essays and the different chapters are linked by Brueggemann’s consistent force of conviction that impassions the reader.

It is not, I would say, a book for those who starting out on a ministry of preaching, as it does not reflect very much on the technical details of sermon preparation, but is more a book for reinvigoration for those already preaching regularly.

I would thoroughly recommend this book as something to savour and inspire afresh with the challenge to proclaim scripture to God’s people.

Andy Mills

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The Word Militant by Walter Brueggemann  (Fortress Press/Alban Books) 

This book was received free from Alban Books for the purpose of reviewing. A positive review was not required. All opinions expressed are the reviewer's own.