Walter Brueggemann

Walter Brueggemann (b. 1933) is a retired Old Testament scholar, prolific author, and professor emeritus at Columbia Theological Seminary. Brueggemann is an advocate and practitioner of rhetorical criticism. He has written more than 58 books, hundreds of articles, and several commentaries on books of the Bible. He is also a minister of the United Church of Christ. Brueggemann has a ThD from Union Theological Seminary, New York and a PhD from St. Louis University.

Recent books include: Disruptive Grace; Reflections on God, Scripture and the Church, (Fortress Press, 2011), Journey to the Common Good, (Westminster John Knox Press, 2010), Out of Babylon, (Abingdon Press, 2010), Divine Presence Amid Violence; Contextualizing the Book of Joshua Cascade Books, 2009, and An Unsettling God: The Heart of the Hebrew Bible, Fortress Press, 2009.

Among his many awards and honors he has received “Best Academic Book 2004” from Association of Theological Booksellers (Theologos Award) for An Introduction to the Old Testament: The Canon and Christian Imagination. and “Book of the Year,” for Theology of the Old Testament (1998) from Academy of Parish Clergy.

“He has devoted his life to a passionate exploration of Old Testament theology, with an emphasis on the relation between the Old Testament and the Christian canonical works, the origins and history of Christian doctrine, and the dynamics of Jewish-Christian interactions,” said Mark Thiessen Nation. Brueggemann has been called a “postmodern” scholar.

He is married to Tia Ann Brueggemann, has two sons, James and John, and 5 grandchildren.