Like Fire in the Bones

Listening for the Prophetic Word in Jeremiah

Walter Brueggemann

Edited by Patrick D. Miller

Fortress Press

Minneapolis

like fire in the bones

Listening for the Prophetic Word in Jeremiah

First Fortress Press paperback edition 2011

Copyright © 2006 Fortress Press. All rights reserved. Except for brief quotations in critical articles or reviews, no part of this book may be reproduced in any manner without prior written permission from the publisher. Visit http://www.augsburgfortress.org/copyrights/ or write to Permissions, Augsburg Fortress, Box 1209, Minneapolis, MN 55440.

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright © 1989 by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA, and are used by permission.

Cover design: Kevin van der Leek Design Inc.

Cover photo: © Trinette Reed/Photodisc/Getty Images. Used by permission.

Interior design: Beth Wright, Trio Bookworks

ISBN 978-0-8006-9828-7

The Library of Congress cataloged the hardcover edition as follows:

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Brueggemann, Walter.

Like fire in the bones: listening for the prophetic word in Jeremiah /

Walter Brueggemann; edited by Patrick D. Miller.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN: 978-0-8006-3561-9 (alk. paper)

1. Bible. O.T. Jeremiah—Criticism, interpretation, etc. I. Miller, Patrick D. II. Title.

BS1525.52.B78 2006

224′.206—dc22

2006010165

Contents

Editor’s Foreword

Preface

Acknowledgments

I. The Word Spoken through the Prophet

1. Jeremiah: Portrait of the Prophet

2. The Book of Jeremiah: Meditation upon the Abyss

3. Recent Scholarship: Intense Criticism, Thin Interpretation

4. Theology in Jeremiah: Creatio in Extremis

5. Next Steps in Jeremiah Studies

II. Listening for the Prophetic Word in History

6. The Prophetic Word of God and History

7. An Ending That Does Not End

8. A Second Reading of Jeremiah after the Dismantling

9. A Shattered Transcendence: Exile and Restoration

10. Haunting Book—Haunted People

III. Carrying Forward the Prophetic Task

11. Prophetic Ministry: A Sustainable Alternative Community

12. A World Available for Peace: Images of Hope from Jeremiah and Isaiah

13. “Is There No Balm in Gilead?”: The Hope and Despair of Jeremiah

14. Prophets and Historymakers

15. Why Prophets Won’t Leave Well Enough Alone: An Interview with Walter Brueggemann

Abbreviations

Index of Names

Index of Biblical References

To the Memory

of

Warren R. Mehl

Editor’s Foreword

There are few books of the Old Testament about which Walter Brueggemann has not written in some depth. The breadth of his work matches the prolific output of scholarly, relevant, and helpful interpretation of scripture in book, essay, sermon, and prayer. It would be difficult, therefore, to identify any one area or book as a primary sphere or subject of his interpretive activity. Nevertheless, I am bold to suggest that if there is any book that he has probed more deeply ...