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Reviewed by Rush Otey, Minister, Selwyn Avenue Presbyterian Church, Charlotte, NC Awed to Heaven, Rooted in Earth: Prayers of Walter Brueggemann, edited by Edwin Searcy Published on the occasion of Walter Brueggemann's retirement from teaching at Eden Seminary (twenty-five years) and Columbia Seminary (seventeen years), this volume will serve as a summary of many themes familiar to his students and readers, and as introduction to any people who somehow may never have encountered Brueggemann's challenging and passionate work. It is also a clear reminder that loving God with the heart does not have to be done in isolation from matters of the mind. Brueggemann says in the introduction that the collection is offered as both an aid to others who pray publicly, and as an act of gratitude. There is a quite helpful index at the end of the volume which links prayers to biblical texts (both Old and New Testament scriptures.) Edwin Searcy, one of Brueggemann's former students, has done a masterful job in organizing the prayers in nine chapters related to the several motions and moods of worship (confession, illumination, intercession, thanksgiving), and the final chapter leads one through the liturgical seasons of the Christian year. Though the style and language of the prayers are reverent and elevated and eloquent, they are neither flowery nor ostentatious. As with the psalmists and prophets and the Lord who prayed in Gethsemane, Brueggemann displays the agony, struggle, and pathos of faith. The absence of God is felt as frequently as the Presence. Brueggemann broods over the problem of evil and suffering, with no holds barred in revealing the raw pain brought to God without apology. In fact, one of the prayers is entitled, "Is there a balm . . . in Gilead or anywhere?" (pg.127) Many of the prayers refer to contemporary events such as September 11, 2001, or to the clearing of homeless people from the Atlanta streets prior to the 1996 Olympic Games, or ethnic cleansing, or war. At other times there is lyrical praise and thanksgiving. Always there is the implicit commitment that prayer is not withdrawing from the world in some solipsistic sweetness, but prayer is to fortify and prepare and embolden the community of faith for mission in the world. Carlyle Marney, another wonderfully poetic and articulate pastor, preacher, and teacher, used to exhort his students not to lie when preaching. Walter Brueggemann, ever the advocate and practitioner of "true speech," certainly shows here that neither ought we lie when we pray. On September 11, 2001, Brueggemann was engaged in teaching Isaiah 1, and his prayer before his class that day concluded with: . . .We are, we confess, sobered, put off, placed in dread, that you are Lord as well as friend, that you are hidden as well as visible, that you are silent as well as reassuring. You are our God. That is enough for us . . .but just barely. We pray in the name of the wounded flesh of Jesus. Amen. (pg. 37)
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