Walter Brueggeman

I’ve heard it said that everyone has a book in them. Christopher Hitchens once commented in a C-SPAN discussion on new book releases, “Everybody has a book in them which is exactly where it should, in most cases, remain.” Some books are better left unwritten. Such is not the case with Old Testament scholar Walter Brueggeman (1933-). His one hundred books have greatly aided the church in rediscovering the Old Testament in recent years.
Since our focus is prayer, his book, Praying the Psalms, has added relevance for us. Walter offers readers a helpful framework for understanding the biblical Psalms. While not every Psalm fits into a neat category, most can be viewed in one of three ways.  Psalms of Orientation are likely the ones with which we are most familiar. These Psalms express gratitude and praise to God. Psalms of Disorientation convey heartache, pain, grief, and lament. These Psalms remind us to bring everything to God in prayer. Psalms of Reorientation communicate joy and gladness when God delivers us through pain and despair to hope again. He stresses that the Psalms are meant to be prayed, not merely read. They constitute our first written prayer book. He advises readers to consider praying one Psalm daily. Linger over the words and let them guide us in prayer. One of his quotes lingers with me, “Prayer is the great antidote to the illusion that we are self-made.” I admire scholars who also practice vital spirituality. Brueggemann has published books of his own prayers, including the following: