Bruce's Book Blog

Interrupting Silence: God’s Command to Speak Out.

By Walter Brueggemann.

Louisville: Westminster John Knox. 2018

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With his usual clarity, Walter Brueggemann tackles silence and its role in social justice. Using his well-known socio-rhetorical Bible study method, he traverses both Old and New Testament passages to teach about silence and why there are times to speak up!

When people speak up instead of clamming up, justice becomes an option. Justice is not a true option when silence rules the day. “Silence is a strategy for the maintenance of the status quo, with its unbearable distribution of power and wealth,” Brueggemann wrote. Silence was enforced by kings of old to maintain and increase their power and dominance.

Silence in a relationship with God devastates the believer. When we speak up in prayer, we give voice to faith that something new can occur, if God were to enter the situation. Brueggemann said it this way. “Prayer is a refusal to settle for what is.”

Too often, the church has engaged in actions that perpetuate silence. While there are aspects of Brueggemann’s development of this concept with which I strongly agree, the sentiment is undeniable. He wrote from a more progressive perspective, as a member of the United Church of Christ. Yet, I have long maintained that much can be learned from him, even though there will be times that I strongly disagree with some of his conclusions.

Though never mentioned, the work builds on concepts from a communication theory called the Spiral of Silence, which was developed by German researcher Elisabeth Noelle-Neumann. It identifies potential reasons why silence develops when people should speak. It develops how control is used to maintain silence.

About the rating: I have read the book at least three times in the last six years because I gain so much each time. It may not be for every reader. While not written at an academic level, the book is for the “thinking Christian,” the one who has a decent vocabulary and enjoys pushing their intellectual boundaries.