Dr. Walter Brueggemann Speaks at the George Knight Lecture Series

November 8, 2016 Meredith Foster (Student Writer)

Dr. Walter Brueggemann lectured on “Why the Old Testament Must Not Go Away” at the George Knight Lectures held Monday in Logsdon Chapel.

His noon lecture focused on the flaws and limitations of an extraction economy. He brought up several examples of the implementation of an extraction economy in the Old Testament, and how it not only is used for reference in the New Testament, but also how it can guide economics in the 21st century.

Brueggemann said, “The Old Testament should not go away because it provides a script wherein we may think modestly and faithfully about economic questions.”

He covered several major themes during his talk. Brueggemann discussed how the Bible addresses the economy of extraction. “The Bible originated in and is best read in an economy of extraction. By extraction, I mean procedures that allow powerful people to extract wealth from vulnerable people.”

He said the Bible offers an alternative to economies of extraction. “The Bible offers a fairly sustained critique of an economy of extraction and consistently offers an alternative,” he said. 

He also discussed the economic programs of the United States, which he said are not sustainable. “We in the Western world and The United States live in an economy of extraction,” he said. 

Brueggemann graduated from Elmhurst College in 1955 with an A.B. He then attended Eden Theological Seminary in 1958 receiving a B.D. In 1961, he earned his Th.D. at Union Theological Seminary. He also earned a Ph.D. in education at St. Louis University.

In 1978, he published “The Prophetic Imagination and since 1982 he has written about the Psalms including his well-known book “Message of the Psalms.” 

The lecture series is named after Dr. George W. Knight who retired from the HSU faculty in 2002. Knight was the first Cook-Derrick Chair of Bible and Greek at HSU, and he started HSU’s archaeology program.

Logsdon will host its annual T.B. Maston Lectures in Christian Ethics with Dr. Jeph Holloway from East Texas Baptist University on March 27-28, 2017.

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