The Biblical Interpreter as Agent of the Holy Spirit and Opener of Doors

This essay reflects on Walter Brueggemann’s influence as a theologian and ethicist, with reference to the recent book The Widening of God’s Mercy: Sexuality Within the Biblical Story. It traces Brueggemann’s thinking about his own book The Prophetic Imagination, noting his opposition to “totalism” in politics and ethics, but also his sympathy with the difficulty of practicing the “prophetic imagination” in church and other institutional contexts. The present essay analyzes texts from Acts and Isaiah, showing how the gracious interpretation of God’s will by human intermediaries was always significant, even within the Bible. It closes with some hermeneutical principles to guide biblical interpreters away from harmful, totalizing interpretations and towards the love and mercy of God.