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58 The Old Testament and Christian Spirituality
Stuhlmueller thus succeeds in combining a reading of the text
of the Psalms which is unequivocally historically-oriented with a
spiritual life that is indisputably related to God. Context ancient
meets context modern in a fulfilling interaction between ancient
Scripture and modern reader. To my sensibilities, this is the model
for interaction with the Scriptures by individuals and the church
which holds the greatest promise for a theologically and
intellectually sustainable interface.
3. Brueggemann’s Analysis of the Psalms
Since, most particularly, his Genesis commentary, 20 Walter
Brueggemann (Columbia Theological Seminary Old Testament
scholar and Presbyterian church leader) has been known for his
ability to translate complex technical exegesis into a more popular
mode, so as to be accessible to readers not well versed in the
necessary scholarly apparatus of exegetes. Brueggemann has
developed a style of academic writing which may be described as
“analytical,” “conceptual,” or “paradigmatic.” 21 This entails, with
all the necessary introductory exclusions and limitations, the use of
certain concepts, often combined opposites, with which to analyse
a text or body of texts—an approach again to be seen in his
Theology of the Old Testament. 22 Though it may leave much about
the texts unsaid, this approach has the benefit that new thematic
relationships between texts can be discovered, in a concise and
accessible—“eminently practical” 23 —way. Certain concepts are
20 W. Brueggemann, Genesis (Interpretation: A Bible Commentary for Teaching
and Preaching; Atlanta: John Knox, 1982).
21 But not in the sense of Kuhn (see T. S. Kuhn, The Structure of Scientific
Revolutions (2d ed.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1970).
22 W. Brueggemann, Theology of the Old Testament: Testimony, Dispute,
Advocacy (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1997).
23 See Craghan, Love and Thunder, 125; cf. W. Brueggemann, Spirituality of the
Psalms (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2002), vii–viii; Craghan here refers to W.
Brueggemann, “Psalms and the Life of Faith: A Suggested Typology of