The Prophetic Imagination

Finley Peter Dunne once remarked that "th newspaper...comforts th' afflicted [and] afflicts th' comfortable." I think what he was getting at was the fundamental nature of truth; truth, like God (in the words of Walter Brueggemann), works on both sides of the street. Truth refuses to be pinned down or co-opted, rather, truth always pushes ahead, prodding all parties, comforting the afflicted and afflicting the comfortable as truth is revealed (Greek: apocalyp, the source of the word apocalypse/apocalyptic) by its forth-teller, the prophet (Greek: prophetes, literally "speaker").

In his rich book The Prophetic Imagination, Walter Brueggemann explores the nature of prophecy, which he more precisely labels "prophetic imagination," a way of seeing which pictures the world as it would be according to truth. A prophetic imagination is a vision of the world which is opposed to the imperial imagination that dominates the landscape we see everyday. Brueggeman, like Walsh and Keesmaat in Colossians Remixed, sees the world as controlled by systems of empire (for a historical example, think of Rome; for a contemporary one, think of America). Empire in this sense is directly opposed to the freedom of YHWH, who in the midst of empire reveals his will and his truth through the prophets. These prophets paint pictures of a different reality, a Kingdom which is ruled by Jesus Christ, the Truth. The strokes the prophets paint with are strokes of imagination; the painting is that of shalom.

To dig deeper, we must first consider the nature of the empires which dominate this present world. First, we notice that much of the work of an empire is that of satiation. Empires by design seek to maintain a status quo which is safe and reinforces their control (think pax romana). In order to maintain a status quo, empires must eliminate risky radicalism which might seek to break free from their reign, and empires know that revolution only occurs when people's desires are left unmet. Therefore, empires enmbark on the task of satiating their citizens desires, making revolution unthinkable and dependence on the empire complete. In modern times, this is the work of consumerism, which promises freedom as"consumer choice" and happiness through material goods and more powerful technology. In time, alternate ways of life become at best distant memories in the face of indulgent materialism. However, when this task is finished, it is nothing less than imagination which is the foremost victim. As satiation of desire is completed, satiation of imagination likewise completes until alternate realities are no longer even considered.

The vision which the empire offers is one of naive optimism (which asserts that its is the most desireable life and that nothing is wrong with it) and enslaving freedom (which affirms the value of the individual over against any binding community/system but results in an assassination of human nature and ultimately love). The "goodness" of the empire is a facade, a superficial ploy, yet affluence makes it highly different to see through the mirage to the truth. This facade is further strengthened by religious language and claims, which, for instance, proclaims the "American dream" as the chief end of man and canonizes crucial leaders while claiming to reside eternally "under God's" favor.

The will of God, therefore, becomes incredibly accessible, all one has to do to discern it is follow the actions of the state. Brueggemann, however, asserts that God's accessibility is inversely related to his freedom, and that any permanent binding of God to a state is nothing less than fitting him into a box, a box that he will nevertheless break free from--but in ways undiscernable to those infatuated with the empire which boxed God in. Still, as God breaks our boxes, he refuses to leave us alone but always reveals the truth to his prophets, who scream annoyingly on the street corners that we must repent of the lives which do not seem broken to us.

The prophetic task is first defined by criticism, which first and foremost is an uncovering (apocalpytic) task that reveals the emptiness of the empire's claims. Prophetic criticism asserts that the empire's claims on happiness, peace, and authority are, in the end, vapid and worthless. Thus, prophecy shows how broken the empire's world really is, opening the door to repentence and the in-breaking of newness from beyond the box. Criticism of this kind begins in grieving and in indignant complaint. It is not passive, but cries loudly that it has been wronged, that the promises made to it by the empire have been broken. The prophet proclaims betrayal and speaks from a position of suffering and solidarity with the one's marginalized by the empire's oppression (as Brueggemann writes, "eating that well means food is being off the table of another," in a world of scarcity, there is never enough comfort and luxury to go around). There will always be people marginalized by the empire, and the prophet decidedly sides with them agains the empire, proclaiming the year of the Lord's favor and a peace which surpasses all understanding. By siding with the weak, the prophet breaks through the numbness created by the empires claims that "all is well," showing decisively that all is not well everywhere. The prophet thus reaches beyond the facade of pleasure offered by the empire to bring the underlying hurt and suffering to expression, drawing on the tradition of the marginalized community to concretely recognize their fears, brokenness, and the horrors they have faced. In solidarity, the prophet is guided by compassion, breaking from the profit-economics of the empire and valuing human life as is. Through all of these methods, the prophet strips the empire bare and proclaims its death, opening the door for an alternate reality to enter into the victim's imagination.

Prophetic criticism, however, leads to the same despair that is the result of imperial numbness, for in the end any negative left by itself fails to inspire. Prophetic energizing, which is the emergence of hope, is therefore crucial. As already noted, the prophet sides with the marginalized and not just against the empire. The prophet declares that God is for the weak and the oppressed, the widow and the orphan and discerns the points where God's freedom is breaking into the imperial present and offering hope and renewal. This discernment can take no form but doxology, worship which proclaims the new by drawing on a history of inversion, where mountains become valleys and the meek inherit the earth. This is a worship which sees Christ sitting on the throne over all the earth, above every ruler and power and authority. This is a worship which breeds a hope grounded in the promises of the faithful (chesed) YHWH.

Above all, the prophet affirms that hope comes to those who wait on the Lord. Hope, like freedom, is a gift of grace. The prophetic imagination is inspired and sustained by grace and inspired by revelation; the prophet's task is always centered on the freedom of YHWH. In all of these things, the prophetic imagination works to create an alternative community where free living can thrive. The prophetic imagination is not characterized by isolated acts of protest or rebellion, but is more of a stance which influences all of one's decisions and actions. In all things, the prophet invokes the imagination to prod the memory of the oppressed (so that they will remember a time before the empire and then imagine a future time without it), bring their pain to public expression (speaking unsaid fears and denying death its sting while proclaiming the death of the empire), and energize the despairing with a living hope, all the while declaring and praising YHWH's will through doxology and symbolic discourse (historical symbols, metaphor, etc.). These are the tasks of the prophet who continually pushes to bring shalom in the midst of the empire, creating a community of the weak and dispossed who praise YHWH and yearn to see him enthroned above their kings, a dream first realized in the imagination but in hope that Christ's kingdom will come soon. Maranatha.