I immediately thought of Walter Brueggemann when I heard the recent criticisms of Rev. Jeremiah Wright's prophetic rhetoric. I felt certain that somewhere Dr. Brueggemann was shaking his head and wondering aloud if once again Christians skipped over one of the most important parts of our Bible. Two months ago I spent the weekend listening to Dr. Brueggemann speak at length about the prophet Jeremiah and his key role in our faith tradition. Here is what Dr. Brueggemann wrote in a recent comment printed in the Atlanta Journal and Constitution:

The current spasm of "righteous indignation" concerning Jeremiah Wright, Sen. Barack Obama's pastor, smacks of embarrassing ignorance. Such a critique of Wright is ignorant of black preaching rhetoric and the practice of liberation interpretation. It is also disturbingly ignorant of the prophetic traditions of the Bible that regularly expose the failures of society in savage rhetoric. I am grateful for the ministry of Wright, a colleague of mine in the United Church of Christ, who for a very long time has been a faithful pastor and a daring prophetic figure. It is odd when right-wingers misconstrue this belated Jeremiah as they do the original Jeremiah, who knew about God's passion for truth-telling in risky places.

Walter Brueggemann - professor emeritus of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary