A Gospel of Hope is one of Walter Brueggemann's messages from the past the he believes needs to be resaid to today's divided America. I have read several of Dr. Brueggemann's books on the Psalms and have always thought of him as a teacher. In A Gospel of Hope he speaks powerfully as a prophet to politically divided Christians in the United States.

In the Preface, the author states that both liberal and conservative Christians are wrong in their belief systems. He uses a quotation from Ephesians 3:20-21 to show how Christians from both political spectrums have failed to ask from God all that they can imagine. "Now to him who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, to him be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Progressives have failed because it is not fashionable for them to imagine that God can do things abundantly. Conservatives have failed because it isn't fashionable for them to imagine for God's goodness beyond a rigid set of rules to obey. As he states in his book "the human counterpoint to God's effective abundance is to ask or imagine." From this premise Dr. Brueggemann begins to state his message.

He states that when baptized Christians do not trust in God's guaranteed abundance, we try to supply the deficiencies out of our own resources. He asserts that politically active liberal and conservative Christians are out of sync with their baptism and all that it means. He believes that these Christians, and the church as a whole, have to decide whether they want to belong to the dominant culture or to God. "Faith has nothing to do with being liberal or conservative." He further states in the book that when Jesus began his ministry he began an alternative community and that we are at a crossroads today where we must decide whether to go with the dominant culture or form an alternative community based on Jesus' teachings and example.

The author continues his theme showing how a sense of scarcity has affected our emotions bringing us anxiety as well as infidelity to God. Christians of all political spectrums have been driven to find security in money and power as an antidote to our fears about scarcity. In doing so we have created hostility and alienation. As we have moved away from being authentic Christians and began fighting amongst ourselves, the world changed and now longer accepts the Bible message as it once did.

The gospel of hope "requires a community of faith and action that is open to newness that will be given as a gift." The church must wait for this newness to come from the Holy Spirit but first it must give up its old ideas and choose new ones that are Biblical and not from the dominant culture. The 2 sides will need to come together as one and wait for the newness to arrive and begin a ministry together. The author states that the world is waiting for Christians who are not angry or anxious or quarrelsome or in despair. First, we need to make peace among ourselves though.

I highly recommend this book. It is thought provoking. It shows how the church became divided and also shows a way out of our current crisis. It is certainly a book for our time. ( )