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Biblical Perspectives on Evangelism

Biblical Perspectives on Evangelism Book Cover Biblical Perspectives on Evangelism: Living in a Three-Storied Universe, Walter Brueggemann, Abingdon Press, Nashville TN, 1993. ISBN: 0-687-41233-1.

From the book jacket: In this timely and provocative work, Walter Brueggemann applies his experience and skills in the area of biblical interpretation to the theme of evangelism. He argues for the importance of considering afresh how the Bible itself thinks and speaks about evangelism, how it enacts the dramatic claims of the “good news.”

Centered in the Christian Scriptures (especially the Old Testament), couched in compelling rhetoric that rises out of an encounter with the story(ies) of redemption, and impassioned by the message that God is both promise maker and promise keeper to human creatures, who are prone to forget their creatureliness, this volume is vintage Brueggemann.

The title is appropriately descriptive of the content of this small but powerful piece, although "Old Testament" might aptly be substituted for "Biblical." But then again, as Brueggemann has so often reminded us Christians: The New Testament makes little or no sense without the Hebrew Scriptures, so we would do well to spend more time in the Hebrew Bible when exploring the topic of evangelism. I hasten to add that the author has not forgotten the christological center. In retelling the redemptive drama in the Christian context, the announcement must "be concrete, uncompromising, and Christological. Thus, the lean announcement is that in Jesus Christ, God has overcome." These are countercultural words in a theological world that is suffering a potentially terminal case of christological amnesia.

The book's title contains an interesting play on the word "story." Although "three-storied" immediately conjures images of cosmology and demythologizing, Brueggemann is occupied with a much more biblical theme, "the old, old story." His three stories are like a three-scene drama: the story of theological conflict, the story that announces the victory, and the story that requires the response of lived appropriation.