Photo Courtesy WalterBruggeman.com
Prophetic Imagination
November 14, 2023
Before I turn to specific matters that require us to be vigilant, I want to focus on the foundation upon which future posts will come. It is the foundation Matthew Fox calls the mystic-prophet. [1]
Fact is, Walter Brueggemann began laying this foundation for me before Matthew Fox did. His book, "Prophetic Imagination" opened the door into the larger house, which Fox (and others) inhabit. Brueggemann named the same mystic-prophet combination in that book, and does so frequently in others. Matthew Fox gave me the two-word way of understanding the experience Brueggemann had ignited in me, adding his insights to it.
In a nutshell, it means that as disciples of Jesus, we commit ourselves to live by the standards of the reign of God, not those of the kingdoms of this world. In this sense, all followers of Jesus are called to be prophets, and to be so in a myriad of ways. We agree to this in our baptismal vow “to resist evil in whatever forms it presents itself.”
But as all my mentors in this vision make clear, to be authentic prophets we must first be mystics. Mystics are those who have the eyes and ears Jesus commended in Mark 8:18. [2] Seeking first a clean heart and a right spirit (Psalm 51:10) they see into unreality, and then through it into Reality. The seeing is prophetic because it calls out evil, calls for change, and calls forth hope.[3] As Fox puts it, prophets are mystics in action. [4]
Vigil is a prophetic action born from mystical seeing. It is shaped by a death/resurrection vision. [5] It endures with a tenacity that believes God, not evil, has the final word.
The upcoming posts will arise from the three prophetic tasks mentioned above. Some will name evil. Others will offer ways to move beyond it. And all will be in the context of hope that “though the wrong seems oft so strong, God is the Ruler yet.” [5]
[1] Matthew Fox, ‘Prayer: A Radical Response to Life’ (Tarcher-Putnam, 2091), originally published as ‘On Becoming a Musical, Mystical Bear’ (Paulist Press, 1972).
[2] Richard Rohr, ‘The Naked Now: Learning to See as the Mystics See (Crossroad, 2009).
[3] Walter Brueggemann, ‘Reality, Grief, Hope: Three Urgent Prophetic Tasks’ (Eerdmans, 2014).
[4] Matthew Fox, ‘The Coming of the Cosmic Christ’ (Harper & Row, 1988), 63.
[5] Maltie D. Babcock, “This Is My Father’s World”