Former colleagues, students and friends remember Dr. Walter Brueggemann
Panelists at Columbia Theological Seminary share stories about their friend and mentor, who died June 5 at age 92
October 9, 2025, Mike Ferguson, Presbyterian News Service
LOUISVILLE — This week the Columbia Theological Seminary community remembered beloved Old Testament Professor Walter Brueggemann by convening a panel of his friends and admirers to talk about what made Brueggemann the celebrated teacher and author that he was.
Brueggemann, who wrote more than 100 books and inspired generations of pastors and scholars, died June 5 in Traverse City, Michigan, at age 92. In 2003, he concluded his influential and prolific academic career at Columbia Theological Seminary in Decatur, Georgia, where he taught for 17 years.
Quotes:
Dr. Bill Brown of Columbia Theological Seminary:
“His words are poetic. There’s a passion behind them that makes them persuasive and compelling,” Brown said. “Walter’s work has made it impossible to do biblical studies without a compassionate concern for people in pain.”
Brueggemann did more than put the “so what?” in biblical studies, Brown said. “He put the prophetic ‘therefore’ in biblical studies.
When Brown was a graduate student, Brueggemann put on a Lenten series on the Psalms at a local PC(USA) church. “He came in and sucked the oxygen out of the room. He had this commanding presence,” Brown said. “I had never witnessed a Bible lecture as performance art before.”
“He invited us to write a lament from the perspective of a Palestinian mother,” Brown recalled. “That was 40 years ago, and it always stuck with me.”
Dr. Davis Hankins of Appalachian State University:
“He made us believe the Bible really matters.”
Dr. Kathleen M. O’Connor, professor emerita at Columbia Theological Seminary:
“It’s obvious this man had an incredible integrative intelligence,” O’Connor said. “What he had that the average bear doesn’t have is discipline and devotion.” Normally the first one in the office, Brueggemann would write for 90 minutes every morning, she said.
https://pcusa.org/news-storytelling/news/2025/10/9/former-colleagues-students-and-friends-remember-dr-walter-brueggemann
