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Jeremiah

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Jeremiah: The World, the Wound of God,is another In daniel Berrigans'series on "old Testament" prophets. His exegesis is not limited to Biblical times, as he attempts [with great success] to connect Jeremiahs' time with ours. Weapons of mass destruction,,aids,poverty,dicrimination are all still with us, despite what another reviewer wrote,and Fr.Berrigan shows us Jeremiahs reaction to like minded situations, and by default, ours. The book is an indictment of apathy,of governments and churches and NGO's ,etc. and corpoartions athat watch idly by ,wringing their collective hands, as innocents suffer.And Die. If you are willing to be challenged,to be unsettled,to look at things differently,then buy this book and savor it.Highly recommended,even more so in the present climate.

I dont know what the above guy is talking about; the 70s and bongo drums? This is a great book for anyone who sees suffering and unecessary loss of life as paramount in their moral outlook. I have found Berrigan to be one of the best social thinkers of our time.

All Americans may profit from this Biblical commentary should they find the long lost ability to read with their eyes open.

Jeremiah calls anguished and striken directly to our age and our place. Father Berrigan opens our deadened ears to his warning and recollection to the God of Love, Peace, Justice and Truth, all forgotten and disdained in our darkened day.

We may profitably read the Prophet Jeremiah in the excellent Anchor Bible volume Jeremiah (Anchor Bible Series, Vol. 21) and the series beginning with Jeremiah 1-20: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (Anchor Bible) as well as Daniel, Esther and Jeremiah: The Additions (Anchor Bible Series, Vol. 44), but few of us have the academic preparation nor the textual criticism patience to wade through this, despite the excellent interpretive commentaries which accompany them. Let us therefore turn to our greatest and most faithful American Prophet to read with us here the ancient Old Testament prophecies of Jeremiah.

The Roman Catholic Reverend Father Daniel Berrigan, SJ, has long been deeply respected not only for his courageous Faith-driven prophetic actions for God's peace and justice, but also for his insightful, intelligent, astute, orthodox and inspiring body of Old Testament Biblical commentary. We draw great strength from his exegesis of Job: And Death No Dominion, from his examination of Isaiah: Spirit of Courage, Gift of Tears, which the great American Catholic priest Father Richard Rohr declares, "Good scholarship, good scripture, good soul!" and from his Daniel: Under the Siege of the Divine. Father Berrigan has also generously commentated Genesis: Fair Beginnings, then Foul, the Psalms in Uncommon Prayer: A Book of Psalms, Ezekiel: Vision in the Dust and Lamentations: From New York to Kabul and Beyond. Father Berrigan incvludes the New Testament in his commentary in books such as Whereon to Stand: The Acts of the Apostles and Ourselves, but this must reach amazon's ten citation limit by now!

I mention the above publications in order to indicate how very well received is Father Berrigan's Biblical commentary. Perhaps no one else has published such an extensive and substantial and orthodox series of SCriptural commentary singlehanded; certainly his several volumes out paginate any other Catholic author. He calls us with great urgency back to the age of literacy and to the age of Faith, and a brilliant place to start is with this urgent Jeremiah.

This book above all calls to our present times, beginning as it does with the "Burden of Awful Events" when we must choose "repentance or ruin." The Reverend Father Daniel Berrigan draws us gently yet firmly and profoundly through the resolute words of the Prophet who courageously declared even "The Temple, an idol? Yes!" even as preached Our Lord and Our Saviour Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, Father Berrigan recalls to our hearts with the words of the Prophet: "Against odds, Yahweh's Love Prevails." as the greatest and most prevailing and primordial of God's commandments is to love.

Father Berrigan's opening passage truly speaks not only to Jeremiah, but also to his own courageous and prophetic witness, as well as so many voices of God's peace and justice and truth silenced and scorned:

"The Word of Yahweh to Jeremiah is altogether ominous: you will speak, and no one will hearken. Inhibited from birth they are, stalled in a false tradition, morally deaf, dumb, and blind. Insist as you will on a summons from Yahweh to works of justice and compassion, persevere, intercede and risk all - the response will be indifference,even hatred."

Thus we find here and ever the reception of the moral and pro-life voice of peace and compassion, of justice and of God's holy love. Find strength to love (as the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. named one of his books) in this book, and the reason to act. This book serves as a strong Call to Catholic Action, compelled as we are to transform the unjust economic and social structures of our day and return to the path to the Kingdom of God's Heaven, as Our Holy Father writes as well.

Daniel Berrigan's Jeremiah is not so much a commentary as a fiery meditation. The Jesuit priest and prominent social activist know the biblical scholarship but often dismisses it as missing the point. He interprets the prophet's poetry through poetry. He interprets prose as both story and parable. Thus, although the book is arranged to follow the biblical text, Berrigan's writing adopts a free-flowing associative style. He flies out on excursions wherever the Spirit leads. His ultimate interest is not scholarly but inspirational, connecting Jeremiah to Christian witness in the world today.

If you're looking for a commentary on Jeremiah, this is not your book. Use Mackay's comprehensive verse-by-verse analysis (2 volumes) or try Brueggemann's work. But if these scholarly works leave you cold, pick up Berrigan for an unapologetically Christian activist's interpretive inspiration.

Don't get me wrong, there is some good insight in this book. However, you have to wonder if this commentary is really "spiritual" as in the Christian tradition, or if he's just a burned out hippie-protestor.

This book seems to have been written by somebody who is still living in the 60's and 70's war mentality. It seems somebody forgot to tell Berrigan we are living in the post-cold-war and post-vietnam days.

Granted, this book has probably become a little more relevant in it's message since the events of 9/11, but still, seems that all the time Berrigan has spent in prison for his activities in protest has left him a little out of touch with reality.

Also, Berrigan seems a little "liberal." I come from a "christian fundamentalist pentecostal" belief, and it seems to me that Berrigan supports the "homosexual lifestyle," which is well, not biblical. However, I do agree with him that we should not pinpoint homosexuals, and make them objects of wrath and such.

While Berrigan does a decent job at showing an understanding of what Jeremiah probably went through, and what God was saying to the people that had turned their faces away from Him, he takes an extreme "poetic license" when it comes to quoting large sections of scripture. Berrigan really cuts out a lot of words out of the mouth of Jeremiah, and makes him sound as if He is suffering from schizophrina. He does this in an attempt to amplify a few key words, but well, seems to leave out all the other words that actually make a sentence intelligible. Also, the hack job on the words of Jeremiah seem to be to make what Jeremiah says more poetic.

The way he quotes passages might make sense if you are use to that coffee shope mentality, where you have somebody playing the drums really fast before a poet reads a broken up verse, with candels burning in the background, strobe lights of many colors composing a backdrop, and Isaac Hayes lightly playing the theme song for "Shaft" in the background. Or in otherwords, if you enjoy smoke and mirrors, with superficial meaning behind the words, then this will all be ok with you.

Also, just a warning: plan to read this commentary with a Oxford dictionary at your side. Berrigan uses a lot of "big words," which will lose many people. Keep in mind, I say this as a sophmore in college.

This book will probably also lose you half way through, because eventually, "you get the drill." Granted, it's not a heavy read, and it's surely not very long. Just do yourself a favor, leave this book in the warehouse at amazon.com. Eventually it'll collect enough dust that they will have to remove it because it becomes a fire hazard.