The task of prophetic ministry is to nurture, nourish, and evoke a consciousness and perception alternative to the consciousness and perception of the dominant culture around us.
Walter BrueggemannRead
People notice peacemakers because they dress funny. We know how the people who make war dress - in uniforms and medals, or in computers and clipboards, or in absoluteness, severity, greed, and cynicism. But the peacemaker is dressed in righteousness, justice, and faithfulness - dressed for the work that is to be done.
Interpretation
What this quote means
This quote highlights the contrast between those who create conflict and those who promote peace, emphasizing the qualities of peacemakers.
Walter Brueggemann's quote illustrates the stark differences in appearance and demeanor between those who engage in war and those who work toward peace. While war-makers are often associated with power and severity, peacemakers embody virtues like righteousness and justice. This contrast underlines the importance of character and moral integrity in the work of fostering peace.
Themes
PeacemakerWarJusticeRighteousnessFaithfulness
In practice
Example use cases
During a community meeting discussing conflict resolution, one might invoke this quote to highlight the values of peacemakers.
More from Walter Brueggemann
All quotes →And when we take ourselves too seriously, we are grim about the brothers and sisters, especially the dissenting ones, and there will be no health in us and no healing humor.
Walter BrueggemannRead
Imagination is a danger thus every totalitarian regime is frightened of the artist. It is the vocation of the prophet to keep alive the ministry of imagination to keep on conjouring and proposing alternative futures to the single one the king wants to urge as the only thinkable one.
Walter BrueggemannRead
The power of the future lies not in the hands of those who believe in scarcity but of those who trust God's abundance.
Walter BrueggemannRead
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