Ancient Echoes Refusing the Fear-Filled, Greed-Driven Toxicity of the Far Right

In Ancient Echoes, Walter Brueggemann – one of our most influential biblical scholars – responds to eight "truth claims" made by the radical right in US politics.

In his book Evil Geniuses: The Unmaking of America: A Recent History (Random House 2020), Kurt Andersen enunciates eight "truth claims" made by the political right that champion aggressive self-sufficiency and self-security at the expense of the community. In the process, any hint of "the common good" among neighbors disappears from the scene.

Brueggemann responds to each of these mistaken "truth claims" through the witness of scripture and an insistence upon a common good – a neighborly practice of generosity, hospitality, forgiveness, justice, compassion, and mercy. The echoes of biblical faith reveal that these right wing "truth claims" contradict our long-running legacy of biblical faith.