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Otherwise than Empire: Psychotherapeutic Implications of Brueggemann’s Prophetic Imagination

This article draws on theologian Walter Brueggemann’s analysis of the prophetic tradition in the Hebrew and Christian scriptures to suggest implications for psychotherapists who wish to understand and intervene with patients in more hermeneutically grounded ways. It begins with a brief biographical contextualization of Walter Brueggemann’s work as an Old Testament scholar followed by an extrapolation of key themes in his work. These are (1) the ubiquity of empire, (2) the critical dismantling of empire through grief, and (3) the penetration of despair through the resuscitation of imagination that sees a future otherwise than empire. The article then moves to implications for a hermeneutically sensitive psychotherapy that makes use of the prophetic tradition to fashion a “prophetic sensibility.” Finally, the clinical practice of a prophetic sensibility is demonstrated through an examination of relevant case material.