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From The Prophetic Imagination:

“The alternative [prophetic] consciousness to be nurtured, on the one hand, serves to criticize in dismantling the dominant consciousness.  To the extent, it attempts to do what the liberal tendency has done, engage in a rejection and delegitimizing of the present ordering of things.  On the other hand, that alternative consciousness to be nurtured serves to energize persons and communities by its promise of another time and situation toward which the community of faith may move.  To that extent it attempts to do what the conservative tendency has done, it live in fervent anticipation of the newness that God has promised and will surely give”

“In thinking this way, the key word is alternative, and every prophetic minister and prophetic community must engage in a struggle with that notion….[The] urging is that every act of a minister who would be prophetic is part of a way of evoking, forming, and reforming an alternative community.”

“The functional qualifiers, critical and energizing, are important….The task of prophetic ministry is to hold together criticism and energizing, for I should urge that either by itself is not faithful to our best tradition.  Our faith tradition understand that it is precisely the dialectic of criticizing and energizing which can let us be seriously faithful to God.  And we may even suggest that to choose between criticizing and energizing is the temptation, respectively, of liberalism and conservatism.  Liberals are good at criticism but often have no word of promise to speak; conservatives tend to future well and invite alternative visions, but a germane criticism by the prophet is often not forthcoming.  For those of us personally charged with this ministry, we may observe that to be called where this dialectic is maintained is an awesome call.  And each of us is likely to fall to one side or the other.”

What do you think?  I know, as I’m sure many of you do from reading my blog, that I tend to be more of a criticizer and less of an energizer. As a result I feel like I’m learning to live with this tension and make more room for energizing hope.  Which side to you tend to fall on?