THE paperback Acting in the Wake: Prayers for justice: Collected prayers of Walter Brueggemann, Volume 1 (WJK, £14 (£12.60); 978-0-664-26616-5) is in two parts: “Prayers of We Justice” and “Prayers of Thou Justice”. Brueggemann, the noted Old Testament scholar of Columbia Theological Seminary, a minister in the United Church of Christ, is the subject of Timothy Beal’s foreword, which recalls the author’s habit of beginning seminars by plunging straight into a prayer that began with either “we” or “you”, reflecting Martin Buber’s understanding of the “I-thou” relationship. The themes range from riots and school massacres to Kurt Vonnegut and 9/11, or simply days in the Church’s calendar, or passages of scripture studied. The prayers are given their date and context.