Powers, Principalities and the Spirit: Biblical Realism in Africa and the West

by Esther E. Acolatse, Lamin Sanneh (Foreword)

Among the many factors that separate churches in the West from those of the global South, there may be no greater difference than their respective attitudes toward supernatural “powers and principalities.” In this follow-up to her book For Freedom or Bondage? African theologian Esther Acolatse bridges the enormous hermeneutical gap not only between the West and global Christianity but also between the West and its own biblical-theological heritage.

Genres: Theology, Christianity

255 pages, Paperback

Published February 27, 2018

Reviews

[Peter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Esther Acolatse frames the problem well: a hermeneutical gap between the church in the global South and modern West. The African church, with its animist cultural heritage and the influence of divination found in African traditional religions, lives in an enchanted world where the conflicts of angels and demons affect the details of everyday life. In A Secular Age Charles Taylor called this the “porous self”—a worldview where supernatural forces not only manipulate the environment and social system, but also the enter into individual consciousness to wreak havoc and harm. While this seems close to the Biblical worldview, it can be too dualistic, distracting from Christ’s victory at the cross and missing the joy of living filled by the Holy Spirit. It is an over-reading and over-emphasis of the spirit world as found in the New Testament.

The situation in the West is the opposite—a church disenchanted by the modern turn to the rational as the real. Acolatse takes Rudolf Bultmann as her prime example, who famously wrote that “We cannot use electric lights and radios and, in the event of illness, avail ourselves of modern medical and clinical means and at the same time believe in the spirit and wonder world of the New Testament” (New Testament and Mythology, 1984:4). Bultmann’s project was to demythologize the Bible, to subtract the mythology (fables) from it to make it credible to his imagined modern audience, so that only the essential truth of the message was left. Walter Wink later showed how New Testament references to a spirit world could be reinterpreted as socio-political forces and psychotherapeutic conditions, taking out the idea of supernatural beings as distinct entities that impinge on everyday life. In effect, the context of modern naturalistic philosophy works to cultivate a form of a reductive theological monism.

Acolatse tries to bridge the gap between these two worldviews. See my full review on my blog at _Sensus Divinitatis_

[Amy Hughes · Rating 4 out of 5]

There are very few biblical or theological academic resources that assume supernatural beings (demons, angels, etc) matter in our cosmology, at least in the West. This presents a problem because, well, Scripture does. Jesus does. The Apostles do. The global South does. Depending on tradition in Christianity, exousiology (theology of the powers) and even a fully-developed pneumatology (theology of the Holy Spirit) might be more on one's radar than another. This book helped me navigate through questions I didn’t even know I had, and I say this as someone who grew up Pentecostal.

[Zach Hollifield · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really great look at the under and overemphasis on the Powers in the West and Africa respectively. Could have done with more ground level suggestions for how Western and Majority World Christians can come together on this issue than highbrow discussion of Western theologians. But overall, helpful and worth the time.

[Brad Dell · Rating 4 out of 5]

An even-handed critique of the heavy-handed dark-powers worldviews in the global south and west. I’d have liked more background on African perception in the ground (non-academic) level and perhaps proposed solutions. But I loved this read and found it to be convicting of my “Greek” mindset, the desire to think in abstract and not realize the reality of the heavens swirling round us all.

[Matthew Loftus · Rating 5 out of 5]

A fantastic exploration of the Powers and their significance, particularly in African theology.