OPENING TO SPIRITUAL REALITY

The writers of the Bible had names than helped them identify the spiritual realities
that they encountered. They spoke of angels, demons, principalities and powers,
Satan, gods, and the elements of the universe. Materialism had no use for such
things and so dismissed them. … The world had been mercifully swept clean of
these ‘superstitions’, and people could sleep better at night knowing that they were
safe from spirits.
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 22-3)

Recently, however, there has been a spate of books …and movies …on angel …
Satanism and exorcism … It is as if modern people, stripped of life’s spiritual
depths by a shallow materialists culture, are crying out for transcendence. People
want to believe that the world is more than a consumer’s paradise and that they
themselves are more than food for worms.
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 23)

…If we want to take the notion of angels, demons, and the principalities and
powers seriously, we will have to go back to the biblical understanding of spirits
in all its profundity and apply it freshly to our situation today.
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 23)

Liberation theology …reinterpret the ‘principalities and powers” …as institutions,

structures, and systems. But the Powers … are not just physical. The Bible insists
that they are more than that (Eph. 310; 6.12). … In the biblical view the Powers
are at one and the same time visible and invisible, earthly and heavenly,
spiritual and institutional (Col. 1.15-20). … The NT uses the language of power
to refer at one point to the outer aspect, ant another to the inner aspect, and
yet again to both together. What people in the world of the Bible experienced as
and called ‘principalities and powers’ was in fact the actual spirituality at the center
of the political, economic, and cultural institutions of their day.
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 24)

The lesser-known aspect of the Powers is the spiritual, or invisible, dimension.

We generally perceive it only indirectly, by means of projection. In NT times, people
did not read the spirituality of an institution directly form its outer manifestations.
Instead, they projected its felt or intuited spiritual qualities onto the screen of
the universe and perceived them as cosmic reigning from the sky.
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 25)

In the ancient worldview, where earthly and heavenly reality were inextricably
united, this view of the Powers worked effectively. But for many modern
Westerners it is impossible to maintain that worldview. [!] Instead,
- fundamentalists:
treat the Powers as actual demonic beings in the air,
largely divorced from their manifestations in the physical
or political world (the theological worldview)
- secularists:
deny that this spiritual dimension even exists (the
materialistic worldview).
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 26)

Our task, working within the emerging unitary worldview, is to withdraw those
projections from on high and relocate them in the institutions where they
 actually reside.
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 26)

Projection does not falsify. … The demons projected onto the screen of the
cosmos really are demonic, and ply havoc [chaos/destruction] with humanity. Only
they are not up there but over here, in the socio-spiritual structures that make
up the one and only real world. [!]
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 26)

The NT insists that demons can have no impact on us unless they are able to
embody themselves in people (Mark 1.21-28; Matt.12.43-45; Luke 11.24-26), or
pigs (Mark 5.1-20), or political systems (Rev. 12-13).
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 26-7)

It is merely a habit of thought that makes people think of the Powers as personal
beings. [!] I prefer to think of the powers as impersonal entities, though I know of
no sure way to settle the question. … [and on p. 28 “I prefer therefore, to regard them
as the impersonal spiritual realities at the center of institutional life] … I have
set aside the question of the actual status of these Powers, and instead have
attempted to describe what it was that people in ancient times were experiencing
when they spoke of “Satan”, “demons,” “powers,” “angels,” and the like.
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 27)

Now, I have to stop and make several important comments here. First, Wink clearly
identifies the Powers as impersonal which is, as I think at this point, rather marginal in
mainstream Christianity – not to say that he is against the stream - (even though he,
elegantly, allows himself an open door when saying that he “knows of no sure way to settle
the question”, p.27).  So, this aspect must be explored and investigated vis-à-vis
contemporary and traditional biblical and theological scholarship.

Second, though he “prefers” to think of the powers as impersonal (which, though subtly,
indicates that he had settle the issue), he asserts that he is not concerned with “the
question of the actual status of Powers” (!) but rather with the experience of Powers by
people. And though at a first glance one may be somewhat easily ‘trapped’ to think that this
is an ingenious way to avoid the difficult question of the status of Powers, the moment one
goes further in the substance of the entire argument, s/he begins to wonder whether it is
possible to fully discuss and comprehend the experience of powers by “setting aside the
question of the actual status of these Powers”.  And so, this is another aspect I must
clarify in my thinking and work, and however difficult may be I have to tackle them – even if
only to ‘strengthen’ Wink’s ‘preference’!

Third, if the “experience” of powers can make it possible for Christian to name, unmask, and
engage them without necessarily being able to discern their nature/status (!), I may be able
to do the same in my thesis and so avoid a long, complex question and argument – on
Satan, demons, angels, powers, spiritual being.

The writers of the Bible had names than helped them identify the spiritual realities
that they encountered. They spoke of angels, demons, principalities and powers,
Satan, gods, and the elements of the universe. Materialism had no use for such
things and so dismissed them. … The world had been mercifully swept clean of
these ‘superstitions’, and people could sleep better at night knowing that they were
safe from spirits.
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 22-3)
Recently, however, there has been a spate of books …and movies …on angel …
Satanism and exorcism … It is as if modern people, stripped of life’s spiritual
depths by a shallow materialists culture, are crying out for transcendence. People
want to believe that the world is more than a consumer’s paradise and that they
themselves are more than food for worms.
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 23)

…If we want to take the notion of angels, demons, and the principalities and
powers seriously, we will have to go back to the biblical understanding of spirits
in all its profundity and apply it freshly to our situation today.
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 23)

Liberation theology …reinterpret the ‘principalities and powers” …as institutions,

structures, and systems. But the Powers … are not just physical. The Bible insists
that they are more than that (Eph. 310; 6.12). … In the biblical view the Powers
are at one and the same time visible and invisible, earthly and heavenly,
spiritual and institutional (Col. 1.15-20). … The NT uses the language of power
to refer at one point to the outer aspect, ant another to the inner aspect, and
yet again to both together. What people in the world of the Bible experienced as
and called ‘principalities and powers’ was in fact the actual spirituality at the center
of the political, economic, and cultural institutions of their day.
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 24)

The lesser-known aspect of the Powers is the spiritual, or invisible, dimension.

We generally perceive it only indirectly, by means of projection. In NT times, people
did not read the spirituality of an institution directly form its outer manifestations.
Instead, they projected its felt or intuited spiritual qualities onto the screen of
the universe and perceived them as cosmic reigning from the sky.
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 25)

In the ancient worldview, where earthly and heavenly reality were inextricably
united, this view of the Powers worked effectively. But for many modern
Westerners it is impossible to maintain that worldview. [!] Instead,
- fundamentalists:
treat the Powers as actual demonic beings in the air,
largely divorced from their manifestations in the physical
or political world (the theological worldview)
- secularists:
deny that this spiritual dimension even exists (the
materialistic worldview).
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 26)

Our task, working within the emerging unitary worldview, is to withdraw those
projections from on high and relocate them in the institutions where they
actually reside.
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 26)

Projection does not falsify. … The demons projected onto the screen of the
cosmos really are demonic, and ply havoc [chaos/destruction] with humanity. Only
they are not up there but over here, in the socio-spiritual structures that make
up the one and only real world. [!]
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 26)

The NT insists that demons can have no impact on us unless they are able to
 embody themselves in people (Mark 1.21-28; Matt.12.43-45; Luke 11.24-26), or
pigs (Mark 5.1-20), or political systems (Rev. 12-13).
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 26-7)

It is merely a habit of thought that makes people think of the Powers as personal
beings. [!] I prefer to think of the powers as impersonal entities, though I know of
no sure way to settle the question. … [and on p. 28 “I prefer therefore, to regard them
as the impersonal spiritual realities at the center of institutional life] … I have
set aside the question of the actual status of these Powers, and instead have
attempted to describe what it was that people in ancient times were experiencing
when they spoke of “Satan”, “demons,” “powers,” “angels,” and the like.
(Wink, The Powers That Be, 1998, 27)

Now, I have to stop and make several important comments here. First, Wink clearly
identifies the Powers as impersonal which is, as I think at this point, rather marginal in
mainstream Christianity – not to say that he is against the stream - (even though he,
elegantly, allows himself an open door when saying that he “knows of no sure way to settle
the question”, p.27).  So, this aspect must be explored and investigated vis-à-vis
contemporary and traditional biblical and theological scholarship.

Second, though he “prefers” to think of the powers as impersonal (which, though subtly,
indicates that he had settle the issue), he asserts that he is not concerned with “the
question of the actual status of Powers” (!) but rather with the experience of Powers by
people. And though at a first glance one may be somewhat easily ‘trapped’ to think that this
is an ingenious way to avoid the difficult question of the status of Powers, the moment one
goes further in the substance of the entire argument, s/he begins to wonder whether it is
possible to fully discuss and comprehend the experience of powers by “setting aside the
question of the actual status of these Powers”.  And so, this is another aspect I must
clarify in my thinking and work, and however difficult may be I have to tackle them – even if
only to ‘strengthen’ Wink’s ‘preference’!

Third, if the “experience” of powers can make it possible for Christian to name, unmask, and
engage them without necessarily being able to discern their nature/status (!), I may be able
to do the same in my thesis and so avoid a long, complex question and argument – on
Satan, demons, angels, powers, spiritual being.