Against Principalities and Powers

The question of whether evil spirits exist and are involved in our daily lives has been firmly decided in the Western educational tradition. The answer is unequivocally no ! Such a belief system is relegated to an outmoded and primitive worldview that has no place in the modern world. But in this important volume, Daniel Darko has effectively challenged this assumption by demonstrating the convergence of the African worldview with the biblical worldview, especially as reflected in the New Testament letter to the Ephesians. Every Christian should read this book and allow it to shatter their deeply embedded assumptions. Clinton E. Arnold, PhD Talbot School of Theology, Pasadena, California, USA Dan Darko offers an insightful and careful study that reflects on the intersection between the worlds of spirits in Ephesians and African cosmology. It is impossible to encounter African expressions of Christianity in any shape or form without finding in it an engagement with the Holy Spirit, spirits, and principalities and powers. This is an important study that will serve as a major resource in the field of biblical and African Christian spirituality for years to come. J. Kwabena Asamoah-Gyadu, PhD Trinity Theological Seminary, Legon, Ghana Daniel Darko fills a gaping hole in the investigation of the role of spiritual beings in Ephesians, a topic that has suffered an abysmal neglect. Drawing parallels without equating the practices and norms of the Jewish, Greco-Roman and New Testament worlds, he shows the benefits of a new way of looking at Scripture from one's social location, and with non-Western eyes in particular. Darko has provided an alternative and complementary reading of Ephesians that merits the engagement of students and scholars going forward. J. Ayodeji Adewuya, PhD Pentecostal Theological Seminary, Cleveland, Tennessee, USA This careful interdisciplinary work provides insights on Ephesians, its message of unity, Greco-Roman and ancient Jewish cosmology and demonology, and traditional African cosmology, theology and spirits. As such, it also models a self-aware, respectful intercultural reading too often lacking among Western interpreters. Craig S. Keener, PhD Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky, USA In clearly academic yet jargon-free writing, Darko draws the reader into the background world of early Jewish and Gentile converts to Christianity offering fresh insights into the spirit cosmology that informs their hearing and living the Scriptures. Under his analysis the parallels between the wisdom sayings of their sages and philosophers, and the injunctions in the Epistles, with Ephesians being the prime example, situates the often misunderstood and contested injunctions in household living within their context in a way that invites attention to re-read these texts with generosity. Rev Esther E. Acolatse, PhD Knox College, University of Toronto, Canada Against Principalities and Powers is a fascinating and engaging work on communal identity and moral discourse in Paul's letter to the Ephesians. Darko's focus on Africa provides an in-depth understanding of African people's spiritual cosmology, worldview, culture and society as it relates to the broad themes in the book. Using a comparative lens, Darko exegetically explores and articulates a deep knowledge of Pauline writings, making this a significant text for African theology, African religions and World Christianity scholars. Jacob K. Olupona, PhD Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA