A grappling with the forces of darkness in the heavenly places.

The author writes regarding his theological and faith development in terms of coming to grips with "Old Scratch," or Satan, and the presence of the forces of darkness. He self-identifies on the progressive end of the spectrum politically; he would also be considered the same among churches of Christ but not necessarily by the rest of "Christendom." In terms of his book, however, he attempts to stand in the middle: he wishes to encourage those on his "left" to recognize that there are profound spiritual forces of darkness behind the difficult issues of the day, challenging the premise of social justice for social justice's sake; he also seeks to encourage those on his "right" to cease having such a strong spiritual/secular divide regarding "spiritual warfare" and to see the social, political, and economic implications of the work of the forces of darkness.

His metaphor about "Scooby-Dooification" resonates: the attempt to "de-sacralize" everything, to attempt to put everything in rationally explicable categories, and how such proves lacking. He does well at discussing how difficult it is to work with people and yet how necessary it is, how we tend to look at evil as a problem to solve as opposed to a more Biblical concept of evil as a force to resist, how easy it is to become the "satan," or adversary, of what is good, how the Bible gives credence to seeing dark forces behind the socio-economic status quo and how said status quo is very happy to wrap its dark purposes in the flag to maintain its hegemony in the face of those who would live in the ways of Jesus.

As always there are various things said and commended which one might find disagreeable. Nevertheless, this is a good introduction to "spiritual warfare" and the theology of the Powers. ( )