{"id":3876,"date":"2025-01-13T15:44:48","date_gmt":"2025-01-13T15:44:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/?p=3876"},"modified":"2025-01-13T15:44:48","modified_gmt":"2025-01-13T15:44:48","slug":"naming-the-powers-and-principalities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/?p=3876","title":{"rendered":"Naming the Powers and Principalities"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/405px-Walter-wink.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-3878\" src=\"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/405px-Walter-wink-203x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"203\" height=\"300\" \/><\/a>This week, I begin a new blog series on the work of theologian Walter Wink1935-2012). Wink is best known for his \u201cPowers trilogy: <em>Naming the Powers: The Language of Power in the New Testament <\/em>(1984), <em>Unmasking the Powers: The Invisible Forces that Determine Human Existence (<\/em>1992), and <em>Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination<\/em> (1982). <a href=\"applewebdata:\/\/FCACA4DD-5314-4AB1-9173-783BCBED326F#_ftn1\" name=\"_ftnref1\">[1]<\/a>Wink attempted to bring his insights to a broader audience in a series of smaller works.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>The Basic Thesis<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><em>Naming the Powers <\/em><em>introduces this basic thesis: T<\/em>he language of \u201cPrincipalities and Powers\u201d in the New Testament refers to the inner pole of human social dynamics\u2014institutions, belief systems, traditions, and the like. Presidents, legislatures, judicial systems, and the like are the outer dynamics that political science and other disciplines study. These institutions, actors, and \u201cmanifestations\u201d possess an inner and an outer aspect. Thus, Wink states:<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Every Power tends to have a visible pole, an outer form\u2014be it a church, a nation, an economy\u2014and an invisible pole, an inner spirit or driving force that animates, legitimates, and regulates its physical manifestation in the world. Neither pole is the cause of the other. Both come into existence together and cease to exist togethe<\/strong>r.<a href=\"applewebdata:\/\/FCACA4DD-5314-4AB1-9173-783BCBED326F#_ftn2\" name=\"_ftnref2\">[2]<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The outer dimensions of the powers and principalities cannot dominate our understanding, or we will inevitably misunderstand them. Science can study the outer dimensions of powers, but religion can examine the inner and spiritual dimensions and gain profitable insights.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>What are The Powers?<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/080061786Xh.webp\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-full wp-image-3879\" src=\"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/01\/080061786Xh.webp\" alt=\"\" width=\"123\" height=\"182\" \/><\/a>In <em>Naming the Powers<\/em>, Wink conducts a deep biblical, grammatical, historical, and theological examination of the powers and principalities, which forms the basis of his deeper study and conclusions. When I first read Wink more than thirty years ago, I did not fully appreciate the necessity and importance of this first step. Relying on biblical and other sources, Wink details the basic words used to describe powers and principalities in the New Testament. The following is a brief personal summary:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><u>Angelos: <\/u>In the New Testament, <em>Aggelos<\/em> primarily refers to a supernatural being sent by God to deliver messages, execute His will, or provide guidance and protection to humans. Angels are powerful, holy beings who carry out God&#8217;s commands and assist His people. However, the term can also refer to human messengers in specific contexts. It emphasizes the role of the messenger rather than the nature of the being.<\/li>\n<li><u>Angels of the Nations<\/u>: In Middle Eastern thought, nations are assigned angels. For example, Michael, the only angel mentioned on my list, protects God\u2019s people.<\/li>\n<li><u>Arche: <\/u>beginning, origin, first; ruler, power, authority; position of authority, domain. This is usually a more abstract and general term than <em>Archon<\/em>, a specific ruler.<\/li>\n<li><u>Archon<\/u>: An <em>Archon<\/em> is a &#8220;ruler,&#8221; often referring to a specific human public office title. Arthur is an <em>Archon<\/em>, and a grand archon is a prince. It can also mean someone who holds a form of status or power.<\/li>\n<li><u>Dunamis<\/u>: <em>Dunamis<\/em> refers to power, strength, or ability. It is often used to describe God&#8217;s miraculous power available to believers.<\/li>\n<li><u>Exousia<\/u>: <em>Exousia<\/em> (\u201cfrom being\u201d) is often translated as authority or power. It mainly refers to legal, moral, or spiritual influence and jurisdiction or dominion over a specific realm, right, privilege, or ability.<\/li>\n<li>Kyriotes: <em>Kyriotes<\/em> derives from<em><u> Kurios<\/u><\/em> or Lord. It refers to human, divine, or angelic lordship, domination, and dignity, sometimes concerning a celestial hierarchy.<\/li>\n<li><u>Arch-Angel Michael<\/u>. Michael, or &#8220;Holy Michael, the Archangel&#8221; or &#8220;Saint Michael.&#8221; the first role is the leader of the Army of God and heaven&#8217;s forces in their triumph over the powers of hell. He is viewed as the angelic model for the virtues of the &#8220;spiritual warrior,&#8221; his conflict with evil is taken as &#8220;the battle within,&#8221; which is why he is included in preparation for this novel. Michael would be Arthur&#8217;s natural angelic protector. The second and third roles of Michael in Catholic teachings deal with death. In his second role, he is the angel of death, responsible for carrying Christians to heaven. In his third role, he weighs souls on his perfectly balanced scales. For this reason, he is often depicted holding scales.<\/li>\n<li><u>Onoma<\/u>: <em>Onoma<\/em> means \u201cname.\u201d In Greek, it can refer to a person or place or signify authority, character, reputation, or identity. It is often used to express the essence or nature of a person, especially about God or Jesus Christ. The term can also imply the power or authority associated with a name, as seen in phrases like &#8220;in the name of Jesus. As a term of power, it means that the name mentioned embodies a power or authority that the speaker claims as their own under the circumstances.<\/li>\n<li><u>Thronos<\/u>: A throne is a chair of the state with a footstool from which a ruler exercises power. The New Testament \u201c<em>Chronos<\/em>\u201d metaphorically refers to those with governing powers, including God and Christ. However, it can also be used abstractly to refer to an actual ruler&#8217;s power of judgment and action.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As these examples show, the inner or spiritual Powers are not separate heavenly or ethereal realities but rather the inner aspects of material or tangible manifestations of power in relation to nature\u2014as well, we may note, in relation to prisons, the police, racial and sexual violence, debates over gun control, militarism and the \u2018War on Terror.\u2019 As Wink writes in <em>Naming the Powers<\/em>:<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>I will argue that the \u201cprincipalities and powers\u201d are the inner and outer aspects of any given manifestation of power. As the inner aspect, they are the spirituality of institutions, the \u201cwithin\u201d of corporate structures and systems, and the inner essence of outer organizations of power. As the outer aspect, they are political systems, appointed officials, the \u201cchair of an organization, laws\u2014in short, all the tangible manifestations which power takes. Every power tends to have a visible pole, an outer form, be it at a church, a nation, or an economy\u2014and an invisible pole, the inner spirit or driving force that animates, legitimates, and regulates the physical manifestations in the world. Neither pole is the cause of the other. Both come into existence together and cease to exist together<\/strong>. <a href=\"applewebdata:\/\/FCACA4DD-5314-4AB1-9173-783BCBED326F#_ftn3\" name=\"_ftnref3\">[3]<\/a><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In Wink\u2019s view, the biblical worldview allowed its writers to comprehend the spiritual nature of human structures. The language of demons, spirits, principalities, and other such entities helped these writers recognize that social life has both seen and unseen elements and that both need to be considered to understand the dynamics that shape our lives.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Process Roots<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">As I explained in other writings, the biblical worldview has been supplanted in the minds of many people who struggle to grasp spiritual realities. One way of reincorporating the ability to grasp spiritual realities and yet continue to appreciate the advancements of modern science is to embrace a new way of looking at reality. One option, an option that Wink takes, is to incorporate the insights of what professionals call \u201cProcess Theology.\u201d<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is not the place to examine process thought. Moreover, it is unnecessary to adopt all of its implications to appreciate Wink&#8217;s point. It\u2019s enough to point out that Alfred North Whitehead and the process thinkers are trying to create a philosophical and theological worldview that incorporates the insights of modern physics. Fundamentally, this is a change from seeing the world as a material entity built of material entities bound together by forces. The new worldview sees reality as fundamentally a process.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This new worldview posits that the fundamental realities are actual occasions. Wink believes that social institutions have both a material pole (or, for example, an institution) and a spiritual pole, that spirit that empowers the institution. Material objects or actual entities are simply occasions that have reached a period of stability. According to Whitehead, actual occasions and entities possess a material and a mental pole. In the same way, Wink believes that human social institutions have a material pole (or, for example, an institution) and a spiritual pole, the spirit that empowers the institution.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This is to say that experience and intelligibility are present in everything from subatomic particles to human beings. In Whitehead\u2019s view, every level of existence possesses mental and physical poles, including quanta, atoms, cells, organisms, the Earth, the solar system, our galaxy, the universe, all the way up to God.\u00a0 For God, the whole physical universe is the physical pole, and all ideas and forms are the mental pole. <a href=\"applewebdata:\/\/FCACA4DD-5314-4AB1-9173-783BCBED326F#_ftn4\" name=\"_ftnref4\">[4]<\/a> In other words, there is no ultimate distinction between mind and matter. Mind and matter are two aspects of a single reality. The potential for the kind of consciousness that human beings possess is, thus, an evolutionary possibility within the structure of the type of universe we inhabit.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Wink extends this distinction, positing that social institutions, such as governments, agencies, and other entities, have both a material and spiritual pole. These two poles are organically related and cannot exist without one another. Nevertheless, they cannot be understood except by understanding both the physical and spiritual poles. Thus, for example, one could say that Europe in the 19<sup>th<\/sup> Century and the United States in the 20<sup>th<\/sup> century were possessed by a spirit of colonialism that existed separately from their actual colonial empires. The United States, not a colonial nation in 1960, had become one by 1960 and possessed by that same spirit. (I do not mean to use the term \u201cpossessed\u201d with the connotation of demonic possession. It merely refers to the presence of the power in its decision-making.)<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This understanding is crucial because it seems that Europe and the United States often engage in foreign policy ventures controlled by the remnants of that colonial spirit\u2014for example, the notion that they can and should impose a two-state solution in Israel and the West Bank or ensure the continuation of Syria&#8217;s current boundaries. The colonialist assumption that we know what is best in the region may blind actors to more productive solutions.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Next week, I move on to <em>Unmasking the Powers<\/em>.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Copyright 2025, G. Christopher Scruggs, All Rights Reserved<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"applewebdata:\/\/FCACA4DD-5314-4AB1-9173-783BCBED326F#_ftnref1\" name=\"_ftn1\">[1]<\/a> Walter Wink, <em>Naming the Powers<\/em>: <em>The Language of Power in the New Testament <\/em>(Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1984),<em> Unmasking the Powers: The Invisible Forces that Determine Human Existence <\/em>(Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1986), <em>Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a World of Domination<\/em> Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 1992)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"applewebdata:\/\/FCACA4DD-5314-4AB1-9173-783BCBED326F#_ftnref2\" name=\"_ftn2\">[2]<\/a> <em>Naming the Powers<\/em>, 5.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"applewebdata:\/\/FCACA4DD-5314-4AB1-9173-783BCBED326F#_ftnref3\" name=\"_ftn3\">[3]<\/a> <u>Id<\/u><em>. <\/em><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"applewebdata:\/\/FCACA4DD-5314-4AB1-9173-783BCBED326F#_ftnref4\" name=\"_ftn4\">[4]<\/a> Alfred North Whitehead, <em>Process and Reality<\/em> (New York, NY: Free Press, 1929, 1957), 128.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>This week, I begin a new blog series on the work of theologian Walter Wink1935-2012). Wink is best known for his \u201cPowers trilogy: Naming the Powers: The Language of Power in the New Testament (1984), Unmasking the Powers: The Invisible Forces that Determine Human Existence (1992), and Engaging the Powers: Discernment and Resistance in a &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/?p=3876\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Naming the Powers and Principalities<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4CzBH-10w","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3876","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3876"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3876\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3880,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3876\/revisions\/3880"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3876"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3876"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gchristopherscruggs.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3876"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}