Cultural Conceptions of Power in Biblical Perspective

Abstract

Biblical interpretation always occurs within the ebb and flow of cultural currents. In no area is this more apparent than in the area of principalities and powers. Western missionaries, being children of the Enlightenment, find no place for what they consider “mythical” powers. Bultmann demythologizes them. Carr exorcises the demonic from Scripture. Berkhof believes that the powers exist only in the structures of society. The Kipsigis of Kenya, on the other hand, believe that principalities and powers are ancestral spirits and have no understanding of how powers infiltrate government, social, and bureaucratic structures. This article compares and contrasts these cultural conceptions to Paul's perception of principalities and powers in the book of Ephesians.