Principalities Powers and Preaching-On Stringfellow

8/13/2019 Principalities Powers and Preaching-On Stringfellow

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The current revival of William Stringfellow'stheological ethics is a

challenge for preachers. Stringfellow's theology of the powers provides acompelling contemporary interpretation of the demonic forces that

shape human life and confront Christian preachers. His work has

extraordinary implications for those who seek to proclaim the Word

amidst the chaos and death of the contemporaryworld.

Principalities, Powers,

and PreachingLearning from William StnngfellowCharles L Campbell

AssistantProfessorof Homiletics

ColumbiaTheological Seminary

In the face of death, live humanly In the middle of chaos, celebrate the Word

Amidst babel, I repeat, speak the truth Confront the noise and verbiage and

falsehood of death with the truth and potency and efficacy of the Word of God

Know the Word, teach the Word, nurture the Word, preach the Word, defend

the Word, incarnate the Word, do the Word, live the Word And more than

that, in the Word of God, expose death and all death's works and wiles, rebuke

lies, cast out demons, exorcise, cleanse the possessed, raise those who are dead

in mind and conscience ]

I N ACOMMENT on Isa 40:6, Martin Luther wrote, "how difficult an occupation

pr eac hi ng is In de ed , to pr eac h the Wo rd of God is no th in g less tha n to bri ng

up on onesel f all th e furies of hell an d of Satan, an d ther efo re also of . every

power of this world. It is the most dangerous kind of life to throw oneself in the

way of Satan's many teeth." 2


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Principalities, Powers, and Preaching

level, however, Luther understands preaching as something more dramatic than

the ser mons one hear s in many chu rch es today Pre ach ing has be co me ra th ertam e in most mainli ne, middle-class cong reg ati ons Pop ula r homiletics texts fo

cus on ser mo n form and homil eti cal aesthet ics Th e goal seems to be to find

ways to he lp th e gospel "go do wn " painlessly, wi th out cre ati ng too mu ch conflict

As a result, the serm on is in da ng er of be co mi ng jus t ano th er a ppea lin g c om

modit y foi middle-class con sum ers Th e not ion of pr ea chi ng as a weekly

eschatological battle with Satan seems out of place

Recently, however, I found myself in a context where Luther's words came

to life I tau ght a course in which st uden ts gath er ed weekly with home less pe opl e

to wor ship on th e streets of Atl anta As a pa rt of thos e services of wor shi p, th e

students preachedon the streets, amidst the traffic and the skyscrapers, among

the homeless, and with police officers and security guards keeping an eye on our

strange gath erin gs In that setting, stud ents discovered dimen sio ns of pr ea ch in g

they ha d not disc ern ed in ot her homi letics classes whe re they ha d pre ac he d in

the comfort an d security of the seminary cha pel In this con tex t pr ea chi ng be

came a risky en ga ge me nt with th e powers of th e world Th e words of Ephesi ans

be cam e con te mp ora ry " ou r struggle is not against ene mi es of blo od and

flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of

this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places

The ref ore , take up the whole ar mo r of God Take the he lm et of salvation,

an d the sword of th e Spirit, whi ch is th e wo rd of Go d" (Ep h 6 12- 17) Maybe

Lu th er was right "It is th e most dan ge ro us kind of life to throw onesel f in th e

way of Satan's many teeth "

William Stnngfellow, the Harvard-educated lawyer, lay theologian, and radi

cal Christian, un de rs to od the reality abo ut which Luth er spoke Stnngfellow's

prophetic theology of the principalities and powers provides a compelling con

temporary interpretation of the demonic forces that shape human life and confront Christian preachers * Currently enjoying a significant revival in the United

States, Stnngfellow's work has extraordinary implications for those who seek to

proclaim the Word amidst the demonic babel and death of the contemporary

world Following a brie f overview of Stnng fellow's theolo gy of th e powers , I will

examine some of these implications

William Stringfellow on the Principalities and Powers

After graduating from Harvard Law School, Stnngfellow moved to East

Ha rl em , wh ere he lived an d pra cti ced str eet law for seven years Lis ten ing to the

people of East Harlem and immersing himself in the Bible, Stringfellow began to


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agencies as though they were predator) beasts arrayed against the neighbor

hood and human beings, eating them ah\e His writings have since become no

tonous, among other things for explicating a biblical doctrine of the poweis as

precisely that fallen and predatory creatures, acting with an independent life of

their own

Although in his early book, tree in Obedience,Stringfellow defin ed the se

predatory creatures as ideologies, institutions, and images, his understanding of

the principalities was broad and unsystematic, as became evident in his later writ

ing 6 In An Lthic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land, his most mpoi-

tant treatment of the powers, Stnngfellow emphasized that the powers are

legion

The very array of names and titles in biblical usage for the principalities and

powers is some indication of the scope and significance of the subject for hu

man beings And if some of these seem quaint transposed into contemporary

language they lose quamtness and the principalities become recognizable and

all too familiar the} include all institutions, all ideologies, all images, all move

ments all causes all corporat ions all bureaucracies all traditions, all methods

and routines, all conglomerates, all races, all nations, all idols

The powers, in short, are many-faceted and versatile, they are "potent and mo

bile and diverse, not static or neat " 8 As Walter Wink has written, "the powers

comprise all of social, political, and corporate reality, in both visible and invisible

manifestations " ]

Although these principalities and powers are creatures of God, with the vo

cation of sustaining life in society, they are fallen, they exist in a moral state of

dea th, which charact erizes the fall Claimi ng au to no my from God an d d om in io n

over human beings and the rest of creation, the principalities and powers have

forgotten their creaturelmess and repudi ate d their vocation They have bec ome

relentlessly aggressive against all of life, particularly human life in society

10

Assumi ng the place of God in the world, the powers want to do mi na te hu ma n

being s an d seek to crush any resistance to thei r do mi ni on Deathph ysical , po

litical, social, personal, and especially moralis their ultimate power and sanc

tion u The principalities and powers ultimately become demonic, having such

dehumanizing purposes that they must be said to be governed by the power of

death 12For th e powers, finally, th e only morali ty tha t ma tt er s is th ei r own sur

vival "The prin cipa lit ies have gre at resil ience , the dea th ga me which they play

continues, adapting its means of dominating human beings to the sole morality

which governs all demonic powers so long as they existsurvival "

n

In this fallen state the relationship between human beings and the powers


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cipahties, human beings have the status of captives and victims, whether we serve

gladly as acolytes to the powers or simply acquiesce to our captivity in silenceand complacency 14

To retain this control over human beings and ensure their own survival, the

power s use a variety of tactics, man y of th em verbal In de ed , th e verba l is "defini

tive in all the ploys of the principalities", babel becomes the prevailing form of

existencea fact that should be of particular interest to preachers lo In the place

of truthful speech, we encounter the propaganda of the state, the exaggerations

of Madison Avenue, the doublespeak of politicians, the false claims of expertise

by bureaucrats, the code language of racism, the silent secrecy of corporations,

and the diversions of entertainment l b

The result of these and other tactics is the demoralization of human be

ingsliterally, the death of the moral conscience

The relentlessness of multifarious babel in America for example has wrought a

fatigue both visceral and intellectual in millions upon millions of Americans By

now truly demoralized, they suffer no conscience and they risk no action Their

human interest in living is narrowed to meager subsisting, their hope for life is

no more than avoiding involvement with other humans and a desire that no

one will bothei them They have lost any expectations for society, they have nostamina left for confronting the principalities, they are reduced to docility, lassi

tude torpor profound apathy, and default The demoralization of human be

ings in this fashion greatly conveniences the totalitarianism of the demonic

powers since the need to resort to persecutions or imprisonment is obviated, as

the people are already morally captive ]

Although violence and war remain the ultimate sanctions of the powers, babel

can also produce the moral death that is the province of the principalities and

powers

For Christians, however, the reality of death embodied in the powers is not

the final word Rather , Christ ians also kno w the reality an d power of th e resur

rection, which enables believers to live now in resistance to the power of death

In his life, death, a nd re surr ecti on, Jesus en gag ed the powers an d won victory

over th em Part icipat ing in Chri st's victory, Chri stia ns can similarly resist the

powers 1SDespi te Stnng fellow's stark portray al of a fallen world in the gri p of t he

powers of dea th, he rem ain s a theo logi an of ho pe "The good news to the worl d

is that we can stop living in thrall to the powers now, even under the conditions

of de at h Th e gospel is tha t Go d sets us free from th e dre ad of de at h, th e cajol

ery of death, and the seductiveness of death, even though we are compilt with

death's power " lq In the pow er of th e res urr ect io n, we can, in S tnng fell ow's


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and there is the incarnation of the Word of God, the demonic and dehumaniz

mg and the power of the Resurrection, the portents of the Apocalypse impending and the signs of the imminence of the Eschaton "n For Christians the funda

mental ethical challenge and possibility becomes discerning the incarnate, living

Word of God amidst the realities of death and, in response to the Word, living

free from the bondage of death Such "resistance to death is the only way to live

humanly in the midst of the fall "?

Because for Stringfellow there is no such thing as an individualistic Chris

tianity, the church plays an essential role in this resistance 93 In the midst of

death, the church's vocation in and for the world is to witness to the Word and

be a community of resistance The church is called to be a community of "resident aliens, separate from the world so it can tell the truth to the principali

ties and powers "H The eschatological gifts of the spiritdiscernment, glossola

lia, healing, and exorcism, all politically mteipretedempower the church's

discernment, resistance, and hope "These gifts dispel idolatry and free human

beings to celebrate Creation, which is, biblically speaking, integral to the worship

of God The gifts equip persons to live humanly in the midst of the Fall The ex

ercise of these gifts constitutes the essential tactics of resistance to the power of

death "2

The church exists in the tension between bondage to death and freedom in

the Word On the one hand, Stringfellow had stinging criticism for the institu

tional church m America The church not only often serves the powers of the

world, particularly the nation, but even functions as one of the powers it

self '( The church is far too often obsessed with its own survival and "engaged in

the elaborate worship of death "'" The only hope seems to he in a "confessing

movement" scattered here and there, now and then in some congregations,

paracongregations, and communities 28

On the other hand, Stnngfellow had a grand vision of what the church is bythe Word of God and the gift of the Spirit The church as church is the "fore

taste and forerunner of the reconciled society", it is "the image of God's own

Kingdom, of the Eschaton " The church, particularly as it gathers in its eucharis

tie worship, is an embodiment of the beloved community 2) Called to be the

"holy nation" that resists the powers and embodies an alternative, the church

lives in the tension between its bondage to death and its freedom in the Spirit

Stnngfellow thus argues that the principalities and powers provide the fun

damental ethical context for the Christian life, which is characterized by resis

tance and hope His interpretation of the powers, which makes such profoundsense of the contemporary world, likewise suggests a fundamental ethical frame


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Keepers of the Word

In his eulogy for Stnngfellow, Daniel Berngan praised him as a "keeper of

the Word "S1 There are probably few higher compliments that can be paid to a

Christian There is also probably no better statement of the vocation of the

preacher As preachers we are called to be "keepers of the Word," guardians of

the integrity of the gospel and proclaimers of the truth Moreover, as Berngan 's

words suggest, an essential part of that calling involves "keeping the Word" in

our lives Berngan's eulogy highlights an important challenge Stnngfellow offers

to preachers to be faithful preachers of the Word, we are first called to be keep

ers of the Word *2 Preaching on Sunday morning is inseparable from the life of

discipleship we lead during the week Preaching the Word is necessarily framedby a host of other "practices of the Word," as the opening quotation of this ar

ticle suggests "Know the Word, teach the Word, nur ture the Word, preach the

Word, defend the Word, incarnate the Word, do the Word, live the Word " In a

time when homileticians focus on matters of technique, Stnngfellow reminds us

that preaching is part of a larger fabric of personal and communal practices

Stnngfellow's life further suggests the importance of particular practices of

resistance and hope in confrontation with the principalities and powers It is not

surprising, for example, that Stnngfellow's insights into the powers came fromthe conjunction of two practices listening to the poor, the most visible victims of

the powers, and immersing himself in the Bible, which exposes the powers It

was the conjunction of social location and Bible study that opened Stringfellow's

eyes to the predatory character of the principalities Here Stnngfellow offers a

challenge to all mainstream, middle-class preachers "

Although few preachers will actually move to a place like East Harlem (what

powers hold us captive and prevent such radical discipleship^), even small at

tempts to be with and listen to the poor entail active resistance to the powers

within the context of contemporary ministry Indeed, the very effort to spend significant time among the poor immediately confronts the preacher with the reali

ties of the powers, including the institutional church, which are actively at work

in the world to keep middle-class pastors and the poor apart If these two groups

were to spend much time together, the fallout for the churches might be enor

mousand threatening Moreover, the ploys of the powers are subtle and decep

tive One of these ploys is particularly prominent today busy-ness

Pastors today are busy with many important things There are sermons to

prepare, people to visit, meetings to attend, classes to lead, and on and on it

goes Being the pastor of a church is, after all, a full time job Moreover, such

busy-ness is not limited to pastors, but seems to be a characteristic of middle-


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learning from themis almost unimaginable for most people Normally, how

ever, we treat this busy-ness as an unfoi tnate characteristic of life and ministrytoday

Stringfellow's work reminds us, however, that "diversion" is one of the strata

gems the powers employ to maintain their power When seen from this perspec

tive, busy-ness takes on a more insidious appearance It is one way the principali

ties divert us from seeing and responding to the realities of death in the world

It is one of the ways the powers demoralize human beings When people become

too busy to notice or care about anything beyond their daily routines, the powers

have diverted one more potential challenge to their dominion in the woild As

one woman recently commented to me, "By the end of the day, when I can finally sit down at home, I'm too tired to care about anything else going on in the

world " Such busy-ness is not simply an unfortunate aspect of contemporary life,

it is rather one way middle-class folks, including preachers, are held captive by

the powers u

One of the most important acts of resistance in which preachers can engage

is taking the timeliterally taking it back from the powersto become appren

tices to the poor, the prisoner, the abused Such a commitment announces a

clear "no^" to the powers who would kill our moral conscience Moreover, this

commitment not only presents to the congregation a model of resistance, but

also provides the essential background for confronting the principalities and

powers in sermons As Stringfellow reminds us, it is primarily among the poor

that we learn about the aggressive, predatory character of the powers

This resistance to the deadly idolatry of busy-ness is also required for the

other crucial practice Stringfellow emphasizes Bible study In conjunction with

hearing the voices of those on the margins, recourse to the Bible becomes "a pri

mary, practical, and essential tactic of resistance "*' From this practice too the

powers will seek to divert us, for the Bible not only names and exposes the principalities that hold people captive, but also provides the memories of God's faith

fulness and the promise of Jesus' resurrection, which give believers hope In

deed, faithful confrontation with the powers of death requires constant

immersion in the "world of the Bible " When preachers resist the diversions of

busy ness in order to be with the poor and immerse themselves in the Bible, they

become "keepeis of the Word," empowered for resistance and hope, and the

worried powers begin to assemble "all the furies of hell "

This way of life consequently requires community, for no individual is a

match for the ploys and pressures and sanctions of the powers Jesus himself en

acted this resistance and hope in his practice of table fellowship with sinners,


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around the eucharistie table of Jesus, resistance and hope are nurtured and sus

tained in the face of the power of deathSuch communities may even be necessary to help preachers resist the pres

sures of the institutional church The church, like all the powers, is obsessed

with its own survival and prefers "safe" preachers who will not threaten its com

fortable existence Whether subtly or directly, the institutional church will pres

sure preachers to conform to the status quo Despite their best intentions,

preachers easily become servants of the institution, driven by its demands and

aspiring to its standards of success Salary, buildings, membership, titles, peiks,

popularity, and influence become the focusnot unlike the standards of success

in other institutions Slowly, almost imperceptibly, the powers wear preachersdown and make them numb, the rough edges of the gospel are worn away, as a

jagged rock becomes a smooth stone in a stream

In this context, pieachers who would dare confront the principalities and

powers will need to find or create small communities of resistance that will nur

ture them, sustain them, and hold them accountable ib Rooted in such alterna

tive communities, preachers may be built up in the practices of resistance and

hope And preaching may become the faithful expression of disciples who are

"keepers of the Woid "

Raising the dead

When the "actors" in the preaching occasion are discussed, two are usually

highlighted along with the preacher the worshipers and God (in Jesus Christ

through the Holy Spirit) Stnngfellow's work suggests the significant presence of

a fourth group of aggressive actors who have regularly been overlooked the

principalities and powers As creatures, the powers exist ndependentl} of human

beings, they are not made by human beings, nor are they simply groups of

people duly organized Although difficult for humans to acknowledge, the powers are independent creatures with their own existence, personality, and mode of

life ^7As such, they are present and active whenever the Word is preached Ac

cording to Ephesians, one of the church's tasks is to proclaim the gospel to

these very powers, "so that through the church the wisdom of God in all its rich

variety might now be made known to the principalities and powers" (Eph 3 10) ^8

The presence of the powers may be more obvious when preachers step out

of the comfort of the sanctuary to preach in public spaces However, while they

may be less obvious among the Sunday morning congregation, the powers are

no less present and active The powers that would hold believers captive are ag

gressive participants in every sermon that is preached The\ do not want the gos


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Congregation members, including those in positions of power, are probably

at least vaguely aware of these pri ncipal it ies at work in the ir lives Mu ch to hissurprise, Stnngfellow discovered this fact in a lecture he gave to students at the

Har var d Business Scho ol an d Divinity Schoo l Th e divinity stude nt s felt th e lan

guage of "principalities and powers " was archaic imagery with no co nt em por ar y

relevance, but the business students, who lived and worked withm the spheres of

great corporate institutions, understood when Stnngfellow began to name these

principalities 40 By focusing on persona l, private, th era peu ti c matter s, pre ach ers

today may fail to see the larger realities that shape the lives of worshipers and

hold them captive

When the powers are recognized as participants in the occasion of preach

ing, the fundamental problem faced by preachers is not so much evil minds as

paralyzed consciences, not so much immorality or malevolence as the demoral

ization of people "who have become captive and immobilized as human beings

by their habitual obeisance to institutions or other principalities as idols " 41

Withm this framework, sin primarily involves complicity in our own moral death,

it is the human inability or refusal to step into the freedom and life made pos

sible in Jesus Christ an d ena ct ed in bapti sm Th e pro bl em is as mu ch weakness

or powerl essnes s as active evil In the grip of the powers, pe op le a nd oft en the

church itselftragically become trapped in a tomb to which the stone has al

ready been rolled away

Stringfellow made this perspective clear in a speech about racism, one of

the powers he most aggressively challenged

The monstrous American heresy is in thinking that the whole drama of history

takes place between God and [human beings] But the truth, Biblically and

theologically and empirically, is quite otherwise the drama of this history takes

place among God and [human beings] and the principalities and powers, the

great institutions and ideologies active in the world It is the corruption andshallowness of humanism which beguiles Jew or Christian into believing that

[humans] are masters of institution or ideology [R]acism is not an evil in

the hearts or minds of [human beings] racism is a principality, a demonic

power a representative image, an embodiment of death, over which [humans]

have little or no control, but which works its awful influence m the lrves of hu

man beings42

In a similar way, one might say that the monstrous homiletical heresy in the

church today is the assumption that the whole drama of the gospel takes place

bet ween God and hu ma n beings Th e aggressiveness of the powers an d t he

moral captivity of persons gets little or no attention


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notation of release from bondage, and the purpose of preaching becomes em

powering the community of faith to step out of that open tomb and begin to livein the way of the crucified and risen Jesus Preaching, in Stringfellow's terms,

comes to involve "raising the dead in mind and conscience" and empowering

the church to live humanly in the face of death

Withm this framework, the ethical dimensions of preaching assume a spe

cific shape Preaching that takes the powers seriously is not simply a matter of

"preaching on social issues," as important as that kind of preaching may be "So

cial issue" sermons all too often function naively within the world of liberal ideal

ism, which assumes that if we can just get people of good will to work together

we can solve our social problems 44 Such sermons often simply tinker with issues,

without addressing the powers of death that shape a fallen world They operate

withm the world of death, rather than setting the church free from bondage

Such preaching, from the perspective of Stringfellow's work, is inadequate as a

response to the principalities and powers

When dealing with the powers, preaching does not simply address specific

issues or offer principles of decision making The ethical thrust of preaching, to

use traditional terminology, is not about decisions but about character As

Stringfellow put it, "[T]he Christian, and the whole company which is theChurch, need not worry about what is to be done The task is, rather, to live

withm the victory of all that has been done by God For the Christian the issue is

not so much about what he [or she] does in this world but about who he [or

she] is in this world There is no serious distinction between who the Christian is

and what he [or she] does, between being and doing These are virtually the

same "4 The ethical dimensions of preaching are therefore much broader and

deeper than the typical "social issue" sermon "Ethical preaching" does not sim

ply direct people to specific decisions or the means to make them, though that

may be necessary Rather, preaching seeks to liberate the community of faith tosee and live in the world differentlyto be a different kind of people The ethi

cal purpose of preaching concerns the formation of an "alien" people who see

and live in the world in a distinctive way Preaching involves the weekly forma

tion of communities of resistance and hope, it builds up the church as a people

who can resist the powers and live free from bondage to death

Preaching as resistance

In the midst of death, in the face of the powers, Christians adopt a stance of

resistanceoften "audacious, extemporaneous, fragile, puny, foolish" resistance

Preaching is one form of this resistance 1( Moreover, because of the verbal na


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Homiletical resistance to the principalities and powers takes two forms ex

posing t he powers of de at h at work in the woi ld an d

envisioning th e alter nati ve of

God's re de em ed crea tion Essential to this twofold resistance is the gift of dis-

c e r n m e n t , the most basic gift of the Holy Spirit to th e ch urc h, which ena bles

Chri stia ns to ex pos e an d re bu ke th e powe rs of dea th while also affirming th e hv

ing, promising Word of God incarnate in the world 4 8

O n t he cross Jesus exposes

the principalities and powers for what they arenot the divine regents of the

wor ld , but ra t her the violent purv eyo rs of death In the resurrection Jesus is vic-

torious over the powers of death and grves a vision of the promised future, which

can be glimpsed even now in the living Word incarnate in the midst of death

I h e gift of dis ce rn me nt ena bles C hristian s to see this crucified a nd risen Jesu s in

the world Pr eac hi ng that is sha ped by the story of Jesu s an d empo we re d by the

Spirit of discernment will eng age in this twofold expos ing a nd envisi oning

In the midst of babel, Christian pr ea ch in g exposes the powers of de at h Th e

preacher na me s the powers an d reb uke s th em Like the cross of Jesus, this " n o ' "

to the powers, which uncovers their false claims and deadly lies, marks the begin-

ning of human freedom from the bondage of death 4 )

This "noT" tak es away t he

" m i n o r s " by which the powers delude us into thinking they are the divine re-

gent s of the world Th e powers are expos ed as em pe ro rs wit hout any clothes, a

disarming humiliation for those who rely so heavily on pretensions of dignityand con trol Ind eed , such disarming por te nd s the ultimate defeat of the powers

by Jesus As the writer of Col ossia ns puts it, on the cross Jesus "disarmed the rul-

ers and authorities and made a public example of them, triumphing over

them"(Col 2 15)

Preachers may expose the powers in many ways, though two examples will

have to suffice he re First, th e prin cipa liti es may be exp os ed by dire ct, co nc re te

spee ch, which cuts th ro ug h the distor tions of babe l In a se rmo n duri ng the Gulf

War, Michael Ba xter, a R oma n Catholic pri est, proclaimed,

The church demands that Catholics not rail) around their leaders once war is

waged What the church fears in this time of war is our complacency The

church fears our instinct to follow the held to march in lockstep with [who

ever] is in charge The church fears that we will in these times, bec ome so

Am e ican that we will cease to be Catholic to be followers of Christ The

church fears that we will lose our vocation ]

In t he midst of the diveisions, deceit, an d idolatry of the nati on, Baxter exp ose d

the powers of de at h that would hol d Christians captive, an d he called the chu rc h

back to its vocation of resistance Such dire ct, concrete, truthful speech is re-qu ir ed amid st th e dea dly ba be l of th e world T oo often, however, such spee ch is

i i f h l i


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their dignity, nothing disempowers them more quickly than burlesque or lam

pooning Wink notes the burlesque character ofJesus' command to "give yourinner garment also" (Matt 5 40) The economic powers have so milked the

poor that all they have left to be sued for are their garments When their outer

garment is claimed in court, Wink argues, Jesus counsels them to give the inner

one also That is, the victim of the economic svstem, who has no other recourse,

takes off the inner garment and walks out of the court stark naked In this way

the victim not only retains his or her status as a moral agent, but also unmasks

the system's essential cruelty and "burlesques its pretensions to justice, law, and

order " As the person walks out of court naked and people begin to ask what is

going on, the economic system itself stands naked and is exposed for what it isa system that treats the poor as "sponge[s] to be squeezed dry by the rich "'* By

presenting this ethical option in his sermon, Jesus engages in a homiletical bur

lesque of the economic system

Such a comic and burlesque style can be a powerful way to expose the pow

ers Through the use of risky humor, preaching may unfold the logical conse

quences of the way of the powers and thereby unmask them for what they are

and free worshipers from their tyianny Rather than somber, self-important ser

mons dealing with such matters as capitalism or individualism, preachers may of

fer startlmgly comic or burlesque depictions of the powers, lampooning the ab

surdity of their claims Then a space may be created for the redemptive power of

the Word, not just for the hearers, but for the powers themselves 4

Whether through direct speech or other creative approaches, preachers con

fronting the powers will find ways to expose them At times this resistance will

seem fragile, puny, and foolish At other times, the preacher will meet with op

position or provoke conflict Such preaching will always require imagination and

courage Nevertheless, the vocation of the preacher as a "keeper of the Word" is

to speak the truth and expose the powers In the midst of babel, truth telling isessential for the life of the church and the redemption of the world

Preachers also resist the powers by envisioning the redeemed creation,

which may be glimpsed now wherever "tokens of the resurrection" are discerned

in the fallen world In these moments, which come as surprising gifts, preachers

may discern in the midst of death the "Word of God indwelling in all Creation

and transfiguring common history " Whereas the first form of resistance,

like the cross, exposes the powers of death, this second form of resistance "ex

poses" the victory of the resurrected Jesus over death

Two )ears ago, shortlv after Labor Day, I was standing on a platform waiting

for a subway tram in Atlanta As I was waiting a homeless man whom I had met


13/19

many ways God was caring for him. When the train arrived, we boarded, satdown together, and continued our conversation.

At one point I asked Michael where he had eaten lunch on Labor Daya

difficult day for homeless people in Atlanta because many services are closed. He

told me he had eaten lunch at "910" (shorthand for the Open Door Community,

a Christian community that serves food to about 400 people each Labor Day).

Michael's eyes widened as he described the large helpings of "real pinto beans"

and the generous portions of corn bread"this thick," he showed me, holding

his thumb and forefinger about two inches apart. When he paused, I asked him

how many people were at the meal. He stared at me for a moment, and then announced in a loud voice for everyone to hear: "Thousands! There were thou

sands! They came from the north and the south and the east and the west.

There were thousands!"

In the midst of the social and moral death that is homelessness, Michael

had discerned the great messianic banquet in pinto beans and corn bread

shared among the poor. In the "teeth" of principalities and powers that victimize

the homeless, Michael had discerned an empowering, liberating, eucharistie "to

ken of the resurrection." And he held that token before me as a vision of God's

redeemed creation, when all God's children will eat together in shalom and the

whole creation will rejoice. Michael proclaimed the Word, exposed the authority

of Christ over death, and reminded me of the politics of the eucharist; he

brought together Word and sacrament in the doxological vision that lies at the

heart of Christian worshipand Christian preaching. And as he spoke in that

crowded subway car, the powers were put in their place, and we were set free,

even if only for a moment, from the bondage of death.

Preaching with hope

The discernment of "tokens of the resurrection" is a locus of Christian

hope. According to Stringfellow, however, genuine hope is known only in the

face of death: "Any so-called hope is delusory and false without or apart from the

confrontation with the power of death, whatever momentary or circumstantial

form that may have."10 Hope looks for the resurrection in the shadow of the

cross. Hope wears a black dress and stands beside a freshly dug grave in the cem

etery. Hope stands in line for a bowl of soup with tired, dirty, homeless people.

Hope plays in housing projects contaminated with lead poisoning. Hope sits in a

cell on death row and lies in a bed in a hospice.AsJrgen Moltmann put it,"The messianic hope was never the hope of the victors and the rulers. It was al

th h f th d f t d d th d d "'7 H i th f d t l


14/19


This tension between the power of hope and the reality of death cannot be

respected by mere homiletical technique The two can only be jo ined in the life

of the preacher as a "keeper of the Word " To preach abouthope or forhope,

preachers must preach withhope, they must preach as persons of hope Such

preaching requires of the preacher both an immersion in the memories and

promises of the Bible and a life of engagement with the powers of death Hope-

filled preaching that is not delusory or false is possible only when preachers live

with the Bible in those places where death seems to reign In those places of

death hope will joyously surprise us, as Michael surprised me on the subway car

And in those places of death, the song of hope will take on new and rich tones

In the places of death, hope takes on a tone of urgency that must be heard

in comfortable, complacent, middle-class churches In the "teeth" of the powers

there is no time for theones or abstractions or speculations "I hope God will

get me through another night on the streets " "I hope I will not be shot while

walking to school " "I hope I will live until my grandchild is born " "I hope I will

make it through the day without drugs or alcohol " Preachers learn the urgency

of hope in the places of death

In those places hope also becomes deep Cliches and shallow optimism will

not do Hope rather takes on the tone of lament "How long, O Lord' Howlong'" And hope can sound like angeranger at the powers of death that crush

people every day Hope, finally, becomes hope in God because the false hopes

of human progress and human systems ha\e been stripped away The promises

of the powers have been seen for what they arethe beacons of death, not life,

of despair, not hope In the confrontation with death, hope becomes deepor

it dies

In the midst of death, hope also becomes broad Among the poor and the

suffering, hope for our own security and well-being is exposed as shallow In

those places we discover with the writer of Ephesians that "we are not struggling

against the enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the au

thorities, against the cosmic powers, against the spiritual forces of evil"against

the principalities and powers (Eph 6 12) In the soup kitchen line, in the pris

ons, in the barrios or the projects, hope becomes hope for a new order, hope

for a new heaven and a new earth, hope for the messianic banquet, hope for

the reign of God in all its political and social dimensions Only this kind of

hope is broad enough in the face of the powers

For many of us such a grand hope is inseparable from grief The new agecomes only when the present age dies, and many of us enjoy great privilege in

h F h f h l h d f l h f


15/19

Finallv, in the places of death, hope becomes a form of resistancea defi

ance of the pi esent age an d the status qu o Before the powers, hop e can no t re

ma in a passive, wishful lo ng ing for a be tt er da) Rat her , it takes the form of resis

tance to the principalities, it challenges the closed definitions of reality that offer

no alternative future Con fro nti ng t he principal ities an d powers with the resur

rec tio n of Jesus , hope frees pe op le to live hu ma nl y in the face of de at h Pre ach

ing this kind of hope is itself an act of resistance to the powers

Out of the midst of apartheid in South Africa, an affirmation of faith was

b o m t hat gives voice to this defi ant hope

It is not true that this world and its inhabitants are doomed to die and be lost,

THIS IS TRUE FOR GOD SO I OVED THE WORLD THAT Hl GAVE HIS

ONLY SON SO THAT EVERYONE WHO BEI IFVES IN HIM SHA1L NOT DIE

BUT HAVE FVERLASTING LIFE

It is not true that we must accept inhumanity and discrimination, hunger and

poveity, death and destruction,

THIS IS TRUE I HAVF COMF THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE, AND HAVE IT

ABUNDANTLY

It is not true that violence and hatred shall have the last word, and that war and

destruction have come to stay forever,

THIS IS TRUE TO US A CHILD IS BORN, TO US A SON IS GIVEN IN

WHOM AUTHORITYWI11 REST AND WHOSE NAME WILL BE PRINCE OF

PEACE

It is not true that we are simply \ictims of the powers of evil that seek to rule

the world,

THIS IS TRUE TO ME IS GIVEN ALL AUTHORITY IN HEAVEN AND ON

EARTH, AND LO, I AM WITH YOU ALWAYS TO THE END OF THE WORLD

It is not true that our dreams for the liberation of humankind, our dreams of

justice, of human dignity, of peace, are not meant for this earth and this his

tory

THIS IS TRUE THE HOUR COMES, AND IT IS NOW7, THAT TRUE WOR

SHIPERS SHALL WORSHIP GOD IN SPIRIT AND IN TRUTH ^

William Stringfellow would surely have said, "Amen'" 5 0

NOTES

1 William Stnngfellow, An hthic for Christians and OtherAliens in a StrangeLand
http://ictims/http://ictims/


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3 Stnngf ellow 's work ins pir ed and infoi me d the well-known trilogy on the powe is

by Walter Wink Naming; the Powers (Phila delph ia Fortress, 1984), Unmasking thePoxver s(Phila delphi a Fortress, 1986) I ngagino; the Powers (Ph ila del phi a Foi tress, 1992) For an

overview of Stringfellow s work on the pr incipa lities a nd powe is, see A Keeper of the Word

Selected Writings of William Stnngfellow, ed Bill Wylie-Kellerman (Gr an d Rapid s Le rd ma ns ,

1994) 185-292

4 Stringfellow wrot e ab ou t his vears m East Ha rl em in My People is the Inemy An Au

tobiographual Polemic (New York Ho lt, Ri ne ha rt 8cWins ton, 1964), cf An dr ew W

Mc Th em a Jr , 'Int rodu ctio n How This Cele brati on Began, " in Radical Christian and Fxem

plary I axvyer, ed Andr ew W M cT he ma , Jr (Gr and Rapids Eer dma ns, 1995) 8

5 Bill Wyhe-K ellerma n, 'Bill, the Bible, an d the Sem inar y Un de rg ro un d, ' in Radical

Christum and Ixemplary lawyer, 68

6 O n the princ ipalit ies as ideol ogies , instit utions , an d imag es, see William

Stnngfellow, Iree in Obedience (New York S eab ury, 1964) 5 2- 59

7 William Stnngfel low, An Ethu for Christians, 78

8 Ibid , 79 Ac cor din g to Stringfellow, the pre e mi ne nt princip ality is the state See

An Ethic for Christians, 107-11

9 Walte r Wink, "Stnngfellow on the Powers ," in Radical Christian and Exemplary Law

yer, 2b For Win k's mo re systematic definition of the powers , see Naming the Powers, 5

10 Stnngfellow, An Fthic for Christians, 81 On th e fallennes s of the powers, see 80 -

82

11 Ibid , 51 , 81 Stnngfe llow uses de at h' in the br oa de st possible sense "Thu s, in

this book , when t he na me of de at h is used , I in te nd t hat it be ar everydefinition a nd nuance, everyassociation an d sugge stion, everyimplication a nd intuitio n that anyone has ever

attributed to death, and I intend that the name of death, here, bear all meanings simulta

neously and cumulatively" {An Ithic for Christians, 69)

12 Ibid , 32 "D em on ic " for Stringfellow d oe s no t simply m ean 'evi l," bu t involves

de at h an d fallenness, it is a state of sep ara tion fro m life, bo nd ag e to de at h, an d ali ena tion

from God See Stnngfell ow, Iree in Obedience, 62-64

13 Stnngfellow, An Ethic fon Christians, 93

14 Ibid , 84, 86 -8 9

15 Ibid , 98, "Babel me an s the inversion of lan gua ge, verbal inflation, libel, r um or ,

euphemism and coded phrases, rhetorical wantonness, redundancy, hvperbole, such pro

fusion in speech an d sound that co mp re he ns io n is impa ired , non sen se, sophistry, ja rgo n,noise, incoherence, a chaos of voices and tongues, falsehood, blasphemy" (,106)

16 For Stnngf ellow s det ail ed discus sion of the \ erba i ploys of the pow ers, see An

Ethic for Christians, 98-106

17 Ib id , 106

18 Stnngfellow draws up on a Christus Victor un de rs ta ndi ng ofJesus ' wor k See

Gustaf Aulen, Christus Victor (New York Mac mil lan , 1931)

19 Win k, "Stringfellow," 20

20 Th e char acte r of "living hum anl y' ca nno t be re duc ed to gene ral principles or

univ eis al rule s No r can it be simphstica lly eq ua te d with "do ing the will of Go d ' Living

hum anl y is, rath er, a \er y hum an \ en ture ch arac teriz ed by fre edom from the bon da ge ofdeath and involving response to the incarnate Word in specific circumstances

21 Stnngfellow, An Ethu for Christians, 152


17/19

26 Stnngfellow, Freedom in Obedience, 7789, An Ithicfor Christians, 5759, 121, see

also William Stnngfellow, A Private and Public laith (Grand Rapids Eerdmans, 1962)

27 Stnngfellow, An Ithic for Christians, 58

28 Ibid ] 59 61, 122

29 Stnngfellow, Iree in Obedience, 103, ibid , 43

30 WyheKelleiman, Keeper of the Word, 1 The homiletical implications that I will de

\elop from S tnngfel low' s work are my own I am not cla imin g th at Stringfellow himse lf

would have agreed wi th an y of t h e m In d ee d, Stnngfellow \iewed preaching as "entirely

secondary" to the church's saciamental ministry and worship (WyheKelleiman, "Seminary

L n d e r g r o u n d , " 65)

31 WyheKellerman, Keeper of the Word, xn

32 In Stnngfellow's m car nat ion al theology, biogr aphy and aut obi ogr aph y were im-

p ortant theolo gical lesourc es, a con cre te re mi nd er of the impo rt an ce of the lived Word

See Bill WyheKellerman, "'Listen to this Man1' A Parab le befo re the Powers," FToday 53

(Oct 1996) 301

33 In Iree in Obedience (4042), Stnngfellow issues such a challenge to church leaders

34 See Stnngfello w, An Ithic for Christians, 9091

35 Ibi d , 120, italics om it te d

36 O n co mm un it ie s of resist ance, see Stringfellow, An Ethic foi Christians, 12122

37 Ib id , 79

38 Th e tran sla tion is from Wink, Naming the Powers, 89

39 Ob er ma n, "Pre ach ing of the Word, " 9

40 Stringfellow, Iree in Obedience, 5051

41 Stringfellow, An Ethic for Christians, 2930 O n the mo ral captivity of per so ns ofpii\liege a nd influ enc e, see also 28

42 Qu ot ed in WyheKell eiman, "Listen to this M an '" 30405

43 Such pre ach ing does not pre cl ud e addres sing individuals Th er e are, after all, in-

dividual actions that are evil and ab h or re nt a nd pers ons nee d to be held acco unt abl e

for these O n e ca nn ot excu se a spo use abuser , for ex am ple , by simphstically asserting tha t

h e is a captive to th e powers, h e rem ai ns respon sib le for his action s Never thele ss, it is im-

p o r t a n t to re me mb er that spouse abuse rem ain s em be dd ed with m a powerfully

e n t r e n c h e d system of "powers" that has grant ed me n domi na tio n over wo me n for millen-

nia Simply to speak of indiv idual abus ers apa rt from th ese larg er princip alit ies an d pow-

ers fails to add ress th e de pt hs of spou se abus e In this sense, the abus ei himse lf d oes

n e e d to be freed from bondage to the power of death

44 Stanley Hau erw as an d Jeff Powell, "Cr eat ion as Apocaly ptic A Ho ma ge to Wil-

liam Stnngfellow," in Radical Christian and Exemplary Iaxvyer,36

45 Stnngfellow, Iree in Obedience, 114

46 Stnngfellow, An Ethu for Christians, 119 O n pr ea ch in g as a prac tice of nonvi olent

resistance, see Charl es L Camp bell , "Perfo rming the Scriptu res Pre ac hin g an d Jesu s'

T h u d Way," Journal for Preachers 17 (Len t 1994) 18 24 Alt hou gh Stnngfellow recogni zes

the violent character of the powers, including the violence of babel, he does not stress

nonviolent resis tance as consiste ntly as Waltei Wink Stringfellow's co nc er n for the free-

d o m of God an d his unde rs ta nd in g of the powers m ad e hi m suspicious of all ideologies,

inc lud ing "ideo logical pacifism " Recently, however, Wink has persuasively ar gu ed th at thelogic of Strin gfello w's w ork leads to non vi ole nce O n this pa rt ic ul ar issue, I find Wi nk' s

posit ion co mpe ll in g See Stringfellow An Ethic for Christians 10607 12233 Wink
http://elop/http://iewed/http://iewed/http://elop/


18/19


world, rat her t han vice versa, an d whe n the Word of God is dis cer ned a nd sp oke n in th e

face of death. Like "living humanly," truthtelling is a risky venture.48. Ibid., 138-39.

49. Ibid., 155-56.

50. See Wink, Naming the Poiuers,55-60; Jo hn Howa rd Yoder, The Politics of Jesus

(Gra nd Rapids: Eer dma ns, 1972) 147-50.

51 . Quoted in The National Catholic Reporter (January 31, 1997) 6.

52. Wink, Engaging the Poiuers, 177-79. See also "Neither Passivity nor Violence: Jesus'

Third Way," Forum 7 (March/June, 1991) 12.

53 . Wink, "Jesus' Third Way," 12.

54 . Because the powers are not destroyed or violently overthrown, the possibility is

op en ed for their red em pti on, their retur n to the good purpo ses for which they were cre

ated. See Wink, 'Jesus' Third Way," 12. Stringfellow also hopes for the redemption of the

powers. See, for example, Free in Obedience, 73.

55. Stringfellow, An Ethic for Christians, 139.

56 . Ibid., 138.

57. Jrgen Mol tmann, The Way of Jesus Christ: Christology in Messianic Dimensions, trans.

Margaret Kohl (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1990) 13.

58. See Walter Brueg gema nn, The Prophetic Imagination (Phil adel phia : Fortress , 1978)

44-61 , 80-95.

59 . The lona Community Worship Book (Glasgow: Wild Goose, 1997) 72.

60 . Thanks to Ed Loring, who introduced me to Stringfellow's work, and Stan

Saunders, who read an earlier draft of this article and made many helpful suggestions.This essay owes more than I can acknowledge to my ongoing conversation with these two

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Principalities Powers and Preaching-On Stringfellow