St Paul and his contemporaries - so runs a commonly accepted scholarly opinion - inhabited a world believed to be dominated by hostile superhuman powers, of whom Jews and Gentiles alike liked in fear. Dr Carr challenges this widespread assumption by means of a detailed examination of various kinds of evidence. First there is the New Testament itself. The general Mediterranean cultural background of the first century is also important, and the author looks at evidence from the early Church Fathers and gnostic material. He concludes that the notion of mighty forces of evil ranged against man was not part of the earliest Christian understanding of the world and the gospel. His argument has special significance in the light of the belief that a present-day interpretation may be given to the idea of hostile powers and their conquest by Christ, thus supporting political, social and ethical thinking within the Christian Church.
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Book Description
Editorial Reviews
Book Description
St Paul and his contemporaries - so runs a commonly accepted scholarly opinion - inhabited a world believed to be dominated by hostile superhuman powers, of whom Jews and Gentiles alike liked in fear. Dr Carr concludes that the notion of mighty forces of evil ranged against man was not part of the earliest Christian understanding of the world and the gospel.
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9 of 10 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
A controversial piece of scholarship.,
By A Customer
This review is from: Angels and Principalities: The Background, Meaning and Development of the Pauline Phrase hai archai kai hai exousiai (Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series) (Hardcover)
This book caused quite a stir when it was first published, since it appeared to destroy the consensus that had existed on the language of power in the New Testament. Carr's thesis is that there are no such thing as evil spirits - power is only good. To support this thesis he ignores crucial evidence, mistranslates others, and declares the crucial Pauline verse Ephesians 6:12 a second century interpolation, without any textual evidence to support this. Walter Wink, the distinguished biblical scholar describes this book as 'persuasively argued error' and it prompted Wink to write the acclaimed 'Naming the Powers' in which he exposes Carr's dishonesty and wilful misrepresentation of evidence. As Walter Wink put is:'Carr insists that the terms for power are used in Jewish literature not to refer to evil spirits, demons, or Satan, but only to obedient angelic powers whose activity and presence confirm to the status of Yahweh, that the world into which the gospel came was not a world that longed for release from powers, that the Christian message was not one of a cosmic battle in which Christ rescued humanity from the domination of such forces. ...But the evidence points in almost the opposite direction from everything Carr asserts.'
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