Review of An Ethic for Christians and Other Aliens in a Strange Land - Part 2

(See Part 1 of Review)

Stringfellow is a captivating writer. His presentation of the political interestedness of the Bible, and the fallen nature of the “principalities” and their mind-numbing influences are superbly convincing. I appreciate his willingness to expose America as a fallen nation – a principality. What struck me most came at the end of the book. He asked whether America’s future would be different from her fallen past. His answer was unexpected: “The categorical answer is no” (p. 155)! That is not something many believers are saying today. But he’s absolutely right. America is not nor will ever be a “holy nation” this side of heaven due to the prevailing nature of the fall. Christians must to come to grips with this.

I disagree, however, with his take on the nature of heaven, which he defined as a state “of self-knowledge and reconciliation and hope…to which every human being and the whole of creation is called to live here in this world” (p. 44). I understand what he was getting at – that to be too heavenly minded renders one of no earthly good. And the incarnation was, among many things, God's verdict that the here and now matter to God and should likewise matter to us. But one need not toss out the baby with the bath water. Heaven is certainly not portrayed as a state of consciousness in the Bible – it’s so much more than that.

What I felt was lacking in Stringfellows argument was a thorough presentation of the victory and sovereignty of Christ over the power of death and the principalities at the cross (Rom. 8:38; Eph. 3:10; 6:12; Col. 1:16; 2:15; KJV). This was desperately needed. He did mention the cross briefly but his treatment of it was disappointingly thin and missed the mark (see p. 129-130). The implications of the cataclysmic event of Christ’s death and resurrection are earth shattering in regards to how we are to live biblically as the church in this fallen world. If this would have been unpacked the book could have ended on a more positive note.

Stringfellow's book reminds ministers that the people who fill their pews every week are in a constant battle with the principalities and powers of this world. They work for them, watch them on TV, hear them on the radio, read them in the papers, and are continually being inundated by their idolatrous, self-serving propaganda. We are all its victims. The way to be liberated from these mind-numbing, demoralizing, incapacitating, conscience paralyzing, and immobilizing effects is through the proclamation of the word of God. Prophetic preaching and teaching will expose the machinations of the principalities and help people escape the vicious power of death.

One final note: Christians need to realize that Stringfellow’s penetrating critique of the principalities includes political parties and leaders as well. Political leaders, especially, are victims of the principalities, plain and simple. And the euphoric notion that a President can save America or free her from her idolatrous self-centeredness and her love affair with "the power of death" is, in the spirit of Stringfellow, hopelessly naïve.