Stringfellow, hermeneutics, and the principalities
Paul writes:
“…Proximate to the discernment of signs is the discernment of spirits. This gift enables the people of God to distinguish and recognize, identify and expose, report and rebuke the power of death incarnate in nations and institutions or other creatures, or possessing persons, while they also affirm the Word of God incarnate in all of life, exemplified preeminently in Jesus Christ, The discernment of spirits refers to the talent to recognize the Word of God in this world in principalities and persons despite the distortion of fallenness or transcending the moral reality of death permeating everything.
This is the gift which exposes and rebukes idolatry. This is the gift which confounds and undoes blasphemy Similar to the discernment of signs, the discernment of spirits is inherently political while in practice it has specifically to do with pastoral care, with healing, with the nurture of human life and with the fulfillment of all life…”
Attached below is a PDF (with image added to the imageless original) of a Bill Wyllie-Kellermann article that I don’t think I’d read before yesterday - Not vice versa. Reading the powers biblically: Stringfellow, hermeneutics, and the principalities. It an essay centering on the written work one of my heroes in the faith – William Stringfellow. The opening paragraphs are set out above. I can’t help think of the principalities and powers, empire and death as I listen to news from Iraq and Lebanon. Stringfellow is a helpful guide and commentator.
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