Dr. Walter Wink was a distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biblical Interpretation, dedicating his scholarship to understanding the dynamics of power and the principles of nonviolence. His extensive writings explored the theological and social dimensions of power structures, examining their profound influence on human existence and societal transformation. Wink's work consistently sought to guide readers toward a more engaged and transformative understanding of scripture and the world. He championed nonviolent resistance as a pathway to justice and reconciliation.
Wink explores the problem of evil today and how it relates to the New Testament concept of Principalities and Powers. He asks the question "How can we oppose evil without creating new evils and being made evil ourselves?"Winner of the Pax Christi Award, the Academy of Parish Clergy Book of the Year, and the Midwest Book Achievement Award for Best Religious Book.
The book explores the decline of theological and spiritual significance in a modern, secular society where money, politics, and science dominate. It discusses the implications of this shift, highlighting a collective loss of understanding and communication regarding spiritual matters. The author argues for the necessity of finding a new framework to comprehend the universe, as traditional views become increasingly inadequate in addressing contemporary human experiences.
Angels, Spirits, principalities, powers, gods, Satanthese, along with all other spiritual realities, are the unmentionables of our culture. The dominant materialistic worldview has absolutely no place for them. [But] materialism itself is terminably ill, and, let us hope, in process of replacement by a worldview capable of honoring the lasting values of modern science without succumbing to reductionism. [Therefore] we find ourselves returning to the ancient traditions, searching for wisdom wherever it may be found. We do not capitulate to the past and its superstitions, but bring all the gifts our race has acquired along the way as aids in recovering the lost language of our souls. In Naming the Powers I developed the thesis ... that the New Testament's principalities and powers" is a generic category referring to the determining forces of physical, psychic, and social existence. In the present volume we will be focusing on just seven of the Powers mentioned in Scripture. Their selection out of all the others dealt with in Naming the Powers is partly they happen to be ones about which I felt I had something to say. But they are also representative, and open the way to comprehending the rest. They Satan, demons, angels of churches, angels of nations, gods, elements, and angels of nature."
Eine Theologie der Gewaltfreiheit