Life Amid the Principalities

We are not contending against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world rulers of this present darkness (Eph 6:12). So Paul warns his Ephesian readers. And yet Paul also says that these principalities and powers were created in and for Christ (Col 1:16) and cannot separate us from the love of God (Rom 8:38). What are the principalities and powers of our time? How do we understand them as created, fallen, and disarmed? How does the Christian today engage these powers? These are the questions speakers and participants addressed at the 2014 Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology.In this volume the question of 'Powers and Principalities' is examined from many standpoints, most notably exegetical, historical, cultural, and political. The essays are rich and stimulating. The idea of dark spiritual powers at work behind the scenes of everyday life, and especially political life, continues to bear fruit for Christian theological reflection.--George Hunsinger, McCord Professor of Systematic Theology, Princeton Theological SeminaryMichael Root is Professor of Systematic Theology at The Catholic University of America and Executive Director of the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology. He was formerly the director of the Institute for Ecumenical Research, Strasbourg, France.James J. Buckley is Professor of Theology at Loyola University, Maryland and Associate Director of the Center for Catholic and Evangelical Theology. He contributed to and edited The Blackwell Companion to Catholicism (Wiley Blackwell, 2008).