Journal: Conspectus
Volume: CONSPECTUS 35:2 (Sep 2023)
Article: Book Review: "Against Principalities And Powers: Spiritual Beings In Relation To Communal Identity And The Moral Discourse Of Ephesians."
Author: Anonymous

Conspectus 35:2 (September 2023) p. 17

Book Review: Against Principalities And Powers: Spiritual Beings In Relation To Communal Identity And The Moral Discourse Of Ephesians.

Darko, Daniel K. 2020. Against Principalities and Powers: Spiritual Beings in Relation to Communal Identity and the Moral Discourse of Ephesians. Carlisle: HippoBooks. xvii, 279 pp. ISBN: 9781783687671. Approx. 380 ZAR (17,99 GBP). Paperback.

Daniel K. Darko has a Ph.D. in New Testament Studies from King’s College, London. He is the Dean for Global Engagement, Executive Director for the Spencer Center for Global Engagement and Professor of Biblical Studies at Taylor University, IN, USA. A native of Ghana, he has served in executive and pastoral roles in Ghana, Croatia, England, and the United States. He is also the Executive Director of Africa Potential and author of No Longer Living as the Gentiles: Differentiation and Shared Ethical Values in Ephesians 4:17–6:9 (T&T Clark, 2008), among other publications.

In Against Principalities and Powers, Daniel Darko spotlights spiritual beings, which is a neglected subject in the interpretation of Ephesians. Three agendas characterize his central thesis: 1) using cosmology as a heuristic tool of interpretation, 2) underscoring the function of spiritual beings instead of describing their ontology, and 3) underlining believers’ ethical formation while being cognizant of the role played by spirit beings. Overall, this is a timely text offering a new reading of Ephesians—one characterized by respect for ancient cosmological worldviews, their role in hermeneutics, and their critical appropriation into contemporary contexts.

Far from the recycled arguments around authorship and provenance, Darko charts a new course in which he contests the Enlightenment’s negative appraisal of the supernatural. Various Western interpretations are categorized as “cynical about the notion of transcendent realities and ambivalent to the idea of personal evil spirits” (p. 1). Essentially, Darko uses a trident-shaped argument, complementing his primary claim with two statements: 1) “the letter would espouse no cogent message, and its readers would find it incomprehensible if its spirit cosmology was fashioned in the framework of post-enlightenment artisans” (p. 2), and 2) “we should acknowledge post-enlightenment anachronism and endeavor to bring spirit cosmology to where it belongs in the study of Ephesians” (p. 5). While the philosophical and naturalistic distinctives of the Aufklärung are given some attention, Darko traces the traditions of interpretation that emanated from the Enlightenment project from its onset.

The introduction foregrounds a central argumen...