{"id":34337,"date":"2023-11-29T08:47:39","date_gmt":"2023-11-29T16:47:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/?p=34337"},"modified":"2023-11-29T08:47:39","modified_gmt":"2023-11-29T16:47:39","slug":"welcome-to-the-world-of-the-powers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/welcome-to-the-world-of-the-powers\/","title":{"rendered":"Welcome to the World of the Powers"},"content":{"rendered":"

Introduction:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Woodward’s recently released book,\u00a0The Scandal of Leadership: Unmasking the Powers of Domination in the Church,<\/em> is impressive. It is one of the books I will return to time and time again. For now, I want to bring a few excerpts from the author’s interview on a podcast with Rohadi.<\/p>\n

A Correlation between scandalous leaders and Domonic powers <\/strong><\/p>\n

Woodward started by explaining that he had had the intention to write the book for over 20 years, referring to an organization that he had been working for: “It seemed like whoever got into that President role, they may have been a fairly good person, but they became less good when they got in that role.”[1]<\/a><\/p>\n

The podcast captured my attention as Woodward started by explaining how he connected to the work of Walter Wink on resisting the powers. The author describes his invitation to speak on Spiritual warfare while this high-ranking leader was falling into a scandal, and he explains the two had something in common.<\/p>\n

Naming the Powers:\u00a0<\/strong>So here’s the problem we could see:<\/em> it doesn’t matter the week, there’ll be a new news report, a new documentary,<\/em> and some minister, some pastor, we can pick on the big mega churches, but it can be big or small.“[2]<\/strong><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Referring to Wink’s writing, one would think of the devils everywhere we go and wonder whose territory we live in and whether this is a place we can expect the Kingdom values to thrive; it must be a terrifying place to live and serve God.<\/p>\n

Mimetic Desire:\u00a0<\/strong>As described by the author, mimetic desire is not self-generated but happens due to influence. “Girard discovers that mimetic desire is a triangular relationship where individuals desire what their models desire.”[3]<\/a> For over two decades in North America, I have stayed very close and served with the African ethnic Churches. The problem of leadership is common in all churches, but titles and hierarchy are probably more prominent in these African ethnic churches than in any other place. The only title they haven’t tried is the Pope; otherwise, they will do everything possible to climb to the highest level of authority. I am very uncomfortable when an individual gets up and claims he is an apostle or a Bishop with bold explanations on how God spoke to them in person or through prophets and gave them the authority.<\/p>\n

Naming the Powers: Image, Institution, Ideology:<\/strong>
\nThe author adopts William Stringfellow’s categorization of powers into image, institution, and ideology. [4]<\/a><\/p>\n

\u00a0Image<\/strong>: The powers’ influence through self-image and desire.[5]<\/a><\/p>\n

Institution<\/strong>: Powers become problematic when seeking survival at the expense of others.[6]<\/a>
\nIdeology<\/strong>: The powers manifest through various -isms, shaping how individuals read and interpret Scripture.[7]<\/a><\/p>\n

Woodward explains Wink’s project, which he did very well explaining the reality of the Powers’ presence in real life. “A contractor pays off a building inspector so he can violate the code and put up a shoddy and possibly unsafe structure. A power plant exposes its employees to radioactive poisoning; the employee who attempts to document these safety infractions is forced off the road by another car and dies. All her documents are missing.”[8]<\/a><\/p>\n

The Complex Web of the Powers and Principalities <\/strong><\/p>\n

Reading Wink’s work explains the brutal battle between good and evil in our world; this reality or ‘re-mythologized’ myths will scare even the strongest among us! “All of us deal with the Powers That Be. They staff our hospitals, run City Hall, sit around tables in corporate boardrooms, collect taxes, and head our families.”[9]<\/a> Wink’s work clarifies the problems we deal with daily, whether we are in the Church, government, or everywhere we go.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

[1]<\/a> Rohadi, \u201c#71 \u2013 JR Woodward on the Scandal of Leadership (Part 1),\u201d The Scandal of Leadership, n.d., https:\/\/www.rohadi.com\/podcast\/71-jr-woodward-on-the-scandal-of-leadership-part-1\/.<\/p>\n

[2]<\/a> Rohadi.<\/p>\n

[3]<\/a> Rohadi, \u201c#71 \u2013 JR Woodward on the Scandal of Leadership (Part 1).\u201d<\/p>\n

[4]<\/a> Rohadi.<\/p>\n

[5]<\/a> Rohadi.<\/p>\n

[6]<\/a> Rohadi.<\/p>\n

[7]<\/a> Rohadi.<\/p>\n

[8]<\/a> Jason Goroncy, \u201cThe Powers of Death: Recognition, Resistance, Resurrection,\u201d Jurnal Jaffray<\/em> 19, no. 1 (March 10, 2021): 1, https:\/\/doi.org\/10.25278\/jj.v19i1.555.<\/p>\n

[9]<\/a> Goroncy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Introduction: Woodward’s recently released book,\u00a0The Scandal of Leadership: Unmasking the Powers of Domination in the Church, is impressive. It is one of the books I will return to time and time again. For now, I want to bring a few excerpts from the author’s interview on a podcast with Rohadi. A Correlation between scandalous leaders […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":164,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[2846,2934],"class_list":["post-34337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-woodward","tag-jr-woodward","cohort-dlgp01"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/164"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34337"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":34339,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34337\/revisions\/34339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.georgefox.edu\/dlgp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}