The «Pauline» Spirit World in Eph 3:10 in the Context of Igbo World View: A Psychological-Hermeneutical Appraisal (New Testament Studies in Contextual ... Studien zur kontextuellen Exegese) [New ed.] 9783631657775, 9783653051223, 3631657773

Table of contents :
Cover
Foreword
Table of Contents
0. General Introduction
0.1 The spirit world as object of research – clarifications and delimitations
0.2 The Letter to the Ephesians as focus
0.3 Motivation, Scope and Aim of this study
0.4 Notes on Methodology
0.5 The possibility of “Psycho-hermeneutical” approach
0.6 Divisions of the work
Section One: “Pauline Spirit World”- Terminologies And Antecedents
Chapter One
1.1 “Pauline spirit-world” – Designations
1.2 Antecedents/Backgrounds – History of Religions’ Perspectives
1.2.1 Ancient Orient
1.2.2 Reception among the ancient Greeks
1.2.3 Reception and development in Ancient (OT) Israel and in Judaism
1.2.4 Hellenistic Judaism and the Septuagint (LXX)
1.2.5 Intertestamental Writings
1.2.6 Rabbinical Literature
1.3 Overview – the Cosmic orientations
Chapter Two: Pauline Cosmic Theology
2.0 Cosmic Theology
2.1.0 Pauline cosmic theology
2.1.1 The Stoic foundation
2.2 Pauline cosmic orientations – issues of plurality of Powers/elements of the world
2.2.1 Rom 8:38–39 (in the light of Gal 4:4–5 and 1 Cor 15:12ff)
2.2.2 Gal 4:4–5 - its cosmological accent
2.2.3 1 Cor 15:27 in relation to Gal 4 and Rom 8 in cosmic Christological perspectives
Excursus
Summary
Section Two: Issues Of Cosmologies: Ephesian’s And Igbo Cosmologies
Chapter Three: Ephesians – Authorship, General analysis, Reception
3.1 Pseudonymity and Pseudepigraphy as literary phenomena
3.1.1 Pseudepigraphy in the New Testament
3.2 Ephesians as Pseudo-/Deutero-Pauline
3.2.1 Arguments against Pauline authorship (a summary)
3.2.1.1 Language and style
3.2.1.2 Different theological developments
3.3 General analysis of Eph
3.3.1 The letter elements in Pauline tradition
3.3.2 Ephesians in Pauline letter-pattern
3.3.3 Attempt at rhetoric schemata
3.4 Intention(s) of Eph
3.5 Reception of Pauline “cosmic” theology in Eph
Summary
Chapter Four: Ephesian’s world view
4.1 World view (Weltbild, Weltanschauung, cosmology)
4.1.1 Ephesian world view
4.1.2 The Universe as God’s creation (Eph 3:9)
4.2 The “topographical” constructions
4.2.1 ἐν τοῖς ἐπουρανίοις
4.2.2 The spatial in-between
4.2.3 The Earth - ἡ γῆ
4.3 Implications of the Eph world view
4.3.1 God – world – man in pre-Christian Eph world view
4.3.2 Apotropaic orientations - Magic as example
4.3.3 The Eph response - the three-tier scheme of Eph: God-Christ-man (Christian/s)
Summary
Chapter Five: Igbo World view
5.1 Igbo world view – a religious cosmology
5.1.1 Brief identifications
5.1.2 Igbo world view
5.1.2.1 The compenetrating world in Igbo cosmology
5.1.2.2 The Numinous in Igbo religious world view - the spirit world
5.1.2.2.1 The Supreme Being – Chi ukwu (Chukwu)
5.2 The belief in the mystical forces - the deities and the spirits
5.2.1 Ndi Mmuo – the spirits
5.2.1.1 The non-human spirits – umu agbara
5.2.1.2 Uruchi – spirit(s) of malevolence
5.2.1.3 Akalogeli – Ex-corporate evil spirit (1)
5.2.2 Mystical forces/potents
5.2.2.1 Magic among the Igbo – General brief note
5.2.2.2 Igbo perspectives
5.3 Igbo anthropology
5.3.1 Ex-corporate beings (2) – the Ancestors
5.4 Traditional Religion – linking the human and the numinous
5.4.1 The Agents of Igbo (African) Traditional Religion – Diviner, Medicine-man, Priest
Summary
Section Three: Hermeneutical And Exegetical Appraisals
Chapter Six
6.1 New Testament Hermeneutics and exegetical considerations
6.1.1 Eph 3:10 within its Epistolary Genre Framework
6.1.2 “Body of the Letter”
6.1.3 Eph 3:10 in the light of body middle understanding
6.2 Terminological overview and theological considerations
6.2.1 γνωρισθῇ
6.2.2 Excursus – Revelations-schema
6.2.3 ἡ πολυποίκιλος σοφία τοῦ θεοῦ
6.2.4 διὰ τῆς ἐκκλησίας
6.3 Recipients of the message
6.3.1 ταῖς ἀρχαῖς καὶ ταῖς ἐξουσίαις
6.3.2 Pauline prelude
6.3.3 Eph perspective
6.3.4 “Ministry/Mission” Theology of Eph 3
6.4 Critical evaluation
Chapter Seven: Psychological Hermeneutics – towards application
7.1 Psychology as a hermeneutical approach
7.1.1 Psychology of Religion
7.2 Cognitive psychology and religious concepts: ghosts, spirits, gods
7.2.1 The theory of Attribution – an elaboration of the mental mechanisms ADD and ToMM
7.2.2 Attribution Theory and Religion
7.3 Fear and Religion
7.3.1 Fear as human experience – cognitive perspective
7.3.2 Religion and fear – towards a psychology of fear and religious dimensions
7.4 Psychoeducation – towards Cognitive re-structuring and the psychology of the early Christians
7.4.1 Psychoeducation and Cognitive re-structuring
7.4.2 Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy (CBT)
7.4.2.1 Cognitive Restructuring
7.5 Christology as a “psychological” factor – appropriating the power of God in Christ
7.5.1 Paraenetic point of view: Eph paraenesis – Christian identity in ethical implications
7.5.2 The “Exorcism” of Eph - The fight in the armour of God (Eph 6:10–17)
7.5.2.1 τὴν πανοπλίαν τοῦ θεου - The Panoply (Armour) of God
7.5.2.2 ἡμν ἡ πάλη – the fight of ours
7.5.2.3 The enemies to be fought vv11b-12
Section Four: Reading Eph 3:10 In Igbo Context – Contentions And Propopsals
Chapter Eight: Eph 3:10 in Igbo context
8.1 The Bible in Igbo (African) Context: a historical and critical appraisal
8.1.1 Reading Eph 3:10 in Igbo context – The understanding of „Principalities and Powers“ in Igbo context
8.1.1.1 Recapitulating Eph Principalities and Authorities/Powers
8.1.1.2 “Principalities and Authorities/Powers” in Igbo Context - a critical review towards cognitive restructuring
8.2 Implications of the reading of Eph 3:10 in Igbo context – towards an interface of “ordinary” and “academic” readings
8.2.1 Principalities and Authorities/Powers in the light of the demons in biblical theology
8.2.2 “Popular exorcism” vs Eph “exorcism” (6:14–17) in Igbo context in the light of demons in biblical theology
8.2.2.1 The devil “not merely an academic problem”? - Towards “Cognitive Restructuring”
8.2.3 Eph “exorcism” as commitment to societal transformation – towards conclusion
8.4 General evaluation and conclusion
8.4.1 Introduction
8.4.2 Eph and Psychological hermeneutics
8.4.3 Challenges of Eph psychological hermeneutics in Igbo setting
8.4.4 Conclusion
Bibliography
Abbreviations
Further abbreviations
1.1 Biblical Sources
1.2 Documents
1.3 Commentaries
1.4 Exegetical/Theological Works and Articles
1.5 Psychological – Exegetical Works
1.6 Other Works (General)
1.7 Works on Igbo (Africa) Traditional Religion,World view, Theology
1.8 Internet Sources

Citation preview

Eph 3:10 (Principalities and Authorities in the Heavenly Places) articulates the related cluster of terms that express the “Pauline” spirit world in Ephesians’. Through a psychological-hermeneutical study, this book contributes to provide a theologically-founded response to the immense challenges the spirit world apprehensions among the Igbo (Africans), pose to true discipleship in these settings. Identifying the strongly influential role played here by the Igbo traditional religion/world view(s) and the foundation of these biblical terms in the attempts at Weltbewältigung, the book highlights how proper appreciation of the Christological paraenetics of Eph enhances critical consciousness and cognitive reconstruction towards mature faith and societal betterment.

John Chijioke Madubuko was ordained a priest for the Catholic Diocese of Enugu after studying Philosophy and Theology. He has a Licentiate in Pastoral Psychology from the St. Georgen Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule in Frankfurt am Main.

www.peterlang.com

J. C. Madubuko · The “Pauline” Spirit World in Eph 3:10 in the Context of Igbo World View

9

New Testament Studies in Contextual Exegesis Neutestamentliche Studien zur kontextuellen Exegese

John Chijioke Madubuko

The “Pauline” Spirit World in Eph 3:10 in the Context of Igbo World View A Psychological-Hermeneutical Appraisal

The "Pauline" Spirit World in Eph 3:10 in the Context of Igbo World View

NEW TESTAMENT STUDIES IN CONTEXTUAL EXEGESIS NEUTESTAMENTARISCHE STUDIEN ZUR KONTEXTUELLEN EXEGESE Edited by / Herausgegeben von Johannes Beutler, Thomas Schmeller und Werner Kahl

Vol./Bd. 9

Zu Qualitätssicherung und Peer Review der vorliegenden Publikation Die Qualität der in dieser Reihe erscheinenden Arbeiten wird vor der Publikation durch einen Herausgeber der Reihe geprüft.

Notes on the quality assurance and peer review of this publication Prior to publication, the quality of the work published in this series is reviewed by one of the editors of the series.

John Chijioke Madubuko

The "Pauline" Spirit World in Eph 3:10 in the Context of Igbo World View A Psychological-Hermeneutical Appraisal

Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. Zugl.: Bonn, Univ., Diss. 2014 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Madubuko, John Chijioke, 1971The "Pauline" spirit world in Eph 3:10 in the context of Igbo world view : a psychological-hermeneutical appraisal / John Chijioke Madubuko. – 1 [edition]. pages cm. – (New Testament studies in contextual exegesis, ISSN 1616-816X ; Vol. 9) ISBN 978-3-631-65777-5 1. Bible. Ephesians, III, 10–Criticism, interpretation, etc.–Nigeria. 2. Spirits– Biblical teaching. 3. Bible–Theology. 4. Igbo (African people)–Religion. I. Title. BS2695.52.M33 2015 227.50608996332–dc23 2014044083

D5 ISSN 1616-816X ISBN 978-3-631-65777-5 (Print) E-ISBN 978-3-653-05122-3 (E-Book) DOI 10.3726/978-3-653-05122-3 © Peter Lang GmbH Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften Frankfurt am Main 2015 Alle Rechte vorbehalten. All rights reserved. Peter Lang Edition is an Imprint of Peter Lang GmbH. Peter Lang – Frankfurt am Main · Bern · Bruxelles · New York · Oxford · Warszawa · Wien All parts of this publication are protected by copyright. Any utilisation outside the strict limits of the copyright law, without the permission of the publisher, is forbidden and liable to prosecution. This applies in particular to reproductions, translations, microfilming, and storage and processing in electronic retrieval systems. This publication has been peer reviewed. www.peterlang.com

Dedication In loving memory of, and gratitude to my parents Pa Peter Neeokuke Maduko (†2012) and Mrs Patricia Ijeukwu Maduko

Foreword Attention has often been called to the immense challenges the spirit world ­understandings pose to true discipleship and the fruition of the message of the Gospel in Africa in general, and in the Igbo (Nigerian) society in particular. The role played in this regard by the strongly influential Igbo (African) traditional world view/religion, the background upon which the encounter with the ­Christian message was, and is made, cannot be overemphasized. This influence that is brought to bear in their life, is witnessed not only in the interpretations of biblical passages, but moreso in certain pastoral praxis that often leave much to be desired. The copious use made of the Letter to the Ephesians in these directions, on account of its replete spirit world terms and concepts, becomes very interesting! The desire to contribute to the calls to provide theologically-founded response to the challenges of the common spirit world understandings, especially through standard hermeneutics of the Sacred Scriptures, prompted the engagement in this dissertation. This book is a slightly reworked version of my doctoral dissertation submitted with the title - “… to the Principalities and ­Authorities in the heavenly places…” Towards a psycho-hermeneutical a­ ppraisal of the „Pauline“ spirit world in Eph 3:10 in the context of Igbo world view, - to the Faculty of Catholic Theology, University of Bonn (Germany), in the Winter Semester of 2013/2014 academic year. I am grateful to the Faculty for accepting this work. True to the Igbo proverb that “a tree does not make a forest”, I hereby wish to heartily acknowledge my indebtedness the various ‘trees’ that made this ‘forest’ that this hermeneutical reflection on the Word of God becomes. I am profoundly grateful to my Doktorvater Prof. (em.) Dr. Hans-Jürgen Findeis. Not only did he readily support and encourage my initial enthusiasm to engage in New T ­ estament Studies, he also willingly moderated this dissertation through the various stages of its interdisciplinary development with his professional experience, recommending its acceptance to the Faculty as worthy of doctoral class. His renowned positive disposition towards foreign students and cultures has been an experience. I am also very grateful to Prof. Dr. Martin Ebner for accepting to write the second assessment. Appreciating, among others, the complex pioneer scientific exegetical-pastoral results in the work, he recommended it for acceptance. His professionally critical assessments have been an enrichment. I also appreciate the various professors I encountered in the course of my studies in the University of Bonn, especially during lectures in Neutestamentliches Seminar. In this same light, I wish to acknowledge and express my gratitude to Prof. (em.) Dr. Johannes Beutler S.J., and the other editors of the series New Testament Studies in Contextual Exegesis (NSKE), for warmly accepting the publication of this work under 7

this series. Dear Prof. Beutler, thank you for the professional corrections towards a standard publication. My special thanks go to my local Ordinary, Most Rev. Dr. Callistus V.C. Onaga, the Catholic Bishop of Enugu Diocese for the warmth with which he supported my sojourn in Germany. I thank in particular, Most Rev. Dr. Anthony O. Gbuji, Bishop emeritus of Enugu Diocese, for recommending me for further studies in Germany. Similarly, I express my gratitude to Most Rev. Dr. John I. Okoye, Catholic Bishop of Awgu Diocese, for his friendly and mentoral support and encouragement. I am greatly indebted to the Gemeinnützige Gemeinschaft der Franziskanerinnen zu Olpe mbH (GFO), the Träger of the St Josef Hospital, Troisdorf, the Institution that sponsored and housed me through my years of studies in Germany, and in which I assisted as Hospital Chaplain. I would want to mention in particular Herr Karl Edmund Gessmann, co-Geschaftsführer, and his team of staff. Dear Charly, thank you for your friendliness and support through these years! I also thank the Archdiocese of Cologne for accommodating me through these years in its pastoral scheme in Troisdorf Deanery. It is in this circumstance that I shared, as Aushilfepriester, in the pastoral life of the Pfarrverband Niederkassel-Nord (Lülsdorf, Niederkassel, Ranzel, Uckendorf). I appreciate the friendly encounter. I wish to further express my profound gratitude and indebtedness to all who have been involved in my life in general. To my loving parents, Mr. Peter Neeokuke (+2012) and Mrs Patricia Ijeukwu Maduko, and to my siblings and their families, I remain grateful for nurturing God’s gift of life in me, and for the family warmth, prayers and encouragement. For their various roles in my life and academic pursuit in Germany, I thank Msgr. Prof. Dr. Francis O. Ike, Rev. Fr. Drs Chigozie N ­ nebedum, Chukwudi Anya, Ohajuobodo I. Oko, John C. Nwafor and a host of other friendly priest colleagues, Sisters, friends and relations at home and here in Germany. The friendliness of Charly and Marlies Gessmann and family, Pax Bank eG, Köln, Herr Paul Bonsels, Frau Gisela Batzel, whose computer-assistance especially during the stages of corrections made this edition less difficult, Frau Rosa Mundorf, Pfarrer Alexander Lubomierski, and many others I would not be able to mention here, has been very supportive. I remain very grateful to you all. I pray God’s continued blessings on you. Finally, I find no better words to express my unquantifiable gratitude to God Almighty, the source and end of all, than the doxology of Eph. And so – “To him, who through the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly more than we can ask or imagine, be glory through the church and through Christ Jesus in all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” (Eph 3:20–21) Troisdorf, September 2014. 8

John Chijioke Madubuko

Table of Contents 0.  General Introduction 0.1 The spirit world as object of research – clarifications and delimitations................................................................................................ 15 0.2 The Letter to the Ephesians as focus................................................................. 30 0.3 Motivation, Scope and Aim of this study........................................................ 34 0.4 Notes on Methodology ...................................................................................... 39 0.5 The possibility of “Psycho-hermeneutical” approach.................................... 43 0.6 Divisions of the work.......................................................................................... 50

Section One: “Pauline Spirit World”Terminologies And Antecedents Chapter One............................................................................................... 55 1.1 “Pauline spirit-world” – Designations.............................................................. 55 1.2 Antecedents/Backgrounds – History of Religions’ Perspectives.................. 57 1.2.1 Ancient Orient...........................................................................................57 1.2.2 Reception among the ancient Greeks......................................................62 1.2.3 Reception and development in Ancient (OT) Israel and in Judaism�������������������������������������������������������������������������������������������66 1.2.4 Hellenistic Judaism and the Septuagint (LXX)......................................71 1.2.5 Intertestamental Writings ........................................................................74 1.2.6 Rabbinical Literature.................................................................................79 1.3 Overview – the Cosmic orientations................................................................ 82

Chapter Two: Pauline Cosmic Theology............................................... 89 2.0 Cosmic Theology................................................................................................ 89 2.1.0 Pauline cosmic theology...........................................................................89 2.1.1 The Stoic foundation.................................................................................91 2.2 Pauline cosmic orientations – issues of plurality of Powers/elements of the world....................................................................... 94 2.2.1 Rom 8:38–39 (in the light of Gal 4:4–5 and 1 Cor 15:12ff)..................98 2.2.2 Gal 4:4–5 - its cosmological accent...................................................... 104 2.2.3 1 Cor 15:27 in relation to Gal 4 and Rom 8 in cosmic Christological perspectives������������������������������������������������������������������� 110 9

Excursus..................................................................................................................... 112 Summary................................................................................................................... 113

Section Two: Issues Of Cosmologies: Ephesian’s And Igbo Cosmologies Chapter Three:  Ephesians – Authorship, General analysis, Reception................................................................... 117 3.1 Pseudonymity and Pseudepigraphy as literary phenomena........................ 117 3.1.1 Pseudepigraphy in the New Testament................................................ 121 3.2 Ephesians as Pseudo-/Deutero-Pauline......................................................... 123 3.2.1  Arguments against Pauline authorship (a summary)........................ 125 3.2.1.1 Language and style.................................................................... 126 3.2.1.2 Different theological developments........................................ 127 3.3 General analysis of Eph.................................................................................... 129 3.3.1 The letter elements in Pauline tradition............................................... 130 3.3.2 Ephesians in Pauline letter-pattern....................................................... 132 3.3.3 Attempt at rhetoric schemata................................................................ 135 3.4 Intention(s) of Eph............................................................................................ 136 3.5 Reception of Pauline “cosmic” theology in Eph............................................ 141 Summary................................................................................................................... 149

Chapter Four: Ephesian’s world view.................................................... 151 4.1 World view (Weltbild, Weltanschauung, cosmology)................................... 151 4.1.1 Ephesian world view............................................................................... 154 4.1.2 The Universe as God’s creation (Eph 3:9)............................................ 160 4.2.1  evn toi/j evpourani,oij ................................................................................ 164 4.2.2 The spatial in-between........................................................................... 168 4.2.3 The Earth - h` gh/ ......................................................................................170 4.3 Implications of the Eph world view................................................................ 173 4.3.1 God – world – man in pre-Christian Eph world view....................... 174 4.3.2 Apotropaic orientations – Magic as example ..................................... 177 4.3.3 The Eph response – the three-tier scheme of Eph: God–Christ–man (Christian/s)����������������������������������������������������������� 180 Summary................................................................................................................... 188

Chapter Five: Igbo World view.............................................................. 191 5.1  Igbo world view – a religious cosmology....................................................... 191 5.1.1  Brief identifications ............................................................................... 193 10

5.1.2  Igbo world view....................................................................................... 196 5.1.2.1 The compenetrating world in Igbo cosmology..................... 198 5.1.2.2 The Numinous in Igbo religious world view – the spirit world�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 203 5.1.2.2.1  The Supreme Being – Chi ukwu (Chukwu)........... 205 5.2  The belief in the mystical forces - the deities and the spirits....................... 211 5.2.1  Ndi Mmuo – the spirits .......................................................................... 215 5.2.1.1  The non-human spirits – umu agbara.................................... 216 5.2.1.2  Uruchi – spirit(s) of malevolence ........................................... 219 5.2.1.3  Akalogeli – Ex-corporate evil spirit (1)................................... 223 5.2.2  Mystical forces/potents.......................................................................... 226 5.2.2.1  Magic among the Igbo – General brief note.......................... 228 5.2.2.2  Igbo perspectives....................................................................... 231 5.3  Igbo anthropology............................................................................................ 236 5.3.1  Ex-corporate beings (2) – the Ancestors ............................................ 237 5.4 Traditional Religion – linking the human and the numinous.................... 240 5.4.1 The Agents of Igbo (African) Traditional Religion – Diviner, Medicine-man, Priest ������������������������������������������������������������ 242 Summary................................................................................................................... 245

Section Three: Hermeneutical And Exegetical Appraisals Chapter Six............................................................................................... 251 6.1 New Testament Hermeneutics and exegetical considerations.................... 251 6.1.1  Eph 3:10 within its Epistolary Genre Framework.............................. 256 6.1.2  “Body of the Letter”................................................................................ 257 6.1.3  Eph 3:10 in the light of body middle understanding......................... 259 6.2  Terminological overview and theological considerations........................... 260 6.2.1  gnwrisqh/| ..................................................................................................260 6.2.2  Excursus – Revelations-schema ............................................................. 263 6.2.3  h` polupoi,kiloj sofi,a tou/ qeou/ ...........................................................267 6.2.4  dia. th/j evkklhsi,aj ...................................................................................273 6.3  Recipients of the message................................................................................ 280 6.3.1  tai/j avrcai/j kai.tai/j evxousi,aij .............................................................281 6.3.2  Pauline prelude........................................................................................ 281 6.3.3  Eph perspective....................................................................................... 286 6.3.4  “Ministry/Mission” Theology of Eph 3................................................ 293 6.4  Critical evaluation............................................................................................. 296 11

Chapter Seven:  Psychological Hermeneutics – towards application................................................................................. 299 7.1  Psychology as a hermeneutical approach...................................................... 299 7.1.1  Psychology of Religion........................................................................... 307 7.2 Cognitive psychology and religious concepts: ghosts, spirits, gods........... 310 7.2.1 The theory of Attribution – an elaboration of the mental mechanisms ADD and ToMM������������������������������������������������������������� 317 7.2.2  Attribution Theory and Religion.......................................................... 319 7.3  Fear and Religion.............................................................................................. 327 7.3.1  Fear as human experience – cognitive perspective............................ 327 7.3.2 Religion and fear – towards a psychology of fear and religious dimensions������������������������������������������������������������������������������ 334 7.4 Psychoeducation – towards Cognitive re-structuring and the psychology of the early Christians........................................................... 340 7.4.1 Psychoeducation and Cognitive re-structuring................................... 340 7.4.2  Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy (CBT)................................................... 341 7.4.2.1  Cognitive Restructuring........................................................... 342 7.5 Christology as a “psychological” factor – appropriating the power of God in Christ.................................................................................... 346 7.5.1 Paraenetic point of view: Eph paraenesis – Christian identity in ethical implications������������������������������������������������������������� 358 7.5.2 The “Exorcism” of Eph - The fight in the armour of God (Eph 6:10–17)�������������������������������������������������������������������������������� 365 7.5.2.1  th.n panopli,an tou/ qeou - The Panoply (Armour) of God�����369 7.5.2.2  h`mi/n h` pa,lh – the fight of ours .............................................. 376 7.5.2.3  The enemies to be fought vv11b-12........................................ 380

Section Four: Reading Eph 3:10 In Igbo Context – Contentions And Propopsals Chapter Eight: Eph 3:10 in Igbo context.............................................. 391 8.1 The Bible in Igbo (African) Context: a historical and critical appraisal........ 391 8.1.1 Reading Eph 3:10 in Igbo context – The understanding of „Principalities and Powers“ in Igbo context��������������������������������������� 411 8.1.1.1 Recapitulating Eph Principalities and Authorities/Powers������������������������������������������������������������������� 411 8.1.1.2 “Principalities and Authorities/Powers” in Igbo Context - a critical review towards cognitive restructuring����������������������������������������������������������������������������� 414 12

8.2 Implications of the reading of Eph 3:10 in Igbo context – towards an interface of “ordinary” and “academic” readings..................................... 433 8.2.1 Principalities and Authorities/Powers in the light of the demons in biblical theology����������������������������������������������������������� 434 8.2.2 “Popular exorcism” vs Eph “exorcism” (6:14–17) in Igbo context in the light of demons in biblical theology��������������������������� 440 8.2.2.1  The devil “not merely an academic problem”? Towards “Cognitive Restructuring”��������������������������������������� 444 8.2.3 Eph “exorcism” as commitment to societal transformation – towards conclusion������������������������������������������������� 459 8.4  General evaluation and conclusion................................................................ 464 8.4.1 Introduction............................................................................................ 464 8.4.2  Eph and Psychological hermeneutics .................................................. 465 8.4.3  Challenges of Eph psychological hermeneutics in Igbo setting........ 468 8.4.4 Conclusion............................................................................................... 470

Bibliography............................................................................................. 471

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0. General Introduction 0.1 The spirit world as object of research – clarifications and delimitations Spirit1, a complicated concept as it is, given the varied nuances the term evokes, is in itself centrally a religious phenomenon. The reason is certainly in its primary association to, and the understanding of God as the Spirit, the absolute spirit and “the supreme objective evidence for the existence of spirit…, who alone can ultimately explain the origin of finite forms of spirit.”2 Though a central religious phenomenon, the attempts at understanding it as a concept is worked out through various religio-philosophical contexts. Though the history of these contexts is not the concern of this work, some brief contact with it is unavoidable. This history runs from the pre-Socratics, through various historical contexts to the present times. It has always played out in man’s bid towards self-understanding (epistemology -­anthropology) and the understanding of reality around him (cosmology – theology). The term “Spirit”, the English rendition of the Latin word “spiritus”, communicating the Greek concepts nou/j and pneu/ma and rendered in German as “Geist” is traced back to the Hebrew word x;Wr – Wind, Breath, etc. Following this German rendition, the term embraces in its fold a wide range of meanings – physical and intellectual, material and spiritual, internal and external, essence, consciousness etc. Appreciated as “wind, breath”, it involves some dynamism, the act of movement that is capable of setting in motion or otherwise.3 Tracing the relationship in meaning between the German word Geist, the Latin and Greek equivalents Spiritus and Pneuma respectively, H. Crouzel observes that in the LXX Pneuma is most frequently used to translate ruah. According to him, its fundamental meaning is breath, characterizing the substance of every living human being or animal. The connection breath has with life has led to the identification of pneuma with life, soul, as differentiated from the body. From this differentiation pneuma becomes spiritualized, articulating both the psychological or mental atmosphere of a human condition, as well as the influence of the gods on mortals.4

1 The definite article was intentionally left to differentiate the phenomenon under discourse from did “The Spirit” as always exclusively a direct reference to the Holy Spirit. 2 Cf. A.J. McNicholl, “Spirit”, in: NCE 13 (2003) 421–424 (423). 3 Cf. W.H. Schmidt, „Geist. I. Altes Testament“, in: TRE 12 (1993) 170–173. 4 Cf. H. Crouzel, „Geister (Heiliger Geist)“, in: RAC 9 (1976) 490–543. It is plausible to surmise that the intangible and ubiquitous nature of breath (wind and the likes) the

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On a further development, tracing the mixing-up of, as well as the differences between the concepts “Nus” and “Pneuma” in the history of thought, H. Crouzel credits Anaxagoras with projecting the word unto the divine spheres. According to Anaxagoras “Nus” designates the World Reason, the principle of order that is responsible for the creation and ordering of the universe. Plato, taking up the thought, is credited with establishing the relationship of the Nus to the human, a relationship that in the course of time and through various stages founded the theological understanding of man as imago Dei5 with all its attending consequences – spiritual (divine) qualities, immortality etc. The above understanding of spirit as Nus and as Pneuma, as related to, but also as differing from the corporeal as experienced especially in the human, provided the basis for the dualism that is classically presented in Plato’s theory of Forms/ Ideas. It became also the philosophical foundation of the theory of hierarchy of beings, with the spiritual (divine) at one extreme, the hylomorphic-corporeal at the other end, necessitating also Plato’s idea of daimon (Symp. 202d/203a) as the mediator between the spiritual (divine) and the material (corporeal). That was the introduction of the idea of the radical transcendence of God, a transcendence that brought about another world-view. It is credited to the Stoics that they radically worked-out all these into a universal theory that provided new horizons for further developments especially in the Judaeo-Christian conceptualizations.6 In the light of this universalization, spirit came to be “…primarily identified either with reality as a whole in its inner nature…, with an objective order of transcendent realities…, or with impersonal and collective realms of being…”7. In this understanding of spirit, the exclusivity of God as the Spirit par excellence stands out. Its discussion, including the issues of Pneumatology in general, is, however, outside the scope of our present study. basic element in all these associations, has played immense roles in the disquiet and dread the term spirit generally carries with it almost always. On this note, our attention will be more on this other understanding of the term “spirit” that have less to do with third person of the divine trinity. The contributions of C. Colpe and J. Maier in this regard, play important roles. Cf. idem, in: RAC 9 (1976) 546ff. 5 Cf. ibid., 492–494, 495. Even when the relationship between Nus and Pneuma is thought not to be so clear cut, the tendency tilts towards the understanding of Nus as referring to the purely immaterial, and the Pneuma as the manifestation of the ­immaterial in the material/corporeal sphere, a manifestation that however retains the invisibility/intangibility of the purely immaterial. 6 Ibid., 498. See also F. Stolz, „Geist. I. Religionswissenschaftlich“, in: RGG4 3 (2000), 556–558; F. Mussner, 1968, 13–14. 7 Cf. A.J. McNicholl, “Spirit”, in: NCE 13 (2003), 421.

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Understood in the above light, the term ‘spirit world’ would then be representing some strict distinction between the world of spiritual/invisible realities on the one hand, and the material/visible world on the other. The terminology is the product of a world-view perceptive of a wide range of reality, beings and agencies, whose nature and existence constitute some controversy since they are not fully perceptible to the ordinary human eye. They are often neither fully ­explained for what they are, nor successfully denied outrightly. What has come to be termed ‘spirit world’ becomes then part of the patrimony of the ancient religious world-view that shared the belief in spirits to be part and parcel of its life, religious and cultural situation.8 Unlike certain patrimonies of the antiquities that merely decorate museums, the spirit world patrimony presents itself as an ever-lively riddle-like stuff for discussion. It often swings in the pendant of seemingly unsatisfactory dismissal on one hand, and uncomfortable admittance on the other. There is often the tension between the literal belief in their existence as “facts” of human experience, and the critical stance that understands them as evidence of the transposing of ideas into reality, the “ontological dumping” that Whitehead referred to as fallacy of misplaced concreteness. With regard to the content(s) of this terminology, the German word “Geister”9 comes appropriately to aid in deciphering the nuances and delimitations. It r­ efers to the supernatural ‘beings’ perceived to be lower than the gods but at the same time superior to man as a result of the powers they are believed to wield. They may be technically referred to as intermediary beings Zwischenwesen. In line with this intermediary nature of theirs and the ancient cosmological configurations that are expressed with the terminologies heaven(s) and world, they are apportioned the space (Luftraum)10 as their abode. Ambivalent in nature and 8 M. Mach, clearly establishes that various religions brought individual aspects of life in connection to various divinities, deities, gods, that are often placed in different ranks. However the ranks and their relationships to one another came to be conceived and developed, the numerousity of their numbers merely served to accommodate and associate the different aspects of life to one divinity or the other. Cf. idem, 1992, 2. 9 C. Colpe, relates „Geister“ to „Dämonen“, noting the plural character of the latter as almost always presenting a collective. They lack personal character, and are mostly known through the activities that are brought in connection with them. The originally neutral Greek word “daimon” took up negative connotations from OT in its conflict with the gods of other religions. The words „Geister“ and „Dämonen“ would apply to all such supernatural figures and beings - angels, ghosts, phantoms, imps etc. Cf. C. Colpe, loc. cit, in: RAC 9 (1976) 546–548, 599. 10 The term “space” refers to the extension that is seen from the earth to the physically visible sky. The ancient understanding of the planets as heavens affords a pre-scientific

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character, they are thought to be constitutive of all religions in their ‘non-reflected’ stages, in the common and superstitious beliefs of peoples. This belief system is founded in the animistic view that sees the whole of ­human world as animated, as filled with spirits. Even when it seems very agreeable that the beginnings of such beliefs be sought in the evolutionary theories of animism as earlier stages in the course of the development towards monotheism, such views have been contested. Part of the argument for such objections is that the pre-conditions that lead to the existence of such beliefs among peoples are often as different as the peoples. Belief in God and belief in the existence of such other supernatural beings are rather seen as paralleling each other within the internal pluralism characteristic of religion.11 Conditions that give rise to such beliefs range from the human tendency to personify and deify incomprehensible and unforeseen natural phenomena, moods or dispositions, the divisions or multiplications of the gods, to hallucination-related experiences. A typical example of such incomprehensible phenomena would be the problem of evil. Original attempts at explaining it accounts for the stories about the fallen angels and their progenies, found in the Jewish apocryphal writings,12 motifs that find replete resonance in the Bible. The taking-up of older religions by a new one, generating the degradation and portrayal of the ­numinous beings and gods of the former in negative light, often lead to these living on in the minds of the people concerned in the forms of spirits and s­ upernatural beings. Having been so negated, perhaps in order to justify the newly introduced representation of this idea. Some ancient documents represent them as seven, some four etc. The occupation is in ascending order, with the topmost echelon apportioned to the purest spirit – God. The term space could also apply by extension to mountain tops, phenomenally tall and huge trees, great waters- oceans and seas, desolate ruins and cemeteries, certain animals, lonely roads etc. These later apply too to the African understanding in which almost every portion of the environment that falls into disuse is considered the abode of the spirits. Cf. J.S. Mbiti, „Afrikanisches Verständnis der G ­ eister im Lichte des Neuen Testamentes“, in: G. Rosenkranz, et al. (Hg.), 1967, 130–147. 11 Cf. D.W. Bousset, 1903, 331–332; G. Lanzckowski, „Geister“, in: TRE 12 (1983), 254– 259(254); see also H. Wagner, in: LThK3 4 (1995), 379–380; M. Hailer, 2008, 64–65. In a related development, J.F. Thiel observes that the beginnings of the belief in such supernatural beings are to be sought in relation to the “Deus otiosus” phenomenon. Man, feeling that the God is not part of his daily affairs, difficulties or solutions, he readily ascribes them to some other sources. These become the subordinate supernatural beings. Cf. idem, „Religionsethnologie“, in: TRE 28 (1997) 560–565 (563). 12 We shall treat the provisions of such inter-testamental, apocryphal writings like the Books of Enoch, Jubilees etc. in the section one of this work.

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trend, they become demonised. They are given names and forms as subordinate “powers, demons and satanic opposing principles”. Ancient as this world-view evidently is, it remains a highly influential factor in many a world-view even in the current dispensation. Jewish monotheism is an example of such emergent new religion. It took-up, dominated, and worked-out its own form(s) from the polytheism and the religious paraphernalia of the surrounding peoples. The OT biblical writings busy themselves with themes showing evidences of contacts with this world-view. Sometimes some of such presentations tend to suggest the taking-up of more or less slightly modified myths from the religious surroundings (1Kgs 18:19; Deut 6:4,5; Ex 3:4,19,20 etc.). A section of our work will be devoted to investigating the background and various stages in the reception of this world-view into Judaism.13 Christianity, born within this context, and in its missionary orientation, is confronted with, and sought to address these issues in its own way. The NT writings present us the results of such efforts. Influenced by these backgrounds especially as inherited from the OT and Hellenistic views, the authors of the New Testament writings give it a new interpretation, a re-construction as it were, in the light of the event of Christ whose coming has given the cosmos a new meaning. Since Christ came into the world to save it (Jn 6:51), adequate knowledge of the world and how it was conceptualized at the time would play a great role in communicating the message of salvation to it. It is in this setting that we encounter Paul, this champion, and as it were, the founder of Christian theology, who, being at home with the popular religious-philosophical orientations of the time, “… raised the theological motifs that were at work in the proclamation of the Hellenistic Church to the clarity of theological thinking; he called attention to the problems latent in the Hellenistic proclamation and brought them to a decision;…”14 The problem of the understanding of the world, especially in the light of God-human relationship, being a central issue in the New Testament endeavour, sees it constitute Paul’s point of entry into the scene. The term, cosmos, with which the ancient Greeks conveyed their all-embracing conception of the universe as the arena in which the totality of existence (including the gods and humans) plays out as a unified, rationally ordered structure, was understood by Paul in another way. Following the theological cosmology of Judaism that saw God as different from the universe – heaven(s) and earth – he 13 This development, summed-up in the expression “Jewish counterpart of, or answer to pagan polytheism” (cf. I. Gruenwald, Jewish Apocalyptic Literature. ANRW II/19.1. (89–118), in: M. Mach, 1992, 3), will be subsequently investigated. 14 Cf. R. Bultmann, 2007, 1.187. See also E.E. Johnson & D.M. Hays, (eds.) 1997, vii.

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created, the term cosmos took up a restricted sense. It referred to creation apart from its creator. In keeping with the anthropocentric understanding of creation (Gen 1:26–29), it (cosmos) referred to human life and earthly conditions of life. This informed Paul’s understanding of the term cosmos. It became for him not just a time-space concept, but an eschatological concept denoting, …the world of men and the sphere of human activity as being, on the one hand, a temporary thing hastening towards its end (I Cor. 7:31), and on the other, the sphere of anti-godly power… It is the sphere of the ‘rulers of this age’ (I Cor. 2:6,8) and ‘of the god of this age’ (II Cor. 4:4)… The “kosmos”, although on the one hand, it is God’s creation, is, on the other hand, the domain of demonic powers: the ‘angels’, ‘principalities’ and ‘powers’ (Rom. 8:38; I Cor. 15:24;…)15.

Relatedly, E. Hirsch observes, “A seldom discourse goes through the Pauline letters. They talk about the lords of the world, about the imperious angels, principalities and authorities bearing in themselves the basic powers of the world.”16 These terms constitute what has come to be termed “the spirit-world” of Paul. Their meaning and their place in the theology of Paul constitute interesting ­objects of studies in NT scholarship. These studies move between the extreme tendencies of apparent exclusion from Pauline theology, on the one hand, to some esoteric tendencies, at the other extreme. A middle course in the development features its being merely tolerated as theme of secondary/minor importance. Ferdinand C. Baur (1792–1860) is seen as the pioneer of this development in the modern Pauline scholarship. In his posthumous book – Paulus, der Apostel Jesu Christi… – the issues of the spirit world feature in his treatment of what he terms “some minor doctrinal questions”. By such considerations he gives the impression that such issues as the issues angels and demons do not constitute major issues in the thoughts of Paul, and therefore may safely be ignored. According to him, In the Letters, the Apostle speaks about the angels… only very scantily. He does not speak dogmatically, rather figuratively and proverbially… He associates the angels with undetermined imaginations about higher, super-human beings staying between God and human beings… It would not worth the effort to give a special consideration to the angelology of the apostle if no place would be found in his letters, in which it would

15 Cf. R. Bultmann, 2007, 256, 257. The author’s insistent use of such terms as they appeared in some of the so-called authentic letters of Paul, is to be observed. These terms are also evidence in the other disputed letters. Here lies the immense importance of the Christ event, the one in and through whom God renews and reclaims his creation. 16 E. Hirsch, Ethos und Evangelium; cited by I. Bendik, 2010, 17. Translation is mine.

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seem he had placed great emphasis on this teaching as one should accept as done in some other expressions.17

In his discuss of the concern of the apostle that women wear veils on their heads in the liturgical assembly – 1 Cor 11:10 – Baur sees an incoherence in the chain of thought that is unbefitting of the apostle, and suspects some interpolation. He advocates that care be taken not to impute such imaginations and meanings on the apostle, than he may have had.18 His basing his views on Paul’s spirit world on this interpretation of 1 Cor.11:10 must have been so unsatisfactory to Otto Everling, that proving him (Baur) wrong became one of the leading motivations in his engaging in the study of Pauline Angelology and Demonology.19 Otto Everling in his book Die Paulinische Angelologie und Dämonologie (1888), provided the study with an epoch-making dimension. Applying the radical historical approach of the History of Religion School, he admitted the spirit world as component part of Pauline cosmology, and a rather rich and diverse topic on its own interest. With his unprecedented assemblage of immense historical data, he is acknowledged as the first to attempt establishing a connection between Pauline Angelology and Demonology with analogous parallels in earlier Jewish theology. Such parallels include 1 Enoch, Book of Jubilees, Wisdom of Solomon etc. It becomes surprising, however, that despite Everling’s affirmation that the belief in spirits is constitutive of Paul’s world view, that he regards engaging in a study of this belief as merely seeking to satisfy some theological-historical curiosity. For him, it is not of ultimate theological significance for Paul, and is not really worth the trouble.20 For him, Paul merely shared, in his unique ways, the sensitivities and ­consciousness in his environment. Without wishing to undermine the dogmatic issues over angels and devil, O. Everling submits that such sensitivities and consciousness that reigned in Paul’s context, uniquely intriguing as they are, make no meaning for the contemporary world.21 By this submission Everling could be said not to have substantially differed from the views of Baur for whom the concerns 17 Cf. F.C. Baur, 1867, 2.276–277. Translation is mine. 18 Cf. ibid., 2.279. 19 Cf. O. Everling, 1888, 4. 20 Cf. ibid. 21 Ibid., 125–126. This much generalised conclusion of Everling remains, however, a wish as far as some world views e.g. Igbo (African) traditional as well as Christian world views are concerned. It is the motivation of this work to contribute to loosening the hold such ancient world views still have on the contemporary Igbo Christian societies.

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about the spirit world was no issue in Pauline theology. Subsequent members of this school that engaged in further investigation of Paul’s spirit world, for instance Hermann Gunkel in Die Wirkungen des heiligen Geistes (1888)22, and ­Wilhelm Bousset in his very influential monograph Die Religion des Judentums im neutestamentlichen Zeitalter (1903)23 shared similar views that angelology and demonology are constitutive of Paul’s world of thoughts, with special attention to the context of Judaism. A very major milestone in this field of research is the epochal work of Martin Dibelius - Die Geisterwelt im Glauben des Paulus (1909). As the name of the work already suggests, Dibelius has no doubts the issues about the spirit world had ­major roles to play in Pauline theology. Rightly paying tributes to Everling’s pioneer ­efforts, he notes Everling’s much dependence on apocryphal and pseudoepigraphical Jewish sources, and criticizes his inability to treat the topic in the wider context of Paul’s teachings, especially his Christology and eschatology. Noting that Paul’s rabbinic formation constitutes a decisive factor in his life, he turns attention to the provisions of the Jewish Talmud and Midrash as the point of access to the rabbinic evidences. Evidences from Hellenistic perspectives24 were not left out, the result being an erudite and detailed monograph. Seeking to relate the spirit world issues to major themes of the Pauline epistles, he chose a thematic structure approach ­addressing and offering explanations on such topics as Paul’s statements about ­angels, Satan and the demons, ‘the spirit in the community’, ‘the rulers of this age’. In the final section of the book - ‘Herkunft und Bedeutung der Geistervorstellungen des Paulus’ - Dibelius endeavours to provide us with the origin and meaning of these ideas of Paul with regard to the spirit world issues, assessing its significance. According to Dibelius, Paul was not oblivious of the plethora of beliefs about the angels. But his interests lay in some other area. Unlike the Jewish apocalyptic trends that apparently delighted in the description of imagined heavenly details, sometimes reaching ridiculous extremes, Paul’s concerns were earmarked by the question – how is, and what would/should be the relation 22 Even though H. Gunkel was directly concerned with the Holy Spirit, he argued that for a proper understanding of Paul’s teaching on the Pneuma one has also to think alongside the place of angels and demons in the faith of Paul, a tacit acknowledgement of these phenomena in Pauline theology. Cf. H. Gunkel, 1979, 127 (German original, 1888). 23 Bousset in his analysis of angelology and demonology in the context of Judaism, especially with regard to the national angels and the elements, related them to Pauline themes. Cf. D.W. Bousset, 1903, 313–325. 24 Cf. M. Dibelius, 1909, 2–5.

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of the Christian/Christian communities to these sensitivities about the spirit world? His answer is readily found in the assurance that through his closeness to God as his child, adopted through Jesus Christ the Son of God and basking in the spirit of God, the Christian need not live in fear of any power wherever.25 The major hinge of Pauline concerns about the spirit world - angels concerns is captured in the term ‘spiritual rulers of this world’, traceable to the Jewish belief in the Völkerengel (angels of the nations), which in turn constitutes the bed rock and point of departure of Pauline theology. “Whereas the rabbinic teachings on the angels apparently lay at the periphery of Pauline religion, and do not have much connection with the original and central Christian thought, the belief about the ruler of this world leads us deep into the trend of thoughts in Pauline theology.”26 This would be, as it were, the summary of Pauline soteriology – the freedom of the world from the enslavement to the law and to the angelic powers through the death of Christ. These powers constitute the evil which Christ conquered on the cross. A.  Schweitzer, towing here Dibelius’ line of thought, puts it clearly thus “the end of the domination of the angels was brought about by the death of Jesus.”27 On Satan, Dibelius recognizes that it is an issue in the experience and missionary activity of Paul. He is, however, of the view that Paul did not give this issue elaborate mention in his letters, nor did it constitute a central issue in his faith.28 To what extent this position of Dibelius may have influenced G. Williams’ view that “Satan is an imaginative rather than a cognitive or dogmatic feature in Paul’s religion”,29 remains, however, questionable. Dibelius’ book ends with the typical Pauline “now and not yet” eschatological schema. Paul does not deny the spirits’ existence. He insists rather that the Christian, sharing in the victory of Christ 25 Cf. Ibid., 182ff. Dibelius calls this „das geistige Band“ (183) that binds the individual parts of Pauline thoughts together. He emphasizes the danger in not observing the immensity of the influence of the Christ event in the life of Paul, an issue that makes many a scholar unable to draw the lines of difference between Paul the Jew and Paul the Christian, overwhelmingly overtaken by the Christ event. According to him, the central difference between the “two” lies in the messiah-salvation beliefs. Whereas in Judaism the messiah is still being expected to bring salvation in the future, for the Christian Paul, Christ has already wrought salvation. 26 Cf. Ibid., 189. Translation is mine. 27 Cf. A. Schweitzer, The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle, 1931, 72; cited by G. Williams, 2009, 38. Williams understands the position of A. Schweitzer in the above cited work as a further confirmation of the immense influence of Dibelius as far as the research spirit world issues in Paul is concerned. 28 Cf. ibid., 190–192. 29 Cf. G. Williams, 2009, 36.

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and the salvation he wrought, does not need to fear them. He is finished with them30 - an interplay of the realized and still futuristic eschatology. Despite criticisms,31 Dibelius’ work assumed the position of a standard work as far as the study of the Pauline spirit world is concerned not just because of its judged erudite quality but more so because of the new paradigms drawn from it by subsequent scholars. His emphasis upon the “rulers of this age” became the spring board for a new impetus especially in the post-World War II biblical theology. Politics and power was the centre of experience and thought then. Many theologians of the time saw and interpreted some connections between the political events of the time and an understanding of the behind-the-scene motivations, the unseen powers thought to be responsible for them. “Since World War 2, there has been a growing tendency among scholars in the West to interpret Paul’s reference to principalities and powers almost exclusively as the structures of our existence…, political and economic structures (as, for example, imperialism, nationalism, dictatorship, socialism and capitalism), … and intellectual structures (ologies and isms).”32 That heralded the surfacing and subsequent blossoming of what came to be termed power theology, the pioneer of which was Oscar Cullman (1902–1999). His most important work in this regard is Christus und die Zeit (1946).33 Discussing the conception of time and history by the early Christians, he points out that for them Christ and his redemptive work constitute the centre of history. In an understanding of the world as one in which the invisible and the visible are intertwined, all world events are part of the history of redemption and become interpreted from that standpoint. Little wonder Cullman’s understanding of “the rulers of this age” as referring to “…both the invisible ‘princes of this world’, who are 30 Cf. M. Dibelius, 1909, 206–207. 31 One of such criticism would apply to Dibelius’ apparent conviction that Paul was the author of the epistle to the Colossians. He seemed so convinced of the authenticity of Pauline authorship of the Letter, a position that a majority of contemporary biblical scholarship have plausible reasons to doubt, that he refers to it as the heart of Paul’s views about the spirit world. Cf. ibid., 181. On the discussions over the deutero-­ Pauline character of the epistle to the Colossians, see Nicole Frank, Der Kolosserbrief im Kontext des paulinischen Erbes. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck: 2009. 32 Cf. C.E. Arnold, 1992, 194. 33 Some other works that may be termed contemporaries to the work Cullmann, ­related to our study but considered outside the present focus include: K.L. Schmidt, ‘Die ­Natur- und Geistkräfte bei Paulus’. An article in ErJb (1946); B. Noack, Satanas und Soteria: Untersuchungen zur neutestamentlichen Dämonologie (1948); Heinrich Schlier, Mächte und Gewalten im Neuen Testament (1958); O. Böcher, Das Neue ­Testament und die dämonischen Mächte (1972); etc.

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often mentioned as such, and their empirical (human) instruments,…”34. In this setting of the early Christians’ view of the state, the “angels of the nations” takes up a political interpretation. The spiritual is given political manifestation. This became the “Powers’ theology”, the popular pedestal upon which English NT scholarship came into the study of the spirit world in Pauline theology. Along these lines of thought, principally concerned with establishing contemporary theologic-political interpretations and consequences of a perceived teaching on angelic powers, we meet such figures as J.S. Stewart, G.H.C. Macgregor, G.B. Caird, Clinton Morrison, Walter Wink, Ched Meyers, Neil Elliott etc.35 Pointedly in this regard, Caird writes, Whether the Jews in general, and Paul in particular, believed literally in the existence of these angelic beings is hard to say. What is clear is that the powers stood for something real in human experience, as real today as it was then, viz. those structures of power, political, economic, social, and religious which interpenetrate the whole corporate life of man and decisively affect the fortunes of the individual.36

Would this then be the rational content of thought that Paul expressed in mythological language, as Caird in his earlier work argued?37 Contributive to the pursuit of the understanding of the spirit world in Pauline theology as these works in their own merits may be, their manifest political orientations are, however, outside the focus of this work. Aiming at locating Paul’s understanding in his original cultural and historical context as means to some psychological hermeneutics of the spirit world of Igbo (African) Christian setting, we would not get deep into analyzing the contributions of these authors. The findings of scholars in the early History of Religion School and the convictions of the protagonists of the power theology notwithstanding, modern NT scholarship on the issues of the spirit world may be said to have remained greatly influenced by F.C. Baur’s position that it is minor and inconsequential. This position is definitely traceable to the phenomenal event of the Enlightenment and 34 Cf. O. Cullmann, 1946, 169. Translation and bracket mine. 35 J.S. Stewart, “On Neglected Emphasis in New Testament Theology”, in: SJT

4.3 (1951), 292–301; G.H.C. Macgregor, “Principalities and Powers: the Cosmic Background of St. Paul’s Thought”, in: NTS 2 (1955), 17–28; G.B. Caird, 1956, 1976; C. Morrison, 1960; W. Wink, 1984, 1986, 1998; C. Meyers, 1988; N. ­Elliott, 1995. Even they are all involved in a politically oriented theology, they exhibit levels of differences with regard to their eschatological orientations.

36 Cf. G.B. Caird, 1976, 40. 37 Cf. idem, 1956, x.

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its legacies, this historical structural element in the rationalisation process that accesses every culture, times and thought.38 It found renewed access in modern NT studies in the re-kindled conflict regarding the place of myths - mythology in the NT, the discussion of which is greatly influenced by Bultmann’s programme of demythologisation.39 Bultmann, convinced that the NT cosmology is basically mythical and its language mythological, noted that in this world view life and events are “set in motion and controlled by supernatural powers.”40 In this world view, the existence and operations of angels and demons are presupposed. That is the world of Jewish and Christian antiquity in which both Jesus and Paul found themselves. They would naturally be part of it in thought and orientation. B ­ ultmann set out in his programme of demythologisation, controversial and criticized as it is, not to eliminate but to re-interpret the mythological given of this world view with, and through which the message of the NT became conveyed. Demythologisation is for him a hermeneutical process. This is to enable the so-called modern man, whose world view is taken to be formed and developed by science, and to whom the ancient world view is no longer credible, to get over the mythological givens to the “ever relevant” core of the NT message. This is for him the task of theology in general, and modern NT scholarship in particular. With regard to the spirit world, therefore, Bultmann seems not to reject it as having a place in the thought of Paul. The task is rather to re-interpret it for the sake of the relevance of its message to modern man who, as Bultmann claims, “no longer believe(s) in spirits, whether good or evil.”41 However, the extent to which this programme of demythologisation was carried on by some scholars as 38 Cf. A. Beutel, A., „Aufklärung. I. Geistesgeschichtlich. II. Theologisch-kirchlich.” in: RGG4 1 (1998), 930–947. See also H. Hübner, 1997, 267. 39 The discussion of Mythology or Demythologization is intended here. But suffice it to make some reference to some study of this program. Cf. R. Bultmann, “New ­Testament and Mythology“, in: H.W. Bartsch, (ed.); 1961, 1–44; R. Bultmann, Jesus Christus und die Mythologie (1964); T. Holtz, Mythos IV. Neutestamentlich, in: TRE 23 (2000), 644–650. 40 Cf. R. Bultmann, “New Testament and Mythology”, 1; see also, R. Bultmann, 1964, 11–12. 41 Ibid., 4. The italicised emphasis of the later part of the citation, made by the author himself, is of particular interest. Apparent lack of such note may account for some misunderstanding and almost total criticism or even of Bultmann’s position. To the extent that he referred to this world view’s consideration of the stars and other atmospheric physical bodies as spirits, and to the extent this world view attributes the responsibilities over human experiences to these celestial bodies, to that extent would one see how right Bultmann was in regarding such world view as overtaken, as “finished”.

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far as the spirit world issue is concerned becomes baffling. This is especially on such occasions when they seem to present the position that assumes Paul himself “demythologized” the spirit world, purportedly separating himself from the prevailing understanding of angels and demons of his cultural setting. These are the positions represented by the likes of Jörg Baumgarten and ­Wesley Carr,42 a subtle return to the F.C. Baur position! In his attempt to found his denial of Paul’s concern with the spirit world, and counter the positions over the angelic powers, W. Carr makes a rather surprising claim despite his concerns about the influences of Paul’s Jewish background. According to him, “It is worth recalling that he (Paul) lived and worked in the main in Asia Minor, where even the Jews had to a large extent forgotten their past.”43 The non-tenability of Carr’s attempts culminates in his excising Eph 6:12, where “spirits of evil” are clearly mentioned, as an interpolation after having argued for Pauline authorship of the epistle to the Ephesians,44 and in his insistence that Paul had no “recourse to an obscure mythology at a central point of his social thinking.”45 The foundations of these positions are thought to be the attempts by some scholars to mould a Paul “after their own hearts”, the rationally enlightened apostle that stood above his context and circumstance, one whose thoughts are ever relevant to the modern man. On this, P.J. Cahill observes that the problems scholars have with Pauline thought are not only on account of … the random nature of the letters, lack of evidence for positions Paul opposes, the ­obscure cultural situation of the writer and the recipients, and the more pervasive problem of the hermeneutic horizon of the modern interpreter. Pauline perspectives too have not always been mediated directly through his writings but rather by the needs and sometimes vested interest of institutional interpreters.46

42 Cf. J. Baumgarten, 1975; W. Carr, 1981. 43 Cf. W. Carr, 1981, 2. It would have been interesting to know which aspect of their past he was referring to. Obviously it would neither be their religion nor the consequent cosmology despite the fact of influences from and in the lands they were sojourning that may not be fore-closed. Constant reminder of their identity and destiny to his Jewish audience, and the challenge to get beyond the bounds they impose remain re-occurring motives that play out in a number of Paul’s addresses. Cf. Rom 1:16; 2:17–3:1–4; 9:1ff etc. 44 Cf. ibid., 108–110. C.E. Arnold’s criticism of W. Carr’s thesis that Eph 6:12 is an interpolation is presented in: Idem, “The ‘Exorcism’ of Ephesians 6.12 in recent research: A critique of Wesley Carr’s view of the role of Evil Powers in First Century AD Belief ”, in: JSNT 30 (1987) 71–87. 45 Cf. ibid., 176. 46 Cf. P.J. Cahill, Book Reviews in: Religious Studies Bulletin 1 (1983), 42.

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It is indeed the issue of perspectives that has kept the debate in NT scholarship over the reality or not of the spirit world in Pauline thought alive despite the dismissal the Enlightenment and its thought consequences was thought to have dealt it. Locating Paul in the apocalyptic contexts of his writings,47 apocalyptic perspectives for instance emerge. Within such perspectives in which the dualistic conflict between good and evil is the central theme, angels, demons are assigned dominant roles. For Ernst Käsemann,48 for whom apocalypse is the “mother of (early) ­Christian theology”, Pauline demonology, as attested in his letters, is to be u ­ nderstood in the light of the metaphysical dualism. The cosmic conflict plays out in the selfconflict the individual human being finds himself in, as well as in the understanding of being a Christian as a constant battle with the forces of evil. As such the spirit world becomes a meaningful route to the theological issues of human freedom, which is, however, outside the major focus of this study. Very closely related to the apocalyptic perspectives are the Christological aspects49 that present the view that Jewish belief about angels influenced Paul’s and the early ­Christians’ understanding of Christ, and the development of Christology. In all these developments there is no doubt the findings of the History of Religions School have left lasting imprints, a trend that finds renewed interest and representation in our times in the works of Clinton E. Arnold.50 It is undoubtedly a special credit to Arnold that he turned the whims of research away from the seemingly over-flogged debates about Gnostic and Hellenistic-Jewish influences in Eph that had characterized German scholarship, to really give attention to some existential issues of the time that were almost being forgotten – cultic and magical practices. Despite the interesting depth of his sources and force of argument, the “evangelical” orientation which seem to influence the direction of his thoughts often manifest some fundamentalism that could be adjudged almost incongruous with his premises. This leads to what G. Williams referred to as “maximalist” view

47 Devoting a portion of his work Frühjüdische und urchristliche Apokalyptik: Eine ­Einführung (1998) to examining the apocalyptic elements in Pauline thought, F. Hahn states there is no doubt Paul was well versed in the Jewish apocalyptic traditions, traditions in which Christianity was born and nurtured. Paul employed these motifs and elements while weaving his thoughts on the Christian message. See F. Hahn, 1998, 99–107. 48 Cf. E. Käsemann, 1972. 49 Cf. G. Williams, 2009, 53. 50 Cf. C.E. Arnold, 1989; 1992;

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of the spirit world.51 The consequence of such trend of thought is his insistence on the fear-inducing demonization of the world, and subsequent pre-occupation with exorcism, real or imagined. This trend has become the thriving field for the so-called New Religious Movements that “…have continued to affirm the real existence of evil spirits… unanimously believe(-ing) in the reality and power of the evil spirits forces and minister(-ing) to people on the basis of such assumptions.”52 A most recent and interesting monograph is the study of the spirit world by G. Williams.53 Moving from a general approach that considered the spirit world as embracing a range of ideas, and following the findings of the History of Religion School in a show of critical scholarship, he argues that the making of spirit world issues a secondary or marginal feature in Pauline thought is alien to the letters. The spirit world being a pervasive part of the culture within which Paul lived, there is no doubt he participated in his own way in this antique spirituality. The spirit world would not only be expected to be, but is actually an inherent feature of Paul’s writings, and is worth scholarly attention. “Much of what Paul has to say seems fit with the ideas and assumptions of his contemporaries, who generally presupposed the existence and influence of the angelic and demonic beings in the world.”54 The emphasis seems to lie on the note that its feature is on the level of axioms or assumptions – Vorstellungen. It is this axiomatic and cultural perspective that underlines,

51 Cf. G. Williams, 2009, 54. How much applicable the term “spirit world” is in the works of Arnold is questionable. He seems to be pre-occupied more with the “powers of darkness” than with this all-inclusive appellation “spirit world” addressing this realm. An insight into Arnold’s “evangelical” orientation that is rather worrisome is given by his seemingly fundamentalistic attitude towards biblical texts. He sees, for instance, as unacceptable, the fact that, “The new materialistic and rationalistic world view now called into question the reality of the miraculous and supernatural, even that which was recorded in Scripture.” (Cf. C.E. Arnold, 1992, 170, emphasis mine.) Would that not be saying that the mere fact of being recorded in the Scripture vouchsafes, without doubt, the objective truth quality of the recorded! 52 Cf. C.E. Arnold, 1992, 181 (the letters in bracket and the emphasis are mine). Attention is called to the examination of the issues of real (personal) existence and the ministration on the basis of such assumption. M. Hailer, 2008, 9–12 presents an interesting many-questions-raising critical observation of such phenomenon. Not only are the practices of these Movements but also the often very similar unclarified positions of charlatan-like practices of exorcism in the Roman Catholic circles are called to question. More on this in chap 8 of our work. 53 G. Williams, The Spirit World in the Letters of Paul the Apostle. A Critical Examination of the Role of Spiritual Beings in the Authentic Pauline Epistles. 2009. 54 Cf. ibid., 309 (emphasis mine). Consider too pages 310–311.

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and makes the difference in Pauline approach to the spirit world phenomenon. With his stint of eclectic mastery, Paul worked with these ideas and assumptions of his setting, connecting them with the different concerns of his, namely, cosmology, ethics, and community relations. Through them he worked out the thought pattern that has come to be understood as his theology. It is a­ ctually in establishing the relationship of the spirit world assumptions to, and how they may have influenced Pauline thought that is most interesting in Williams’ work. When in the current dispensation the spirit world issues have become more or less the concern of world views, one notices the tendency among NT scholars of different interests. Either it is seen as overtaken and as a non-issue in certain world views, or it is seen as an issue of veritable concern for certain peoples and their world views. Africa is considered to be, and truly so, one of the parts of the world where spirit world issues play immense roles as a feature of life. More often than not, however, such scholarly interests end up merely appreciating these i­ ssues.55 It is not enough to merely appreciate them. It is our conviction that more intensive attention needs to be given not only to how these constitute hindrances to the work of evangelization in the lives and settings of the concerned, but also to address these hindrances through some critical biblical scholarship. The hope is to get beyond mere general recommendations, one that challenges the often readily available ‘charlatan-like’ pastoral praxis. It is on this note that the warnings of A.K Petersen become expedient. “When theology gets combined with the irrationalism, with the spirit of the way of life, it runs, according to its nature, the danger of becoming demonology.“56 Would “Paul” really not have something to say to these settings? We are convinced that he would have something to say, having declared that the manifold wisdom of God be made known to the principalities and authorities the manifold wisdom of God through the church. (Eph 3:10) This is the task we intend to pursue here.

0.2 The Letter to the Ephesians as focus Our quest for the understanding of the “Pauline” spirit world, which is seen as summarily articulated in the expression “principalities and authorities” will be focused on the Letter to the Ephesians. This choice is based on the unique nature 55 Cf. E.S.P. Thompson, „Die Dämonen in der biblischen Theologie“, in G. Rosenkranz, (Hg.); 1967, 149–163; P.T. O’Brien, “Principalities and Powers: Opponents of the Church”, in: D.A. Carson, (ed.); 1984, 110–150. 56 Cf. A.K. Petersen, “The Notions of Demon: Open Questions to a Diffuse Concept”, in: A. Lange, et al. (eds.), 2003, 35. Translation is mine.

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of the epistle within the Pauline Corpus in general, and particularly on the fascinating elaborateness with which spirit world issues feature in it. Its acknowledged theological excellence,57 despite the many difficulties associated with the epistle,58 qualifies it for immense attention. Eph is acknowledged to have a weave of unprecedentedly high theological thought-pattern expressed in a language that renders it unmistakably relevant to a variety of situations especially in the context of the church’s understanding of itself, its mission, and the quest for effective dialogue with other religious phenomena. The central reason for our choice, however, is the fascinating elaborateness with which Eph deals with spirit world issues. Among the many NT writings that are attributed to Paul, the issues of Principalities, Authorities, and Powers find elaborate attention in Eph. They find distinctive expressions at various prominent stages in four of the epistle’s six chapters: 1:21; 2:2; 3:10; 6:11–12, with the last two citations devoted to a confrontation of the spirit world by way of proclamation or by means of ‘war’. It remains a surprise however, that many a study of Eph has glossed over this aspect of the epistle. Even when majority of the scholarly opinions hold that Paul would not have been the author of Eph, there is no doubt the epistle belongs to his circle of thoughts. It has indeed been esteemed to be a “Testament” of Paul, his theological tradition having been received and specially adapted in it to the new postPauline generation and situation. Critical voices have been raised regarding the relationship of Eph to Pauline theology. The sometimes enormous differences that were observed gave room for doubts and questions over the measure of Pauline thought in the letter.59 However, the vision of Pauline continuity in Eph may be said to have an eloquent spokesman in R. Bultmann, among others. He testifies to the abiding and living presence of essential motifs of Pauline theology in Eph despite the tendencies to doctrinarism and moralization.60 57 Cf. J. Pfammatter, 1987, 7; sharing Mussner’s view that Eph belongs to the most meaningful theological writings of the NT, he sees in it the apex of terse theological thoughts about the church, a profundity that he sees in no other NT writing. See also R. Hoppe, 1986, 9; The African Bible, 488. 58 These difficulties will be treated in section 2 chap. 3 & 4. H. Merkel, on account of these multiple issues, regards the epistle as a yet to be resolved riddle that remains a big challenge to any singular interpretation model. On the grounds that whichever singular position adopted becomes riddled with consequent questions that tend to weaken its power of conviction, he advocates multiple dimension approach. Cf. H. Merkel, Der Epheserbrief in der neueren Diskussion, in: ANRW 25.4, 1987, 3157, 3160, 3245–3246. See also A.T. Lincoln & A.J.M. Wedderburn, 1993, 78. 59 Cf. M. Gese, 1997, 19–21. 60 Cf. R. Bultmann, 2007, 3.180.

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In his own part, H. Conzelmann, observing in Eph the legacy of the master (Paul) alive with unusual vigour, warned, however, against the danger of unhistorical valuation.61 M. Gese takes these considerations to some definite positions. Footed on Conzelmann’s argument that the Eph’s relationship to Pauline theology must not be sought in the mere repetition of Pauline sentences or particular expressions, but rather in the similarity of theological thought in new situations (cf. H. Conzelmann, 1976, 317), M. Gese makes a very eloquent case for this position in his work titled Das Vermächtnis des Apostels: die Rezeption der paulinischen Theologie im Epheserbrief (1997). According to him, even when changes and adaptations of Pauline thoughts are to be reckoned with in the deutero-Pauline letters, one must not immediately stamp them as totally estranged from Pauline theology. They are rather new interpretations of Pauline theology within new historical circumstances.62 It is considered the height of the theological consolidation of “Paulinism”,63 a conscious attempt at acculturating64 Pauline theology in the new historical circumstance of the Hellenistic world. It is acknowledged as the work of a competent Pauline student, who, conscious of the changed and changing circumstance of the Christian assemblies in his circumstance, and the crisis of the increasing distance to the authority and central figure of Paul, took it upon himself to reestablish the continued efficiency of Paul and his teachings. Even though the apostle is no longer bodily present he effectively addresses the new situation(s) through this competent follower. Under this understanding, and with regard to the spirit world issues, “…one might argue that its relatively expansive portrayal of the spirit world is unlikely to be a gross misrepresentation of his views.”65 Within the testamental status of Eph, its character as the hub of the acculturation of Pauline theology to the Hellenistic world gives it, in our opinion, a pride of place in the consideration of the spirit world issues in general, and then with regard to the particular attention we hope to give these issues in the Igbo (African) Christian setting. By this association, we are not presuming that spirit world issues are the most fundamental issue that characterized the Hellenistic Christians in the Ephesus environment. But there are no doubts they constituted a serious issue worth attention. R. Schwindt confirms this as he notes the special attention given the spirit 61 Cf. H. Conzelmann, cited by M. Gese, 1997, 18, 22. 62 Cf. ibid., 1997, 23; see also A. Lindemann, 1979, 122–130. 63 Cf. F. Mußner, in: TRE 9 (1982), 743; H. Merkel, in: ANRW, 25.4, (1987), 3245; A. Lindemann, 1979, 130; M. Gese, 1997; especially G. Sellin, 2009, 256–267. 64 Cf. J. Gnilka, „Das Akkulturationsproblem nach dem Epheser- und Kolosserbrief “; cited by H. Merkel, in: ANRW 25.4, (1987) 3212. 65 Cf. G. Williams, 2009, 59. See also M. Dibelius, 1909, 125.

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world phenomenon in Eph “… the spirits in-between the world. Attention is given them in the whole of the letter, so much so that it appears that their performance is to be taken seriously for the being and essence of the church…‚”66. This concern, shown them in Eph more than by any other Pauline letter, and particularly in connection with its implication for the mission of the church, especially in the Igbo (African) setting, demands, in our opinion, some more serious attention. Attempts at deciphering and delineating the central theme(s) and the theological orientation(s) of Eph have been difficult. This is on account of the acknowledged apparent lack of clearly specified raison d’être of the letter, as differing from most other authentic Pauline letters. The attempts seem, however, to have been generally narrowed down to Christological-ecclesiological issues, above all, to the issues of unity e`no,thj in the Christian assembly. In this light, G. Sellin observes that, The motif of unity,…, is strongly encountered in the letter to the Ephesians. Its fundamental theme is the ‘oneness’ (the oneness of God) and the oneness of the church. In this writing, the philosophical onto-theology that was founded in the settings of Hellenistic Judaism forms the basis that holds theology, Christology, Ecclesiology and Ethics together in it.67

Within this Christological-ecclesiological context the “Heilspräsenz” factor of Christology becomes transposed into the being and mission of the church as “Heilsgemeinde” through which God’s plan (Mystery) of salvation is to be made manifest. The examination of the language of this communication draws attention to the religious environment in which it was used. The author of Eph is seen to have employed a symbolic view of the universe to communicate this message, “…a world of religious meanings that forms the context of the symbols, concepts and ethos of Ephesians…”68 Research into this world view reveals its foundation in the Syntagma ta. pa,nta das All, the concept that articulates the original perception of the universe as a unit, a unity in which the divine and the human, the gods and the mortals lived in close relationship with each other as is expressed, for instance, in the biblical creation account (Gen 1). Going through evolutionary stages in the history of thought, versions of cosmologies emerged. These gave rise to a dichotomy of spheres between the heavens and the earth, providing for a vacuous in-between, the response to which led

66 Cf. R. Schwindt, 2002, 1. Translation is mine. 67 Cf. G. Sellin, 2009, 206: Translation is mine. See also H.W. Hoehner, 2003, 102–104. Hoehner, however, goes a further step to make a case for Love as the basis of this unity. 68 Cf. A.T. Lincoln & A.J.M. Wedderburn, 1993, 76.

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to or necessitated the postulation of mediator beings – daimon.69 These cosmological conceptions, predominant in the Asia Minor environment of the time, had enormous implications for, and influence on theology and religion in the setting, such that interpretations of Eph can no longer take its cosmology for granted.70 The Eph and Igbo cosmologies share very similar features. The influences they bore or bear respectively on the life and religious environments of the concerned are also fascinatingly similar. A classical philologist, John Ferguson appreciated with great astonishment, the fascinating parallels between the present society in African settings and the historical religious legacies of ancient Greek and Roman culture.71 Taking up this observation, Werner Kahl72 in turn remarks that what Ferguson noted in his research or comparative study of the ancient classics within the Nigerian perspective, applies particularly to the relationship between early Christianity and the practice of Christianity in African settings. The contexts are strongly related. The task of understanding and interpretation of the actual intentions of the biblical texts, given the mystical and magical circumstances, become the challenge. If the Eph world view so much influenced its theological orientation(s) and at the same time aids its (their) understanding, a study of Eph from this perspective too would not only be ­appropriate but also be desired in the bid to contribute to some understanding of, and attending to the spirit world issues in the Igbo (Africa) Christian milieu.

0.3  Motivation, Scope and Aim of this study Every culture and peoples have their world-views, the way they perceive the universe and try to get along with it. This has come to be expressed with the technical term cosmology, which in turn has various forms, one of which is religious. 69 J. Gnilka presents a succinct summary of the evolutionary trends in the development of various topograghical conceptions of the cosmologies. From the OT three-tier construct of heaven, earth and underworld, a two-tier concept - heaven and earth developed. This generated a vacous in-between that had to become the new abode of the former inhabitants of the ancient underworld – the souls, the demons etc. Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 63- 66. 70 The role of cosmology in the theology of Eph cannot be over-emphasised. Cf. F.  Mußner, 1968; F. Mußner, „Epheserbrief “, in: TRE 9 (1993) 743–753; J. Gnilka, op. cit.; R. Hoppe, 1986, 23–25; R. Schwindt, 2002, 4–5. Schwindt’s work – Das Weltbild des Epheserbriefes – is a study of the Eph cosmology, its hermeneutic and influence on the theology of Eph. See section 2 chap. 4 of our work. 71 Cf. J. Ferguson cited by W. Kahl, „Zur Interpretation des Neuen Testamentes im ­sozio-kulturellen Kontext Westafrikas“, in: ZNT 5 (3. Jg. 2000), 30. 72 Cf. ibid.

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Religious cosmology has established itself as one very integral aspect of cosmology. It is the perception of the universe in relationship to the divine or to divinities. It sees the universe as coming into being through a direct act of creation by a God (or Gods) who is (are) also responsible for the creation of humanity. Man perceives himself as a being in the world and sees it as integral part of his being, to forge a relationship to this God (or Gods) in his bid to understand and get along with his being in the world. That is understood to be the essence of religion. The understanding of this relationship, its contents and the ways it is pursued, the intensity (or not) with which it influences man’s understanding of himself as well as man’s activities are, however, of manifest variety. The African world view, varied as it is though manifesting commonalities, is a cosmology that is deeply religious, as has been severally expressed. It is a cosmology that is founded on a divine Source Being in association with other divinities (spirits) and then with the physical world. It is a world view professing a cosmic wholeness with little or no dichotomy between the supernatural and the natural, the secular and the sacred. The spiritual and the physical are perceived to so intermingle with each other that they constitute a unit, the distinction or separation of which is not only not easy but also often seen as unnecessary. Concrete living and its experiences are understood as surrounded by numinous spheres, expressing the fundamental insecurity of human existence as well as the dependence on the providence of the divine and his agents.73 In his bid to understand himself and his activities as a being in the world, the African articulation of the spirit world establishes itself as phenomenal. In African cosmology the world is full of myriads of spirits.74 Even when this view may not have been singularly ­peculiar but common to many peoples and cultures,75 the perception of these spirits in the African world view remains unique. J.S. Mbiti expresses this pointedly: Most, if not all, of these attributive divinities are the creation of human imagination… In a pre-scientific environment, this form of logic and mentality certainly satisfies and

73 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1990, 74; see also W. Kahl, „Zur Interpretation des Neuen Testamentes im sozio-kulturellen Kontext Westafrikas“, in: ZNT 5 (3. Jg. 2000), 29–30. 74 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1990, 74–81f. 75 The fact of this view among other cultures is attested to. For the Stoics, the world is full of gods. For the ANE peoples every people and indeed every individual has an angel (spirit) in charge of them/him. Ancient Judaism influenced by these cultures of the surrounding babylonic peoples shared this view in its unique way. It ascribed angels to the peoples, and Yahweh to itself. Dibelius sees this well established belief in ­Judaism, found in Dan 10, the Siracide, LXX text of Deut 32:8, in the pseudoepigraphic literature, Talmud and Midrash. Cf. M. Dibelius, 1909, 10–11.

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explains many puzzles of nature and human experience. Through the centuries, it has become an institutionalised part of looking at the world, so much as it colours the subconscious corporate and individual thinking and attitude of African peoples…76

They are not seen but are “known” or rather believed to be veritable realities. He calls them attempts to historicize what is otherwise timeless. Very remarkable in the above citation, is his appreciation of these spirit phenomena as i) majorly attributive divinities, ii) creation of human imaginations. Does this not simply mean that they are not really what they have been taken to be? The “ontological dumping” that has transformed these products of human imagination into ­“beings”, should be very obvious. It is not. If it were, the oppressive feature they have become, depriving of human freedom, anachronistic yet effective as they are in the minds and attitudes of the Igbo (Africans) would not have the case. These, in our opinion, need to be effectively addressed. It is time the demythologisation experience be brought to bear on this uninformed but still influential attitude that it may be seen for what it is. The issue, therefore, is not merely about what the spirits are or not. It is rather about the enormous influence the traditional perception about them exerts on the consciousness and/or unconsciousness of the Igbo (African). This mystified nature that has been attributed to them (the “spirits”) has made them be ­understood as being so unpredictable, an unpredictability that disturbs. Various apotropaic means were (are) evolved in the course of time, and employed to effect relationship with and to these perceived spirits before the encounter with the Christian message. With the coming of the Gospel and the new faith some of these means proved incongruous with the gospel message. It is unfortunate to note that even deep into completing the second century of the encounter with the Gospel message, and despite the level of scientific developments around the world, the spirit world consciousness and influence in Igboland, as in many other African communities, seems untouched. It is rather assuming new forms and fronts in the hocus-pocus-like activities of the New Religious Movements. A pervading sense of insecurity, mental as well as physical, is perpetuated. Similar to C.E. Arnold’s interpretation of the spiritual milieu in the Ephesian circumstance, the fears persist despite having taken to the new faith. He argues: It cannot be assumed that the fears of these converts about the evil spiritual realm were immediately allayed by their new-found faith. It would also be erroneous to assume that their conversion to Christianity would have brought about a complete forsaking of all their former means of protection from the hostile ‘powers’. Even if many (or the

76 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1990, 76.

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majority) of Christians did totally turn aside from their former apotropaic practices, some at least would have faced a great temptation to combine their Christian faith with the magical techniques.77

The enormous fear of the spirits, cutting across every class of the society – both among the educated and uneducated - has, therefore, constituted itself an obstacle not only to the Christian faith but also to the bid at evolving the society for the better. Confronting and overcoming these fears remains a challenge, and “… until Christianity can penetrate the spirit world, it will for a long time remain on the surface.”78 J. Ratzinger had articulated the same challenge: Let us consider, for example, that in Africa, for the development of land, for the building-up of a modern economic structure, the belief in spirits still constitute a great obstacle. If I have to secure myself everywhere against the spirits, and if an irrational fear governs the entire course of life, it would mean that what religion should be in its innermost cannot be really lived.79

This is a reiteration of one of the challenges the post-Synodal Apostolic Exhortation Ecclesia in Africa had posed as one of the major areas of concern in the bid to root the Gospel message in the life and praxis of Africans. It called on the Episcopal Conferences, in cooperation with institutes of higher learning to investigate such issues as “…the spirit world, in order to examine in depth all the cultural aspects of problems from the theological, sacramental, liturgical and canonical points of view.”80 This is the motivation for this investigation. It hopes to be a contribution ­towards Christianity penetrating the Igbo (African) spirit world, to enhance realising the goal of the evangelization enterprise – enlightening the people who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death (Lk 1:79; Jn 1:5), so that they may have life, and have it in abundance (Jn 10:10). We are motivated to engage in an exegetical examination of the biblical texts of our consideration in Eph. They are, paradoxically, often cited to optimise the debilitating attitude to the spirit world issues. We aim at some psychological hermeneutical attention to the spirit world phenomena among the Igbo (African) Christians by means of the results of our exegetical endeavour. This we see as a veritable means to live-up to this challenge.

77 Cf. C.E. Arnold, 1989, 123. 78 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, New Testament Eschatology in an African Background, pg. 155; cited by J. Partain, “Christians and their Ancestors: A Dilemma of African Theology.” www. religion-online.org, 20.00 pm, 27.10.2010. 79 Cf. J. Ratzinger, 1996, 24. 80 Cf. Ecclesia in Africa (1995) no. 64.

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Since evangelization means not only bringing the Good News into all the strata of humanity in order to transform humanity by influencing from within its ways of thinking and making it new, but also to positively affect the very structures of the society (Ecclesia in Africa, 54), it would be incomplete if it does not address and promote the circumstance, the concrete, personal as well as communal lives of the addressees (Evangelii Nuntiandi, 29). Seen as such, the Gospel message shows itself to really be the fundamental element of human ­development, this vocation that is closely linked to responsible human freedom (Caritas in Veritate, 15–18). We are, therefore, motivated to this work as a means of contributing to the Gospel message fulfilling its mission as fundamental element of human development. The scope of our work hinges mainly on Eph 3:10 considered as a unique hermeneutical piece in Eph,81 in the light of background world view of the epistle. Eph 3:10 stands out as such against the backdrop of its importance in the Eph “mission” theology within the general context of the ecclesiology-christology of Eph. The apparently exalted Pauline image that is displayed here belongs to this circle of thought - the special character of Paul as the apostle, the missionary to the gentiles. It is in this character that the author inserts himself. He stands upon its authority to address his audience. The understanding of the world-wide mission of the church here, and the place and responsibility of Paul as proclaimer of the mystery of God opens out the pastoral orientation that hopes to examine, encourage and challenge the contributions of the pastors and ministers of the Christian message. A general analysis of the epistolary structure of Eph will feature, an analysis in the course of which its relationship to Col especially, and other authentic Pauline letters will be shown. The general analysis would help to establish the place of the understanding of the church in Eph as a community of salvation in the salvific plan of God within which the responsibility of revealing the mystery of salvation to the principalities and authorities is undertaken. It is important to state in the course of our attempts to understand what the ­author refers to with the term “principalities and authorities” that we do not intend a systematic demonology even when the topic seems unavoidable in our enterprise. Such systematic approach would be the field of systematic theology, and as such outside the scope of the present work. We share, however, some basic agreement with H. Hübner, who understands evil from the Pauline point of

81 Cf. H. Hübner, 1997, 260(184–189); see also G.B. Caird, 1976, 66; J. Muddiman, 2001, 161.

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view of sin - hamartia. This, according to him, is a result of the being-in-the-world nature of man, an encounter, a confrontation with that terrible reality that transcends the area of the individual while constituting an affront, a negation of the holiness of God.82 In our consideration of the Igbo world view as it relates to the Eph world view we are guided by the fact that despite the common features in the African world views, each people have their differentiating characteristics. We shall concentrate on the peculiar features of Igbo world view that are of importance to this investigation. Our hermeneutic endeavours, therefore, have as prerequisite the recognition of constructive elements upon which interpretations are based.83 The constructive elements upon which the Igbo (African) psychology is based are to be sort in its world view. It is a world view that is deeply religious. Inherent in it is the dualistic notion in which there is the recognition of mutual relationship ­between the natural and the supernatural, so much so that the physical is almost merely dictated by the metaphysical. In this perceived dependence of the physical and on the grounds of the enigmatic nature of the metaphysical, relationship ­between the two is dictated by fear, leading to those life-stifling attitudes and practices that are incongruous with the Gospel message. By means of a hermeneutic that is psychological we hope to address the issue of fear which such mythical and mystical beings engender. The war metaphoric of Eph 6:11–17 as a form of “ethical exorcism”, and understood as a correspondent paraenetic to Eph 3:10 in the light of the dogmatic-paraenetic traditions of the Eph84 would afford a helping focus.

0.4 Notes on Methodology Our research is based essentially on literary sources. Undertaking a general analysis of the epistolary structure of Eph in order to locate its mission theology in the general context of the ecclesiology-christology of the letter, we employ the

82 Cf. H. Hübner, 1997, 268–269(269). According to him the difficulty human language has expressing this reality would be responsible for the personal character biblical a­ uthors, including the author of Eph, give it – the Devil, his principalities and ­Authorities. 83 Cf. G. Theißen, „Methodenkonkurrenz und hermeneutischer Konflikt. Pluralismus in Exegese und Lektüre der Bibel“, in: J. Mehlhausen, (Hg.) Pluralität und Identität, Gütersloh, 1995, 137. 84 Cf. J. Gnilka, „Paränetische Traditionen im Epheserbrief “, in: A. Descamps & A. de Halleux, (eds.), 1970 (397–410); R. Hoppe, 2010, 230–250.

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analytical method within the frame-work of the historical-critical methods of ­exegesis. With the historical-critical method’s basic consideration of biblical documents as historical documents with historical circumstances, these circumstances are given some critical attention. The outlook is to do justice to the texts in the course of seeking their meaning(s) by the means of some distance from common presumptions – “vereinfachende Vereinnahmung”.85 Within the analytic method, generally understood as a method that seeks to examine the very words of the text under consideration, the occasion and historical circumstance, we pay particular attention to the situation analysis and the motif analysis. The diachronic perspective of reading biblical texts is employed to examine the key words of the text(s) in consideration, and especially to decipher the basic Pauline tilt, as well as the furtherance or development they may have experienced in Eph. The use of the synchronic perspective is based on its logic that builds on the understanding of the text as constituted by elements related with one another, as part of an all-embracing communication, and in its consideration of the cultural setting of the text(s).86 From the point of the consideration of the cultural setting, and given the fact that no true understanding of the Eph may be tenable without an appreciation of its background world view, situation analysis comes to bear.87 Situation analysis, thought to be more appropriate to the authentic ­Pauline letters in their special character as having been occasioned by particular situation(s) or the other, may also apply, in our opinion, to Eph despite being considered pseudo-Pauline, and its being termed ‘an epistle in search of lifesetting’.88 Even when it is adjudged a general document, we share the view that it cannot have been written in the air. Rather, its reflections “…are shaped and conditioned by the experiences, individual and communal, and by the contexts, cultural and social, of its writer and readers.”89 By means of the situation analysis the presumed or real circumstance(s) will be examined, featuring the pre-requisite background information to Eph as provided through the History of Religion 85 Cf. W. Egger, 1987, 20ff. 86 Ibid., 74–75. See also J. Barton, 2007. 87 Cf. T. Söding, 1998, 104–105. We find questions the author raised as directions along the process of situation analysis as very helpful. Ibid., 107–109. 88 This term is credited to R.P. Martin, (cf. A.T. Lincoln, 1993, 78) articulating the generally accepted view that Eph does not really seem to address particular circumstance(s), the knowledge of which may have aided some precise reconstruction of its setting. See also R. Hoppe, 1987, 13. 89 Cf. A.T. Lincoln, 1993, 75–76.

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school, viz, the OT Jewish Apocalyptic as well as the Hellenistic-Stoic tradition, Hellenistic Judaism etc.90 Biblical texts are often made up of words, images, symbols, themes, (mental) associations etc. that often mean more than meets the eye. This applies in our case to such key words as avrch,, evxousi,a, evn toi/j evpourani,oij etc. The search for these deeper meanings that often involve reaching-out to extra biblical sources – ancient philosophical and religious sources – that may have been part of the words, imagery and so on, lead to the featuring of motif analysis. For the contents of such ‘determined or conditioned’ meanings are expressed by the term ‘motif ’. By means of motif analysis an examination of the traditional/ religious and intellectual (perceptive) backgrounds will be undertaken. An ­appreciation will be made of the possibility and/ fact of new actualizations and modifications in the context of the religious environment of the text in question.91 This may have led to A.T. Lincoln’s discovery of what he termed a general rhetoric in Eph which the author employs to accomplish some i­ntended pastoral purposes. According to him, the author employs a strategy of persuasion to lead his audience to an understanding of his constructed symbolic universe of religious meanings. Though not strange to his audience, the author of Eph expects them, sharing this symbolic universe, to be influenced unto higher values.92 The hub of the higher values in the Pauline tradition, the result of the motif analysis, is Christology, this core of Pauline theology. U. Schnelle articulates the content and development of Pauline Christology as an eclectic enterprise, featuring the bringing together of various theological concepts in the bid to express the meaning of this unique and universal event of Christ. It is not a narrative Jesuology as in the gospels. He takes-up different leitmotifs, words and conceptual categories and employs them as metaphors of his proclamation. The goal remained developing the Christ event in all its dimensions,93 making the Christ event relevant to

90 Cf. R. Hoppe, 1987, 17; A.T. Lincoln, 1993, 90. 91 Cf. T. Söding, 1998, 177; see also W. Kahl, “Intercultural Hermeneutics – Contextual Exegesis. A Model for 21st-Century Exegesis”, in: J. Keum, (ed.), International Review of Mission LXXXIX/354 (2000) 421–433(429); K. Berger, 2003, 8–10. 92 Cf. A.T. Lincoln, 1993, 76. 93 Cf U. Schnelle, 2003, 463. This appreciation of the complexity of what this theological expression means for Paul contributes to the understanding of Eph as a unique attempt at a continuation of this Pauline creative tradition in a Christology that ­becomes not only cosmic, but also has ecclesiology as consequence. Cf. H. Merklein, 1973, 27–28; G.H. van Kooten, 2003.

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all aspects of life. It is this Christological thrust that opens out the way to, and forms the basis of our interpretations. The ultimate goal of this chosen approach remains, addressing the historical sense of NT texts as some form of dialogue between the author and the addressee. On the basis of such analysis of the historical context of the early Christian times the meaning and relevance of the NT text in question will be highlighted.94 Christology of the early Christians has been identified as the determining factor of their experience and behaviour, giving and reinforcing their identity, hence their psychology.95 On the basis of this ecclesiological basis we make an interdisciplinary attempt – psychological hermeneutics. This is the area of historical psychology as a hermeneutical perspective, understood as a “…‘scientific’ (wissenschaftlich) response to contemporary theology’s recognition of the hermeneutic significance of human experience.”96 It endeavours from a social-­psychological orientation, to enable the bible speak to the people of today’s world so as to achieve a fruitful application to the Christian life. The history of religion schools, making such a relationship an aspect of their principles of ­exegetical ­approach, discovered among other things, the belief or faith of the early Christians ‘als psychologisch zu verstehender Religion.’97 In this dialogue between ­religion (Bible) and psychology as a hermeneutical spring-board on the way to praxis, we shall engage the insights of the cognitive school of psychology. The choice is made of the cognitive approach not only on account of its ability to perceive in religion the handwork of interpreted world, but also in its special ability to afford some form of modification and integration of the other rival schools of psychology98 psychoanalytic school and behavioural/learn-theory school. By these means we hope to offer some response to the fear phenomenon, this fundamental problem as far as the spirit world issues are concerned, especially in the context of the Igbo (African) Christians.

94 Cf. T. Söding, 1998, 46. 95 Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 40, 326ff; A.T. Lincoln, 1993, 91. 96 Cf. K. Berger, 2003, 24. On the methods of historical psychology, the difficulties and prospects associated with such attempts in the interdisciplinary dialogue with psychology of religion, see also G. Theißen, 2007, 15–33. 97 Cf. G. Lüdemann, „Die ‚Religionsgeschichtliche Schule‘ und die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft“, in: idem, (Hg.), 1996, 9–11; see also R. Bultmann, 1964, 53. 98 Cf. G. Theissen, 1987, 39–51 (esp. 31 & 51); G. Theißen, 2007, 40–42; D. Mitternacht, “Theissen’s Integration of Psychology and New Testament Studies: Learning Theory, Psychodynamics, and Cognitive Psychology”, in: J.H. Ellens & W.G. Rollins, (ed.), 2004, vol. 1, 101–119.

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0.5 The possibility of “Psycho-hermeneutical” approach In the making of religion an object of study the place of psychology in the ­endeavour seems naturally established despite surrounding controversies. The founding relationship is based on the fact that religion has to do with attitude, experience, behaviour and relationship. These are issues which constitute fundamental factors in the basic understanding(s) of psychology, generally understood as the scientific investigation of human beings’ interior life, seeking to grasp his psyche and its constraints, interactions, and external manifestations: experience and behaviour. Psychological mainstreams see themselves often concentrating on the religious phenomena, even when they officially seem to deny such preoccupation, or merely engage in relativizing the phenomena. The “surrounding controversies” mentioned above border around not only the so-called “crisis in psychology”, that is, the issues of its problematic self-understanding as a science in terms of lack of unity. They include also debates on the possibility of psychology of religion. While some rule it out on the rounds of perceived theological a priori, some others in similar lines of thought see it as superfluous either because of their disinterestedness regarding, or outright animosity towards religion. The consequence of such disposition is that attempts and approaches to religion and spirituality in this light have come to be devaluedly dubbed “psychology-like” for the simple reason that they go beyond the accepted narrow/modest approach of the so-called “academic/laboratory” psychology. Expecting psychology of r­eligion to merely aspire to determine what is psychological about religion, these other approaches are so dubbed because they are accused of using psychology on behalf of religious ‘salvation’ whereas such critics had conceived that, “the aim and intention of psychology of religion are not salutary.”99 One would, however, be quick to note that such views about psychology in general, or psychology of ­religion in particular, must be regarded as obsolete and overtaken given development such very indispensable branches of psychology as humanistic psychology, applied psychology, psychotherapy etc. Indeed humanistic psychology originated out of the concern to restore to psychology the nature of what is involved in being a person, access to which was denied it by the reduction of persons to unconscious drives and wishes on the one hand, and to behaviours controlled by environmental contingencies, 99 Cf. J.A. Belzen, “The Varieties of Psychology of Religion: by way of introduction” in: J.A. Belzen, (ed.), 1997, 7–10(7). See also idem, “Cultural Psychology of Religion. ­Synchronic and Diachronic.”, in: op. cit., 109–127.

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on the other, as asserted by the psychoanalytical and the behavioural schools ­respectively. To correct this anomaly, the founders of humanistic psychology took into consideration and buttressed the roles of cognition, emotion, feeling, will, morality, ethics, aesthetics, as well as intra-, inter-, and transpersonal relationships. Since most sciences demonstrate their value in the relevance to the life-world, psychology would not afford to lock itself up in the utopic castle of the merely academic. Rather toeing similar lines, it evolves new and innovative ­approaches that present themselves as viable alternatives that enhance psychology in general, opening it out to accommodate realism and relativism,100 alternatives which become also promising to psychology of religion.101 Psychology of religion, therefore, affords psychology in general a litmus-test forum for the critical consideration of its scope and limits, principles and competence.102 Exploring these possibilities, in the pursuit of psychological perspectives to the study of religion, there is a criss-crossing of disciplinary boundaries. It is in this interdisciplinary circumstance that psychology encounters hermeneutics, an encounter that is crystallized in humanistic psychology103, and which usefulness for biblical exegesis this work intends to further establish.104 The name and project of hermeneutics is attributed to Aristotle. Derived from the Greek word - ἑρμηνεύω (‘translate’ or ‘interpret’), it was introduced into philosophy mainly through the title of Aristotle’s work Περὶ Ἑρμηνείας ‚On Interpretation‘, more commonly referred to by its Latin title De Interpretatione. It is one of the earliest (c. 360 BC) extant philosophical works in the Western tradition to deal with the relationship between language and logic in a 100 Cf. D.L. Rennie, Hermeneutics and Humanistic Psychology, in: http://www.apa. org/divisions/div32/pdfs/hermeneutics.pdf; 04. Feb., 2011, 12.40 pm, p. 4. 101 Cf. J.A. Belzen, ibid., 8. This is arguably the conviction of the founders of humanistic psychology. 102 Cf. Vergote, A., “Cause and Meaning, Explanation and Interpretation in the Psychology of Religion”, in: J.A. Belzen, (ed.), 1997, 11. 103 Cf. D.L. Rennie, Hermeneutics and Humanistic Psychology, in: http://www.apa.org/ divisions/div32/pdfs/hermeneutics.pdf; 04. Feb., 2011, 12.45pm, p. 1–4, 6–9. The ­author draws attention to the enrichment this encounter affords psychology in general, and humanistic psychology in particular, leading to the view that humanistic psychology becomes more of a “world-view” than a discipline in psychology. 104 On the relationship between Bible and psychology cf. G. Theißen, 1987; idem, 2007; idem & P. von Gemünden, (Hg.), 2007; M. Leiner, 1995; idem, „Dem Evangelium die Seele wiedergeben?“ in: G. Theißen & P. von Gemünden, (Hg.), 2007, 29–54; K. Berger, 2003; to mention but a few. The seventh chapter of our work hopes to give these issues the elaborated attention they deserve.

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comprehensive, explicit, and formal way. Through his understanding of hermeneutics as the methodic understanding of human signs, the most fundamental of which is the spoken word, Aristotle, in De Interpretatione, offers an early understanding that lays the groundwork for many contemporary theories of interpretation and semiotics: Words spoken are symbols or signs (symbola) of affections or impressions (pathemata) of the soul (psyche); written words are the signs of words spoken. As writing, so also is speech not the same for all races of men. But the mental affections themselves, of which these words are primarily signs (semeia), are the same for the whole of mankind, as are also the objects (pragmata) of which those affections are representations or likenesses, images, copies (homoiomata).105

Written words constitute texts. The understanding/interpretation of such signs would be achieved by means of reading the signs according to their meaning and intention. By these means the interpretation of reality is accomplished. It is therefore in the complex reader-sign relationship, which in turn interprets reality that hermeneutics evolve.106 Signs, in this regard, bear significance and express human ideas, intentions, feelings, and dispositions (emotional and otherwise). These are veritable psychological issues as well. These issues are also involved in

105 Cf. Aristotle, On Interpretation, 1.16a4, in: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeneutics; on 3. Feb. 2011, 15.05pm. (emphasis is ours) By referring to “mental affections” as to origin of those signs he was referring to, Aristotle was already preparing the ground for the recognition of the place of the psychological in the hermeneutic enterprise. This fundamental understanding by Aristotle was built upon and developed by subsequent generations of thinkers, especially F.D.E. Schleiermacher (1768–1843), and associates – Wilhelm Dilthey (1833–1911), Hans-Georg Gadamer (1900–2002). Considered to be the father of modern hermeneutics, Schleiermacher is singled out here because in his investigation of the nature of understanding, in his theory of interpretations, which he now extended to all human texts and modes of communication and not just sacred texts, he distinguished between grammatical (linguistic) interpretation and psychological interpretation. He defined hermeneutics as “the art of correctly understanding another person’s discourse, above all in writing”. This view strives towards avoiding misunderstanding, against the background that every problem of interpretation is a problem of understanding. He opined that the knowledge of grammatical and psychological laws in trying to understand the text and the writer would aid avoiding misunderstanding. By so doing he introduced a basic shift – understanding would not just have to do with the exact words and their objective meanings, but also with the very individuality of the author. That is the issue of authorship and context. See also J. Barton, 2007, 61–62. 106 Cf. A. Vergote, op. cit., in: J.A. Belzen, (ed.), 1997, 12.

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religion on its own part. Religion thus becoming a phenomenon observable in signs expressing ideas, intentions, feelings, dispositions, becomes also an object of science. The attempts, therefore, to interpret a given text/given texts, taking note of, and buttressing the psychological issues featured become the foundation of our understanding of the term “psycho-hermeneutical”. It is about appreciating, and applying psychological perspectives to New Testament texts, in our own case, to Eph 3:10. That informs our approach in this work. The qualifying term “hermeneutical” underscores our basic attempt at the interpretation of the text in question. Some fruitful application to the Christian life is hoped. This would be by means of exciting the living of the freedom the Gospel brings, especially in the context of the life-scuttling understanding of the “spirit-world” among Igbo (African) Christians. What we have termed the Igbo (African) spirit-world is but an appreciation of the Igbo (African) psychology, a psychology that is about what motivates him, the motives that prompt him. The content of his psychology flows from his fundamental ideas about the universe. As such his psychology is his philosophy, a philosophy imbedded in his deeply religious world-view. It is a religious world view that hinges on the dualistic notion in which everything that is or that happens is perceived to have a deeper, spiritual aspect, or cause as the case may be. Though dualistic, it is at the same time not a dualism in the classical understanding of the concept.107 It is a dualistic notion that appreciates the visible and invisible, the natural and supernatural in mutual relationships with each other. Unlike the classical western psychology (with its basis on similar philosophical views) that moves from the sharp distinction between the material and immaterial, with its concepts and concerns deriving from, and increasingly concerned with the physical, of course with attendant negative consequences of such extreme position, Igbo (African) psychology from its deeply religious world-view operates from the point of view of a world of forces. Purposeful as this mind-set may have been in the maintenance and appreciation of natural rhythm, regulation of individual and social conducts as a result of the supernatural sanctions it generated, an extreme and blind holding-on to such pattern of thoughts has its own negative consequences. These deserve to be 107 Cf. R. Eucken, “Dualism (Introductory)”, in: Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (ERE) 5 (1955), 100–101. Eucken uses the word “naïve monism-hylozoism” to refer to what he regards as ancient Greece’s tendency to bring the physical and the psychical into very close relationship with each other. It is this tendency to harmonization of the spiritual and the sensuous that we articulate as the dualistic notion that is not a dualism.

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critically reviewed. A mind-set that almost merely dwells on the cause – effect category with a more or less general indifference to the logical consequences of such assertion, an attitude that makes little or no effort to account for what happens or what is experienced by some analogy of the physical or psychic processes that may have been involved, a disposition that almost always jumps unto attributing to the mysterious, to the super-sensible what is apparently physical and organic, such a way of life can only feed ill-founded superstitions, paralyse the mind and prevent its development. One notes how ridiculous such ways of understanding in the following observation made by G. Parrinder: ‘The crops will not grow, hens will not lay, women will not bear children, the rain will not fall, lightning will destroy our houses, wild beasts will ravage our plantations, sickness and death will decimate our families.’ So often has this cry been heard, simply on account of the construction of a road in some part of the forest, or as a result of the neglect of the cult of a non-poisonous snake.108

Chinua Achebe109 made what may be regarded as a subtle critique of similar understanding in the internal structure of traditional Igbo society as he gave ­accounts of the initial contacts of the Igbo society with the European missionaries. The missionaries were often assigned portions of land in ajo ohia – evil forests perceived by the indigenes to be inhabited by evil spirits. The expectation that the evil spirits would destroy the missionaries and their converts went unfulfilled as they succeeded in setting-up their missions and residence in such so-called “evil forests”. The unanswered questions remain: were the evil spirits really existent or merely myths? If they were really existent, were the missionaries more powerful than them? Old as these examples may be, they represent the still-operational mind-set among many Igbo (Africans). Such preponderant retrogressive mind-set that hinders the life-giving freedom of the Gospel message is what we purpose to address by means of psychological hermeneutic. The hermeneutical approach to human psychology evolved in the circumstances of the question of the relation between physical and human sciences. Having expressed doubts that the principles of the natural sciences, especially measurements and predictions, could be applied to the study of human psychology, scholars, especially in the 19th century, came up with the hermeneutical

108 Cf. G. Parrinder, 2002 (1951), 15. These feelings among the people in question could be explained as some consequence of the disturbed ecosystem the forest had afforded through the years. Its etherealisation or demonization as the case may be, makes the whole situation more difficult. 109 Cf. C. Achebe, 2000, 105–107.

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approach to the psychology of persons and their circumstances. This approach applies the style of explanation to the style of thinking used while reading a text. Reading a character’s action(s) or words in a text, for instance, an interpretation of the action(s) or words is made within the overall context provided in the text. This includes the character’s personality, experiences, relations to others, the ­social, general cultural and historical setting of the particular action(s)/words and character(s). Psycho-hermeneutical approach therefore proceeds along these lines. It (a) searches for the meaning of a character’s action(s)/words, b) meaning deduced from the examination of the overall socio-historical context in view, and c) evaluating the ethical and moral implications of the action(s)/words.110 To the extent Schleiermacher made the distinction between grammatical and psychological interpretations, to that extent could one associate him with influencing our approach in this work. However, a fundamental difference must be noted. The psychological interpretation he and his associates propagated dealt with exploring the psychological disposition of the individual author/speaker.111 The dangers of such explorations seem very obvious. The individual in question is not only absent; the time in which he lived is so distant from our time that access to his individual dispositions becomes really difficult if not impossible. Impositions and projections are made. This leads to similar archetypal generality, ‘archetypal hermeneutic of the human psyche’112, an incongruity for which E. Drewermann has been immensely criticized, and for which many a critic justify their doubts about psychological exegesis.113 110 Cf. D. Cervone & L.A. Pervin, 2008, 169. 111 Schleiermacher and his associates understood hermeneutics as “the primary a­ spect of social experience, not only for the scholarly interpretation of texts or documents of the past, but also for the understanding of the mystery of the inwardness of the other person.” Cf. H.-G. Gadamer, Hermeneutics of Suspicion, in: D.L. Rennie, “Hermeneutics and Humanistic Psychology”, in: http://www.apa.org/divisions/ div32/pdfs/hermeneutics.pdf; 04. Feb., 2011, 12.45pm, p. 5. 112 Cf. E. Drewermann, Tiefenpsychologie und Exegese, 1.66, cited by K. Berger, 2003, 2. By archetypal generality is meant the tendency of casting all human experiences in one mould, with little or no recognition of actual history and the distinctiveness of the individual and his external reality. 113 Such criticisms which G. Theißen articulated as “the lengthy catalogue of the sins of psychological exegesis” include that psychology “…interpolates between the lines things that no one can know. It inserts modern categories into ancient texts. Because of its interest in personal problems behind the text, it does not let the text come to speech. Above all, however, it relativizes the text’s theological claim through appeal to factors that are all too human.” Cf. G. Theißen, 1987; 1; also idem, 2007, 11.

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The psychological hermeneutics that informs our approach here to the text in question, while noting the individual psyche, appreciates the psychological, above all, from the point of view of the cultural distinctiveness of the setting in question. This includes the text, the author, the addressees and the intention of the message. By so doing, it builds on socio-psychological perspectives, appreciating the influence socio-religious environment has on individuals and the society. This is especially on the areas of their perception of, and mastering of the reality around them. It is an approach that is attentive to the sharp historical contours, neither pushing them aside nor imposing the modern situation on the text, but linking psychological analogies to tradition-historical investigations. G. Theißen underscores the importance of such historical approach thus: It is obvious to a scientist that takes works with the consideration of historical perspectives that human experience and behaviour are culturally determined. This is in the sense of how human beings thought about, and acted in their world in various times acted. Their behaviour, their feelings and motivations are only indirectly accessible to us in their texts. Their thoughts are more direct. These thoughts are in turn influenced by the traditions of prior generations.114

These traditions would become known by means of the historical investigations. One would also know how normative the text(s) they determined have been. The patterns and models that shaped or still shape the experience and behaviour (the psychology) of the people in focus would be discovered. It becomes seen for what it is, an extension of the historical-critical method.115 From the fore-going therefore, the hermeneutics that has psychological orientation is understood to “…include all attempts to interpret texts as expression and occurrence of human experience and behaviour”,116 interpretation that implies psychological evaluations from texts to experience and behaviour. Understood in this way, the question of possibility is seen to have been already overtaken. It is already a manifested reality. Its necessity for our times, in the bid to on-going genuine dialogue between our conceptual categories on one side, and patterns of perception of the past on the other side, cannot be over-emphasized. It contributes to bringing to light the continued relevance of the message of the Gospel to the realities of our times, so that we may have the life the gospel promises (Jn 10:10).

114 Cf. G. Theißen & P. von Gemünden, „Erkennen und Erleben im frühen Christentum. Einleitung und Einführung“ in: iidem, (Hg.), 2007, 9. Translation is mine. 115 Cf. ibid., 10; see also G. Theißen, 1987, 1. 116 Cf. G. Theißen, 1987, 1.

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W. Rebell stresses the importance of psychological approach to the understanding of biblical texts. According to him, “Exegetes must bring the biblical text in relation to the human reality. The capturing of the human reality as well as the process of communication between the text and the receiver of the text cannot succeed without psychological concepts.”117 Such exegetical exercise working from, and endeavouring to the transformation of the pre-scientific mental dispositions – the daily psychologies - with which the human perceived/perceives reality in order to get along with it, underscores our aspirations in this work. The decisive factor in such an exegetical endeavour, as G. Theißen rightly pointed out, would not merely be how consistent the theories are, but “…the correspondence of an interpretation with the whole of the text…”118

0.6 Divisions of the work Having begun with an elaborate general introduction in which we examined the history of the “spirit world” in Pauline studies as an object of research, we made some clarifications of the terms that come in the circle of the discourse as well as the delimitations of our research. Observing the emergence of the cluster of words “Principalities and Authorities/Powers” as the all-embracing concept in this setting, the delimitation of our work concentrates on the Letter to the Ephesians. This is on account of the manifest replete occurrence of this double-­concept and cognates in the Letter (Eph 1:21; 2; 2b; 3:10; 6:12), as well as the popular use often made of it in the areas of “spirit world” discourse and praxis. Motivated by the disturbing role played by spirit world concerns in the Igbo (Africa) Christian settings, what is observed to lean on the patrimonies of the traditional religion and its world view, we intend to make an exegetical-hermeneutical study of this phenomenon, to contribute to enhancing the message of the gospel bearing fruit in and among the Igbo Christians and society. In line with the general exegesis – hermeneutics – application orientation of the research, in which the psycho-hermeneutical approach would be presented,

117 Cf. W. Rebell, „Psychologische Bibelauslegung – Möglichkeiten und Grenzen“, in: Bibel und Kirche, 44 (1989) 111–117. Such an approach is basically in agreement with the logic of the synchronic method which considers also the communication system in which the biblical text is embedded in. The logic of the synchronic approach is built on the understanding of the text as constituted by elements related with one another, as part of an all-embracing communication, and a living situation. Cf. W. Egger, 1987, 25; also J. Barton, 2007. 118 Cf. G. Theißen, 1987, 50.

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this work is divided into four major sections with eight chapters. Section one examines the terminologies and antecedents of the “Pauline spirit world”. Chapter one of this section, moving from the History of Religions’ perspectives, examines the various articulations of the spirit world phenomenon through the ancient cultures, establishing in chapter two how these articulations got worked into cosmic theology in Pauline thought. A number of texts from the authentic Pauline letters to this regard are considered. Section two is devoted to the examination of world views and cosmologies in the light of their roles both in the letter to the Ephesians, and in the Igbo (African), as far as the spirit world issues are concerned. While chapter three features the issues of authorship and general analysis of the letter to the Ephesians, and the reception of Pauline “cosmic” theology in it, chapter four engages in the basic world view of the setting that the author of Eph addresses with his letter. The three-/two tier cosmological constructs and their implications in Godman relationship will be featured. Chapter five makes a presentation of the Igbo ­Weltanschauung earmarking the place of traditional religion and the role of spirits and spirit world beliefs in it. The relationships between the Igbo world view and Ephesian world view will be crystallized. In section three the task of textual, exegetical and hermeneutical appraisal of our verse of interest will be taken up. The first part of chapter six in this section discusses the issues of NT hermeneutics, analyzing the place of Eph 3:10 in the epistolary genre framework. The second part of the chapter deals with lexical issues our verse of interest raises. Word analysis will be undertaken, leading to the buttressing of the “mission” theology of Eph 3. Chapter seven has two parts too. Its first part presents our case for the approach with psychological hermeneutics in the setting of the relationship between religion and psychology. Cognitive psychology plays an important role here. It features the theory of attribution and its role in the spirit world concerns. The second part of chapter seven, opening the lead towards the application-orientation discusses the issues of psycho-education and cognitive restructuring in the light of a consideration of Christology as a “psychological” factor among the early Christians. Founding Eph ecclesiology, an examination of Eph paraenetics as consequence of its ecclesiology, is an important aspect of this part of the work. Its identity implications are highlighted. Against this background another round of exegetical endeavour will be undertaken, what leads us to the “exorcism” of Eph, as the letter’s response to the spirit world concerns of its audience. This is in the light of the traditions of the Panoply of God the author offers for the encounter with the spirit world issues of his audience. Our final, chapter eight of section four, faces the reading of Eph 3:10 in Igbo context. Beginning from the background of the appreciation of the Bible in the 51

Igbo (African) context, it endeavours to present the popular reading and understanding of our central terms of consideration – Principalities and Authorities/ Powers in the heavenly place. Proposing an interface of “popular” and “­ academic” reading of Eph 3:10, a critical review is undertaken, contestations feature, l­ eading to proposals for better appreciation of the message of Eph 3:10 in Igbo (African) context. The last part of chapter eight – general evaluation and conclusion – represents the social challenges Eph presents in its paraenetic, the challenges to social commitment as witnessing to the gospel. Assisting the spread of the kingdom of God by such means, living up to such challenges on the basis of the faith in Christ, the exalted one above all principalities and authorities, is the crown of proposals of our reflections.

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Section One: “Pauline Spirit World”Terminologies And Antecedents

Chapter One 1.1 “Pauline spirit-world” – Designations What has come to be termed the Pauline spirit world is a general designation with which reference is made, in Pauline theology, to the supernatural realms, of course outside the direct reference to God in the Trinitarian understanding. As supernatural, they are perceived to be superior to human beings though subordinate to God, a form of intermediate beings. O. Everling had generally appreciated the make-up of the Pauline spirit world as angelicum genus, of what M. ­Dibelius and G. Kurze gave some specifications in their various ways. ­According to G.  Kurze, after Christ, the central point of Pauline preaching, come his views on angels and devil(s) in relation to Christ. He notes that Paul, taking-off from the contemporary Jewish and Christian views of the time, …permeated these thoughts that have been taken over with his Christian faith. The common notions about spirits are given expression with such terms a;ggeloj, satana/j, dia,boloj, Beli,ar and daimo,nion. Paul’s specific ideas are however linked with the expressions o` qeo.j tou/ aivwn/ oj tou,tou, avrcai,, evxousi,ai, duna,meij, kurio,thtej, and qro,noi. While the avrcai,, etc. lead beyond the trend of thought that have beenwitnessed, they, however, lead deeper into the theology of the apostle. They assist the recognition of the connection that exists and prevails between his spirit views and the kern of his theology.119

Modern scholarship, however, draws attention to a cluster of other related impersonal and abstract terminologies that seem, in its understanding, to have been preferred by Paul in these regards. Paul sees the ‚spirit world‘ as peopled not centrally by personal spirits, … but by a combination of these and personified, ‘hypostatized’ salvation-historical abstractions. These play a far greater role in his thinking than do angels and demons conventionally ­defined… his language for describing spiritual beings and/or forces ranges across a spectrum, from concrete terms like a;ggeloj and daimo,nion at one end, through ‘principalities and powers’, to sheer poetic abstraction and metaphor at the other end.120

Even when the so-called cluster may serve as a summary of all that may be thus categorized, and their abstract and impersonal character serve theological purposes, 119 Cf. G. Kurze, 1915, 5. See also O. Everling, 1888, 7,12. For him a;ggeloi, avrcai,, duna,meij devoid of any appendage are all included in the angelicum genus. See also M. Dibelius, 1903, 7. 120 Cf. C. Forbes, “Paul’s Principalities and Powers: Demythologizing Apocalyptic?”, in: JNST 82 (2001) 61–88 (62, 67–68).

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the specifications of the individual species as afforded by Dibelius - a;ggeloj, satana/j, daimo,nion – remain the foundation upon which these abstractions are based. They also constitute as well their point of departure. They buttress this cluster of terminologies and help in their understanding. From this position we seek to ­understand what these meant for Paul. How did he express his understanding and views about them? Attempts at answering these questions have seen lines of arguments emerge over whether Paul had original thoughts about them, how far he may have been influenced by inherited traditions about them, etc. Most generally, however, there is the view that this is another area where the creativity of Paul is manifest. He makes something else of the traditions and world view around him.121 This creativity of his in this regard has often been so esteemed as to be referred to with such expressions as “Pauline Angelology, Pauline Demonology” etc. Undoubtedly classic and erudite as these thoughts as presented by their protagonists are, if D.W. Bousset is right with his seemingly very technical understanding of Angelology and Demonology and their characteristics,122 there is certainly no doubt that Paul had and expressed his views about angels, demons, Satan etc. But there could be valid objections, given Bousset’s standards, to whether these views are enough in themselves to assume such a categorization.123 Paul belongs to the biblical authors, who moving within the biblical traditions about the angelicum genus, made literary use of these traditions with as much restrictions as suitable to their theological orientations. That is what in the case of Paul came to be termed his angelology or demonology as the case may be. What are the traditions and the antecedent provisions at the background of Pauline thoughts and from which he developed his thoughts on Angels, Demons, Satan, Principalities, Powers, Elements, etc.? 121 Cf. M. Dibelius, 1909, 28. 122 Cf. D.W. Bousset, 1903, 314, 326ff. The author seems to argue that certain angeldogmatic as well as a thought system that is more than traditional images and symbols needs to be in place for an angelology and demonology that is worth the name. See also M. Dibelius, 1909, 7. 123 An example of such critical consideration is M. Dibelius. Though his view in the particular work in question (that Paul authored Col and expressed his ideas about the spirits therein) has been overtaken by current research on the authenticity of Col, we agree with him that Paul did not work out a system in our own sense of the word, but left us with theses of his thoughts. His warnings about overzealous systematization of these spirit world ideas should not be overheard. Cf. M. Dibelius, 1909, 181. Some authors, like G. Kurze who preferably titled his work „Der Engelsund Teufelsglaube des Apostels Paulus“ (1915) instead of directly Angelology and Demonology, may have been tacitly influenced along these critical lines.

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1.2 Antecedents/Backgrounds – History of Religions’ Perspectives Perceiving himself as a “being in the world” with all the vagaries this entails, faced with the boundaries that beset him, the unceasing urge to get beyond these “borders” in the quest to know and understand himself and his environment, leads man to develop and service some trend of thought. One of the natural first ports of call would be the question about the beginnings and origin of the cosmos, himself and things around him. Cosmology – here very generally understood as thoughts about the cosmos – often takes off from a religious point of view, in the sense that often the supernatural(s) is/are perceived to have been at work. That is the origin of the idea of the gods. The gods are perceived to be older than human beings. The farthest times that may be conceived are filled-in with the gods. Thinking from his immediate given in terms of genealogy and social circumstances a genealogy and hierarchy of the gods is purported, reaching back to the farthest conceivable beginnings. This is the field of myths and mythology.124 Peoples and cultures have theirs even when some have become more popular and established that they make some claim to universal validity. “In the ideas and imaginations about God and in the mythologies the views about the world are presented in various ways. They are given cultic or narrative presentations. They b ­ ecome ­imbued with dramatic accentuations and normative definitions. Through the presence of the gods and their various functions the ‚World‘ is given meaning, seen to be ordered and differentiated. Mythical cosmography, genealogical models of the gods and their areas of operation generate notions about the ‚World‘ in time-space and functional schemata.”125 These various notions about the world created a variety of paradigms with which people in various historical epochs tried to understand their world and integrate themselves in it. Some brief examination of these ­according to the various epochs gives us insight into the background of the spirit world concerns as they played out in the circumstances of Pauline thought and ministry.

1.2.1 Ancient Orient Studies on religion and related issues (including science) have often paid ancestral tributes to the Ancient Orient/Ancient Near East as the “cradle of civilization”. Most of what has come to be known of religious and scientific developments from most ancient times identify with these regions. Central to religion(s) in general, 124 B. Gladigow would refer to the presence of the gods as serving to supply the gaps in the conceptions of time and order. Cf. idem, „Plenitudo deorum – Füller der Götter und Ordnung der Welt“, in: A. Lange et al. (ed.), 2003, 3–22. 125 Cf. ibid., 13. Translation is mine.

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and particularly those of the ANE, is the mythopoeic view of the world in which whatever exists is animated. This animation is understood as the manifestations of the powers behind them. That is the origin of the ideas about gods and the different myths seeking to capture and establish these ideas. Man’s bid to integrate himself with these evidently superior phenomena gave rise to rituals, cult, and religions. The original religious orientations of the ANE peoples (the Mesopotamians)126 were seen to be expressed in the archeological findings of terracotta figures of gods/goddess and temples that are dated as far back as 6000 BC. These figures are indicative of astral, fertility and function motifs. Polytheism was the central outlook, as evidenced by the existence of Pantheons. Syncretism was the practice. The expression was anthropomorphic. Cosmological considerations were often the point of departure. Against this background, polytheism as the initial religious tendency captures the religious orientation of the ANE peoples. The Mesopotamians’ identification of An (Amun) as sky-god, the over-arching bowl of heaven, Enlil as storm-god, Nin-Khursag as earth-goddess, and Enki as water-god, with its tacitly implied hierarchy at the helm of which is El,127 may serve as a general articulation of not 126 The name Mesopotamia is adopted as an umbrella name for the ANE peoples – a­ ncient Egypt, the Summerians, Anatolia etc. Ugarit is often regarded as most ancient of these peoples, though seen as re-lived in the Syro-Palestinian Canaanites, the contact point to the ancient Israelite axis. Cf. M.J. Dahood, “Ugarit. Ugaritic-Canaanite Religion”, in: NCE 14 (2003) 266–271. See also W.L. Moran, “Mesopotamia, Ancient. Religion”, in: NCE 9 (2003) 531–538; K. Hecker, „Mesopotamien. II. Geschichte. III. Religion”, in: RGG4 5 (2002), 1114–1124. Despite the dating that is given the archeological findings, the years around 1400 BC are considered as historically most assured. See also Haas, V., 2011, 149ff; B. Gladigow, “Plenitudo deorum”, in: A. Lange, et al. (ed.), 2003, 3–22. On the issue of the concept of divine messengers and intermediate beings in the Mesopotamian regions, see B.U. Schipper, “Angels or Demons? Divine Messengers in Ancient Egypt”, in: F.V. Reiterer et al. (ed.), 2007, 1–19. (5–7). 127 M.J. Dahood explains that the Ugaritic pantheon known variedly as “the assembly (family) of the gods”, “the totality of the sons of El” was headed by El to whom is ascribed the regalitas in its full sense, even though “…he was no more than titular head of the pantheon, and part of the time he seems quite otiose,… a “remote high god”. He resided in a distant cosmic spot known as “the source of the Two Deeps”…” His titles include the creator of creatures, the king, the Father of Mankind etc. Cf. idem, op. cit., 266. R. Schwindt offers a presentation of the Enuma elis version of the Mesopotamian mythological cosmogony, with the earliest literary account about the gods, their roles in creation which marked the end of the primeval times. Cf. R. Schwindt, 2002, 136ff. Strikingly noteworthy in this presentation is, among others, that in Enuma elis the idea of several heavenly segments assigned to the various

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only the polytheism of the region but also the astral dimensions. Whether in their different variations as in the astral Triad Shamash (Sun), Sin (Moon), Ishtar (Venus star), Adad (god of weather), the wise Ea, the Babylonian Marduk etc., the general characteristics of the religions of these ancient times are manifested here. In the bid to find explanation to the questions about the origin of all that is, nature, cosmic elements, and experiences of them, were related to one deity or the other against the background that the gods control nature and its forces, and manifest themselves through them. In ancient Babylon precisely “the stars were all gods, animate beings of a divine, or at least supernatural, rank. The earliest cuneiform sign for ‘god’ was a star (*).128 The fact of their numbers and attributed influences fanned the idea of a divine assembly, where events and destinies are deliberated and decreed. The gods were understood as fate. They were responsible for everything, fortunes and plagues alike. With the idea of hierarchy and the birth of superordinacy and subordinacy, spatial distance arose to guarantee these differences. Means of relating among, and with the gods had to be forged not only to bridge the gap and ensure interdependence but also to sustain the hierarchy. That became the origin of the concept of subordinate divine messengers.129 Primarily they were functionally determined but through ontological dumping, what Whitehead would refer to as fallacy of misplaced concreteness, they assumed personifications in the forms of intermediate beings often with wing motifs. With regard to the hierarchy of the gods, their numbers, popularity and influence, political and economic factors130 hierarchy of the gods with the heavenly bodies occupying the lowest segment, was already known. Related segmentation was also applicable to the earthly regions. 128 Cf. F.C. Grant, “Astral Religion. Babylonian Star Worship”, in: NCE 1 (2003) 809–810. The divinization of the stars and the planets was a popular and dominant phenomenon that other ancient religions received and variedly developed. Astrology and astronomy (both as esoterism and as science) owe their origin to this phenomenon. Christianity knows its influence (Mt 2:1–11; Gal 4:3,9–11 etc.) The relationship of these astral references to the Pauline terms principalities, powers and so on is of particular interest to our research. This will be handled later. The horoscope that makes up pages of the print-media in today’s world is evidence of its continued survival. 129 Schwindt’s quickness at referring to these beings as „Schar der Engel- und ­Dämonenwesen” seems not to have taken adequate note of the anachronistic implications of such expression; for such word-concepts would not have been known at the time, even when he may not be wrong to have surmised that the basic contents of the ideas being represented are more or less similar. Cf. R. Schwindt, 2002, 139. 130 This is particularly noted in the case of the ancient Egyptian and Babylonian versions of the Mesopotamian religions where the issues of kingship played decisive

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played important roles, such that there existed among the peoples of the ANE similarities, nuances and more or less minor differences. The “system of negative things”, this experience of the fundamentally unruly ­elements that create disorder, was appreciated and variedly represented even when the individual ethical distinctions into good and bad, and the related ­attributions of responsibilities were yet to be fully developed. The tension between the ­supremacy of the gods as supposed supervisors of order and the experience of disorder especially as catastrophic events, diseases, pestilence and death, needed to be explained. The ancient Mesopotamians sought to explain this appreciation of the problem of evil, both in its irrational form and as moral, as cosmic accident and part of cosmological order, or as a creation of the gods at their employ.131 These positions are however unsatisfactory. They call the innocence and omnipotence of the gods to question, a dilemma that cannot be contained in any system that is not dualistic. Dahood sees this as typical of the ANE peoples for whom polarities were felt to be the very essence of life hence the frequent bringing together of opposites in their belief and practice.132 Consequently, M. Hutter maintains that, the Mesopotamian ‘pantheon’ with its main gods is hierarchically structured, and divine beings of a lesser rank are “demons” or protective spirits. Their function and might are more limited than that of the gods, and especially, their functions are more specified and related to an evil or undesirable situation…133

roles, leading to the evolution of sacred kingship. The gods ruled nations and provided for the welfare of their peoples through human viceroys. The kings claimed and established descent from the gods, and served also not as mediators between the gods and their subjects. This development constituted some influence in Judaism and its God concept. Cf. B. Gladigow, op. cit., 7–9,12; C. Auffarth, „Königtum, sakrales, religionsgeschichtlich”, in: RGG4 4 (2001), 1590–1591. See also B. Janowski, „Königtum Gottes im Alten Testament“, in RGG4 4 (2001), 1591–1593; H. Brunner, „Ägypten. II. Religionsgeschichte“, in: LThK3 1 (1993), 254–255; H. Frankfort, 1994. 131 Cf. K. van der Toorn, “The Theology of the Demons in Mesopotamia and Israel. Popu­ lar Belief and Scholarly Speculation”, in: A. Lange, et al. (ed.), Die Dämonen……2003, 61–83(72–76). The author gives an account of the Mesopotamian-Babylonian myths featuring incantations addressing the issue of the problem of evil. They culminate in the Atrahasis, the ancient Babylonian mythological text that sought the integration of evil into the dominant theistic systems. The highlights include the constant association of evil with the gods, the representation of evil with animal and animal-like creatures, and its eventual humanization. Toorn understands this later development as an attempt to rationalize evil (67). 132 Cf. M. J. Dahood, op. cit. 270. 133 Cf. M. Hutter, “Demons and Benevolent Spirits in the Ancient Near East. A Phenomenological Overview”, in: F. V. Reiterer et al. (ed.), 2007, 23. The specification is

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However, an exceptionally radical articulation of this trend set in with the evolution of the one god-concept in the idea of the high-god Ahura Mazda – the wise Lord, as taught by Zarathustra (ca. 650 BC), a reformer (prophet/priest) of a traditional religion of ancient Iran. It may not be farfetched to see the beginnings of monotheism in him. Ahura Mazda with his retinue of different manifestations and/or surrounding subordinates – Amesha Spenta - holy immortals, at the helm of which is the Spenta Mainyu – the holy spirit, was responsible for the creation of the world and all that is in it. Spenta Mainyu’s twin brother Angra Mainyu – the wicked/evil spirit, is responsible for evil with his retinue of lieutenants, the daeva – (false) gods.134 One observes the dualism inherent in these thoughts. Absurd as it sounds, Ahura Mazda is good itself, but is also the ultimate source of Angra Mainyu the archdemon. Daeva, the Sanskrit word for the gods of the older Indo-Iranian religions, having now being dethroned, are made children of the evil spirit. One may readily presume some connections with the word that came to be rendered as demon and the negative interpretations that it became loaded with in the course of time. Whatever the ideas about high-god or the gods, the central issue remained the issue of relationship with him/them. This led to the development of the ideas about mediator-beings operating as mediators between the gods and the human, one of the oldest and commonest religious patrimonies ever. In the ANE settings, for instance, these mediator-beings were basically understood as supernatural beings - subordinate gods, spirits - superior to man. The ambiguity about their nature was part of their enigma. On the one hand they were understood as having their own areas of power and not just messengers of the gods, on the other hand they would merely be messengers of the super-ordinate god(s). This is typified in the Amesha Spenta, thought on the one hand to be part and parcel localized in Resep (Raspu). It was originally an Ebla-Ugaritic god of royal graveyard to whom eventually both disaster (war, pestilence etc.) and deliverance from them became attributed in the course of historical-cultural receptions. It is in its sense as enfant terrible that it became received in the OT as demon, as evil personified. Cf. H. Niehr, op. cit., in: A. Lange et al. (ed.), 2003, 84–107. 134 H. Koch offers very interesting insights into the teachings of Zarathustra, pointing out portions of his teachings that one may rightly say became “reproduced” in some parts of the OT. Cf. V. Haas & H. Koch, 2011, 82–93. See also H. Weber, 2006, 365–367; U. Mann, „Engel. I. Religionsgeschichtlich“, in: TRE 9 (1982) 580–583; M. Mach, 1992, 2. See also the article by Annemarie Schimmel in: RGG3 2 (1958), 1298–1301; on the cosmological influence on the religions of the ANE peoples confer C. Auffarth, „Kosmologie. II. Alter Orient und Altes Testament”, in: RGG4 4 (2001), 1707–1708.

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of the Ahura Mazda as its abstract extensions or “divine sparks”, - Good purpose, Truth/Righteousness, Devotion, Dominion, Wholeness, Immortality -, and on the other hand as his agents, through whom he accomplishes his purpose. The appendage of the ethical abstractions good/bad to these dual emanations from Ahura Mazda paved way for the tendency of the personification of these abstractions as mediator spirits.135 The history of the reception, adaptations and further development of this religious phenomenon became a point of diversion or convergence among the many religions.

1.2.2 Reception among the ancient Greeks The religious outlook of ancient Greece was its own version of polytheism characterized by a decentralization determined by its multiple social groupings. Like most ancient peoples, cosmology was the point of departure, while anthropomorphism served the expressions. Conscious of nature, fate and experience like every other peoples, and attributing divinity to them, they had their own gods. The gods, both locally conceived ones and those taken-up from neighbouring oriental or farther peoples, were a numerous mass that was constantly on the increase. Attempts at some modest account over the variety of the gods gave rise to the famous Greek mythology articulated in the Homeric epic poems, Iliad and Odyssey, and in the Theogony of Hesiod dated around 8th to 6th Century B.C. V. Haas is convinced that the historical traditions of the succession myths in Hesiod’s Theogony are traceable to those of the Mesopotamian regions, with the former being Greek adaptations of the latter.136 It provided mythological accounts of the origin of the gods, the world and human beings, introducing a theologisation of myths.137 It is important to note that what came to be called gods in these earlier Greek thoughts - Chaos, Phanes, Himeros, Phusis etc. - are but aspects or elements of nature. This was the case until about the 6th Century when the twelve Olympian 135 Cf. G. Lanczkowski, „Geister“ in: TRE 12 (1984), 254–259 (254–255). 136 Cf. V. Haas, 2011, 287ff. See also G. Koch, „Gott/Götter/Götterbilder und –symbole. III. Griechisch-römische Welt“, in: RGG4 3 (2000), 1148–1150. An interesting ­appraisal of the mythological articulations and polytheism of the ancient Greeks is offered by C. Auffarth. He notes that the gods and the myths are to be understood as representations of the different social groups and not as a belief or ethical system. They serve to assist making the existent reality bearable. Cf. C. Auffarth, „Griechenland. I. Antike”, in: RGG4 4 (2001), 1277–1284. 137 Cf. W. Jäger, 1953, 23. „Gerade die Theogonie Hesiods hat mit ihrer Theologisierung des alten Göttermythos am meisten dazu beigetragen, den weltanschaulichen Gehalt der Mythen mobil zu machen und ihm religiöse Bedeutung zu verleihen.“

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gods headed by Zeus, were established as the principal gods of the Greek pantheon, responsible for various aspects of life. It is very interesting to note that a certain Hermes, messenger-god, had place in this catalogue of the principal gods, indicating the importance attached to the issue of communication between the parties. In the anthropomorphic presentations Hermes is often depicted with winged sandals, the sign and expression of his enablement to shuttle between mortals and immortals, the present world and the netherworlds. It is obvious how decisive such imageries became in subsequent development of religious figures perceived to be undertaking this function of communication between the different worlds. These mythologies fostered normative classifications of the gods into the categories of the greater and the smaller with consequent regulation of their theophanies. B. Gladigow argues that with the exclusion of the greater gods from “nature” as outside their area of epiphany, nature becomes consequently assigned to the smaller gods, the resistant nature-spirits or demons138 as they would later be called. The Greek word that came to be translated as “demon” daimon is an ambiguous term with semantic versatility. In Iliad, daimones was a synonym of positive value for the Olympian gods as in the return of the goddess Athena to Olympus to join the company of other gods meta. dai,monaj a;llouj (Il. 1.222, see also 6.115; 23.595). The daimon is also described as responsible for leading another as in Aphrodite leading Helen to the palace of Paris. She is described in that scene as a daimon (Il 3.420; see also Od. 14.348). In these occurrences “daimon designates a discursive role that enables the gods to the scene of the humans and makes them capable of communicating with their human counter-parts.”139 In this ­understanding negative as well as positive values were attributable to them, the major issue being communication, relationship. On the other hand, Hesiod’s ­Opera et dies (Op. 122–126, 250.254) depicts daimones as the post mortem ­humans of the golden age who, as directed by Zeus’ will, become guardians of mortal men. Though neither belonging to the gods in Olympus nor to the mortals on earth, they tended to designate more of the humans in the realm of the gods, a transcended existence as it were. In this status they constitute the means/ agents of relationship. With Hesiod, the notion of intermediary beings – the deified souls of the dead Heroes (Op. 156–173) - connected with guarding individual existence was already crystallizing. Since Hesiod the idea of beings between

138 Cf. B. Gladigow, op. cit., 11–12. 139 Cf. A.K. Peterson, “The Notion of Demon: Open Question to a Diffuse Concept“, in: A. Lange et al. (ed.), 2003, 36.

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the celestials and the mortals kept developing. Generally, however, daimon in Homer and ­Hesiod is understood to refer to the undetermined power that influences the life of a mortal, what may commonly be referred to as fate. Such an understanding really captures the indeterminate nature of the daimon concept even in subsequent developments.140 With the philosophical orientation of the classical age of ancient Greece, about the end of the 5th century BC, a different circumstance arose. This was characterized by a virulent dissatisfaction with the mythological accounts about the origin of the things that are. This featured above all in the philosophical criticism of the excessive anthropomorphism and anarchy among the gods. The images of the gods delivered by the ancient mythologies, where the gods were almost always involved in internal conflicts and intrigues were criticized as blasphemous, immoral and scandalous. The central figure in this development, after the pre-Socratics,141 was Plato. Critically working with the mythological characters, an evidence of the immense influence of these ancient myths, Plato created his own allegorical myths. By means of his theory of Forms in the Republic he ­arrived at the basis of all knowledge, the embodiment of all Forms. This became understood as Plato’s concept of God, an absolutely perfect and abstract idea that cannot change or alter itself, and as such beyond being and knowledge. The long nurtured idea of transcendence with regard to the supreme good that came to be named God thus crystallized. Despite its transcendence, communications between the divine and the mortals remained undeniable. Plato, after his initial uses of the word daimon to ­refer to lower gods (Apol. 27c-f) and to the souls of special human beings (Crat. 397d-398c), introduced in the Symposium Eros as daimon, the intermediate spirit between gods and men, mortals and immortals, interpreting and ­delivering to the gods what comes from men, and to men what comes from the gods (Symp. 202d-203a). The functional character is remarkable. Unlike in his earlier thoughts where they tended to be referred to as the nature of the beings in question (minor gods, souls of special human beings), as Eros, daimon was functional. Plato argued that the human soul, in its ceaseless search to attain the qualities which the gods already possessed – truth, goodness, beauty -, cannot be of the same “nature” with the gods. It needs a mediator, Eros – daimon, this something in-between that fills the emergent vacuum that threatens the cohesive 140 Cf. J. ter Vrugt-Lentz, „Geister (Dämonen). II. Vorhellenistisches Griechenland“, in: RAC 9 (1976), 598–615 (605). 141 For an account of the similar ambiguity in the pre-Socratics use of the word daimon see also J. ter Vrugt-Lentz, op. cit., Sp. 612–613.

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order of the cosmos.142 From this apparently general notion of daimon, a subsequent development to articulate the personal dimension was made – the idea of a personal daimon who has been commissioned by Zeus as a guardian to every man (Phaed. 107dff, Rep. 620d-f). This Platonic notion found continued patronage in later generations of his school of thought as typified in Epictetus. His idea of a personal daimon enabled him to establish a close relationship between the soul and God. Plato’s student Xenocrates is however credited with the ethical separation of the daimon into good and bad in accordance with the reality of good and bad persons. This made possible not only the attribution of evil to a bad daimon but most importantly the acquittal and disassociation of the gods from direct responsibility for evil.143 This became a great milestone, an asset that would be appropriated in subsequent developments in religious thoughts with regard to the problem of theodicy, the role of God (gods), and the understanding of demon(s). A related semantic versatility plays out in the understanding and the use of the Greek word a;ggeloj – angelus (lat.) – angel. J. Michl144 presents an account of the versatile reception of this notion in the historical and religious developments. From the initial Greek usage where it primarily referred to human messenger(s) who brought others official, private or religious messages (as in the case of announcing processions, the arrival of a divinity etc.), it developed into being used of the birds thought of as the messenger of the gods. The climax of the development would be the identification of Hermes, one of the Olympian gods, as a;ggeloj of the gods par excellence (cf. Od. 5, 29; Crat. 407e). This development would eventually be corroborated in other ancient religious settings. Some other of their gods would share similar identification. However, the Latin word nuntius later evolved to denote the human messengers, reserving angelus for the superhuman. As if to recapture the fundamental meaning of a;ggeloj as messenger, and perhaps to restore the dignity of the gods from being merely messengers, the orphic hymns presented an understanding of a;ggeloi as superhuman beings 142 Cf. R. Schwindt, 2002, 227–229. The author acknowledges Plato and platonic philosophy as the first to present some form of systematic views on daimon. The ­Daimonion occupied the space in-between, playing the role of mediator between the distant transcendent above and humankind below. With that the whole was joined together. 143 Cf. J. ter Vrugt-Lentz, op. cit., Sp. 614. 144 Cf. J. Michl, „Engel I (heidnisch)“, in: RAC 5 (1962), 53–60. See also U. Mann, U., „Engel. I. Religionsgeschichtlich“, in: TRE 9 (1982), 580–583; K.M. Woschitz, ­„Engel. I. Religionsgeschichtlich”, in: RGG4 2, (1999), 1279.

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belonging to the divine sphere, surrounding the divine throne. They are presented as commissioned with the task of taking care of human needs, and also as appearing with the gods as constitutive of their retinue. In accordance with the ancient cosmology that saw the planets as gods, and recognized an underworld, the planetary gods and the underworld were understood to have their messengers - angels. This position provided by the orphic hymns assists to confirm the justification of the position that angel as religious concept was from the ANE (Iran) influence. The religious concept – superhuman but intermediary beings of functional character - already in existence in those parts of the world found an adequate expression in the Greek word a;ggeloi. It enhanced also some form of correspondence with the daimon in Greek thought. Zoroastrian Amesha Spenta as “arms” of the high god Ahura Mazda, and the Daeva as lieutenants to the ­Angra Mainyu have thus found reception and expression in the religions of ancient Greece. With this, the way is paved for understanding the further contact with other religions of the region, especially with the Jewish religion in its various stages of development. Fundamental, however, to the angel concept is the ­messenger-communication-motif that characterizes the relationship between the gods and the mortals, this very ancient religious patrimony, whose very origin Woschitz sees in the human experience of interventions by forces outside the human ambience.

1.2.3 Reception and development in Ancient (OT) Israel and in Judaism The centrally exceptional in the religion, and indeed in the very fact of Israel from ancient times, is the very unique development of its Yahweh one Godfaith,145 strongly established as creed in Deut 6.4 dx’a, hw”hy> Wnyhel{a/ hw”hy> laer”f.yI [m;v. . Every other aspect of its religious concepts and experience has this position as point of departure or convergence. The history of this development, evidencing the great legacies of past generations, and having much to do with some national consciousness, presents the movement from a gradual to radical turnaway from the polytheism characteristic of the ancient Semitic peoples. Israel’s point of contact with, as well as departure from the polytheism of its forebears and neighbours is located in the word lae (´el) - might, strength, power. This is acknowlegedly the oldest name for the deity, used in various forms by almost 145 Cf. H-P. Müller, „Monotheismus und Polytheismus. II. Altes Testament“, in: RGG4 5 (2002), 1459–1462; D.W. Bousset, 1903, 291–392.

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all the Semitic peoples as a proper name for God.146 This contact is strongly evidenced by the role of Bethel in the religious experience of the Patriarchs (Gen 12:8; 28:19; 35:1–7), the beginnings of the Election theology (Ex 19:5–6; Deut 7:7–10; 26:18) that definitively determined the very identity of Israel and the salvation history. Israel’s appropriation of Elohim as identity of its God is a most ingenious religious development. While not denying the divinity of other gods, its God remained the sovereign sum of these gods, a sovereignty summed up in the insinuated juxtaposing of !Ayl.[, lae ((Most High) and hw”hy> (Yahweh) – Yahweh Most High (Gen 14:18–22). The logical consequence of this identity is the move to decisive monotheism in which Israel attributes to its God the control over every being or thing, natural and supernatural. This is powerfully articulated in Ps.95.3–5 “For the LORD is a great God, and a great King above all gods. In his hand are the depths of the earth; the heights of the mountains are his also. The sea is his, for he made it, and the dry land, which his hands have formed.” (RSV) Here features already the issue of the kingship of Israel’s God among other gods, an issue the next paragraph addresses. The immediate very important interest is the fact that the various aspects of nature that other neighbouring ancient religions had assigned to various gods are now solely in the hands of Israel’s God. Such a height of claim was radically new and unique! Despite the difference early Israelite religion made out of the common identity of the deity among the ancient Semitic peoples, they shared some other common features. One of the most prominent of such is the belief that the physical and spiritual realms are mutually related with each other. It is no wonder that anthropomorphism was the means of expression. Pre-exilic Israelite religion, therefore, also expressed its understanding of God, and gave its faith concrete expression in anthropomorphic language as could be read in the OT. Without denying his otherness, the anthropomorphisms of Scripture proclaimed God as

146 This variety includes, among others, the use of h;l{a/ as the singular form of the common name for every deity to ~yhil{a/ as its absolute plural form typical of the polytheism of the region. The introduction of the use of this absolute plural form by the Elohist (Gen 1:1ff) before its conflation with the Yahwist as the identity though not the proper name of the one and only God of Israel beginning from his contact to the Patriarchs, was a ingenious programme. It is used of the God of Israel as a plural of majesty, signifying the one God who embodies in Himself all the qualities of divinity, and is almost always accompanied by singular verbs and adjective. Cf. R.T.A. Murphy, “Elohim”, in: NCE 5 (2003) 173–174. See also E.H. Maly, “Elohist”, in: NCE 5 (2003) 174; M.J. Dahood, “Ugaritic-Canaanite Religion”, in: NCE 14 (2003) 269.

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loving, seeking and caring etc. Israel originally understood its God as the Lord of history intervening in its life, as one more immanent than transcendent. He speaks, (Gen 1:3; Lev 4:1 etc.); he engages in discussions (Gen 3:9ff; Ex 32:7ff; 33:11; 1 Ki 22:19ff etc.); he has eyes, ears, hands and feet with which he sees, hears, molds and walks respectively (2 Chron 16:9; Ps 34:15–16; 1 Sam 8:21; Dan 9:18; Gen 2:7,19–22; 3:8 etc.). He could express emotions: laugh Ps 2:4, become angry 1 Chron 13:10, regret his actions Ex 32:14; Jer 42:10, be jealous Ex 20:5; Deut 5:9, even be concerned about his security Ex 19:20ff. He is a warrior Ex 14:14; 15:3. A certain level of immediacy reigned in such understanding of God. He was perceived to be so near that his intervention could be felt everywhere, every time. He reaches the mortals at will, and may also be reached as such, even though some biblical texts (Gen 18–19) for various reasons avoid a direct communication between God and humans.147 Being part of the ANE with its popular royal settings, Israel practicing theocracy had its God as King par excellence Deut 32:9; Ps 93:1. He rules not only over Israel, but also over the whole world Ps 103:19, the nations and their gods Deut 10:17, and controls the destiny of all peoples. Following this unique divine royalty ancient Israel, like other ANE peoples, had its part in the transposition of earthly hierarchy to the heavenly spheres. Israel’s God like the gods of its neighbouring peoples held court, heavenly assembly/council; Ps 82 lae-td:[;] divine gathering (vs1); Ps 89:5–7 ~yvidoq. lh;q.Bi assembly of the holy ones (vs6); ~yliae ynEb.Bi sons of gods (vs 7); 1 Kings 22:19ff ~yIm;V’h; ab’c.-lk’ all the host of heaven. It is in this sense that Isaiah would express his experience of him as tAab’c. hw”hy> %l,M,h; the King YHWH of hosts (Is 6:5), a popular but controversial appellation in the sense of its warlike connotations, and the issues regarding the nature of the hosts in question. The LXX would later take up this appellation, and translating the Hebrew abc with duna,meij148 generates the expression “the host of heaven”. The consequence would be a further enhancement of the ancient “cosmic spirituality” that had deified or angelicized the heavenly bodies. As king he has as well his messenger(s) Ex 23:20 %a’l.m; Gen 28:12 ~yhil{a/ ykea]l.m; messengers of God. 147 For M. Köckert, the narrative structure of such texts makes such a communication impossible. Cf. idem, “Divine Messengers and Mysterious Men in the Patriarchal Narratives of the Book of Genesis”, in: F.V. Reiterer et al. (ed.), 2007, 51–78 (74). 148 The term constitutes one of popular cluster of words with which the “Pauline spirit world” is articulated. However, it presents one of the evidences of the influence of the LXX in Pauline thought, especially from the apocalyptic point of view. Cf. P. Benoit, “Pauline Angelology and Demonology”, in Religious Studies Bulletin, 3.1 (1983) 1–18 (7–8).

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These imageries and concepts are deeply imbedded in the various strata and literary genres of the Hebrew Scripture, from the narrative genres through the prophetic to the wisdom literature. This was ancient Israel’s reception of such imageries and concepts that obtained in the religious world view of neighbouring Semitic peoples as typified in the ancient Semitic myth of El and his seventy sons (gods). It was the reception process that saw Israel’s God as ­Elohim taking the place of El, with the seventy sons (gods) initially constituting his subordinates and counselors until the radical stage that saw them deprived of every notion of divinity. The journey of this reception, featuring complex mixing-up of notions and assumptions, marked the very beginnings of biblical angelology, having found its melting point in the Greek terminology a;ggeloj. M. Mach149 has eloquently presented the earliest stages of this development. While seemingly solving the initial problems related to the transformation from polytheism to monotheism, the introduction of this category of beings into the monotheistic religious construct would eventually constitute theological problems. One of such has to do with the relation of man to these beings. Related to God as members of his council, his “sons”, his messengers through whom he communicates, and who sometimes are confusedly taken for him, how best would the human beings related to them? Accord them such worship due to God or not? In the monotheism of the pre-exilic Israel the appreciation of evil as summed-up in the experience of pestilence, sickness, death, and other negative things, understood it as issuing from the one ruler of all – Yahweh (1 Sam 2: 6–8). The same understanding plays out in the idea of punishments and doom that were met out to people as presented in the narrative genres – Ex 12; Num 149 Cf. M. Mach, 1992, 10–64. The author presents the various terms of the notion of the royal courtyard, their contents, and implications, reiterating the fact that they were to constitute the Jewish response and/or counterpart of pagan polytheism. The names betraying their pagan origins give room for possible interpretations and become theologically problematic for the monotheistic orientation. From b ­ eing divine counselors, they turn to gods (angels) of the nations. Furthermore, they ­become associated as hosts of heaven with the planetary bodies and with ministration (Ps 103:20). This taking-up of such pagan myths and reforming them into the notion of a group of beings that belong in a special way to the spheres of God, who undertake some services for him, and through whom he communicates with ­human world, a group that in the course of the history of reception eventually came to be given the name – angels – goes a long way raising questions on the reality of such conceptions. Would it not be better to leave them in that mental category in which they have their origins, than to translate them into ontological realities?

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21:4–9; 2 Sam 24, etc. The Hebrew Bible goes a long way seeing Yahweh himself or his companions as responsible for it – Gen 32:23ff; Ex 4:24–26; Is 45:6ff etc.150 Even when redactional activities sought to remove direct responsible from YHWH they often end up making him indirectly responsible either as the deeds from his immediate surroundings, his entourage or members of his court. The various attempts at addressing these issues account for the various stages of the dualistic notions in the religion of Israel especially with regard to the belief in angels and demon. The tendency to radical monotheism and transcendence of God introduced and enjoined by the Yahweh-alone-movement of the prophets, and the subsequent dissatisfaction with the anthropomorphic representations of God151 made the case even more plausible for the place of messenger(s) with regard to relationship with this God. The plausibility played out in the exilic prophecies of Ezekiel in its characteristic, imagination defying elaborateness, as well as in the post-exilic prophecies of Zechariah,152 in whose visions (Zec 1–6) angelic beings are presented as taking up revelatory functions, giving rise to the angelus interpres. This disposition would eventually constitute the beginnings of the apocalyptic orientations of subsequent generations. However the connections these prophetic figures have with the development of the belief in angels in the OT, the fact remains that their ideas about angels was devoid of any personalization and concreteness. The angel figures remained messengers with no authority of theirs. The attempts also to exonerate God from the scheme of negative things fanned the embers of demonology. The Judaism of later times – the Hellenistic ­Judaism – would play a decisive role in the subsequent reception of the messenger phenomenon in the history of religion.

150 In these passages, some of which are pre-exilic, other post-exilic, Yahweh is presented as responsible for light and darkness, woes and fortune. Cf. O. Keel, „Schwache alttestamentliche Ansätze zur Konstruktion einer stark dualistisch getönten Welt“, in: A. Lange et al. (ed.), 2003, 211–233 (228–229). 151 Bousset ascribes the responsibility for the changing of the anthropomorphic theology of the OT into increasing abstractions to the Judaism of the Alexandrian community. Cf D.W. Bousset, 1903, 312. 152 Cf. C. Stuhlmueller, “Apocalyptic”, in: NCE 1 (2003), 543–547. See also K. Schöpflin, “YHWH’s Agents of Doom – The Punishing Function of Angels in Post-Exilic Writings of the Old Testament”, in: F.V. Reiterer et al. (ed.), 2003, 125–137 (132); M.  McNamara, 1983, 24; D.W. Bousset, 1903, 313–314. Bousset notes the almost ­extreme elaborateness with which the prophecy of Zechariah deals with the theme. It is almost as if the seer had more to do with angels than with God.

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1.2.4 Hellenistic Judaism and the Septuagint (LXX) The cultural revolution introduced by Alexander the Great (356–323 BC) after his conquest of the Persian empire – Hellenism - had its effects on the Jewish religion. The heart of this revolution was the adoption of Greek as the lingua franca of the empire. The earlier experiences in the course of the Assyrian and Babylonian exiles in the 8th and 6th centuries BC, left lasting imprints among the Jews. The collection of the sacred books that became the OT, an exercise that began in the Babylonian Jewish community, and the great asset it became to the Jewish religion, was to be re-lived in the Hellenistic experience. Immersed in Greek culture and becoming less acquainted with Hebrew or Aramaic, some Jewish scholars in Alexandria, this great centre of Greek scholarship at the time, produced the Greek translation of the Hebrew Pentateuch named Septuagint after the legendary number of the 70 (72) translators involved. The name later came to be not only an allinclusive term for some other new literature of Hellenistic Judaism written within that circle and time, but also, later, for the Greek OT as a whole.153 A major feature of the LXX that is of concern for us here is its hermeneutical trend. This trend evidences not only the use of Greek concepts to render ­Hebrew religious thoughts. It also involved interpreted introduction of words that sometimes create some basic shifts in the meanings of the delivered texts being translated. It afforded, for instance, the ontologisation or reification of what before then were more of issues in the thought category, making them concretely perceptible. This development, partly a product of the theological goodwill to protect Jewish monotheism, in the face of the need to open it up to the spirit of the times, brought about confusions in its trail. This is typified in the various use of the Greek word a;ggeloj. At some point it was used to render in Greek 153 P.W. Skehan, „Septuagint“, in NCE 12 (2003), 920–924, accounting for the expansions and recensions in the LXX maintains that whereas some of the texts evidence translations from Semitic manuscripts in part or in whole (Tobit, Judith, Sirach, ­Baruch, 1 Maccabees) some show evidences of expansions, redaction and some purely Greek additions (Daniel, Esther, Job, Jeremiah), whereas some like Wisdom and 2 ­Maccabees were wholly composed in Greek. The consequence is that sometimes differences are observed in some Books between the Masoretic Texts and the LXX renditions. With regard to the dating of the Septuagint, the entire exercise is considered to have spanned a period of 400 years with the oldest part – the Pentateuch – dated about 3rd century BC. It is also important to note with regard to the Book of Daniel that its apocalyptic section (7–12) is dated about 164 BC. Earlier apocalyptic traditions must have been taken-in into it and given authoritative expressions there. Cf. M. ­McNamara, 1983, 61.

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the members of the heavenly court ~yhil{a/-ynEb, ~yhil{a/ in the polytheistic sense. A typical example is Gen 6:2, where ~yhil{a/-ynEB. was originally translated with a;ggeloi though later rendered as ui`oi, qeou/. M. Mach154 testifies to the originality of the former, a position that becomes more established with the LXX rendition of Deut 32:8f e;sthsen o[ria evqnw/n kata. avriqmo.n avgge,lwn qeou/ this verse upon which the notion of the Völkerengel – angels of the nations - is based. While in a number of Psalms, for instance Ps 97(96):7, Ps 138(137):1, the same tradition as in Ps 8:6 ~yhila{ m/ e j[;M. WhrESx. T; w. : - hvla,ttwsaj auvto.n bracu, ti parV avgge,louj would be followed, in some others like Ps 89(88):7 ~yliae ynEB. would be translated with ui`oi, qeou/, showing the controversy among the theological traditions. Perhaps the attempt to grapple with this and similar problems may have seen LXX Ps 28:1 give such very seldom and curious alternative as ui`oi. kriw/n – sons of bullocks (battering rams) juxtaposed to ui`oi. qeou/. The import of the former in the verse is not immediately obvious. Could that not be a tactically corrupt play on the word ku,rioj meant to be a quiet derogatory reference to the theriomorphic attitudes of the surrounding religions. :Aggeloj became, as it were, a readily available option thought to get over these obvious inconsistencies and related theological problems. Most often a;ggeloj became used to render the Hebrew %a’l.m;, this very prominent feature of biblical religion. Sometimes the translation with a;ggeloj retained the original content of the concepts as merely messenger-function-conditioned terminus. At other times, however, they are transposed unto ontological spheres. An example would be the already referenced association of the angels with the LXX translation of the Hebrew abc with duna,meij. According to M. Mach,155 this transposing marked the beginnings of the process of Angelophany, the process through which angelology developed into characterizing the angels, to some great extent, as independent beings. The process would crystallize in the extra biblical literatures, even when its influence already featured in the LXX versions of the books of Daniel156 and Job. 154 Cf. M. Mach, 1992, 73–74. 155 Cf. ibid., 65–113. Mach gives here some detailed examples of such translations, circumscriptions etc., noting the seemingly forced identifications unto the original concepts and expressions in pursuit of the theological goal of defending the Hebrew monotheism that had become increasingly transcendental in the face surrounding polytheism on the one hand, and especially in the face of the theological difficulties of the theodicy question. 156 By this expression we are not losing sight of the redaction history of the book of Daniel which locates among the apocalyptic writings even though it gives the

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In LXX’s Daniel for instance we witness, within the attempts at establishing the uniqueness of Israel’s God as the controller of world events, the movement from the use of the word qeo,j – qeoi, as a translation for god - gods (eg. Dan 2:47 evsti.n o` qeo.j u`mw/n qeo.j tw/n qew/n), to the use a;ggeloi (2:11; 3:25 etc.) until the decisive introduction of the word e;idwla – idols for them (5:4,23). Another expression of relevance that LXX’s Daniel affords us is pa/sai ai` evxousi,ai (Theodotion uses avrcai, instead), translating the Hebrew aY”n:j’l.v’ lko - all dominions ((Dan.7.27). We call to mind also the already noted term duna,meij translating Hebrew abc and the related issues about the heavenly bodies – host of heaven – both in the sense of being creatures of YHWH (Ps 32[33]:6), and in the military sense in which YHWH is their master and commander (Is 34:4; 42:13; etc), culminating in the reference to angelic categories. In these developments the angels become personified assistance for Israel though subordinate to Yahweh. Now personified, they are given names (Dan 6:16; 9:21; 10:13,21; 12:1). They are differentiated from God, are able to appear in various forms, be responsible for certain aspects of life, and sometimes of actions opposed to the image of God as good. The negative aspects of the angels are brought to the fore especially as harmful to human beings. This is where LXX’s version of the book of Job stands out, typified in the introduction of the enigmatic figure !j’F’h;, o` dia,boloj.157 It stands as the advocatus diaboli member of the divine council (Job 1:6–9). It is employed also in the introduction of the concept of the angel of death pepoihme,non evgkatapai,zesqai u`po. tw/n avgge,lwn mou158.. It is in this setting of the articulation of the negative that LXX delivers another decisive influence. The Hebrew Bible apparently lacks particular expressions with which it ­articulates evil. It was always associated with sinister experiences, destruction, desert as dangerous uninhabitable place and its monstrous animal inhabitants. It was also associated, above all, with strange cults. The LXX employs the term daimo,nion – daimo,nia to translate these Hebrew expressions. The source of these Hebrew re-interpretations from the strange cult point of view could go back to the ancient Greeks’ views (Songs/Poems of Pindar) in which the world is divided impression of being an exilic production. Cf. M. McNamara & A.D. Lella, “Daniel, Book of ”, in: NCE 4 (2003), 509–513. 157 For more readings on the issue of Satan see H.-J. Fabry, „‘Satan’ – Begriff und Wirklichkeit: Untersuchungen zur Dämonologie der alttestamentlichen Weisheitsliteratur”, in A. Lange et al. (eds.), 2003, 269–291. With regard to the book of Job he argues that the figure of Satan was not part of the original work but a redactional input (284). See also O. Keel, op. cit., in: A. Lange et al. (eds.), 2003, 211–233 (229). 158 Cf. M. Mach, 1992, 112.

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among the Olympian gods. Plato would give it classical expression when he writes in Laws IV 713c-d that Cronos gave each State dai,monej to govern it, a position he further confirms in Critias (Timaeus) 109b-c. The religious relationship between the States and their daimones would naturally be unacceptable to Jews for who Yahweh is all in all and no other. One would not therefore wonder much about the demonisation that followed. O. Keel159 establishes that in the 19 times the word daimo,nion appears in LXX – 9 times in Tobit, 2 times in Baruch, 3 times in the Psalms, 4 times in Isaiah, once in Deuteronomy - it was only used twice for a particular Hebrew word ~ydIVe (Deut 32:17 e;qusan daimoni,oij = WxB.zy> I ~ydIVle ; Ps 105(106):37 e;qusan…toi/j daimoni,oij = WxB.zY> wI : … ~ydIVle in the sense of sacrifices to unaccepted gods/spirits who had ­become understood as demons. H. Niehr had argued on a related note as he traced the reception of the Ebla god Resep/Raspu into the OT. For him, Alexandria, as the home of the LXX, is the contact point for such reception, the reception that he sees manifest in the LXX translation of Deut 32:24, Job 5:7; Sir 43:17 with the motif of the birds of prey.160 Thus the distinction of the daimones into good and bad that is credited to Xenocrates (as seen in the above treated reception among the ancient Greeks), rooted in Persian dualism, finds resonance in the LXX. This may be considered the beginnings of the demonology that would blossom in the NT, nurtured and inflamed by the contributions of the Intertestamental writings.

1.2.5 Intertestamental Writings The term “intertestamental period” refers technically to the centuries between 200 BC and 100 AD. The post-Biblical and pre-Rabbinical Literature of Judaism in this period, giving us insight into the religious trend of thoughts circulating among the Hebrews of the age in question, are referred to as the Intertestamental writings. They concern their views about God, the world and relationships between the two. It is, however, observed that historical periods cannot be justly treated in isolation. They are parts of larger units in the sense of the pre- and post-. M. McNamara161 rightly explains in this regard that in line with the Biblical traditions which feature

159 Cf. O. Keel, op. cit. in: A. Lange, et al. (eds.), 2003, 213. 160 Cf. H. Niehr, „Zur Entstehung von Dämonen in der Religionsgeschichte Israels. Überlegungen zum Weg des Resep durch die nordwestsemitische Religionsgeschichte“, in: A. Lange et al. (ed.), 2003, 84–107 (102). 161 Cf. M. McNamara, 1983, 23ff. See also C. Stuhlmueller, “Apocalyptic”, in: NCE 1 (2003), 545–547. See also J. Lebram, „Apokalyptik/Apokalypsen. II. Altes Testament“, in: TRE 3 (1993), 192–202.

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the formulation and reformulation of traditions much earlier than the particular historical times in focus, the intertestamental writings, though technically located in the above stated times, contain traditions stretching into earlier, and in some cases later centuries. While the exile experiences and particularly the very challenging post-exilic situations constituted the general political-social backgrounds of these writings, the eschatological-apocalyptic trend initiated by the exilic and early post-exilic prophets provided the psychological basis of the apocalyptic characters of the intertestamental period and writings. The devastation brought about by conquests, the height of which were the destruction of the temple and the exile, left an unprecedented hopelessness at its trail. Terrible pessimism grown from the immense doubts over God and his promises to the people of Israel was the order of the day. The apocalyptic movement and its literature became a genial approach to restore this faith and hope. They were the trans-historical, hermeneutical efforts to reflectively build on the earlier religious traditions of the past in order to understand and cope with the present, recasting them to respond to later needs. These reform attempts dated from about 4th century BC and stretching into the period of the Maccabean struggles (c.164 BC). These religio-political reforms marked the birth of the ­Second Temple Judaism and its sustained influence. These writings crystalizing the elements of apocalyptic genre namely, d ­ ivine revelation of future events that are to take place soon, and communicated through an intermediary (often an “angel”), featured accounts of otherworldly journey. They were often descriptive of the heavenly and extra-terrestrial realms. Mythological embellishments and astrological allegories are often employed to buttress the message. Vaticinia ex eventu – the creation of visionary (prophetic) messages from past or contemporary events – is an outstanding characteristic of apocalyptic writings. In the intertestamental writings, therefore, the authors usually sort to give credence to their writings by making use of ideal and fascinating personages of Jewish traditions in the distant past, and presenting their messages in form of visions granted these figures in earlier centuries. The central content of apocalypticism is the dualistic concept of two worlds – the present Aeon and the future Aeon, the natural and supernatural – in interaction with each other through intermediaries. It is an interaction in which God and his angels control the affairs of this world, though this age finds itself in the grips of the evil one until the time of judgment, rewards and punishments heralding the arrival of a better world. The apocalyptic visionaries to whom these revelations are made through angelic intermediaries play key roles also. As the apocalyptic movement with its mentality and dualistic world view increasingly became established, the speculations about, and with angels, and consequent 75

views on demonology assumed free reins, taking up tremendous dimensions. The solution to the problem would no longer merely be sort in the hope of God’s final intervention but in the possibility of the ‘opening of the heavens’,162 whereby the apocalyptic messenger has access to the heavenly beings and vice versa. To accomplish this the intertestamental writings would be seen to have taken up, through a synthetic tendency, the traditions of other ancient near eastern cultures, and worked out from them their cosmogony, angelology and demonology. The height of these developments is the notion of Völkerengel with its implications. The angels (spirits, gods) to which the other nations are assigned eventually become demons as Israel insists on being the possession of its God YHWH though overseen by Michael. Among the numerous writings163 in this category with their levels of importance the Ethiopic Book of Enoch (1 Enoch) is accorded priority of importance. The importance is based not only on its popularity among the Jews but also on the fact that a number of biblical and intertestamental writings are observed to have made use of materials from it. This piece of literature found among the Qumran discoveries has its oldest part dated about the 4th century BC, even though its collection is placed by Stuhlmueller (551) between 167–164 BC. It is associated with fascinations around the figure Enoch who, according to Gen 5:24, walked with God and was seen no more. It contains five distinct sections: 1) The Book of the Watchers (the journey of Enoch) ch.1–36; 2) The Parables/Similitudes (37–71); 3) The Book of Heavenly Luminaries/the Astronomical Book (72–89; 4) The Book of Dreams/Animal Apocalypse (83–90); 5) The Admonitions/Epistles of Enoch (91–107).164 162 Cf. M. Mach, 116–123. See also J. Dan, „Apokalyptik. III. Jüdische Apokalyptik”, in: RGG4 1 (1998), 592–594; J. Baumgarten, 1975, 17–21. Baumgarten (18) argues that the apocalyptic trend has much to do with the Jewish eschatological hopes which became universalized and given transcendental expression. 163 Cf. M. McNamara, op. cit.; M. de Jonge, 1985; F. Hahn, 1998. See also C. Stuhlmueller, “Apocrypha”, in: NCE 1 (2003), 548–558. 164 An analysis of the Enoch literature (which includes 2 & 3 Books) is not intended. Suffice it to note its great importance in Jewish apocalyptic literature. Of interest too is the controversial relationship between the Gen 6:1–4 account of the Fall of Angels and its parallel in 1 Enoch’s Book of the Watchers, this genial attempt to account for the origin of evil. The argument regarding which of the versions was the original seem to have majority of scholars favour the latter. Following this understanding, the literary function of the statement that “he walked with God and was seen no more”, this final seal of the fascinations about him, become clearer. Cf. P. Sacchi, „Henochgestalt/Henochliteratur“, in: TRE 1 (1977), 15, 42–54 (43).

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Our interest is, however, on the language and concepts with which its spirit world views are articulated. Though the second part of the Book of Daniel (7–12) is taken as the earliest classical (canonical) presentation of Jewish apocalyptic, the influence of 1 Enoch in it, and the issues of their dating put this position in doubt. Not only would the introduction of the term evxousi,ai attributed to LXX Daniel 7:27 possibly have a link to 1 Enoch, the very name of the first book – the Book of Watchers is of interest. Would it be a tacit reception of, or Jewish counterpart to the Greek (Platonic) understanding of daimones as the watchers and guardians?165 P. Benoit notes the multiple meanings evxousi,ai as used in the LXX conveyed. It referred to both human authority (Dan 7:27; Sir 2:11; Wis 10:14) and divine authority (Esther 4:17b; Wis 16.13; Sir 10:4). It also referred to the astral domain as in Ps 135(136):8–9, but not to celestial angelic group. He insists it was always an abstract signification and did not title any personal being.166 Various claims to have read the rendition of such other words like avrcai,, qro,noi etc. in other parts of the 1 Enoch like 1 En 6:7–8, 1 En 61:10 etc., to articulate the spirit world language are beleaguered with criticisms on account of their dates. Their pre-Christian status is often not guaranteed by the dates they are said to have been compiled. As such Christian/post-Christian interpolations are suspect. ”The origin of these names is unclear; … The dictionaries and the commentators refer regularly to a few J­ ewish apocrypha (pseudepigragha), but it seems that the passages cited are Christian ­interpolations which depend on Paul rather that the other way round.”167 Despite the controversies concerning the dates, Forbes (79) presents a number of other intertestamental writings and the various terms they employ, indicating the special character of these writings in giving names to, and personifying the angelic/demonic categories. Over and above his agreeing with M. Black about the unequivocally pre-Christian status of the use of evxousi,ai in 2 Mac 3:24 o` tw/n pneuma,twn kai. pa,shj evxousi,aj duna,sthj, a use that is seen to be another form

165 R. Murray would readily answer this in the affirmative. According to him, the Hebrew root ry# meaning to protect, is related to Aramaic ry# usually rendered as Watcher but understood in the sense of Guardian. Cf. D.D. Hannah, “Guardian Angels and Angelic National Patrons in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity”, in: F.V. Reiterer et al. (ed.), 2007, 413–435 (416). 166 Cf. P. Benoit, “Pauline Angelology and Demonology – Reflexions on the Designations of the Heavenly Powers and on the Origin of Angelic Evil according to Paul”, in: Religious Studies Bulletin 3.1 (1983), 1–18 (8 and 10). 167 Cf. P. Benoit, ibid., 6; see also C. Forbes, “Pauline Principalities and Powers: Demythologizing Apocalyptic?”, in JNST 82 (2001) 61–88(74–78).

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of the expression of the Hebrew twabc hwhy – “Lord of Hosts”, Forbes sees in the ­Testament of Abraham 13:10 the “only one probably pre-Pauline usage (…) of these terms as descriptions of spiritual beings in the intertestamental literature.”168 C. Berner notes another major importance of 1 Enoch, especially its earliest and undisputedly oldest chapters. It introduced in the speculations about the angels’ hierarchy-defining differentiations, the context in which not only the concept of a group of supreme angels – archangels – was born, but also their being given names. The most prominent of them are Michael, Gabriel and Raphael. The watchers and holy ones (four in 1En 9:1; and seven in 1 En 20:1–8) become in Daniel the “chief princes”(Dan 10.13,21), rendered in LXX as o`i a;rcontej oi` prw/toi - the rulers of the princes, and in later times at the influence of the Greek translation of 1 En 20:8 as avrca,ggeloj. The numbering of the angelic hierarchy as four is seen to have some biblical background in the four four-faced creatures of Ez 1, the basic idea ­behind which is the illustration of the spatial dimension of the universe under God’s control – North, South, East and West. The numbering with seven is thought, on the other hand, as having been influenced by the ANE/Iranian traditions about seven supernatural beings. From the 1 En to other Jewish sources of the Second Temple period onwards the place of archangels and angels with their individual and group profiles as supernatural agents in the history of salvation became solidly established.169 Emphasis or not became a matter of theological positions, positions whose diversities and details are often on the borders of incredulity. In the immensely flourishing speculations of the times the motif of the fall of the angels was variedly proliferated and enlarged, culminating in demonology at the emergence of the evil spirits manafesta ’ekuyana. The angels became increasingly associated with evil as in the case of Asael/Azazel teaching human forbidden arts (1 En 10:4ff etc.). In 1 En 12–16 the consequence of the sexual relationship

168 Ibid., 80. The text in question runs thus: “And Death said to Abraham, ‘I tell you, in all creation which God created, there is not to be found one (like you). For he searched among the angels and archangels, the principalities and powers, as well as thrones (evn toi.j a;ggeloij kai, avrcagge,loij kai, evxousi,aij qro,noij) and upon all the earth… and he did not find one like you.” Forbes’ conclusions, based, according to him, on the metaphorical hypostatization of death, are rather controversial given the equivocal nature of such metaphorical hypostatization. It is always difficult to different between the use of such personifications merely as figure of speech and as an expression of belief in a personal being. Cf. C. Gunton, in: C. Forbes, ibid., 73. 169 Cf. C. Berner, “The Four (or Seven) Archangels in the First Book of Enoch and Early Jewish Writings of the Secong Temple Period”, in: F.V. Reiterer et al. (ed.), 2007, 395–411.

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between the descended angels and women – the evil spirit that emerge from their slain bodies – are presented. “And evil spirits came out from their flesh because from above they were created; from the holy Watchers was their origin and first foundations. Evil spirits they will be on the earth, and spirits of the evil ones they will be called.” (1 En 15:9) We begin to learn of God’s response to the rebellion of the angels, of their punishment in the forms of banishment from heaven, confinement in “hell”, condemnation to infernal realm, and of the angelic administrators of punishment in the netherworld,170 issues that will be variedly received in subsequent religious history among which is the Rabbinic Literature.

1.2.6 Rabbinical Literature The continued existence of a religion is ensured by the ability to hand it on. That is the ministry of teaching, the ministry that lies behind the rabbinic experience in Israelite religion. The name itself is a derivative of the word rabbi – “my master”, in the sense of one’s teacher. The development of the ancient Israelite religion into Judaism, this post-exilic development that was born under the leadership of Ezra, this unique teacher and expounder of the Torah (Ezra 7:6), could double also as the remote beginnings of Rabbinism in the form of the Scribes. Following in his footsteps, the Rabbis, understanding themselves as the successors of the prophets, saw their responsibility in the continued patronage of the Oral Law traditions that had sustained them through the exile experiences. The compilation and codification of these oral traditions, the Mishnah, undertaken by Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi about the 2nd century AD marked the formal establishment of the rabbinical literature. With its halachic (legal) and haggadic (moral and spiritual reflections, practical counsels, metaphysical speculations etc.) sections, Mishnah became a standard document of study for the Jews. Both the Mishnah and commentaries on it ­(Gemarah) constitute the Jewish Talmud. The Talmud, (from the Hebrew root dml learn, learning, teaching) though not being the only compilation of rabbinic thought, may go as the umbrella name for the rabbinical literature. There are also the Midrashim, the later commentaries on biblical passages. As may be expected of

170 Cf. K.C. Bautch, “Heavenly Beings Brought Low: A Study of Angels and the ­Netherworld”, in: F.V. Reiterer et al. (eds.), 2007, 459–475. The author fielding the various occurrences of these motifs in the various Books of Enoch suggests the texts of Is 14:12–21; 24:21–23, where descriptions of celestial beings are presented, as precursors of the accounts we have in the Bible and other intertestamental writings in its influence. See also J. Dochhorn, “The Motif of the Angel’s Fall in Early Judaism”, in: F.V. Reiterer et al. (eds.), 2007, 477–495.

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such a mass of collections, a characteristic of the Talmud is the divergent opinions and occasional contrast of rabbinic statements it contains. These often lead to uncertainties and hinder its earned appreciation even when its authority was regarded as supreme.171 The spirit world views of the rabbinical literature, belonging to the area of the metaphysical speculations in the Haggadah, rare as they were in the Mishnah, are often encountered in the Babylonian Talmud and classical Midrashim. As such these views constitute a continuity as well as development of the angelological and demonological traditions, believed to have introduced in order to overcome anthropomorphic references to God on the one hand, and on the other hand, to protect monotheism. B. Rebiger’s172 rich summary of rabbinical angelology sees angels as integral part of rabbinic midrashic stories and exegetical interpretations. They are presented as having active roles in divine and human actions. Even while maintaining that “wherever the angel appears the Shekina appears”(ShemR 32:9), the Rabbis hold to the superiority of man over the angels as delivered in a statement found in the Tosefta, “At the end of the days the righteous will rank above the angels and the angels will learn the mysteries of the kingdom from the righteous.”(tShab 6:1; ShemR 20:10 etc.) Rabbinic literature presents very intricate details about angels that sometimes seem ridiculous and apparently contradictory. It claimed to know when angels were created and how long they lived, their moral and physical nature, abilities and desires, numbers and classifications (Rebiger 631ff). On the functions and purposes of the angels rabbinic literature assigns them the heavenly liturgy and intercessory roles for humans, as well as responsibility for aspects of nature. As it were, this latter is understood as a transformation of the older mythological concepts into angelological systems. Archangels (following the categories in 1 En) did assist in creation and in the giving of the Law. Angels intercede for, and guard individual human beings as well as nations - a furtherance of guardian angels and angel of nations’ concepts. In rabbinic literature we are presented with innumerable proper names of angels, often derived from the purpose of the angel. 171 Cf. J.M. Oesterreicher, “Judaism”, in: NCE 8 (2003), 2–14. The foundations laid by Rabbi Judah Ha-Nasi continued into the following Millenium, encompassing the various critical stages of Israelite history like the destruction of the Second Temple in 70 AD and Jerusalem itself in 66 AD. A difference is made between the Palestinian and Babylonian Talmud. It is apparent that the circumstances of their compilations influenced them. 172 Cf. B. Rebiger, “Angels in Rabbinic Literature”, in: F.V. Reiterer et al. (ed.), 2007, 629–644. The cited texts from rabbinic literature are taken from this essay.

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Some names are, however, acknowledged to have been “brought along from the Babylonian exile”(Rebiger 637). An angel name unique to the rabbinic literature, however, is Metatron (bSAn38b), the prince of the divine face, a name said to be sharing the same Gematria with Shaddai, Gods epithet. Interestingly, it is to this angel that Enoch is transformed (Rebiger 639). Rabbinic literature engaged itself also with the issue of evil. G. Stemberger173 (637) maintains that though we have few evidences on this in classical rabbinic literature, Babylonian Talmud, thanks to its multi-religious Mesopotamian heritage, offers a number of evidences. From the two major classifications of angels angel of life and angel of destruction (of death) - rabbinic literature knew of two prominent wicked angels – Satan and Samael – (sometimes interchanged with each other with Samael being more popular) as being the angel(s) of death. The traditional function of being the adversary and accuser of Israel in the heavenly court (SchemR 18:5), and of human beings in general, of transgressions against the Law, is assigned them. This is a further development of the Mastema tradition (Jub 17:16ff). Taking-off from the traditional motif of the fall of angels the Babylonian Talmud, a number of later midrashic literatures give personal details about Samael’s intervention attempts in the history of salvation. Its earliest occurrence in rabbinic literature is his link to the Abraham-Isaac story. There he is portrayed as having unsuccessfully attempted to stop A ­ braham from obeying God’s instruction to offer Isaac (56:4). Further spread of the S­ amael tradition in much later texts like those of Pirqe deRabbi Eliezer (PRE) see him as being the greatest heavenly prince, who by his revolt partnered with the serpent (PRE 14:3; 27:1). Riding on the serpent Samael seduces Eve and becomes the father of Cain (PRE 13:12; PRE 21:1). In PRE 22 we learn that the promiscuous daughters of Cain were the women who seduced the angels and begot the generation of rebels. Curiously interesting as these details are, it is, however, ­important to note that majority of them are but of much later developments. The colouration which the political situations of the Jews at the time made to such 173 Cf. G. Stemberger, „Samael und Uzza. Zur Rolle der Dämonen im späten Midrasch“, in: F.V. Reiterer et al. (ed.), 2007, 636–661. The author gives an interesting account about the evolution of the name Samael as the personal name of the angel of death and subsequently as the name of the angel prince of Rome (Edom) according to the later rabbinic texts. The association such characterization has with the experiences of the Jews in the hands of the Romans as background motif may not be difficult to decipher. Also interesting is the probable evolution of the name Samael as angel of death from samale,on – “sign-giving” in the rabbinic text on the death of Moses (SifDev §357), showing how a personal name is made out of an action. (647)

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developments cannot be overemphasized. It manifested some form of basic shift from the apocalyptic backgrounds, a development which, according to M. Mach, became a characteristic of rabbinic literature.174

1.3 Overview – the Cosmic orientations The examination of the traditions that lie at the background of the contents of “Pauline” spirit world saw us appreciating the mythopoeic views of the ANE peoples, thought to constitute the “cradles of civilization”. Confronting in their own way their perception of the situation of man as delivered to the untamed forces of nature, they evolved a world view seeking to integrate man in these systems. R. Schwindt would argue that the ANE peoples have no one world view but many world views, agreeing, however, that there are common features decipherable from all of them. A radical dichotomy between the world and the gods, the physic and religion was strange to them. The whole cosmos was viewed as a unit. Their cosmology was their cosmogony, theogony, and eventually theology. This intermingling of cosmology and theology corresponds to a constitutive walking together of mythos and logos in speaking about being and the world. The mythical way of thinking assists an articulation of an understanding of the world that would have been impossible to grasp in the ordinary daily living, given its pure profane and mechanical ways… The ANE man sees himself embedded in a nature that is filled through and through with living, self-willed powers. In his experience of these powers, he is torn between being passively impressed and judging from some distance of curiosity. As a result, the boundaries between religious conviction, fear-motivated superstition and empirical science flow into each other.175

This was the world view in which whatever exists was seen to be animated, the animation that saw peoples of the time divinize their various experiences of the cosmos, nature and its ‘monstrous’ phenomena. This constitutes the beginnings of what we have given the term cosmic orientation, what the various stages of the history of religion and theological orientations grappled with in their different ways. The various stages of divinization that saw the sky, the celestial bodies, weather etc. as gods, in the face of apparent human powerlessness over them, is summarized in the fact of star (*) being the 174 Cf. M. Mach, 1992, 300ff. The author sees an example of such development in such characters as Josephus Flavius whose angelology was not only directed by his biography but also presents a distancing from the apocalyptic literature and pattern of thought. The spirit world as in angels and demons as the case may be became more clearly politically instrumentalised. 175 Cf. R. Schwindt, 2002, 136.

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earliest cuneiform sign for god (F.C. Grant, 809–810). It stood not just for the particular phenomenon star, but as representative of the celestial bodies. Thus was born the characterisation of ANE religions and religious tendencies as astral religion, the religion of star worship. Though the classic development of this religious practice is localized in ancient Babylon, most ancient peoples had their various adaptations of these identifications. ”People in a variety of areas of the world… worshipped the stars. Often the sun was the chief god of the pantheon and the other heavenly bodies were his family of servants. This primeval cult not only influenced many others, both Semitic and Western as well as Egyptian… In pre-Islamic Arabia there was a whole pantheon of astral deities; astral rites and beliefs were found in China, so widespread was this primitive cult. Among the Indo-Iranian peoples the same phenomenon was found, but in a modified form. The “Heaven God” (or gods) was only the personification of heaven – a usage still reflected, in reverse, in the Jewish religion…”176 With the divinization of the celestial bodies, and the compulsion with which these gods were understood to be running the affairs of the universe, as evidenced for instance in their observation of the regularity of natural occurrences, stars/ gods were understood as fates, and fates rule the world – fata regerunt orbem, certa stant omnia lege! The pre-occupation was naturally to seek some control of, or harmony with these fates. The result was the proliferation of magic on the one hand, and the continued propagation of astral dependence. As numerous as the stars, so numerous were the gods. Polytheism was the order of the day. The transposing of earthly hierarchy unto those spheres brought about the classification of the gods into higher and lower with the consequence that the lower were often understood as “service providers”, agents of communication between the two spheres of existence – the heavenly and the earthly. That became the origin of messenger or angel phenomenon. The combination with the Iranian influence especially the Zoroastrian dualism, founded the provisions for the beneficent (angelic) and malevolent (demonic) stellar beings,177 a development that became variedly appreciated in the subsequent history of religions. 176 Cf. F.C. Grant, “Astral Religion”, in: NCE 1 (2003), 809–810 (810). The reversed form in Jewish religion would refer to the Jewish understanding of heaven as the abode of God, where he has his throne, as opposed to the understanding of heaven as personification of God. 177 Cf. ibid. The argument is by no means that angelic is automatically synonymous with beneficence. Subsequent developments show reference to angels that were perceived to be malevolent. A similar development is also applicable to the use that came to be made of the word demonic that see it automatically connoting the negative.

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The above mentioned influence of the primeval cult among the Semitic peoples as represented by the Hebrews and their religious uniqueness evidences a further development of the trend. From the traditions it shared with other Semitic peoples to its appropriation of Elohim as the identification of its God, Israel singled itself out by their introduction of the One God Yahweh religion. Israel’s road to this development no doubt crossed the paths of the astral religious patrimony. One of the most eloquent evidence of this would be one of the appellations of Israel’s God as tAab’c. hw”hy> %l,Mh, ; Yahweh the king of hosts (Is 6:5), with the hosts here referring to the deified/angelicized celestial bodies, now made subordinates of Yahweh, at his beck and call. Related imageries and concepts are imbedded in the various strata of the Hebrew Scripture. One of the persistent “wars” Israelite religion had to keep fighting was the insistence on the single divinity of its God and the loyalty of worship he, and only he is deserves. It constantly reminded itself of the idolatrous nature of the astral religions of its neighbours. It may be little wonder that the very first commandments of its Torah rests on this thought. Deut 4:19a puts it clearly: “And when you look up to the heavens and see the sun, the moon, and the stars, all the host of heaven, do not be led astray and bow down to them and serve them…”(RSV) The insistence on radical monotheism in Israelite religion as evidenced in the OT made even more plausible the place of the messenger-angel phenomenon. The theological motifs – for or against anthropomorphic expressions about God, the theodicy question etc., - played out in the phenomenon. It came to be characterized as the Jewish religio-political response to proliferate polytheism of the neighbouring peoples, as buttressed for instance in the Völkerengel phenomenon. The gods of the other nations became merely spirits (angels) subordinate to Yahweh, when not outrightly demonized. They were the stars that controlled the fate of the nations over which they were in charge. The OT biblical tradition sought to keep the messenger-angel phenomenon merely on the functional level devoid of every personification. However, the mental attitude that founded the apocalyptic trends, as well as the experiences from the exile, afforded the cosmic orientations a re-birth. This re-birth found superlative expressions in the Jewish extra-biblical literature. A typical example remains 1 Enoch. D.W Bousset sees the astral (cosmic) orientation confirmed in Judaism in the name of the very first Book of 1 Enoch, the Book of Watchers. He seems to suggest that the name was inspired/derived from the activity of the celestial body – star, and then appropriated to more firmly propagate the belief in angels.178 An incredible development of the

178 The intellectualisation took form when the stars, these divinized heavenly bodies, ­became imbued with life and were understood as watchers (those who do not sleep).

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Engelgestalten/-vorstellung is credited to these trends. The height of such expressions, which include the personification of the angel(s), is the connection made of the angels and the stars, as in 1 En 18:13–16; 21:3–6 where reference is made to the stars as going to be punished for having disobeyed God’s orders. Though traceable to some biblical foundations as in ~yImuvh abc (Ps 148, Job 38), the extensions these expressions witnessed in these writings remain unprecedented. The angels as stars became not only part of the divine doxa, but the desirable goal for the righteous (Dan 12:3), as exemplified in Enoch (who is said to have been transformed into the angel Metraton) and in his visions.179 The intellectualization of inherited astral religion in the Graeco-Roman180 world, an intellectualization that began with classical Greek philosophy through to the Hellenistic legacies,181 gave birth to astrology.182 Astral religion as ancient Babylonian patrimony, spreading to the West through the centuries of Persian

179

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181 182

They then became thought of angels. One only needs to look at the sky in the darkness of the night to appreciate the import of these imageries. Cf. D.W. Bousset, 1903, 316. Cf. M. Mach, 1992, 163–184. The issues of the different functions assigned to the angels, including the management of the planetary processes, are also to be born in mind. Such apocalyptic imageries that referred to “the fallen angels” as “the fallen stars” are recalled to mind. Interestingly too, that the highly influential 1 Enoch busied itself with astronomy in parts of its earliest chapters (17–19, 33–36) before chapters 72–89 were singled out as Astronomical Book, is indicative of Jewish interests in the cosmic orientations. Considered as part of the oldest part of the Enoch Book, it is interesting too to note that it is an angel Uriel, the leader of heavenly bodies, that is responsible for Enoch’s astronomical visions. See also D.W. Bousset, 1903, 317. The height of the Graeco-Roman connection is the imperial cult and related ideology, especially regarding calendar and the astrological influences. J.K. Hardin re-draws our attention back to the often neglected influence of this phenomenon in the study of the socio-religious context of the NT in general, and the regions of Pauline ministries in particular. Cf. idem, 2008, 24–48. Cf. E. Schweizer, „sw/ma“, in: ThWNT 7 (1964), 1035–1036. Difference is often made between astrology and astronomy. The latter refers to the scientific study of the celestial bodies, their evolution and laws, and as such a later development. The former, also regarded as ‘false science’ is more on the magical direction, purporting to provide information about events on earth and individual’s fate, from the positions or forms of the celestial bodies. The background thought is that these celestial bodies are so powerful that they influence earthly occurrences and determine the course of the cosmos. In the ancient times that we are considering here, such sharp differences were not made. Astrology was understood to be both, featuring a mixture of astronomy, mysticism and numerology. Cf. P. Beskow, „Astrologie. 1.“, in: TRE 4 (1979), 227–280; R. Schwindt, 2002, 246–261.

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Empire (538–330 BC), mingled with the intellectual developments afforded by Hellenism and opened the frontiers of most cultures of the time to the influence of astrology. The undisputable evidence of the influence of astral religion is the naming of the planets after the gods, both among the ancient Babylonians and in the Graeco-Roman world. Apart from the vocabularies it supplied for the transmission of the religious concepts of other religions as seen in the case of the Septuagint, the rapid spread of astralism, a development of the Chaldean astrological lore, became a special characteristic of the Hellenistic world. Its influence in Jewish thought was strongly conditioned by such cosmic philosophical and religious orientation that sees a connexion between 1 Enoch and Poseidonius (ca. 135–51 BCE). In the latter, Greek philosophy and oriental mysticism found a union, evolving a great system of science and astral religion in which heaven and earth, human beings, gods and demons are assigned roles.183 G.H.C MacGregor sees the sweeping influence of cosmic orientation through the Hellenistic world as founded in the collapse of the popular anthropomorphic religion, a collapse which left the mind-set that all things are determined by fate and its cosmic mechanism as the only alternative. Having become understood as: …the scientific theology of waning heathenism…The old rejected gods reappear as astral deities. The seven planets are enthroned as kosmokratores or ‘potentates of this world’ and arbiters of human fate… By a simple enough psychological process the stars which determined fate appeared to be hostile more often than kindly, so that religious man became absorbed in nothing quite so much as devising means of escape from the prison-house of the stars.184

Though the astral and cosmic concepts are considered Hellenistic, their Jewish parallel or reception in the notion that all things have their proper angels and spirits is not far-fetched. D.W. Bousset presents us with such parallels in Jewish angelology. Of major importance, however, is the surfacing of the notion of elemental spirits, a popular concept in Pauline theology. It is not only in the equation of the angels with the celestial bodies that some connection with the old belief is to be observed. The belief in angels is linked with an older popular belief: the notion about elemental spirits. The small and smallest spirits, that are operational everywhere, according to the die-hard popular belief…, wherever something

183 Cf. W.W. Tarn, Hellenistic Civilisation, cited by G.H.C MacGregor, “Principalities and Powers: The Cosmic Background of Paul’s Thought”, in: NTS 1 (1954–1955), 17–28 (20). 184 Cf. ibid.

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extra-ordinary, inexplicable happens, become for the Jewish people angels. It is in this sense that the angels become virtually characterized as ‘stoichea’… With the phrase ‘weak and beggarly’ elements of the world (Gal 4:3,9), Paul may have probably thought of such elemental spirits (or celestial bodies’ spirits).185

On a similar note, O. Böcher notes that, The New Testament has very certain traces of the Greek cosmological concepts regarding the four elements…; there the New Testament literature does not differentiate itself from similar thoughts in ancient Judaism…, that the elements are the dwelling place, vehicle and attribute of both good and bad, higher and lower numina.186

This and the thriving magical practices that sought to provide succour constituted the religious background and atmosphere of the Hellenistic world in general, and particularly of the pagan audience of Pauline messages. Little wonder then his cluster of terms and choice of words in appreciating these cosmic orientations. While walking along such terms that were familiar to his audience, he re-filled with new meanings in order to address the good news to such audience. An examination of the Pauline perspectives with regard to concepts and terms of these cosmic orientations would necessarily need to be undertaken in the further pursuit of the task of understanding the so-called “Pauline” spirit world.

185 Cf. D.W. Bousset, 1903, 317. Translation is mine. 186 Cf. O. Böcher, 1972(1), 22. Translation is mine.

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Chapter Two: Pauline Cosmic Theology 2.0 Cosmic Theology A person’s perception of the world, with all the influences that contribute to, and condition it, determines to a great extent, if not definitively, one’s understanding, interpretation of, and relation to it. Man has almost always perceived himself as a being whose origin must be sought outside of himself. The term “creature” captures this self-understanding of man. It makes necessarily inevitable the place of a creator – God –, from, and to whom creation and creatures have their origin and goal. Man’s bid to understand himself and his world has its centre and goal in the relationship to this being. Theology, as the science that is about God, talks about God in His relation to the world, to the cosmos, so that theology and cosmology become closely related. The history of religions perspectives, especially as seen in the Homer-Hesiod attempts, and subsequently buttressed by philosophical developments that ensued, evidenced the beginnings of the ‘theologisation of myths’187 and subsequently, the “theologisation” of the cosmos or cosmic understandings. A comparison of their various understandings of the cosmos had theological implications especially with the dualism of the dichotomy of spheres – heaven, earth and the vacuous in-between that needed to be responded to.188 It is this development, which central point became that “God be all in all”, that we refer to here as cosmic theology. From this perspective, a cosmological trend would be decipherable in Pauline thought as well. This we term his cosmic theology.

2.1.0 Pauline cosmic theology In some circles, however, it is argued whether one may rightly talk of “Pauline Theology” in this regard since what we have is more or less the interpretations of the ‘propositional contents’ of his positions in, for instance, cosmology, anthropology, ethics, etc. as read from his letters.189 Though the proof of the theology 187 Cf. W. Jäger, 1953, 23. 188 Cf. G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 17–58; see also R. Schwindt, 2002, 4. 189 R. Jewett represents this position as seen in his Commentary on Romans when he writes for instance, “While older commentaries and even some published recently view Romans ‘primarily as a repository of theology’. This comment follows the lead of recent developments that view the letter as a work of Christian rhetoric, aiming to persuade”. Cf. R. Jewett, Romans: A Commentary. 2007; cited by O. Wischmeyer, „Kosmos und Kosmologie bei Paulus“, in: P. Gemeindhardt et al. (Hg.), 2010, 87–101 (88).

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quality of the so-called Pauline ‘propositional contents’ is outside our direct interest here, we may not help observing some initial problems in Jewett’s position. Among other things, Jewett’s reference to Romans as a ‘work of Christian rhetoric aiming to persuade’ could be understood as questioning Pauline authorship of Romans. Right as Jewett may be to take whatever position, it would amount to being a uniquely bizarre one given established common opinion in researches on Romans, particularly regarding authorship. He seems also to be tacitly insinuating a general hermeneutic of suspicion over rhetoric as a means of communicating the Christian message. In the circumstance and the stage of development in which the young Christian movement found itself, persuasion was not only of utmost importance for its message and mission, Paul showed himself a master in it. Undoubtedly, the means with which a message is communicated is important. But the truth of the message and its power are most important. If Paul’s use of rhetoric in his other letters is not fraught with similar suspicion, and there is absolutely no reason for it, why would the letter to the Romans become singled out as such? T. EngbergPedersen while recognizing the need that difference be made between the mere presentation of Pauline thoughts and the working-out of a ‘theology’ from them, a dichotomy that he himself sought to overcome, sees interdependence between the areas of Pauline thought and his cosmology.190 A quest into Pauline cosmology or cosmic theology, as the case may be, beginning with his understanding and use of the term “Cosmos”, sees it as founded in the contemporary understanding in Hellenistic Judaism. Earlier views that sought to establish Pauline cosmology as distanced from those of his Hellenistic-Jewish contemporaries were seen to be inadequate and needful of correction, an undertaking Wischmeyer himself took up. Having earlier being of the view that Paul turned away from the meaning of cosmos he had inherited from Hellenistic Judaism and its roots in Greek philosophical programmes, she (Wischmeyer) moves to give this earlier view a critical reconsideration.191 The result of such re-investigation into the contents of Paul’s cosmological language saw the views of the contemporaneous Hellenistic-Judaism192 in these regards, as centrally influenced by the cosmological 190 Cf. O. Wischmeyer, op. cit. 191 Cf. O. Wischmeyer, op. cit. 89. 192 Hellenistic-Judaism in this regard would circle around the person of Philo of ­Alexandria (c.20 BC-AD 50) as its most important representative. He undertook, among others, for instance, and despite ambivalences, the hermeneutical endeavour of receiving Hellenistic cosmological and thought categories, and working out a creation theology that seeks to be faithful to both the Genesis (Jewish) traditions on

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positions of the Stoics, even when the pre-Socratics and especially Plato had pioneered, shared and highlighted similar views in their peculiar ways. The pre-Socratic dimensions, running through the propositions of the ­Milesian philosophers that the material universe is an organized structure characterized by regularity, equilibrium and order,193 may be seen to be articulated in the Anaxagorean phrase pa,nta evn pa/sin,194 a phrase Plato would take up to work out his cosmology. In Plato’s cosmological treatise Timaeus the Anaxagorean ‘All in everything’ would be seen to play out in his view that there is a corresponding relationship between the universe and the human world, ­between the ideal and the real worlds (Tim. 29a, 29c), having initially given the cosmos (with its elements) some perceivable, bodily structure soma as a living being (Tim. 30cd, 50b). One of Plato’s most significant points of departure, however, is his insistence that this relationship is not the product of chance but that it is ordered by, and oriented to the Good, the divine intelligence, the father of the universe pate,ra tou/ panto,i (28c, 37c).195

2.1.1 The Stoic foundation196 The now established notion of cosmos as the material world and the elements operational in it became a basic term for the Stoics, this popular school of philosophy whose influence lasted into the middle ages, and is associated with great historical personalities. According to Diogenes Laertius (7.137), in Stoic physics/cosmology, which also doubles as some form of theology, the word cosmos was used in three ways: i) for god himself, also referred to as ‘nature’, ‘reason’, ‘soul’, ‘mind’, the unique indestructible and ingenerable individual, consisting of all substance, the

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194 195 196

the one hand, responsive to, and receptive of the contemporary intellectual environment of the times, on the other. Cf. C.A. Anderson, 2011, 37–154. Cf. E. Adams, 2000, 44ff. The author traces the various usages and meaning of the word “Cosmos” among the Greeks, establishing that the popular understanding of the word as “world/universe” as an ordered structure is credited to the philosophers, Pythagoras first, and then Empedocles definitively. G.H. van Kooten, citing a number of fragments accounts for this Anaxagorean phrase as the hub of his physics. Cf. idem, 2003, 104–106. Cf. O. Wischmeyer, in: P. Gemeindhardt et al. (Hg.), 2010, 90. Providing what may be considered a succinct summary of Stoicism as a philosophy that sought to provide a true and coherent picture of the human world through its various parts - logic and epistemology, ontology and natural, ethics and politics, Engberg-Pedersen is convinced of the influence of this school of thought on Pauline thought. Cf. T. Engberg-Pedersen, 2000, 33–79 (78–79).

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manufacturer of world-order; ii) for the world-order itself; iii) for the combination of god and the world-order. In this Stoic monism, god is both immanent in the substance of the world as well as its ordering principle. Man was perceived as a world of his own albeit, a ‘microcosm’ linked through the human mind to the ‘macrocosm’, the cosmic mind. The cosmic pneuma, the sustaining principle of the universe, permeates everything that exists, integrating it into the whole, both as to, o[lon (cosmos) and as to pan (the cosmos and the infinite void).197 One sees in this permeation and integration into the whole/all the reoccurrence of the Anaxagorean pa,nta evn pa/sin. Van Kooten would then note that, It is far more likely that this axiom was understood as a brief outline of Stoic physics, in particular because ‘all in everything’ is identified with God. In Stoic physics, it is believed that God is absolutely identical with the ‘all’ when, after the conflagration of the cosmos, the entire substance of the cosmic body is absorbed by God and becomes one with his commanding faculty.198

Appreciably innovative as the Stoic physics may have been, the issues of the macro-/microcosmic relation between the human and the external world, the conflagration of the cosmos and the absorption into the ‘all’, this rational order that determines all events, opened it to a determinism with consequences for life in general, and ethics in particular. For the Stoics, according to Adams E., the cosmos “…is governed by a fate according to which all events are determined. Nothing happens which has not been determined by the universal plan… Every event in a person’s life is fixed, and no one can stand in the way of providence… people cannot resist their destinies…”199 The close relationship between this understanding of fate as expounded by the Stoics and the divinized and fatalized cosmic elements of the astral religious orientations, as discussed in the previous chapter, is very obvious. It goes back to some identification with the personified and deified experience of the inexplicable coincidence/chance-occurrence in human life, articulated in the ancient Italian (Roman) goddess Fortuna that is often identified with the ancient Greek goddess Tyche. To this feminine principle of cosmic rule, the capricious and superhuman factor, is attributed the source and cause of the human

197 Cf. E. Adams, 2000, 53–55. With the introduction of the differentiation between cosmos as to. o[lon “the whole”, and to, pan (the cosmos and the infinite void), one may talk of four instead of three uses of word cosmos by the Stoics, as earlier articulated by E. Adams. 198 G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 107. 199 Cf. E. Adams, 2000, 57–58.

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experience of high and low, luck and misfortune.200 A wide-spread worship of the personified Fortune is recorded to have been in practice by the 3rd century B.C., with Pliny noting, in the 1st century AD, how delivered the human existence is to the mercy of Chance. The universal recognition of Fortune’s effect is often viewed as the final stage in the secularization of Hellenistic religion, in which, as Pliny notes, the personification of the unpredictable and the unexplained ‘takes the place of God’. But she has also been described as the most important deity of the Hellenistic era because of her universal souvereignity over mortals and immortals alike.201

The pervasive extent of the influence of Stoicism in the Hellenistic world of the time202 and the enlightenment it was supposed to afford, which inadequacy these cross-roads (summarized in the embodiment of the uncontrollably negative and positive in Tyche) reveal, made the situation more problematic. The socio-­religious circumstance of Hellenism in the turn of the first millennium is understood as being one in which people, beleaguered by the capriciousness of Tyche, were ‘imprisoned’ in their perceived destinies. The dare need for salvation, both on cosmic and personal levels, as captured in Apuleius’ imagery of Lucius as a wandering ass,203 would provide a fertile ground for the gospel of the talented apostle of the gentile, Paul. MacGregor is convinced that the bondage to such superstition lay at the background of the religious experience of the gentile audience of Paul’s message. Little wonder Paul’s message deliberately addresses that background. According to him, The idea of ‘cosmic salvation’ is difficult for us to grasp; but for Paul’s contemporaries the solidarity between man and the physical universe was axiomatic. Man himself is a

200 Cf. I. Kajanto, „Fortuna”, in: RAC 8 (1972), 182–197. The author notes that of the various representations of this goddess, who was definitely unknown in the Homeric cosmogony, her fundamental characteristics remain capriciousness and unreliability. Although her cultic symbols include cornucopia, scepter and globe, indicating that she was regarded as the giver of material wealth and the queen of human fate, in literature her commonest symbol is the wheel, to depict her ardent rotatory unpredictability. She is also often presented as blind to depict the fact that she has neither regard for merit nor for ranks, what leads to the understanding that human beings are like marionettes in her hands, toys for her plays. The popularization of the belief in the superiority of Fortuna to all spirits is credited, by the author, especially to Stoicism. See also H.D. Betz, 1986, xlvii. 201 Cf. L.H. Martin, 1987, 22. 202 T. Engberg-Pedersen attests to the predominance of its (Stoic) cynic versions in the Mediterranean regions during the first two centuries BCE. Cf. idem, 2000, 78. 203 Cf. L.H. Martin, 1987, 23–24.

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microcosm of the macrocosm; or in Poseidonian language, ‘the world is a great man, and man a little world’; and between the two are mysterious ‘correspondences’, so that man’s fate is controlled by the cosmic powers, and his destiny as irrevocably fixed as are the orbits of their stars. Never did any age yearn more eagerly for swthri,a and salvation presented itself first and foremost as disentanglement from the malign influence of these astral powers, from the wheel of cosmic necessity to which man imagined himself to be bound, from slavery to those demonic kosmokrates whose final defeat by Christ the Apostle now proclaimed.204

This succinct articulation of the Hellenistic socio-religious circumstance as well as Paul’s ‘point of entrance’ ushers us into the examination of the Pauline cosmic approaches.

2.2 Pauline cosmic orientations – issues of plurality of Powers/elements of the world That Paul would not be characterized as a cosmologist is very obvious. He was basically a witness to Christ, who made a unique use of letter writing as a means of communicating his witness, and winning men and women for the course of the gospel he preached. This eventually became worked-out as Corpus Paulinum to give orientation both to the immediately intended audience and also to posterity.205 However, a look through his letters, irrespective of their various situational determinations, reveals linguistic and thematic links with the field of cosmology. T. Engberg-Pedersen would often refer to Pauline thoughts as theological cum cosmological, anthropological and ethical since …in Paul there are ideas about God and Christ and how the world is put together in time and space. These we may call broadly ‘theological’ or ‘religious’ and ‘cosmological’. There are also ideas about how human beings relate to God, Christ and the world, cosmologically understood; and ideas about how they relate to other human beings in and outside the group of Christ-believers. These ideas we may broadly call ‘anthropological’ and the latter group more especially ‘ethical’.206

204 Cf. G.H.C. MacGregor, “Principalities and Powers: The Cosmic Background of Paul’s Thought”, in: NTS 1 (1954–1955), 17–28(25). 205 Cf. A. Sand, „Überlieferung und Sammlung der Paulusbriefe“, in: K. Kertelge, (Hg.), 1981, 11–24; see also M. Gese, 1997, 28–29.. See also U. Schnelle, 2005, 50, 52; I. Broer, 2006, 316–319. 206 Cf. T. Engberg-Pedersen, 2000, 6ff. He sees the overarching connection, the underlying logic that cuts across all these aspects and binds them together as what have come to be called Pauline theology.

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On these grounds J. White207 suggests that an appreciation of Paul’s cosmology can best be done in terms of its narrative flow, i.e. the investigation of Paul’s cosmological innuendos, as sporadic as such occurrences may be in his letters, in his treatment of other issues. An exegetically responsible attention to such panoramic view would not only be monstrous, it is, above all, outside the scope of this work. However, a cursory look at such texts shows Paul’s exposure to the OT, Hellenistic and Mesopotamian cosmologies. Basic to his cosmological understanding was the fundamental truth of OT that God created ‘the heavens and the earth’ #r ~yIm;V’h; (Gen 1:1), this Semitic merismus that communicates the entire universe and serves as a functional equivalent to the Hellenistic ta. pa,nta. From this fundamental position, a number of other tenets of Paul’s cosmological narratives are deductible.208 The most important of them, however, what may be considered the pillar upon which his cosmological understanding builds, is the unique role Paul ­assigns Christ in the creation of the cosmos – “…yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.” (1 Cor 8:6) This is the understanding of Christ as the agent of creation, an understanding behind which lies the early Christians’ and Paul’s adaptation of the Jewish tradition of Divine Wisdom as Image of God (1 Cor 1:24). Paul sees in Christ the perfected image of God (2 Cor4:4; being the divine son of God (2 Cor 4:4; Rom 5:12ff). By means of this radically creative ku,rioj Christology, featuring an ingenious modification of the Jewish Shema (Deut 6:4–9), the distinctive character of Christian monotheism is spelt out, reserving the term qeo,j to God the Father and making out the term ku,rioj for Christ, without suggesting any dual-theism.209 These astonishingly close connections between the Hellenistic ta. pa,nta and the Semitic merism #r ~yIm;V’h;, the Hellenistic lo,goj and Christ’s role as agent of creation show Paul’s mastery of the cosmological expressions of his world,

207 Cf. J. White, “Paul’s Cosmology: The Witness of Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Galatians”, in J.T. Pennington & S.M. McDonough, (ed.), 2008, 90–106. 208 Cf. Ibid., 94–102. 209 Cf. T. Holtz, 1991, 189–204. The author establishing that Paul was not the original author of this “article of faith” of the early Christians (194), notes the originality of Paul as he took it over, built it into his thought pattern and made it a special characteristic of his theological thoughts especially regarding the relationship between Theo-logy and Christology.

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what O. Wischmeyer would refer to as cosmological Koine.210 She further observes that a very clear evidence of Paul being at home with the cosmological expressions of his world would be seen in his presentation of the heavenly constellations with the technical concept sw/ma, thereby casting the mind back to the Hellenistic – Jewish backgrounds. In this regard E. Schweizer’s detailed discussion of the term sw/ma present interesting indices. Contestable as the nature of the original meaning of the word as well as other nuances associated with the basic word may be, Schweizer noted it accommodated extended applications. These include anthropological, cosmological and religious dimensions. Figuring the popular cosmological connotation that the term assumed as originating in the philosophical language of the 5th Century BC, he noted that it referred to the five elements as five bodies, expressing its special characteristic as Body, das einheitliche Ganze the united Whole, the composition to Unity. According to him, What is essential is that sw/ma is often and directly related to the cosmos. Quite long before Plato, language often expressed the consciousness about the relationship ­between the human body and cosmos. Also the view that the cosmos is a living unity, a living being was already had. Shortly before Plato, however, Democritus formulated … his popular saying about human being as a microcosm. If in unreflected statements the cosmos is imagined in the human form, it becomes, the other way round, the case that in philosophical reflection, human beings will be interpreted from the cosmos.211

E. Adams would seem to corroborate this position about Paul’s familiarity with the cosmological terminologies and parlance of the time when he notes the frequency of the use of the very word cosmos by Paul often in conjunction with kti,sij. “A count of the occurrences secures the place of ko,smoj as Paul’s main term for “world” or “universe”: the word appears thirty-seven times in the ­undisputed letters, the highest number of instances in the New Testament outside the Johannine

210 Cf. O. Wischmeyer, in: P. Gemeinhardt et al. (Hg.), 2008, 87–101(98). The testimony of E. Schweizer in this regard is interesting. According to him, in the immediate pre-NT times the notion of the divinity of the cosmos, its identity with God, was doubtlessly already established. Zeus was the all-embracing divinity that enclosed the cosmos in itself, as its head and middle, and the source of all that exists. Cf. E. Schweizer, „sw/ma“, ThWNT 7 (1964) 1036, 5–25. The influences these may have had on Pauline thoughts seem obvious, even as it remains unclear to what extent Paul may have been formally schooled in such thoughts. See also ibid., 1054, 23–27. 211 Cf. E. Schweizer, „sw/ma“, in: ThWNT 7 (1964), 1029,9–15. See also 1025,8; 1027, 21–29; 1028,15–20. Translation is mine.

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literature.”212 Both are, however, clearly in agreement that the uses are all about the enterprise of “world-construction”, aimed at influencing the response of, and giving orientation to the audience to the message, with regard to relating to the world as given. Pauline cosmology, therefore, i.e. his “world-construction”, because of its theological basis and orientation, is a cosmic theology. The theological basis and orientation is Christ. Pauline cosmology is Christology, cosmic Christology. The message of Paul, his gospel, his very being, is Christ, the son of God, with whom it pleased God to grant him (Paul) the encounter of his life (Acts 9:4ff; 26:12ff; 1 Cor 15:8; Gal 1:16). H. Merklein articulates this christological resumee of the content of Pauline proclamations thus: This strict Christological orientation is the particular feature of Pauline “Gospel”, even when its concrete content differs according to context and the particular problem at hand… It is often determined more from traditional Kerygma…, from concepts of apocalyptic-eschatological origins…, or from Pauline teachings of justification.213

As far as Paul was concerned there is no other gospel; there is no other lens with which the world is to be seen and interpreted; and “that he (Paul) may preach him to the gentiles”, became his understanding of his very being and ­vocation (Phil 1:21; Gal 1:1–16). It would be no wonder that Paul’s understanding of the world/universe as God’s creation, as the arena of human life with all its vagaries and cosmic experiences culminates in Christ, the power and wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24); the image of God (2 Cor 4:4); the exalted one at the mention of whose name every knee, in heaven, on earth and under the earth should bend (Phil 2:10), in whom all will live, and under whose feet God has subjected all things (1 Cor 15:22, 27); and “through whom we are freed from the present evil world” (Gal 1:4; 1 Thess 1:10b). In the final analysis, therefore, Pauline cosmology becomes Christology. This is in the sense of the world seen and interpreted in the light of his understanding of Christ. “Quite clearly Paul uses cosmological and apocalyptic semantics and connected imageries in order to express own approach: to present the role of the risen Christ in the language and thought patterns of the apocalyptic and of cosmology.”214 This position evidenced in a number of Pauline texts (three of which we will shortly examine) gives us insight into Paul’s Christological understanding of the world/universe.

212 Cf. E. Adams, 1999, 12. The term appears 21 times in 1 Cor, 9 times in Romans, 3 times each in 2 Corinthians and Galatians, once in Philippians. 213 Cf. H. Merklein, „Paulinische Theologie in der Rezeption des Kolosser- und Epheserbriefes“, in: K. Kertelge, (Hg.), 1981, 28 (footnote 14). Translation is mine. 214 Cf. O. Wischmeyer, in: P. Gemeinhardt et al. (Hg.), 2008, 99. Translation is mine.

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O. Wischmeyer, having seen Rom 1:18–32; 8:18–23; 1 Cor 15:20–55; 2 Cor 5:17–21 as examples of such Pauline texts, took up the task of interpreting 1 Cor 15:35–49 in the light of the cosmological legacies of Timaeus and Philo.215 Her thesis sees Paul as standing in these learned traditions even though he (Paul) aimed at something different – eschatological anthropology. He pursued this aim through instrumentalizing the cosmological terms and imageries. Upon these sampled passages, however, we propose a consideration of the text Rom 8:38–39. We dare to note our surprise at its non-inclusion in Wischmeyer’s list despite its terse cosmological contents. We are wont to argue that in this circumstance, and moreso because of its being Paul’s decisively unique and triumphal proclamation of his faith convictions pe,peismai, the convictions with which he concludes the highly interesting and fully-loaded doctrinal aspect of the letter, that these verses deserve some attention. We would want to investigate their special cosmological quality as a terse summary of Pauline cosmology in the light of the position of the letter to the Romans among Pauline letters. Could it not have been possible it constituted a major influence in the further reception of such thoughts in the post-Pauline generations, particularly in the Ephesian passage (3:10) that we are considering? This link would be seen to be established in the primacy of Christology that is a special characteristic of Eph, even when its Christology would be more of ecclesiology.216

2.2.1 Rom 8:38–39 (in the light of Gal 4:4–5 and 1 Cor 15:12ff)217 38

pe,peismai ga.r o[ti ou;te qa,natoj ou;te zwh. ou;te a;ggeloi ou;te avrcai. ou;te evnestw/ta ou;te me,llonta ou;te duna,meij 39 ou;te u[ywma ou;te ba,qoj ou;te tij kti,sij

215 Cf. ibid., 89,99–100. 216 Cf. H. Merklein, op. cit., in: K. Kertelge, (Hg.), 1981; see also M. Theobald, 2000, 14–15. See also idem, 2001, 432–453. 217 The relationship between these Pauline letters has been succinctly pointed out in the introduction to the Pauline letters in the 2007 special edition of the German version of the New Jerusalem Bible. Cf. A. Deissler et al. (Hg.), 2007, 1615–1617. They are seen as handling very much related themes under different dispositions and circumstances. The themes center on the unique position of Christ in God’s salvation plan. He is the Wisdom of God, over and against the dangers constituted by Hellenistic thoughts of the times. The over-dimensional confidence in these thoughts posed great dangers through the influences they were having on the religious trends of the time. We would identify part of these dangers as inherent in the cosmological views of the period in question, leading to the response Paul would give through these letters in the form of cosmic Christology. See also J.A. Fitzmyer, “Romans, Epistle to the”, in NCE 12 (2003) 340–344 (341); E. Lohse, 1977, 146–150.

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e`te,ra dunh,setai h`ma/j cwri,sai avpo. th/j avga,phj tou/ qeou/ th/j evn Cristw/| VIhsou/ tw/| kuri,w| h`mw/nÅ 38 For I am convinced that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers, 39nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (RSV)218 In the understanding of the letter to the Romans as the “Testament” of Paul,219 in the sense of its featuring of the most important Pauline themes and thought, one observes in it Paul’s various attempts at giving voice to the problems that could be thought of as having beleaguered him and the course of the Christian movement that he was championing. A prognosis into the future is often seen to be made in case similar problems re-occur. This circumstance accounts for the multiple thought pattern the letter presents, patterns which, however, do not denigrate its unity. Attesting to the “testamental” status of the letter, M. Theobald argues that the theme of the Letter to the Romans, following 1:16ff, the Gospel as universal message of salvation, in which the equality of all before God, Jews and Gentiles, is founded. According to him, Paul developed this theme from the logic of the issue at stake, and while not losing sight of the consequences for his understanding of his Christian community, he theologizes par excellence. The process involves the juxtaposition of his faith in the God of grace in relation to reality in totality Wirklichkeit als ganze. In this juxtaposition, the apparently historical contingence of the Christ-event is demonstrated to absolutely embrace and challenge 218 Presenting these verses as the sum of the spectrum of “Pauline spirit world” out of which he worked out his preferred terms of principalities and authorities, C. Forbes gives an interesting analysis of their constituent figures - death and life (abstractions: personified? poetic?); angels and avrcai, (concrete and the abstract); duna,meij (semi-abstract); height and depth (pure metaphor). Cf. idem, “Paul’s Principalities and Powers: Demythologizing Apocalyptic?, in: JSNT 82 (2001), 61–88 (62). 219 An exegesis of the letter to the Romans is not foreseen in this work. But suffice it to note the acclaimed extraordinary character of this letter as a very deep account of the mission of the Apostle of the Gentiles, Paul, to make clear the universal plausibility of the gospel of Jesus Christ, to give an account over the faith. In a very unique way Paul gives in it an account of the past with attention to the present, and responsibility for the future. The term “Testament” with regard to this letter has been controversial. E. Lohse preferably refers to it as the “summary of the gospel”, presenting the most important thoughts and themes of Pauline message and theology. Cf. E. Lohse, 2002, 45; see also R. Pesch, 1987, 5; P. Stuhlmacher, 1998, 9–10; U. Schnelle, (ed.), 2009, 6.

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every human being. While holding to, and illustrating the perpetual importance of the great traditions of Israel to the internal credibility of the Gospel message, he is able to integrate the Romans (representing the rest of the “unknown” world/ peoples as it were) in this wide embrace and challenge.220 The above cited verses, featuring very intensive expressions of Paul’s absolute convictions on the power of the love of God in Christ Jesus for believers, are the zenith of the powerful summary of the second part (chap. 5–8) of the gospel of the son of God as laid out by Paul in the letter to the Romans. Discussing the issues of the sufferings the Christians go through (8:18–30), Paul climaxes into his unshakeable confidence on the salvation that the love of God in Jesus Christ assures the believers as children of God (8:31–39). The introduction of this allembracing conviction with the perfect passive pe,peismai of the verb pei,qw intends the expression of the understanding of this faith as gift of God that is at work in the present even when it was given in the past.221 Within this circumstance of “suffering in the unshakeable faith in the salvific love of God in Jesus Christ”, the issues of the P ­ auline cosmological conceptions in all its dimensions are seen to occur.222 It features the summary presentation of all conceivable areas of human experience, concretions and abstractions, known and unknown. Presenting the entire spectrum of the “Pauline spirit world”, they attest to inherited traditional materials and conceptions as well as the new thought-orientation Paul champions.223 With regard to the inherited traditional material that is considered to have become re-edited by Paul into the theological presentation we have in the vs 31–39, 220 Cf. M. Theobald, 2001, 13, 27; see also E. Lohse, 2002, 48. The phrase in italics – „Wirklichkeit als ganze“ – is here emphasised because it opens out the line of argument we intend to pursue regarding the cosmological quality of the passage we are considering. 221 Cf. E. Lohse, 2003, 260; see also P. von der Osten-Sacken, 1975, 311. 222 Cf. ibid. Important here is, above all, the relationship of the terms of this catalogue with the so-called cosmic powers, with astronomical concepts. 223 This is contrary to C. Forbes’ position. Cf. idem, JSNT 82 (2001) 61–62. Our ­argument is that Paul’s use of the conventional terms for the spiritual beings in the apocalyptic literature a;ggeloj, daimo,nion, dia,boloj, pneu/ma, satana/j, and his choice of personified abstractions – principalities and powers – do not in themselves show that he was not influenced by Jewish apocalyptic traditions. We will subsequently show these backgrounds even as we acknowledge the immense influence of Hellenistic thoughts. Paul’s preferred terms rather show him for what he was, one who makes out something new from the traditions available to him to bring home the message of Christ in its uniqueness. Cf. D.E. Aune, “Apocalypticism”, in DPL (1993), 25–35.

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the deutero-Isaiah servant of God hymn in Is 50:1–11 is seen as the general foundational OT basis.224 Presented in the genre of the psalms of confidence, this OT piece, whose confidence motif is brought to the fore in v 7–9, expresses the strong confidence of the supplicant on the help of God over his enemies, who are destined to be destroyed. Osten-Sacken is convinced that a Jewish-Christian community among the early Christians was responsible for this development.225 Taking up this servant of God prayer, it adapted it into to a confessional (credo) formula o` qeo.j u`pe.r h`mw/n( o[j ge tou/ ivdi,ou ui`ou/ ouvk evfei,sato u`pe.r h`mw/n( (God is for us; God, who has given his own son for us!) - in relation to the death of Christ as the salvific action of God, and handed it on as a catechetical formula. Paul takes up this traditional material and makes of it in his unique way, a stronghold of his theological convictions.226 Rightly appreciating the immense theological importance and weight of this chapter, not only in the letter to the Romans but also in their entire spectrum of Pauline theology, it came to be regarded as exemplifying Pauline soteriology,227 in which Paul presents his understanding of the being and existence of the redeemed person as differing from what the unredeemed person is about. 224 Cf. P. von der Osten-Sacken, 1975, 43ff. He sees the connection to this servant of God passage as being in the step by step progressing nature of the presentation, the development of, and in the person that Rom 8:31–39 clearly presents, and in the question-character of the text that is considered typical of catechetical purposes and intentions. (45) On the whole spectrum of the pre-Pauline nature of the traditional material, confer ibid., 20–50. E. Lohse is, however, of the view that many pre-Pauline Christian traditions of creedal expressions are involved in the redaction we have from Paul in this passage. He sees, among others, the Abraham-Isaac Gen 22 pericope, Ps 110:1 as part of the founding traditions that came to play in this formula. Cf. idem, 2003, 254ff. 225 Apart from the presence of the justification thematic contained in this creedal formula, Osten-Sacken bases his argument on the Jewish-Christian-Community origin of this catechetical tradition in the apocalyptic terminology evklektoi. qeou/ – the Called of God – a terminology of ancient Judaism (in the sense of hw”hy> lh;q. Deut 23:1–3), this terminus technicus characterizing the devout as those chosen by God to participate in the blessedness of the world that is to come. Cf. idem, 1975, 46, 48. In its popular rendition in Pauline letters as evkklhsi,a tou/ qeou/ it becomes the summary expression of Pauline ecclesiology. 226 Cf. ibid., 51. 227 It is actually the title of P. von der Osten-Sacken’s work that we have cited above a number of times - „Römer 8 als Beispiel der paulinischen Soteriologie“. One of the initial highlights of the work is the understanding of soteriology as a uniting concept involving Christology, Pneumatology, and Eschatology, against the earlier ­attempts, which while radically distinguishing these aspects, technically understood

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The thoughts that began in chapter 5 with the proclamation of the hope the believers have through the justification from God through Christ Jesus, kept being developed in their various existential details until the general summary that includes abstractions and whatever may be named, as seen in vv 38–39. The rhetorical merismus,228 exhibiting a unique use of the elements of diatribe229 as introduced by the question “what then are we to say about these things?” (vs 31) reveals the disposition of the paragraph. It is the introduction of a new line of thoughts begun with the conditional clause eiv o` qeo.j u`pe.r h`mw/n - if God be for us; and then the rhetoric question ti,j kaqV h`mw/n. This was meant to be a gathering of the range of thoughts that have flowed from chapter 5.230 Paul’s definitive reference to God here o` qeo,j is worth noting. Perhaps it was important for Paul to make such emphatic specification about the particular divinity in question in the face of the syncretistic circumstances of his Roman audience. Perhaps he intended, by this means, to call attention to the uniqueness of the God whose unique action in and through Jesus Christ he was proclaiming. This God is not only attentive to the Wirklichkeit als ganze, the various aspects of which the summary in vv 38–39 attempts to make paired and generalized list of. He has shown himself in Jesus Christ as supreme over all these aspects and more. The all-inclusive reference to ‘reality as a whole’ which the various range of pairs (some with their extreme opposites) attempt to capture – death-life, angelsprincipalities, things present- things future, powers-height-depth,231 - is made

228 229

230

231

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soteriology as teachings about salvation. Such distinctive approaches were based on the separate understanding of the being and work of the person of Jesus Christ. But following the understanding of the intrinsic unity between being and action especially in the person and salvific mission of Christ, such distinctions, apart from very technical reasons, may tend towards being superfluous. Cf. ibid., 12–13. Cf. J.A. Fitzmyer, 1993, 535; see also, U. Wilckens, 1980, 170ff. Osten-Sacken insists, however, on a differentiation in the Pauline use of the diatribal style here. According to him, unlike the traditional use of the diatribe in connection to long arguments, the Pauline modification of the style here in a row of short questions and answers underlines his uniqueness in the redaction of the traditional material he is understood to be working with. Cf. idem, 1975, 28–35. Cf. ibid., 57–60. Considering the literary style of the four chapters (5–8) he sees Rom 8:31–39 as not only the summary of 8:1–30 but moreso the conclusion to chapters 5–8, thereby seeing in them a ring composition. See also E. Lohse, 2003, 254–261; D. Starnitzke, 2004, 294–298. U. Wilckens presents the various opinions with regard to the pairings, buttressing the aspects of Pauline originality as could be seeing in his various uses of them in his contexts (1 Cor. 3.21–23; 15.24; etc.) His translation of ou;te duna,meij ou;te u[ywma ou;te

clearer by the phrase ou;te tij kti,sij e`te,ra. This catalogue of terms that is reminiscent of the tribulation list motif232 features pairs, within which human existential experiences are mirrored. It features as well the abstractions that point to the determining metaphysical circumstances/attitude of the audience of the letter are summarized. All these point out the cosmological orientation and quality of the verses in question. Two clear evidences in support of this position include an understanding of the phrase evn tou,toij pa/sin (in all these) of v 37 as an allusion to the syntagma ta. pa,nta in the various ways it is used in articulating the universality of the salvific work of Christ in his sacrificial death on the cross,233 the syntagma that had already featured in v 32. The pair height-depth u[ywma - ba,qoj terms that the author of Eph will also take up (Eph 3:18–19) after having referred to God as Father of the cosmic family pate,ra(…pa/sa patria. evn ouvranoi/j kai. evpi. gh/j (3:14–15), constitutes very clear evidence of not only the cosmological but also the astrological link,234 being part of, if not the sum of the cosmological Koine of the time. G.H. van Kooten’s convictions in this regard, following J. Dupont, (1949) is particularly interesting given the testimonies from contemporary thinkers and philosophies of the time like Plutarch, Cicero, Seneca, the mathematician Heron von Alexandria etc. Particular attention is drawn to Cicero and Seneca, “…according to whom by contemplating the cosmos, its size and its dimensions man comes to know God, the mind of the cosmos, the totality of what is seen and unseen, the greatness greater than which nothing can be imagined.”235 This peristasis-like catalogue of terms refers to the dimensions of reality as perceived in the world of the time designated. It features the conceivable spatial remoteness above or below, so remote that it is difficult to assess. It is at the heights, the space above the horizons, that the heavenly bodies as elements of the cosmos are thought to have their domain. That is perceived to

232 233 234

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ba,qoj is interesting: „Nicht irgendwelche Mächte weder in der Höhe noch in der Tiefe.“ In this way he generated a tripartite pair: powers-height-depth. Cf. idem, 1980, 176. Cf. E. Lohse, 2002, 259–260. Cf. U. Wilckens, op.cit. 174–175. 1 Cor 3:21–23 is featured as a parallel. See also footnote 777 of the cited work. Cf. G. Bertram, „u[ywma im Neuen Testament“, in: ThWNT 8 (1969) 612f; for ba,qoj as astrological term see Vettius Valens (ed. W. Kroll), 241.26, cited by J.A. F ­ itzmyer, 1993, 535. See also G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 179–183. For F.W. Danker, who thinks the context as probably referring to transcendental forces and astral spirits, the terms are both astronomical, with ba,qoj meaning the celestial space below the horizon from which the stars arise. Cf. idem, 2000, 162, 1046. Cf. G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 181.

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be their operational base from where they exercise their influence as fate in the world, on all living creatures in it, determining their courses. Having located the link, we return to Paul’s emphasis. This emphasis lies in the power of God over and above all these cosmic phenomena, his power over every imaginable factor that may be thought to be able to hinder the salvation wrought by him. This power is made manifest for believers in Jesus Christ, in the love of God made manifest in Jesus Christ. Whatever mental pressure or fears the perception of these phenomena and the activities attributed to them generate, as in the feelings of being hopelessly delivered to their whims and caprices as fate, Paul is convinced that they are creatures kti,sij. Being creatures they are subordinate to God who created them. The height of this conviction is brought out by emphatic reference to death, placed at the beginning of the catalogue, this phenomenon, which reality and the pains attending it remain the epitome of paradoxes for man. With the emphasis on the defeat of this most gruesome of human experiences by God in Jesus Christ, all other members of the catalogue are definitely subject to him whose love for us has been revealed in the person and salvific work of Jesus Christ, the Son of God, this fundamental Christological metaphor of Paul.236

2.2.2 Gal 4:4–5 - its cosmological accent The strong import of the Son of God Christological metaphor which is established in Gal 4:4–5, is noted by M. Theobald as a passage which cosmic Christological import cannot be under-emphasized. “But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under the law, in order to redeem those who were under the law, ...” The cosmic Christological thrust of the above cited text could be presumed to have been tacitly admitted by Theobald when he sees the strong connection and influence existing between the text and the redactional forms of the same Christological formula in the prescript of the letter to the Rom 1:3–4, and in Phil 2:6–11. In agreement with H.W. Schmidt and D. Zeller, he sees the additional evn duna,mei in the Roman’s redaction as a further accentuation upon which not only the universal Lordship of Christ is based but also the authority of Paul as the apostle of the gentiles.237 Height and death, therefore, understood in the same sense as “beginning and end”, becomes a metaphorical reference to the 236 Cf. M. Theobald, 2001, 119–141. This son of God christological metaphor would become a frequently re-occuring theme in chapters 1 and 8 of the letter to the Romans. 237 Cf. M. Theobald, 2001, 110–113.

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entire universe, the cosmos as a whole. The lordship of Christ over the universe, over the cosmos is the guarantee to the cosmological understanding. However, a clearer establishment of the cosmological accent of Gal 4: 4–5 is a­ fforded by G.H. van Kooten in his discussion of the text as an instance of physics and cosmic Christology in Paul’s authentic writings.238 The cosmological accent is brought to bear through the term stoicei/a tou/ ko,smou. In his analysis of the word stoicei/n, G. Delling, who surmises that Paul generated the phrase stoicei/a tou/ ko,smou, traces the various adaptations of the word from an original ancient connotation of order/arrangement – das zu einer Reihe Gehörige – through grammatical applications, to reference to the fundamental elements of the cosmos that eventually became spiritualized, deified. He regards this spiritualisation as an embarrassing contradiction that is difficult to account for, following the results of etymological investigations, even when it is acknowledged as part of the cosmological Koine of the time.239 The origin of such deification is no doubt to be sought in the ancient Greeks’ identification of the elements earth, water, air and fire with the gods Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, and Hephaestus respectively. Plato would drive this identification to the extreme when he posits in his idea of the generation of species the imagery of the gods having borrowed danei,zesqai elements from the cosmos (Tim41A-D; 42E-43A), ‘loans’ that have to be paid back as it were. Hellenistic-Jewish philosophy contemporaneous to Paul, represented by Plutarch and Philo (despite his critical positions), and which got re-interpreted into the religious dispositions and practices of the time, must have formed the background of Paul’s contention about the enslavement to the elements (Gal 4:3), from which the coming of the son of God redeemed us.240 However, its (the phrase stoicei/a tou/ ko,smou ) use in the Galatian text under consideration in relation to the participial phrase geno,menon u`po. no,mon is suggestive of an additional purpose. It was to serve the unfolding polemic (Gal 238 Cf. G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 60–79. 239 Cf. G. Delling, „stoicei/on“, in: ThWNT 7 (1964 ) 670–687 (684–685). See also footnote 100 of the cited page; see also E. Plümacher, „stoicei/on”, in: EWNT III (2011), 664–666; E. Lohse, 1977, 146–150. 240 R. Schwindt sees the course of this development as having to a great extent to do with the Jewish demonology, itself a product of the Jewish apocalyptic re-­interpretations of their horrible political situations in the inter-testamental times. This trend found its zenith in the Testamentum Salomonis, a Jewish-Christian document whose central theme – teachings about demons – reflects in its fundamental contents the popular religious ideas of the Palestinian Jews of the NT times. Cf. R. Schwindt, 2002, 284–301. See also G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 60–79. Confer also our positions regarding the Stoic foundations and influence in 2.1.1.

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2:16–21) – Paul’s outburst (avna,qema e;stw) as he defended the gospel he preached against the infiltrated confusionists oi` tara,ssontej (v 7) disorienting the Galatian community with their Jewish legalism. Attention is drawn to the sensitivity of Paul’s use of the word no,moj. W. Bauer notes that Paul often uses it in his letters in the sense of principles, rules, established procedure etc. By such uses, “…it is prob. that Paul purposely engages in wordplay to heighten the predicament of those who do not rely on the gospel of liberation from legal constraints…”241 This word-play could be seen to have featured in this bringing together of stoicei/a and no,moj, at once communicating the fact of the elements as well as the inner compulsion the elements had become in the metaphysical circumstances/mental attitudes of the contemporary society Paul was addressing, the compulsion that had taken the forms of religious expressions. Interesting too are the various meanings the term stoicei/on - stoicei/a has,242 mirrored in the seemingly gradual intensification of its use in this Galatian text. From the basic meaning – elements -, the basic substances underlying the natural world, from which everything in the world is made, it was also used to ­refer to the basic components of the celestial constellations Gestirne, and then the ‘transcendental powers’ perceived to be in control of events in this world. A sufficient explanation of how these elemental principles became catapulted into the spiritual realms remains inexplicably embarrassing, as noted by Delling above. We may, however, suggest that the fact of the inner compulsion an understanding of these elements became in the lives of the people of the time, in the sense of their astral-fatal understanding of life, and the apotropaic relation to the celestial constellations have a role to play. Falsely projected to the category of fate, ontologized and deified (the Tyche/ Fortuna phenomenon), they became functional as such in the mental categories of the concerned. From this last understanding that must have probably arisen from the syncretistic elementary forms of religion in which the heavenly bodies were regarded as personal beings and worthy recipients of divine honours, the understanding and rendering of stoicei/a as elemental spirits became dominant. The difference remains, however, to be made between the understanding of spirit as ontological reality and spirit as a concept communicating influence. Even when these differentiations are not easily made, it is thought that it is in this later sense that Paul used it here. In this understanding White’s243 view 241 Cf. F.W. Danker, (ed.), 2000, 677 (1a); See also op. cit., 946. 242 Cf. R.T. Stamm & O.F. Blackwelder, The Epistle to the Galatians, in: N.B. Harmon (ed.), The Interpreter’s Bible, vol X, 1953, 521–522. 243 Cf. J. White, op. cit., in: J.T. Pennington & S.M. McDonough (ed.), 2008, 100.

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that the elemental forces are demonic, while likening them also to such Pauline terms – rulers, authorities, powers –, would be sharpening the perception of the situation. His argument, based on another context 1 Cor 10:20–21 where Paul was establishing that demons are behind the idols that pagan worship, seems an over-extended deduction. Moreover, a critical understanding of the meaning of demon as a term that new religions often use to address the gods of other overtaken religions, and not necessarily that they are evil in themselves, needs to be called to mind. If such would be the case here, as we tend to understand, White’s position would be disagreeable. The tone is set from the context of the immediate preceding verse (v 3) of the our Gal text, where the issue of “being enslaved (dedoulwme,noi) to the elemental spirits of the world” was at contention. The sensed equivocal purpose in the combined featuring of stoicei/a and no,moj is seen to be at work in the corroboration of v 3 in vv 8,9b-10. There references are made to the religious enslavement to “the weak and beggarly elemental spirits” that were falsely held to be gods. This is a clear allusion to the calendar-determined piety in the observance of special days, months, seasons and years in Judaism on the one hand, as well as in the religious practices in the contemporary Graeco-Roman settings, on the other. These are astrological issues as it were. There may be little doubt that Paul was addressing such pervading and nagging influence of astral (cosmic) religion in the setting. Their (dis)qualification as “weak and beggarly” avsqenh/ kai. ptwca,, communicating a sense of wretchedness, could be an expression of the extent of disgust to which they are held by Paul. He may have perhaps intended encouraging his audience to share such a disgust und divest them of such regards they had had among them. According to R.T. Stamm and O.F. Blackwelder, Paul relegates the fear and worship of these spirits to the kindergarten stage of history. He includes in “the elements of the universe” all sub-Christian ideas and observances, both Jewish and Gentile. He regards these “elements” as slave drivers who frighten men with curses for not propitiating them by the observance of special days and seasons, food taboos, dietary fads, and circumcision. In Christ he declared his independence of Fate, Fortune, Luck, Chance, and from astrology, this counterfeit religion and bastard sister of astronomy, whose practitioners exploited the superstition that the stars controlled men’s lives from birth to death.244

244 Cf. R.T. Stamm & O.F. Blackwelder, The Epistle to the Galatians, in N.B. Harmon (ed.), The Interpreter’s Bible, vol. X., 1953, 522.

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We may in some form appreciate Paul’s exasperation at the evolving inclination of the Galatians to return to such enslavement both in reminiscence of the astral influence and/or in the form of adopting Jewish law instead of the Law of freedom in Christ Jesus. G.H. van Kooten, further enhancing our understanding of the influence of astralism in the religious settings of the time, presents some details on the issue of the cosmological rationalisation of religious rituals. The works of Philo and Plutarch, their various positions on the role and place of the elements in the constitution of the cosmos, form the bedrock of his details. In one of these notes, he articulates that: It appears that in philosophy contemporaneous to Paul, as evidenced in the works of Plutarch and Philo, there is a pervasive awareness that certain religious rituals and laws had come into existence for ethical and historical reasons, others for physical reasons. Some of these ritual motivated by physical reasons are concerned with the microcosmos and focus on the on the cosmic elements (stoicei/a) man is composed of.245

These details show how disturbingly wide-spread such associations with cosmic elements were in the Hellenistic-Jewish world contemporaneous to Paul. That these prompted the counter that the Christological message of Paul came to be, seem obvious, in pursuit of motif of ‘change of Lordship’ within the wider project of “world-construction”. An example of the extremity of such speculations would be seen in one of Philo’s speculations interpreting the Jewish rite of Purification (Num 19:17– 19). Philo presumed to know that in the course of the Jewish Purification rites, when people are sprinkled with ash and water, that the elements ‘speak’ loudly, saying: We are the substances of which your body is composed. Nature, after mixing us, moulded us by rules of divine art into a human form. Because you were put together from us when you came into being, you will again be dissolved into us when you have to die. (De specialibus legibus 1.266)(72).

An allusion to the motif of the cosmic in the pairing of life (coming into being) and death in Rom 8:38 is noticed here. Not just Philo alone, the author(s) of 2 Maccabees also show(s) familiarity with this trend of thought, and the attempts at marrying it with the Jewish creation theology. In the particularly horrible scene of the family massacre of the seven sons under the Seleucid King Antiochus IV

245 Cf. G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 60–79. (73) See also, J. Becker & U. Luz, 1998, 61–66.

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Epiphanes (175–164 BC) the words of encouragement put in the mouth of their mother refer to their conception as the arrangement of their constitutive elements th.n e`ka,stou stoicei,wsin ouvk evgw. dierru,qmisa (2 Mac 7:22–23) by the creator and not by herself. The Stoic origin of this thought has been discussed earlier (cf. 2.1.1). The danger of such a line of thought is not far-fetched. It provided nourishment to nihilism. If it were to be true that living and dying meant nothing but merely perpetuating the course of the elements, it would not be worth the value placed on it. It would be meaningless. Such a nihilist view of life would be inacceptable to, and incongruous with the mission of Jesus Christ that Paul sees himself as commissioned to proclaim. Paul’s response, his counter to these tendencies would be to address them from their very cosmic basis. That became the cosmic Christology that is anchored on divine sonship of Christ, the agent of creation. It became manifested in the loving action of God in the cross, and above all, in the resurrection of his Son, Jesus Christ. Through the power of the resurrection, the dissolution into the nothingness of the elements at death, as popularized in the conflagration theory of the Stoics, was overcome. As far as Paul is concerned, Christ’s resurrection, this first and unique event (1 Cor 15:20) in which God did not let his beloved know decay (Ps 16[15)]:10), an experience believers in him would also share (1 Cor 15:23; 1 Thess 4:16bf), is the final irrevocable defeat of the claims of the protagonists of such thoughts. According to J. Becker, the attractions by the views of popular philosophies that have found themselves flexibly worked into individual systems and religious worldviews to the advantage of the world elements, this common feature of the Hellenistic-Roman periods, became exposed for what they are empty deceptions.246 Christ’s resurrection is his enthronement, his elevation into power, the power with which the cosmic (elements) powers are subdued, and under which everything, including the last enemy – death, is subjected under him (1 Cor 15:27a).247

246 Cf. J. Becker & U. Luz, 1998, 61. 247 Schrage explains that Paul’s insistence on the enemy character of death shows he was in touch with reality, not willing to join forces with those schools of thought that falsely tried to explain death away as mere appearance, or as the freeing of the soul from the body etc. The resurrection of Jesus is characterized as out-break and foretaste of God’s eschatological and salvific action, the inauguration of all other end-time events. The Christological implication is the illustration of the universal reign of Christ as ordained by God, the dynamic eschatological process whose end is the defeat of all powers that constitute themselves as enemies of God so that God will be all in all. Cf. W. Schrage, 2001, 179, 188–189.

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2.2.3 1 Cor 15:27 in relation to Gal 4 and Rom 8 in cosmic Christological perspectives The cosmic Christology content of this Corinthian passage (1 Cor 15:27) is in itself of immense importance as G.H. van Kooten once again presents.248 Even though we do not intend a treatment of this passage, suffice it to note with Kooten that the kern of this passage is the Christology centered on Christ’s authority from God to subjugate and annihilate the cosmological powers, a gradual process that lasts from his resurrection to the end of time, and which precursor he saw in the Jewish tradition of the heavenly eschatological agent. It is an authority that is evidenced in his resurrection, and manifest in its fruits. More directly important to us in this study, however, are the terms this passage delivers with regard to the cosmological Koine - pa/san avrch.n kai. pa/san evxousi,an kai. du,namin (v 24), the sum of the cosmic factors that Christ brings to naught katargh,sh|. These terms that play immense role in our understanding of the cosmic Christology of Paul appear in the early Christian literature of the first century in a cosmological sense in this array only within Pauline tradition. The oldest testimony of one of these terms evxousi,an in Jewish heavenly eschatological tradition is the LXX version of Dan 7:27. However, in this passage evxousi,an (­ authorities) referred to earthly political kingdoms th.n basilei,an kai. th.n evxousi,an kai. th.n megaleio,thta auvtw/n kai. th.n avrch.n pasw/n tw/n u`po. to.n ouvrano,n, . Paul worked out from this Danielic earthly political dominion and authority an innovative cosmological understanding, with Christ playing an active role in the subjugation. This is over and above the passivity of the Danielic people of the holy one who were merely to receive the kingdoms. Kooten would then associate 1 Cor 15:23–28 with Gal 4: 3–10, establishing therefrom a relationship between Paul’s concept of Christ subduing the cosmological powers in the former, and Christ freeing man from enslavement to the elements of the cosmos in the latter. On the strength of this association, he arrives at the view that, “It emerges that the principles avrcai, and the forces duna,meij with which Paul puts the Danielic powers evxousi,ai on a par, are identical with the elements of the cosmos stoicei/a tou/ ko,smou or with the forces by which the elements are dominated…”249

248 Cf. G.H. van Kooten’s discussion of 1 Cor 15:23–28, in: idem, 2003, 79–107. With references to the works of Plutarch and Philo he presents convincing contemporary philosophical background whose influence on Paul’s cosmological interpretations seem very obvious. 249 Ibid., 80. It would have been interesting to know from Kooten what these “forces that dominate the elements” may have been in themselves. Are they really something

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In a further justification of the validity of the cosmological understanding of Pauline interpretations, the use Paul makes of fqora, dissolution (1 Cor 15:42, 50; Rom 8:21), a typical stoic concept, in relation to death qa,natoj, deserves attention. After the abolition of every ruler, authority and forces (v 24), Paul refers to death as the last enemy to be destroyed by Christ (1 Cor 15:26). In this reference to death in relation to dissolution, a relation is forged between them. The ge,nesij (generation, coming into being) – fqora, (dissolution, principle of passing out of existence) schemata of contemporary philosophy, articulating the course of the elements in the cosmos, is evidenced.250 Genial and informative as this effort and position is, we may observe that van Kooten offers little or no exegetical explanation for his association of 1 Cor 15.23–28 with Gal 4: 3–10. The explanation for this association may, however, be sought in the preceding verb to these terms as used in 1 Cor 15:24 katargh,sh| from katarge,w. In one of its understanding by F.W. Danker as (4)to cause the release of someone from an obligation, it shares the same meaning with the verb evxagora,zw – (1)to secure deliverance of, to liberate, as used in Gal 4:5. Danker further testifies that “the earliest occurrence of evxagora,zw suggests a further sense of the verb when used with acc. buy off…”251 In line with the Pauline S­ ühnetheologie it would, therefore, seem most likely that this is the sense in which it was used. With his death and resurrection Christ dealt the cosmic powers – the elements of the cosmos – a lethal blow, bought humanity free from bondage to them, and became established as the universal Lord. Thus, light is thrown to the relationship between the Corinthian and Galatian passages. Paul could then afford to write to the Corinthians, “If Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation is in vain, your faith is futile.” (1 Cor 15:12, 17) His sole desire was to boast of nothing “but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ through which the world is crucified to me, and I to the world” (Gal 6:14); to know him and the power of his resurrection, the power that enables him to make all things subject to himself (Phil 3:10, 21b). It is the crystallization of this Christological purpose that is considered the actual goal of the whole effort. Rom 8:38–39 that we have considered, therefore, constitute the paradigmatic script of this Christology, a Christology that is cosmic. M. Hailer, appreciating the esoteric or merely the personified appreciation, the “ontological dumping” of the manifest “activities” of the elements as common to the peoples of the time? The latter seems to be the case. 250 Cf. G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 102–103. Footnotes 83–87 of the cited pages giving citations from Plutarch and Philo are also important. 251 Cf. F.W. Danker, 2000, 343; see also 525–526.

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paradigmatic quality of Rom 8:38–39, sees it as a summary of Pauline response to the worrisome issue about how to talk about that which disturbs and frightens God’s creation. The action of God in, and through Christ, in his resurrection, has established him as Lord. In him we are justified and healed. This principal point of Pauline thought on the essence of Christ governs also his perception of the powers in opposition to God.252 No matter how super-human this cosmic catalogue of powers may have been perceived to be, Paul insists that they are unable to separate the believers from the assured love of God in Jesus Christ. Christ has conquered them. The believer shares in this victory (1 Cor 15:57) though he would still encounter the existential vagaries of life. It is this conviction that is his gospel. He spares no words in communicating it. The cosmic issues that had become perennial in the circumstances of the times would also have to be confronted by subsequent or postPauline generation of believers. The authority of the Apostle in the form of the reception of his theology in these post-Pauline circumstances will continuously be the force to be reckoned with. The examination of the Hellenisation of these cosmic contents of Paul’s thought in the Deuteropauline letter Eph, itself very much influenced by Col, will be pursued further in the next stage of our work. The gains of this cosmic Christological footage would constitute the bedrock of our subsequent psychological hermeneutics in section three, chapter 7 of our work. (Cf. 7.5 Christology as a ‘psychological’ factor).

Excursus At this juncture it is in place to consider why Paul would include angels in the “catalogue of the dangerous” that may, or do really threaten the separation of the believers from the love of God in Christ. This is partly answered by the parallels Paul makes in this passage. Angels are paralleled to principalities and powers. At the background of such paralleling is the traditional understanding of angels as belonging to the trans-human powers.253 The inclusion of the angels by Paul among the realities that threaten the believers partaking in the love of God in Christ Jesus becomes a prophetic provision upon which the deutero-Pauline epistles would build regarding the principalities and authorities (e.g. Col 2:18). Above all, the terminologies with which Paul paralleled the angels in our passage of consideration (Rom 8:38) are given preference by the author of Eph. He employs these terminologies to give his world-view expression as well as attention, 252 Cf. M. Hailer, 2008, 100. 253 Cf. J. Baumgarten, 1975, 150; R. Pesch, 1987, 75; P. Stuhlmacher, 1998, 128.

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demonstrating thereby the nature of deutero-Pauline letters as the continued relevance of the legacy of the apostle of the gentiles in changed times and circumstances. An investigation of the Eph reception of these issues constitutes our next focus. By means of this overview, one observes, as J. Baumgarten254 rightly pointed out, that Paul was struggling with an established conceptual category in his circumstance. At one moment he sees himself taking it up, and at another he plays the very idea against itself and what it may have stood for within the religio-­ philosophical orientations of his contemporaries. However, he undertakes this with some rhetorical mastery. Led on by obvious elements of the world-view in vogue, he pursues the determination to make something different out of the given. His interest was not to add to the already abounding speculations about them in the Hellenistic Judaism and Graeco-Roman circumstances of the time, but to debunk them by means of his rhetoric to the singular advantage of his vocation – preaching Jesus Christ. The understanding which Paul, therefore, presents through his letters is that God’s final revelation of himself in Jesus Christ and in the operation of the Holy Spirit renders every speculation about the angels as messengers of God superfluous.255 When nothing is made of such functions they were presumed to be undertaking, and upon which they owe their very being and name(s), of what use would be thoughts about them beside the continuous struggle with the common beliefs among peoples!

Summary The Pauline cosmological Christology as established in 1 Cor 15, Gal 4 and in Rom 8, as argued in chapter 2 above, a Christology that hinges around the thought that in, and through Christ by the power of God’s authority, the cosmological powers are being outdone, is viewed by van Kooten as having its origin in the Jewish tradition of the heavenly eschatological agent. The ultimate source of this tradition is traced to the “son of man” tradition in LXX Dan 7.27 where the powers evxousi,ai are said to submit to him. Paul is clearly familiar with the Jewish tradition concerning the coming of an eschatological intermediary from heaven. Besides this, he seems to draw directly from the oldest testimony of this tradition contained in the seventh chapter of Daniel… It is clear that in 1 Cor 15 Paul regards the eschatological intermediary from heaven as one individual,

254 Cf. J. Baumgarten, 1975, 150–151. 255 Cf. O. Wischmeyer, „Engel“ III „NT“, in: RGG4 2 (1999), 1280–1281; see also M. Dibelius, 1909, 182–183.

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namely Christ,… In this, Paul agrees with an exegetical tradition connected with Daniel 7 in Jewish and early Christian circles and surfacing in 4 Ezra, 1 Enoch, and Mark and Q.256

The creativity of Paul is evidenced here. He translocates Daniel’s use of the term evxousi,ai in apparent reference to terrestrial kingdoms unto the cosmic categories, away from the directly political reference as in Daniel. By so doing, Paul seems to have followed the Maccabean traditions where God is referred to as o` tw/n pneuma,twn kai. pa,shj evxousi,aj duna,sthj – the sovereign of spirits and of all powers (2 Mac 3:24), a reference that is rather non-political. Paul’s innovative understanding of LXX Dan 7:27 in the cosmological categories saw him put the evxousi,aiof Daniel on a par with the sum of the cosmological Koine stoicei/a tou/ ko,smou - elements of the world. This cosmological sum in turn has such terms as avrcai, and duna,meij as extending synonyms, as evidenced in the contemporary philosophy of the time, in the writings of Philo and Plutarch.257 Paul makes an innovative use of these terms to present and elucidate his Christological cosmology, terms with which he puts the evxousi,ai of Daniel on a par. The material from Philo and Plutarch … show that the words avrcai, (‘principles’) and duna,meij (‘forces’) are current in contemporary cosmological language and that, as cosmological terms in 1 Cor 15:24, Paul indicates that he understands the imprecise and less familiar term evxousi,ai (‘powers’) taken from Dan 7:27 LXX in a cosmological sense… According to Paul, it is the totality of these cosmological principles, powers and forces which are gradually subdued during Christ’s reign. This reign starts with Christ’s resurrection and lasts till the end.258

The consequence of such innovative understanding by Paul would be lived out and continued among and through the subsequent generation of believers who did have to keep dealing with these cosmic phenomena and their various interpretations. van Kooten terms this ‘a further Hellenization of Paul’s cosmology’. Paul himself began this development through his transition from Jewish eschatology through Graeco-Roman cosmology to Christology. And once this development took-off, its susceptibility to further development was a question of time. It is in this light of further development that the Letter to the Ephesians would be understood.

256 G.H. van Kooten, G.H., 2003, 93–94. For further readings on the Jewish tradition of the eschatological agent see also ibid., 88ff. 257 Such writings by Philo include Quis rer. div. heres 281; De decalogo 53; De aeternitate mundi 108–109; and from Plutarch Quaestiones romanae 263D-E; De Primo frigido 947E. Cf. G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 100–102. 258 Ibid., 102,103.

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Section Two: Issues Of Cosmologies: Ephesian’s And Igbo Cosmologies

Chapter Three: Ephesians – Authorship, General analysis, Reception 3.1 Pseudonymity and Pseudepigraphy259 as literary phenomena Pseudepigraphy and/or pseudonymity, the attribution of a document or tradition to an author other than its real author, have been veritable historical and theological phenomena in most, if not all cultures, but most especially in the literal world. A tradition of anonymity was a characteristic of most literary works from the very beginning of writings among the ancient eastern peoples, even outside the religious circles. In the directly religious circles, it became a phenomenon that continued into the biblical traditions in the OT times, finding expressions also in some of the NT documents. It is on record that the idea of individual authorship of documents was a development within the ancient Greek cultural circles about the turn of the 7th Century B.C., a development that was far from meaning an automatic end to pseudepigraphy and pseudonymity. The latter rather accompanied the new development as in the cases of PseudoPythagoras, and the many inauthentic writings attributed to Plato.260 In the pseudepigraphy connected with the Bible, despite the sense of falsification (deception) an immediate contact with the phenomena of pseudepigraphy tends to communicate, a critical understanding of the phenomena and their motifs shows that though outright denial of the possibilities of falsification may not be fore-closed,261 many of the writings that are often thus categorized are distant from such immediate devaluating moral judgment that is often stamped on 259 Concerning the equivalent understanding of the two terms as well as the circumspect definition of pseudonymity, see D.G. Meade, 1986, 1–2. An adoption is made of K. Koch’s definition that “A text is pseudonymous when the author is deliberately identified by a name other than his own.” See also P. Gerlitz, „Pseudonymität. I. Religionsgeschichtlich“, in: TRE 27 (1997), 660–662. In a related development, M. Wolter engages in some semantic differentiations, generating such nuances as pseudepigraphic pseudonymity, anonymous and symbolic pseudonymity. Cf. idem, „Pseudonymität. II. Kirchengeschichtlich“, in: op. cit., 662–670. 260 Cf. W. Speyer, „Pseudepigraphie. I. Terminologie“, in: LThK3 8 (1999), 706–707; P. Gerlitz, op. cit. 261 Cf. A case is made for the possibility of conscious falsification, literary falsification and the special issues of falsification tendencies, where, despite the particular claim of a document to have been written by the hands of the authority in question,

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them. Ancient Graeco-Roman and Jewish literatures present us with numerous pseudepigraphic writings of unquantifiable value.262 The measure of the honesty of motifs of a great number of them, especially in biblical pseudepigraphy, gives eloquent defense against any general suspicion with regard to an original intention to deceive. The fundamental difference between biblical and non-biblical pseudepigraphy with regard to the suspicions about an original intention to deceive is that the former is driven by the desire to witness how God has revealed himself in his actions in particular historical circumstances. It desires to emphasize that the discontinuity of the historical circumstance does not constitute the discontinuity of the salvific action and grace of God.263 Moreso, such dubious intentions are excused as a result of what is perceived as the ‘irrational’ circumstances within which their messages originated, as in the issues of ecstasy, inspiration, revelations etc. Among all the motifs that underlie the existence of the phenomena, the most central remains the desire to participate in the exalted authority of the past (überlegene Vergangenheit).264 Such participation would not have been fundamentally motivated by any selfish interest to assume becoming this authority itself. If it were to have been motivated by such a selfish interest, it is most likely the author would have insisted on his/her own name and not otherwise. Rather they are motivated by the desire to employ the personality of the recognized authority in question to give force and credence to what the present author has to say. Such personalities of recourse are chosen and insisted upon on account of their being recognized as historical personalities, human recipients and bearers of divine revelations. It would not be, as P. Pokorný partly argued, that the recourse was made to them because the new (hidden) authors lacked the ability to communicate the ancient truths and norms to their contemporaries in actual terms.265 That which differentiates pseudepigraphy from an intended falsification from the onset is, among other

262 263 264 265

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one finds veritable indications to the otherwise. Cf. P. Pokorný, „Pseudepigraphie. I. ­Altes und Neues Testament“, in: TRE 27 (1997), 645–655(651–652). Cf. J.H. Charlesworth, „Pseudepigraphen des Alten Testamentes“, in: op. cit., 639–645. Cf. P. Pokorný, „Pseudepigraphie. I. Altes und Neues Testament“, in: TRE 27 (1997), 653. Cf. N. Brox, 1975, 105; P. Pokorný, op. cit., 648–649. See also M. Gese, 1997, 9–10. Cf. P. Pokorný, „Pseudepigraphie. I. Altes und Neues Testament“, in: TRE 27 (1997), 653.

factors, the pre-eminence given the message ­communicated, behind which the identity of the very author becomes more or less completely lost. The revealed message is seen as timeless. Though given in a particular historical setting, its content remains decisive for the orientation of later generations. By means of the pseudepigraphy, the intention of bridging the gap between ­ancient figure of renown and the currently addressed is pursued. A.D. Baum insists that the honesty of the intention of such works is not merely to be sought in the correspondence of the words of the author and the authority in focus, but primarily and exclusively in the origin of the thought pattern (contents). They would be adjudged literary falsifications when the thought pattern/contents of the works in question differ from those of the authority(-ies) to whose name(s) the works are attributed.266 In the ancient Graeco-Roman settings, apart from such mythical figures like Orpheus (the historicity of such figures like Homer and Hesiod has also been a matter of controversy), other great and popular personalities like Hippocrates of Cos, Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Pythagoras etc. have many writings published under their names and attributed to them.267 In the Jewish-Biblical settings ­examples of such pseudepigrahic trends abound. Such documents, whose history date from between 250 B.C and 200 A.D., include the Books of Enoch, the Book of Jubilees, the Psalms of Solomon, etc.268 In the Old Testament writings, for instance, the legal traditions of the Pentateuch, and in some circles the whole of the Pentateuch itself, are attributed to Moses as the guarantor of their validity. Such pre-exilic old tradition that associated the Sinai revelation with the giving of the Law was based on the regard held for Moses as mediator of divine revelation. The very beginnings of the Book of Deuteronomy, a book written in the styles of Moses tradition, built on this claim (Deut 1:1).

266 Cf. A.D. Baum, 2001, 3ff. The author makes interesting differentiations between what he termed primary and secondary pseudepigraphy, pseudepigraphy with the intention to deceive, pseudepigraphy without such intentions. 267 In his discussion of the various motives that prompt the recourse to pseudepigraphy P. Gerlitz singled out the literary falsifications related to the Pythagoreans as caused by the ambitious desire to present their school of philosophy as older, and therefore, more reliable than the academy. Cf. idem, „Pseudonymität. I. Religionsgeschichtlich“, op. cit., 661. 268 Others include Life of Adam and Eve, Testament of Adam, Testaments of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Assumption of Moses, Testament of Job, Apocalypse of Abraham, of Zephaniah, of Elijah, etc. Cf. J.H. Charlesworth, „Pseudepigraphen des Alten Testamentes“, in: TRE 27 (1997), 639–645.

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David, having been recognized as the founder of Israel’s cultic centre in Zion (2 Sam 6:12ff), is made the symbol figure guaranteeing the Psalms. Many Psalms are attributed to him as their composer, following the old tradition that regarded him as a singer and poet. Even when some of the Psalms are evidently post-exilic (Ps 137), and some make clear reference to the existence of the Temple (Ps 5:8; 63:3), David remains their guarantor. It is clear that the temple is a post-Davidic development (2 Sam 7:1ff), let alone the exile event. Solomon is understood to be the guarantor of the Wisdom tradition and literature in line with the tradition that sees him as the human epitome of Wisdom (1 Kgs 5: 9–14). Although the so-called Psalms and the Odes of Solomon (ca. 100 BC and 2nd Century AD ­respectively) are attributed to him, it is clear that he predated them.269 D.G. Meade recognizes a development as far as prophecy was concerned. It often flowed from a tradition associated with a historically recognized prophet, a tradition that is eventually made contemporaneous through redaction. By so doing continuity is established with the original prophet. The prophet Isaiah is presented as a typical example of this development. Given this role, he becomes thereby part of the authoritative tradition as seen in the Isaianic corpus of Deutero- (40–55) and Trito-Isaiah (56–66).270 The pseudepigrahic trends in the Jewish settings reached their heights in the apocalyptic traditions271 where recourse was made to the religious heroes of the remote past like Enoch, Moses etc. Having become normative, recourse was made to them and the esteem in which they were held in order to lend credulity to the often unbelievably fantastic teachings buttressed in the apocalyptic writings. Such include the vision of the heavenly journeys of Enoch where he is made privy to the primordial events, and the messianic ideas of Judaism where the concrete historic-prophetic settings within which they originated are unimaginably superceded and transcended. They are worked into mystical scenario to include a vision of the beginning and end that will bring about a new Eon. National eschatological messages of the prophets are given cosmic catastrophic 269 Cf P. Pokorný, op. cit., 648–649. He regards the redactional efforts that went into establishing the Davidic-Psalm traditions, especially the confusing of Achis with Abimelech in Ps 34:1, as bona fide successful attributions that show enormous signs of conscious falsification. 270 Cf. D.G. Meade, 1986, 26–43; see also U. Schnelle, 2007, 326ff. On Solomon-­ Wisdom literature tradition see D.G. Meade, op.cit. 44–72. 271 P. Pokorný sees Daniel-tradition as custodian of the apocalyptic pseudepigraphy in the bid to contemporaries the eschatological message for subsequent generations. Cf. idem, op. cit.

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orientations. Such catastrophic images without which the apocalyptic messages seem impossible become the veritable characteristic of the apocalyptic traditions.272 These tendencies to identify with the authoritative figures of the past in the bid to contemporaneity especially in religious-traditional circles, as evidenced in ancient Graeco-Roman and Jewish circumstances, became taken-up in the New Testament dispensation with its particular accents.

3.1.1 Pseudepigraphy in the New Testament It is recounted that in the NT dispensation, of the 27 writings, 21 of which are letters, only the undisputed Pauline letters could be said to be devoid of the traces of pseudonymity.273 NT pseudepigraphy, sharing the inherited tendencies indicated above – identification with authoritative figures - however, has its peculiarities. The authoritative figure in this case is Jesus Christ, around whom the Jesus tradition was built, based on the eschatological phenomenon of the kingdom of God and its presence. From the in-breaking power of this kingdom, seen to be manifest in the authoritative person and activities of Jesus, a bridge was built through to the early church. By means of its kerygma and life, its witnessing saw the interpretation of the scriptures in the light of the risen Christ. In the circumstances of the early church an accentuation of the authoritative traditions became established in the apostolic traditions. The importance of such charismatic phenomenon – apostleship – is vividly seen in the distinctive roles of certain individual apostolic figures in the lives of the early Christian communities. Through such roles these figures became part of the tradition. It is within this circumstance that the figure of Paul became very determining, as will be subsequently seen. One of the peculiar accents of NT pseudepigraphy is its time stretch. Unlike the ancient pseudepigraphy that stretched through many centuries, the NT pseudepigraphy is a phenomenon of the last forty years of the 1st Century AD (between 60 and 100 AD). It borders between the times of the Proto-Pauline and the Ignatian letters. This time in ancient Christianity was characterized 272 Cf. G. Scholem, „Zum Verständnis der messianischen Idee im Judentum“, in: K. Koch, & J.M. Schmidt, (Hg.), 1982, 327–369. 273 U. Schnelle testifies to seven of the NT writings (Mt, Mk, Lk, Acts, Jn, Heb, 1 Jn) being anonymous from origin. It was only later in the course of tradition that names became attached to them as their authors. He characterises the rest of the NT writings as pseudepigraphic, meaning that they became published with names of ­authors that are not historically correspondent to them. Cf. idem, 2006, 326; see also ibid., 242, 263, 284, 306, 515, 412, 499; I. Broer, 2006, 301.

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by difficulties that elicited radical changes. It was a time in dare need of new orientations. The gapping sense of loss created by the death of the apostles and first witnesses of the Jesus event, and the authoritative roles they played, the need for some more consequent structural organization of the increasing and spreading frontiers confronted the Christians of this epoch. Moreover, they also had to grapple with such theological problems like the delay of the ­expected return of the Lord, and intensively with the emerging heretical teachings in their circles. Severe persecutions during this epoch, and the perplexing quest to establish an identity outside Judaism compounded the situation the more. It was an epoch of immensely challenging developments, demanding new orientations.274 The new orientation these situations called for, this fundamental factor in the raison d’être of pseudepigraphy, was readily found in the authoritative first witnesses of the salvific event in the person, teaching and actions of Jesus Christ. These authoritative witnesses were the apostles. As M. Gese pointed out, their witnessing became the guarantee for the truth, founded on … the very close connection of the proclamation of the early Christians with God’s revelation that occurred in the concrete salvific events in Jesus Christ. It is not the oldness of the age of the tradition that guarantees its worth. It is rather the fact that those who handed them belong to the circle of persons who had the experience of the final and unique revelation of God in Jesus Christ.275

Recourse to the authority of the apostles, therefore, became a veritable means of ­attending to the new difficulties of the subsequent generations. Writing in the name of these authorities – pseudepigraphy – became the most effective theologically legitimation and ecclesiologically necessary literary means of letting the authority in question address the community and the emerging difficulties, while vouching for the veracity of the message.276 In order to be as true and as near as possible to the authority of patronage, the authors of the NT pseudepigraphic writings employed skills whose elements include imitation of the styles of the authority, capturing as much as possible the personal (mental and physical) situation of the authority in question by means of relating some historical circumstances of the authority. Such skills presuppose some in-depth knowledge of the authority. This knowledge is then gainfully employed in the writings to really lead the audience into seeing the hand or hearing the voice of the authority in the writing presented. 274 Cf. U. Schnelle, 2006, 327. 275 Cf. M. Gese, 1997, 12. See also I. Broer, 2006, 689–691. 276 Cf. U. Schnelle, 2006, 329.

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The employment of these skills and the pre-requisite knowledge they demand are most manifest in the pseudepigraphic writings associated with Paul. The ­authors not only show some deep knowledge of the apostle’s way of thinking, his personal circumstances and difficulties, they knew him well as one who had the tradition of mediating his absence from the Christian communities by means of letter writing. D.G. Meade notes to this effect: An even remarkable feature of the personalization of the Pauline tradition is that it even extends to a characteristic form of communication… Paul resorted to the form of communication most associated with him: the apostolic letter. Paul took the form of ancient letters and adapted it to apostolic speech, thereby creating a new Gattung. He clearly intended the letters he wrote to be a substitute for his apostolic presence, or better, a mediation of his apostolic presence.277

The pseudepigraphic writers could therefore afford to ‘forge’ their writings from within the circumstance(s) most corresponding to the intention of the work, sometimes even making some chronological presentations. Most obviously they linked up to the epistolary tradition already established and used by Paul. It is within such circumstances that the issues of deutero-Pauline letters arose. The letter to the Ephesians is considered in this light.

3.2 Ephesians as Pseudo-/Deutero-Pauline Both the issues of the destination and authorship of the Letter have been objects of heated discussions in biblical scholarship. Following intensive observation of the arguments, P.J. Kobelski notes, Although the superscription “To the Ephesians” is present in all NT mss., the phrase “in Ephesus” is absent from the 1:1 in P46 (the earliest text of the Eph), from the original hand of the important 4th-cent. codices Vaticanus and Sinaiticus, and from the minuscules 424 (corrected) and 1739.278

The letter is given the understanding of an encyclical without any original geographical designation; a circular letter meant for the several churches of the Roman Province of Asia. The socio-economic importance of Ephesus as a city, and most importantly, its unique place in the missionary programmes and e­ xperience of Paul (cf. 1 Cor 15:32; 16:8; Acts 18, 19; 2 Tim 4:12) are suggested as making it the plausible option for this letter without destination. It is suggested that it now became addressed as such perhaps to compensate 277 Cf. Meade, D.G., 1986, 117. 278 Cf. P.J. Kobelski, “The Letter to the Ephesians”, in: NJBC, 1994, 883–890 (883).

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the non-availability of an ‘official’ recognition by means of a letter personally ­addressed to it by Paul.279 Over and against the traditional position that Paul wrote the letter traditionally understood as to have been addressed to the Ephesians (Eph), research in this regard shows a sustained ‘battle of wits’ not just questioning this position, but also presenting evidences to the otherwise. The initial doubts over Pauline authorship of Eph was expressed by Desiderius Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466–1536). This followed his observations of the unfamiliar style in the letter when compared to other Pauline letters. The actual challenging of Pauline authorship began to feature in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. E. Evanson (1792) and L. Usteri (1824), noted as arrow-heads of this challenge, based their arguments on the impersonal character of the letter as well as on the great similarity it shares with the Letter to the Colossians (Col). W. M. L. de Wette (1780–1849), building on these arguments, pioneered the radically strong criticisms of Pauline authorship of Eph, criticisms upon which the Tübingen school (represented here by F.C. Baur) and other critics built. He maintained that Eph cannot have originated from Paul, having observed it contained a number of things he deemed seemingly strange to, and unworthy of the Apostle’s thought pattern and way of writing.280 With this criticism thus so radically expressed, the tone was set for the ‘battle field’ that the issues concerning the authenticity or not of Eph has b ­ ecome among scholars. Various scholars of renown, however, pitch their tents in defense of Pauline authorship despite the numerous international and cross-­ confessional consensus in favour of the deutero-Pauline character of the letter. I.  Broer notes one of the most difficult problems in this regard as being the continued cross-carpeting and changing of initially held positions by some ­renowned NT scholars. Attempts by such defenders like H. Schlier with his theory of “the changed situation of the aging Apostle”, E. Percy with his apologetic interest, A. van Roon with his “two secretary theory”, to modify their positions are judged unsatisfactory.

279 For more detailed account of the arguments over the issues of the designation of the letter see E. Best, “Recipients and Title of the Letter to the Ephesians: Why and When the Designation ‘Ephesians’?” in: ANRW II 25.4 (1987), 3247–3279. See also G. Sellin, 2009, 164–172. 280 Cf. H. Merkel, „Der Epheserbrief in der neueren exegetischen Diskussion“, in: ANRW II 25.4 (1987), 3156–3246 (3162) (Hence to be referred to as „Der Epheserbrief…“); see also M. Gese, 1997, 2.

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The suggestion that such development occurred in Paul’s later years are not only unaccounted for. The fact, for instance, that the letter itself makes reference to earlier revered generation of Apostles and Prophets to which Paul counts (2:20; 3:2–11 etc.), makes such position difficult to sustain. Seeking refuge in the double secretary theory or arguing that a Pauline core was modified by an interpolator or a disciple shows already the condition upon which Pauline authorship may be held,281 namely, that some other influence other than Paul must have been at work. Not just on the counts of popularity or number of protagonists, but based on veracity and tenacity of arguments, the position of the pseudonymity of Eph has established itself especially in German biblical scholarship. We attempt a summary presentation of a number of these arguments that informed our adopting this position.

3.2.1  Arguments against Pauline authorship (a summary) Critical voices against Pauline authorship of Eph are hinged on two major points: the lingual and stylistic characteristics on the one hand, and the theological orientation on the other, especially its very remarkable closeness to Col. In some form of further explication E.H. Maly and M.P. Horgan note that, (1) The vocabulary includes several words that are not used in the seven letters generally recognized as having been written by Paul, as well as additional number of words that are rarely used by Paul or that are used by Paul with different meaning. (2) The style is heavy and marked by redundance, unlike the vigorous, hurried style of Paul’s letters. (3) The epistle shows a development of thought that is regarded as un-Pauline. (4) The striking surface similarity between Ephesians and Colossians is accompanied by unexplained differences in the meaning of common words and expressions.282

281 Cf. M. Gese, 1997, 2; see also I. Broer, 2006, 515. H. Schlier is a typical example of such cross-carpeting. Other popular defenders of Pauline authorship include M.  Barth, P. Benoit, F.F. Bruce, G.B. Caird, L. Cerfaux, E. Percy, O’Brien, A. van Roon etc. Seemingly innumerable as the number of the protagonist of the deutero-Pauline authorship is, M. Dibelius, H. Conzelmann, J. Gnilka, E. J. Goodspeed, E. Käsemann, R. Schnackenburg, R. F. Collins, J.A. Fitzmyer, A.T. Lincoln etc. are counted among the most popular. H. Merkel, „Der Epheserbrief…”, op. cit., 3158– 3159 has what may serve as a comprehensive list of the various groups. See also P.J. Kobelski, “The Letter to the Ephesians”, in NJBC, 1994, 883,884; E.H. Maly & M.P. Horgan, “Epistle to the Ephesians”, in: NCE 5 (2003), 270–272. 282 Cf. E.H. Maly & M.P. Horgan, op. cit., 272; see also I. Broer, 2006, 516. R. Schnackenburg presents us with an excellent study of these issues, featuring immense but very convincing carefulness of a scholar who is fully conscious of, and open to the possibilities of new developments. Cf. idem, 1982, 17–34.

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3.2.1.1 Language and style With regard to the language and style, although Eph contains distinctive h ­ apax legomena clearly different when compared to those found in the undisputed letters of related length, P.J. Kobelski thinks that they are not unusually frequent. This position, however, seems unique to him given the various numbers of such words supplied by different scholars.283 Conspicuous too are some word combinations that are unfamiliar as far as the vocabularies and style of the undisputed Pauline letters are concerned. They include lengthy conglomeration of sentences (e.g. 1: 3–14, 15–22; 2: 1–7), participles (e.g., 1: 3–5, 13; 2:12, 14–16; 4:14–16; 5:19–21; 6:18–20) and combination of synonyms with the genitive (eg.1:19; 6:10),284 repeated use of prepositions (e.g., 1:3ff; 4:12, 13) etc. From the point of view of the development of thought the letter evidences lines of thought that are apparently non-Pauline. If the author of Eph were to be Paul, as he gave himself to be (1:1; 3:1), the Paul that had such a history of contact with Ephesus, it would be difficult to explain him writing in verse 1:15 “I have heard of your faith…”, and in 3:2 “for surely you have already heard of the commission of God’s grace that was given me for you…”. These show that the audience of the letter had no first-hand knowledge of Paul. This becomes even clearer when compared with related statements in some of the undisputed Pauline letters like 1 Cor 1:10ff, Phil 1:3ff, 1 Thess 1:2ff; 2:13 etc. Moreover, the image of Paul in Eph 3:1ff was no longer of one struggling on the road of salvation to assert himself (1 Cor 9:1ff; 2 Cor 4:7ff; Phil 3:14; etc.) but of one already being celebrated, a reference point in the history of salvation, a specially privileged receiver of divine revelations. From this perspective, Gese’s position that Eph presentation of the person of Paul is ‘blaß und farblos’285 is rather difficult to sustain. Rather than the alleged colourlessness, one sees a great colourfulness in the acknowledged Ehrerbietung. In Eph Paul is made an icon of 283 Cf. P.J. Kobelski, “The Letter to the Ephesians”, in: NJBC, 1994, 884. Contrary to his position, U. Schnelle is aware of 35 NT hapax legomena in Eph (2006, 349), while D.G. Meade maintains that Eph contains 90 words that do not occur elsewhere in Paul (1986, 140). R. Schnackenburg is aware in Eph of 49 NT hapax legomena and 51 hapax legomena that are not seen anywhere in the undisputed Pauline letters (1982, 22). Among the most prominent of the Eph hapax legomena are evn toi/j evpourani,oij (Eph 1:3, 20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12), politei,a (2:12), meso,toicon (2:14), e;rgoij avgaqoi/j (2:10) e`no,thj (4:3,13), dia,boloj (4:27, 6:11) kosmokra,twr (6:12) etc. 284 G. Sellin provides an elaborate list of 64 of such unfamiliar genitive constructions, suggesting a strong Jewish influence on the language of Eph. Cf. idem, 2009, 217–238. 285 Cf. M. Gese, 1997, 5.

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almost unrivaled status even when statements about his concrete personality and character are not presented. The letter presents a post-Pauline setting.

3.2.1.2 Different theological developments Akin to these developments are the theological differences Eph presents when compared to the undisputed Pauline letters. They include the eschatology and ecclesiology of Eph, with the latter constituting a factor of great importance in the theology of Eph. Whereas evkklhsi,a in the undisputed letters often stands for the local communities, house fellowship as it were (1 Cor 1:2; 16:19; Gal 1:2; Philem 2), the church in Eph assumes a universal and cosmic dimension (1:21–23; 3: 9–11). The apostles and prophets constitute its foundations (2:20), unlike in 1 Cor 3:11 where Christ is unequivocally the only foundation. The Cristo.j kefalh. th/j evkklhsi,aj theology in Eph (1:22–23; 5:23) is manifestly an advancement of the image of the church as the body of Christ made up of varied members (1 Cor 12:12ff; Rom 12: 4–5). And in the constitution of the members of this body, the Jews-Gentiles polemics and conflicts regarding admittance or not, are considered resolved (2:14–16). Its eschatology is considered a ‘realized’ eschatology (2: 5–6) over and against the yet-to-be-fulfilled hope of sharing in the resurrection of Christ and the anxiety over the Parousia (1 Thess 4:14ff; Phil 3:10; Rom 6:5). Little wonder then Eph refers to the apostles and prophets with such titles of veneration as toi/j a`gi,oij avposto,loij kai. profh,taij (3:5), a title already accorded in the prescript of the letter to the believers/recipients of the letter (1:1). One of the considerably strongest of the arguments regarding the pseudepigraphic character of Eph, however, is its very close relationship to the letter to the Colossians (Col), a relationship that borders around the issues of literary dependence. Opinio Communis among exegetes, even among the protagonists of the ­authenticity of Eph, uphold the priority of Col to Eph, and therefrom, the dependence of Eph on Col. And when Col is generally viewed as pseudepigraphic,286 Eph that is literary dependent on it would obviously share the same character. 286 The consideration of works on the authenticity or not of Col, is outside the scope of this work. But suffice it to refer to what may be considered some succinct summaries of these efforts afforded us by I. Broer, 2006, 493–496; see also U. Schnelle, 2006, 331–336; M. Gese, 1997, 4–5; M. Theobald, „Der Kolosserbrief ”, in: M. Ebner, & S. Schreiber, (Hg.), 2008, 427. The general view is that considering the style and theological contents of the letter, an unknown author, well informed in the Pauline tradition, and to whom at least the letter to Philemon (Romans as well) was well known, must have been responsible for the letter to the Colossians. The tilt towards figuring out Timothy as the author is considered not beyond doubt. For though the

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I. Broer, agreeing with C.L. Mitton (1955) that from one third to half of the verses of Col are paralleled in Eph as evidence of the literary dependence, goes further to suggest that the parallels are better sought by ordering them into categories than by just counting them. These categories are: literary (letter) structure, language and theological contents.287 However, despite the repleteness of parallels and similarities in the style, language and theological contents of the letters, Eph often presents its unique accents. Despite the words-relationship, the change of perspectives and weight of emphasis are very evident. The Christological focus of Col is changed to ecclesiology in Eph as seen in the distinctive ways such terms as oivkonomi,a, musth,rion, plh,rwma etc., are used. Also in the paraenetic part of Eph the emphasis is shifted from the seemingly abstract ‘heavenly’ conduct recommended in Col to an earthly but Christian way of life in Eph, differentiating the believers from the non-believers (Col 3:1–2,5; vs Eph 4:17–19; 5:7–8;). M. Theobald sees a typical instance of such change of perspective, as far as the paraenesis of Eph is concerned, and from which a very strong case for the pseudo-Pauline character of Eph is further made, in the theology of marriage developed in Eph, the “syzyge” between Christ and the Church. That Paul, who apparently had little or no special favour for marital life (1 Cor 7:31), inundated with his understanding of this world as passing away, would turn around to see the mystery of Christ and the Church imaged in the marital community of man and woman, is highly improbable, post-Pauline as the case may be.288 This leads to the position that though the letters evidence shared reception of already existing traditions, and therefore some deep literary relationship, the literary dependence is not to be misconstrued in the sense of merely copying/reproducing the thoughts of Col. The author of Eph made reflective use of the documents (Col and otherwise) that lay before him for his composition. There is no doubt that the near word for word similarities

letter names Paul and Timothy as issuing it (1:1), from 1:23 the first person singular (I) referring to Paul dominates most parts of the letter. 287 Cf. I. Broer, op. cit., 516–517. With regard to the literary form, structural and verbal similarities are evidenced in the prescripts (Eph 1: 1–2; Col 1: 1–2), in the Thanksgiving (Eph 1:15ff; Col 1:3ff), in the Prayer for the community (Eph 6:18–20; Col 4: 2–4), in the household codes (Eph 5:19–6:9; Col 3:16–41), and in the postscripts/ conclusions (Eph 6:21ff; Col 4:7ff). Similarities in language and/contents are seen both in shared thoughts (Eph 1:7; Col 1:14; Eph 1:13; Col 1:5; Eph 1:20; Col 2:12; Eph 1:22; 4:15; 5:23; Col 1:18; 2:19; Eph 2: 5–7; Col 2:12; 3:1ff), and also where Eph sets its different accents (Eph 2:20; Col 2:7; Eph 3:3ff; Col 1:26ff; Eph 2:11ff; Col 3:11) etc. 288 Cf. M. Theobald, 2000, 21; see too P.J. Kobelski, in: NJBC, 1994, 884.

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in the postscripts of both letters - Col 4:7ff and Eph 6:21ff, for instance, pose big difficulties to this position.289 Given the above noted structural and further theological developments in Eph, the priority of Col is not only assumed, its (Eph) pseudepigraphic character is thought to be very obvious. For it is more logical to perceive the developments as moving from Col and culminating in Eph, than otherwise. Such sharing of ideas from Col by Eph also goes to add weight to the argument against authentic Pauline authorship of Eph. Paul is never known to lean so heavily on another document that was not his. He is also not known to write such a letter as Eph, which specific intention(s) constitute(s) a puzzle. Eph misses not only the bite and urgency of Pauline communications, some basic theological themes that are considered frequently reoccurring decimals in Pauline theology like justification theology, theology of the cross etc. are either missing in Eph or glossed over. In the final analysis, the pseudepigraphic character of Eph is the present stand of research concerning it. I. Broer expresses this conclusion very strongly thus: …given the long sojourn of the Apostle in Ephesus and his usual habits in letters, it is difficult to understand this very general and hardly personal letter that does not contain even greetings, as an authentic Pauline letter. The letter originates from a theologian, who, with the evidence of the overtures, shows he knows the authentic Pauline letters very well, and who apparently is at home with the Hellenistic and Jewish world… It is most probable that the author is Jewish Christian from the diaspora. 290

Adopting this position, we attempt, in the form of general analysis, a further examination of Eph.

3.3 General analysis of Eph A better understanding of any given text presupposes a grasp of the structure the text has taken. Discovering the structure and its characteristics and analyzing their appearance in the text under examination go a long way assisting some deeper insight into the different themes, emphases and orientation of the text. 289 M. Theobald argues that the particularly heavy lean on Col had to do with Eph author’s supposition that Col was an authentic letter from Paul. On the grounds of this supposition the author of Eph would have held that readers of Col would readily recognise “Paul” also speaking in Eph. Cf. idem, 2000, 16–17. 290 Cf. I. Broer, 2006, 518. Translation is mine. Cf. too H. Conzelmann, 86–88; R. Schnackenburg, though more probable in his conclusions in this regard, basically shares the same view. Cf. idem, 1982, 28–29. See also, H. Merkel, „Der Epheserbrief…“, in: ANWR 3175.

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With regard to Eph, despite its traditional categorization as letter, one of the initial difficulties has to do with the problem of deducing the particular letter genre or the other to which it properly belongs, given its unique general and impersonal nature. Unlike the undisputed Pauline letters that are easily classified on the lines of the deduced Pauline epistolary structures, Eph poses some puzzle by its peculiar nature as an impersonal, pseudo-Pauline writing. While lacking the specific character of the undisputed Pauline letters, it, however, moves around these structures. H. Conzelmann would therefore see Eph as a theoretical, meditative theological piece that became clothed in letter-form,291 a characterization that no doubt went a long way enhancing the analysis of Eph in these directions. R. Schnackenburg may be cited as a typical example of such development. After indicating those characters of Pauline letters around which Eph moves, as well as other factors that play determining roles in whatever characterization one may be inclined to give Eph, he substantially agrees with Conzelmann’s position. He, however, notes that the letter-form Eph assumed is not accidental. It is rather literary form consciously chosen by the author. In the pursuit of his goal and the purpose for which he undertook to do the writing, such literary form must have seemed most appropriate to him.292 Though seemingly having built on the basis created by Conzelmann’s considerations of Eph, note is taken of the terminus „in Briefform gekleidete Abhandlung” - (A handout clothed in letter pattern) and what it may mean in the controversial differentiation between “Epistle” and “Letter” as undertaken by A. Deissmann (1925). However, we observe that such investigations are outside the scope of this work as we go on to consider the letter elements in Pauline letter traditions.

3.3.1 The letter elements in Pauline tradition The generic difficulties noted above are given specific expressions by I. Broer when he points out the various facts that have to be taken into consideration in the classification of documents – theological tracts, sermons etc. – as letters or not, as well as in their interpretations. In the face of the difficulties that the narrow differentiation between “letter” and “epistle” brought with it, I. Broer presents a compromise way-out by maintaining that, “If one does not define the characteristics of a letter so narrowly, then one may defend the letter character of one document or the other, whose characterization as such had been doubted.”293 Through this understanding he seems to have built on the basis created by Conzelmann’s 291 Cf. H. Conzelmann, 1976, 86; see also F. Mußner, „Epheserbrief “ in: TRE 9 (1993), 743ff. 292 Cf. R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 17–19. 293 Cf. I. Broer, 2006, 301ff.

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characterisation of Eph as “clothed in letter-form”, Conzelmann goes further to observe that at the root of whatever schemata that may be observed lies a particular trend of thought: theological understanding of the salvific event in Christ and its meaning for those involved. It is the life-changing effect the encounter with the Christ event is expected to yield as fruit. This unique theology-ethics (dogmatic/ indicative-paraenetic/imperative) characteristic of Pauline theology, the gospel of Jesus Christ and its challenges, he relates through the literary art of letter writing. Paul took up this ancient means of communication, gave it his peculiar imprint. He adapted it to an apostolic form of ‘speech’, a form of expressing his apostolic authority.294 The general ancient letter writing pattern that Paul took-up, basically and occasionally reworked to suit his theological goal shared this form: Introduction of the letter Prescript : Sender (superscription) Addressee (adscription) Greeting (salutation) Proem (Proömium) Thanksgiving Intercession Body of the Letter Opening Formulae: Introduction of the topic of the letter Self-disclosure or recommendation of another Middle of the body Information Thematic presentation and argumentation Paranetic instructions, recommendations, appeal, request End of the body Application of the instruction Travel/ visitation plans

294 Cf. F. Vouga, „Der Brief als Form der apostolischen Autorität“, in: K. Berger et al. (Hg.), 1992, 10.

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Conclusion Epilogue (concluding instructions, issues about relationship, request for prayers) Postscript ( greetings from the author to the addressees, to some others, greetings from others through the author to the addressees) Farewell, personal evidence (sometimes) of authorship – signature Date295

Creating a new Gattung from the above presented ancient pattern, letter-form ­became a distinguishing characteristic of Pauline writings. Identifying with Pauline theology became no longer just a question of accepting and sharing the contents of his thoughts, it included also the reception of their letter-like forms.296 This is what the authors of the pseudepigraphic documents in the NT that are associated with Paul insisted on living up to, albeit in their various ways. Featuring a personalization of the Pauline tradition, they sought some form of discontinued continuity. Our pseudepigraphic letter of concern – Eph – anchoring, as has been earlier established on Col,297 itself a pseudo-Pauline letter that evidences some attempts at strict ­adaptation of the Pauline formulae with its peculiarities,298 follows in its unique way the Pauline tradition. Through this relationship the construction scheme of Col is readily observed in it, a construction scheme Col shares with such other undisputed Pauline letters like the letter to the Romans or the letter to the Galatians.

3.3.2 Ephesians in Pauline letter-pattern From the appreciated attempt at following the apostolic letter formulae Eph is located in the letter Gattung despite reservations. In this letter frame the 1:1ff 295 Cf. H-J. Klauck, 1998, 35–39,227ff; I. Broer, 305–307; see also S. Schreiber, „Briefliteratur im Neuen Testament“, in Ebner/Schreiber, (Hg.), 2008, 254–256. Taking up the three major parts – Introduction, Body, Conclusion – Paul worked out his adaptations and variations pro tempore et pro re. For more on the form of Pauline Letters see P.T. O’Brien, “Letters, Letter Forms”, in: DPL (1993), 550–553. 296 Cf. F. Vouga, op. cit., in: K. Berger et al. (Hg.), 1992, 8. 297 Cf. M. Theobald, „Der Epheserbrief “, in: M. Ebner & S. Schreiber, (Hg.), 2008, 408– 424 (411ff); see also idem, 2000, 16–17. 298 Cf. M. Theobald, „Der Kolosserbrief “, in: M. Ebner & S. Schreiber, (Hg.), 2008, 425–429(425). See also H. Conzelmann, 1976, 86. In the similarity of their structural build-up, he sees Eph also taking after Rom and Gal, an observation M. Theobald also shares (414), having earlier made a side by side presentation of the structural schemata of Col and Eph. (411–412).

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and its accompanying introductory blessings (eulogy) constitute the prescript, while 6:21–24 make up what is understood as the concluding greetings as in other Pauline letters. The body of the letter, made-up of two major divisions – the theological-doctrinal and the paraenetic-admonishing aspects – characteristic of the Pauline letter formulae, constitute the bulk of the letter. These two ­major parts are characteristically connected to each other with the exhortative parakalw/ ou=n u`ma/j evgw,… (4:1), constituting the characteristic rhetorical phrase,299 following up the solemn doxology with which the theological-doctrinal aspect is concluded. It is observed, with regard to the body of the letter, that greater emphasis, quantitatively speaking, seems to have been laid on the paraenetic section. This is dissimilar to some of the undisputed letters in which some form of intermingling, and/or balance of the two may be observed. Sometimes the indicative aspects of a letter or the other come later to retrospect imperative ­aspects that have come up in the earlier part of the letter.300 Despite what may be appreciated as astute efforts at faithfulness to the Pauline formulae, Eph exhibits significant differences.301 Remarkable is, for instance, that the normal prescript-thanksgiving flow is intercepted by the interjection of eulogy 1: 3–14, after which a return is made to the thanksgiving 1:15–23. Significant too is that this time, it is more detailed than is usual in the Pauline formulae. Even when a vivid example of similar eulogy featured in one of the undisputed Pauline letters 2 Cor 1: 3–7, the concrete personal motif that characterized such eulogy – suffering and consolation experienced in Asia – is missing in Eph. The author of Eph takes the form but rather than an allusion to a concrete ­experience, eulogizes God for the general salvific action of his in Jesus Christ – Election theology – thereby portraying at the same time one of the major issues of his writing – God’s sovereignty. The Conclusio of Eph also testifies to its difference as well. The usual format of list of persons to be greeted or admonished, as seen in the undisputed letters, by means of which some personal note and emphasis are brought to bear, is not seen in Eph. Neither do such pieces of information as the desire to see the addressees again, travel plans of the apostle etc., feature. We rather read a generalized form of greeting to “all lovers of our Lord Jesus Christ”. M. Gese explains that such ‘omissions’ are in line with the impersonal disposition and universal orientation that characterize Eph. This is

299 Cf. G. Sellin, 2009, 186. 300 Cf. ibid., 180–181,183; A.C. Mayer, 2002, 19. 301 Cf. M. Gese, 1997, 30–38.

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irrespective of the note on Tychicus’ assignment – the only directly personal note in Eph outside the claim of Pauline authorship.302 The opinio communis regarding the general structure of Eph in the characteristic three major parts of the Pauline letter formula may therefore be diagrammatically presented as such: Opening of the letter 1: 1–2 Prescript – sender and addressees 1: 3–14 Eulogy 1:15–23 Thanksgiving Body of the letter Theological-Doctrinal aspect (2: 1–3:21) 2: 1–10 The former and the present situation of the believers 2:11–22 The Church made up of Jews and Gentiles 3: 1–13 The Pauline image of Eph – the apostle as standard-bearer and servant of the mystery of revelation 3:14–19 Intercessions 3:20–21 Doxology Paraenetic-Exhortative aspect (4: 1–6:9) 4: 1–6 Basis for the exhortation 4: 7–16 Ecclesiological orientation – regarding the unity of the Body of Christ 4:17–24 The old and new human being 4:25–5.20 Individual admonitions, Christian ethos 5:21–6:9 Household codes Conclusion 6:10–20 6:21–22 6:23–24

Concluding admonitions/prayer request Tychicus’ commission Eschatocoll303

302 Cf. ibid., 35–36, 39. It is his view that which such ‘omissions’, the author indirectly reveals the pseudonymity of the letter, showing moreover, that his main interest was the employment of the authority of Paul. 303 Cf. U. Schnelle, 2006, 354; see also I. Broer, 2006, 512–513; M. Theobald, 2008, 411–415. I. Broer, however, makes a case for a division of the letter into two parts – theological (1:1–3:21) and exhortative (4:1–6:20) - on account of the very close relationship he sees between chapters 1 & 2. This position is problematic given the fact that prescript and the conclusion are not theological but literary characters. Without a tripartite division as done above, it would be difficult to account for these distinctions, a difficulty Broer himself tacitly acknowledged in his explanations. For G. Sellin Eph has three main parts that may be spread out in letter characteristics: 1: 1–2 brieflicher Rahmen: Prescript; 1:3–3,21 I Epideictic part 4:1–6,9 II paraenetic

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Within this letter-structure of Eph and in its major divisions into the theological and paraenetic parts, a circular correspondence in the individual parts is observable.304 The Eulogy of 1:3–14 shares some correspondence with the doxology in 3:20–21; the prayer of thanksgiving in 1:15–23 with the intercessions in 3:14–19. In the soteriology of 2:1–10, where the salvific deeds of God in Christ Jesus is the issue, a correspondence is seen in 3: 1–13 in the role and image of Paul as one through whom the mystery of God is made known to the gentiles. Incomparably unique as the person and deeds of Christ are, the notes on the gift of grace for good works provides the link as having been realized in the person of Paul as example. The hub of the letter located in the ecclesiology presented in 2:11–21 finds some collaboration in 3:10 where the church is assigned a cosmic evangelization. Through the link provided by Parakalw/ ou=n (4:1) the ethical part, summed up in love as the expression of Christian identity, has the following correspondence: 4:1–16 and 5:21–6:9; 4:17–24 and 5:15–20; 4:25–32 and 5:3–14. After the concluding admonitions of 6:10–20, 6:21–24 as Eschatocol forms a correspondence to the prescript of 1: 1–2 thereby presenting a rounded-up document.

3.3.3 Attempt at rhetoric schemata The letter structure of Eph and the traditional rhetoric associated with such structures saw attempts at seeking an understanding of Eph in the rhetoric schemata too.305 Such attempts classified 1:1f as Prescript; 1: 3–14 as exordium; 1:15–23 as captatio benevolentiae; 2: 1–22 as narratio; 3: 1–21 as argumentatio; 4: 1–6,9 as exhortatio; 6:10–20 as peroratio.306 In disagreement, however, G. Sellin maintains that though Eph at the first sight would seem to readily fall into the traditional rhetoric schemata, the first part of the letter has neither argumentatio nor narratio. Instead of the usual thanksgiving characteristic of rhetorical letters, we have at the beginning of Eph a eulogy. The circular correspondence and the liturgical character complicate the rhetorical considerations as well. At the end part (exhortatio); 6:10–20 III peroratio; 6:21–24 Letter end: „Schluss“ cf. idem, 2009, 195 (footnote 110). 304 Cf. G. Sellin, „Epheserbrief “, in: RGG4 2 (1999), 1345; idem, 2009, 181. 305 G. Sellin gives a short summary of the ancient rhetoric with particular reference to its relationship to biblical exegesis in general, and to Pauline letters in particular. Cf. idem, 2009, 148–163. See also S.E. Porter, “The Theoretical Justification for the Application of rhetorical Categories to Pauline Epistolary Literature”, in: idem & T. Olbricht, (ed.), 1993, 100–122. 306 Cf. A.C. Mayer, 2002, 20. See also R. Jeal, 2000, 62–67; A.T. Lincoln, 1990, xli–xliv.

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however, he sees, with some reservation, the rhetoric of Eph as sharing in that of epideictic speeches.307 H. Hübner expresses skepticisms over the attempts at rhetorical analysis of Col and Eph, though some note of self-contradiction may be observed given the fact of his having acknowledged reception and application of the elements of Pauline writings in Eph.308 If in Pauline writings some form of rhetoric is evidenced, and Hübner sees Eph (and Col) as having adapted such elements of Pauline writings, seeking to interpret Eph in the light of such structures would not be unjustified. Indeed the theological piece (Eph) came to be acknowledged as sermon patterned after the rhetorical schemata as adapted by, and from Pauline letters. The attempt to follow the pure rhetoric process of arguing from the exordium/narratio to the exhortatio is no doubt made. But being a sermon such expected strict compliance to the rhetoric order, whereby the persuasion, the conviction of the audience depends most largely on the strength and cleverness of the argument, would not be the case. Though the gospel, the message of the cross of Christ may make use of the eloquence of worldly wisdom, it cannot depend on it. Less it be emptied of its power (1 Cor 1:17ff; 2:1–6). In sum therefore, what we have in Eph is really a sermon in letter-form, employing the elements of rhetoric in imitation of the Pauline style, but adapted to suit the goal the author has in mind. In the course of the pursuit of this goal, and in the initial disposition of working in Pauline tradition for a post-Pauline generation, Eph evidences the reception of Pauline theology, an aspect of which – cosmic theology – we will set about examining after identifying the goal the author of Eph was pursuing.

3.4 Intention(s) of Eph That a particular purpose or the other lies behind engaging in a literary work worth the name is obvious. In the NT writings for instance such underlying ­intentions that prompted the authors to embark on such undertakings are e­ ither expressed clearly in the beginning of the writings (Mk 1:1; Lk 1:1–4) or at end of the documents (Jn 20:30–31; 21:25). Sometimes too the works themselves present obvious materials from which the intentions would be deciphered without much controversy (Acts). Among the Pauline writings, the undisputed Pauline writings and some of the contested or deutero/trito-Pauline letters give no doubts about the intentions of the author(s). Eph however stands out as a special case in this regard, giving no direct information about its intention(s). 307 Cf. G. Sellin, 2009, 188–192 (190). See also idem, „Epheserbrief “, in: RGG4 2 (1999), 1345. 308 Cf. H. Hübner, 1997, 23.

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Over and above the generally acknowledged theme of Eph as being ecclesiological,309 scholars have difficulties establishing the precise intention(s) the author was pursuing. This is moreso on the grounds of the uncertainties about the circumstances that may have given rise to Eph. This has contributed to what came to be called “Ephesian dilemma”. H. Merkel regards issues about the occasion and intention of Eph as a field that is still very open, warranting numerous attempts at some concretion. Did the author want to generate a new teaching, attack a heretical teaching, correct wrong behaviour, or give general challenge to Christians? These positions are associated with the historical perspectives from which the letter is read and interpreted, and in which gnosis and its influences were seen to have played a major role.310 The predominance of these approaches from the gnostic orientation may have been due to the pre-occupation of scholars with the theological/indicative part of Eph (1–3). Such near one-sided pre-occupation with the doctrinal aspect of Eph may have been responsible for Gese’s view that Eph was intended to be a brief summary of Pauline insight into the mystery of salvation. This followed from his spatial interpretation of kaqw.j proe,graya evn ovli,gw| (3:3).311 Plausible as his explanations are, it is not only too general, the deduction of the intention exclusively from only a part of the document is disagreeable. The corporate nature of the two parts of Eph has not only been underscored, the immense importance of the paraenetic part of Eph is not to be overlooked.312 Moreover, Eph as the ‘summary of the specificity of Pauline gospel’ may be difficult to defend. Not only is the tendentious glossing over in Eph of such specific Pauline themes like justi­ fication, cross theology etc. observed,313 the Pauline specificity regarding such issues in Eph like the foundation of the Church, marriage theology etc. seems over-carried. They share some relationships with Pauline themes, no doubt, but they are treated beyond Pauline perspectives. D.G. Meade had reacted to such

309 Almost every known commentary agrees that the theme of the Church, especially with regard to its unity, constitute the general theme of Eph. The different accents begin to arise from the points of view from which this unity is interpreted, and in the investigation of the reasons for the author’s preoccupation with this theme. 310 Cf. H. Merkel, „Der Epheserbrief…“, in: ANWR II (1987), 3175–3194. 311 M. Gese, arguing that they may have apparently understood the doctrinal part of his letter as a summarised presentation of Pauline insight in the Mystery, refers to is as “a brief, written summary of the specifically Pauline gospel.” Cf. M. Gese, 1997, 98. 312 Cf. G. Sellin, 2009, 180–198. 313 Cf. H. Merklein, in: K. Kertelge, (Hg.), 1981, 46ff.

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positions as unsatisfactory, and suggested another direction, viz: the examination of the themes and content of the letter, the direction he saw as provided in J. Gnilka’s approach.314 Such examination of themes and content revealed that the paraenetic aspect of the letter, elaborate as it is, would not just be a complementary but a very serious (if not more serious) part of the letter. What must have prompted such interest of the author on such elaborate exhortation? The peculiarity and conspicuous nature of the indicative to imperative, theological foundations to ethical applications letter-form of Eph, reveal an intimate concern about the identity of the recipient Christian communities perceived to be going through some crises in this regard. The author hopes to stem the crises by this means. This is in the sense of this is what you are (Church, Christians), and this is what is expected of you. It was an identity crisis that was threatening the integrity of these communities. Such problems could only arise as a result of the absence of Paul, Paul to whom the unity of his communities was an utmost priority. His sharp ways of addressing such tendencies to the otherwise are evidenced in the undisputed letters, for instance, Gal, 1 Cor etc. D.G. Meade observes in this regard, When Paul was alive, he maintained the unity of his churches by the force of his person. But after his death, a great many forces would have been at work to dissolve those communities… the problems of Ephesians stem from one fundamental problem: the loss of Paul as a unifying source of authority.315

The pseudonymous author of Eph appreciates this problem, and invokes ­Pauline authority. Working within Pauline tradition, he addresses this problem of unity in his unique style. From the syncretistic, individualistic and ahistorical influence of the popular Hellenistic religions as observed by Gnilka, and regarded by Meade as bothering on the i) relation to Judaism, ii) relation to Hellenistic religions, iii) relation to each other, G. Sellin would see the author of Eph working out a political-theological programme under the catch word „Einheit“ – unity.316 314 Arguing that only real option lies in an examination of the themes and content of the letter, J. Gnilka’s approach he supports is the view that Ephesians was written to counter the syncretistic, individualistic, and ahistorical influence of the popular Hellenistic religions near the turn of the century.” Cf. D.G. Meade, 1986, 143, 147. (Emphasis is mine!) 315 Cf. D.G. Meade, 1986, 147–148. See also G. Sellin, „Epheserbrief “, in: RGG4 2 (1999), 1344–1347. 316 Cf. G. Sellin, 2009, 192–198; see also M. Theobald, 2000, 26–28.

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The political-theological pursuit manifests itself not only in the taking-up of the “Einheitsformel” from the metaphysical foundation of the Graeco-Roman politics of the time.317 It is crystallized in its Christological interpretation and in its employment in attempting to douse the tensions of the perennial JewsGentiles controversy in a post-Pauline setting. In this perspective, the term “Jews and Gentiles” would stand for the entire humanity after the example of Paul who, while using the terms „Jews and Greeks“ was indeed referring to the entire humanity (Rom 1:16; 3:9ff). The unity Eph preaches among Jews and Gentiles becomes, therefore, an example of the ecumenical unity, the cosmic peace the author would want to see realized. By such projection, the author attempts not giving room to the thought that the writing may have been occasioned by the differences among the Jewish and Gentile Christians. He may have thought, should it directly be known that he was addressing this issue, it may deepen the differences and cause more harm than good. He, therefore, sets his thought in a global perspective, in the hope that the particular circumstance at stake gets read into and from the letter. On what particularly the problem must have been one needs to recall the tension that had almost always marked the relationship between Jewish and non-Jewish Christians from the onset. It is a tension that was inherited from exclusivity that had marked out the Jewish religion. It is the chosen-people-belief that saw humanity (from the Jewish point of view) divided into two: the people of God and the “godless” others. Such view affected their relationship with other peoples in whatever land and circumstance they found themselves, giving an wrong impression of them as unsociable, an impression that accounts for the age-long ethno-cultural conflicts and anti-Semitism.318 The ministry of Jesus was even partly influenced Jesus’ ministry (Mt 10:5ff; 15:22ff etc.). The post-­resurrection commission “to make disciples of all nations” (Mt 28:19) saw another dimension of the problem develop in the early church as typified in the Acts 6:1ff. The continued struggle with this problem was a life-long war waged by Paul as typified in the title that expresses it all – the Apostle of the Gentiles, traceable to the outcome of the so-called Jerusalem council (Acts 15; see also Gal 317 Cf. E. Faust, 1993. This work is devoted to establishing the influence of the ethnoreligious conflicts that marked the social circumstances of the Jews and Greeks in the Graeco-Roman world of the time in the letter to the Ephesians. The author is convinced that an understanding of this background is inevitable for understanding especially the letter’s concept of enmity and its theological endeavour at overcoming it. 318 Cf. R. Schwindt, 2002, 67.

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2:7ff). A new wave of triumphalism seemed to become the attitude of the nonJewish Christians in their new understanding of themselves as the heir to the promises of God (Gal 3:28–29; 4:28; Rom 8:16–17; 9:7–8), as the new Israel in the face of the unenthusiasm of the Jews with regard to the good news. Paul took up the task of correcting such tendencies as seen in Rom 9–11. The continued out-numbering of the Jewish Christians by the non-Jewish Christians, and the new organizational structure these developments were bringing in, over and against the charismatic structures in the original Pauline communities crystallized the problem.319 The Eph author sees these new developments, which in his understanding have veered away from what the Apostle handed down, as threatening to the common identity of the communities of believers in the face of the absence of the Apostle. He may have nursed the fear that if such new developments remained unaddressed, not only would the communities break away and lose its common identity, whatever remained of the influence of the Jewish Christians, few as they must have been, would be quickly lost in the new hierarchical structure of Bishops, Presbyters and Deacons. Little wonder the author of Eph took to the pseudonymous appeal to the apostolic authority, this pseudepigraphic strategy that sought to overcome the emerging problems of the early church in the face of the passing away of the generation of founders. We see the author insisting that the church was built on the foundation of apostles and prophets (2:20), the phenomena that were undeniably J­ ewish. It becomes more interesting when note is taken of the words with which he referred to the state of the non-Jewish Christians before they were admitted into the fold avphllotriwme,noi th/j politei,aj tou/ VIsrah.l kai. xe,noi tw/n diaqhkw/n th/j evpaggeli,aj (aliens to the commonwealth of Israel and strangers to the covenants of promise, Eph 2:12). The pre-occupation with the thoughts on unity and the head-body metaphoric, the current Graeco-Roman metaphysics and imperial ideology at the time, shows how well-versed the author of Eph was with the circumstance of his time. With the acknowledged political-theological programme Eph was attending to, and taking serious note of the pagan settings of the gentile Christian recipients of Eph, we arrive at what may be regarded as a more comprehensive intention of Eph. Living in a region (Asia Minor in the 1st Century AD) highly influenced by a religious cosmology the author was aware of inherent dangers. Magic, astrology and mystery religion played immense roles, dictating as it

319 Cf. K.M. Fischer, 1973, 39, as cited by F. Mußner, „Epheserbrief “ in: TRE 9 (1982), 749.

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were the socio-political life. The intention of Eph would be to re-establish and strengthen the Christian identity and the self-consciousness of Christian members (the churches) of these communities on the basis of Pauline tradition that had already theologized the cosmological categories. On the strength of such self-consciousness the author offers the recipients the orientation with which to address and attend to these socio-religious differences as well as psychological tensions of their settings. This position of M. Theobald in this direction stands out as unique in German scholarship of Eph. He notes: Our writing regards the church within the knowledge of the reign of its one Lord (4:5) also as an area free of fear, one, in which the “powers and authorities”, against whom their gentile contemporaries sought protection through magic, astrology and through initiation in the mystery cults, have lost their influence on human beings… The intention of our writing apparently targets explaining and strengthening the Christian self-understanding of the gentile Christians in Asia Minor. … In the face of the very strong pagan culture of the region, a clear characterization of the Christian community was needed.320

Most scholars have neglected or glossed over this particular Eph circumstance despite several allusions to it that feature in the letter – 1:20ff; 2:2ff; 3:10; 6:11ff. The Eph author was making a creative theological response to the experiences of his contemporaries. This work highlights an aspect of this point as the spiritworld concerns of Eph, working out therefrom a psychological hermeneutic to attend to the spirit-world concerns of Igbo (African) Christians.

3.5 Reception of Pauline “cosmic” theology in Eph Working out a theory of the reception of Pauline theology in Col and Eph based on the acceptance of their pseudepigraphic character and on the literary

320 Cf. M. Theobald, 2000, 28–29. Translation is mine. See also page 59 of the same book. The emphasis on the expression „angstfreien” – free from fear – is particularly interesting. It is a uniquely clear appreciation of this Ephesian circumstance in the German biblical scholarship of Eph known to us. R. Schwindt coming close to such appreciation referred to the „hintergründige Weltängstigkeit” of the peoples of Asia Minor of the time. Cf. idem, 2002, 3. See also C.E. Arnold, Ephesians: Power and Magic, 1989. G.H. van Kooten, who has a similar cosmological appreciation of the intention of Eph, and seeing its purpose as being “a critical modification of its (Col) cosmology and cosmic Christology”, did not, however, give any reason for such critical attention and exercise. Cf. idem, 2003, 149.

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dependence of Eph on Col, H. Merklein321 maintained that such reception features in the main, the reflective selection, modification and innovative interpretation of Pauline thoughts by the pseudepigraphic authors of Col and Eph. In other words these authors took-up aspects of Pauline tradition, and laying their peculiar accents according to the intention(s) they were pursuing, built on it to communicate to their audience. We have noted in our treatment of NT pseud­ epigraphy (3.1.0ff) how the apostles, these immediate witnesses of the Jesus event, became the guarantors of the truth of the gospel. From being the ones handing on para,dosij the good news (1 Cor 15:3), they (apostles) became identified with what was handed on. They became ‘tradition’ themselves, a characterization that Paul became an embodiment of. For the subsequent generation, it was no longer merely a matter of proclaiming Christ, but proclaiming him as the apostle did. Its apostolicity must be established in order to guarantee its orthodoxy, to protect it from falsification, and from becoming mere human traditions. It, however, took the path of the theological feat which, speaking from some retrospective reference to Paul, adopted his concepts and worked them into particular contemporary situations and circumstances. Merklein subtly captures the literary artistry of the authors of Col and Eph. He noted that the reception of Pauline theology in Col and Eph would not mean that these letters, strictly speaking, are an interpretation of Pauline theology. But that they rather took up basic ideas Basisvorstellungen of their settings, theologised them using Pauline interpretations. He terms it a “Paulinisation”.322 The foundation of the argument about the reception is, therefore, not only the fact of the Paulinisation, but mainly on the Basisvorstellungen. Neither these basic ideas nor the initial theological reactions to them were originally Paul’s. The basic ideas in question were part and parcel of the cultural given. The Christian communities prior to Paul had their theological responses to such as evidenced for instance in their liturgical hymns with immense Christological content. Phil 2: 5–11 is a typical example.323 The events of his conversion and integration into these communities (e.g. the Antioch community) exposed Paul to these basic theological outlooks. These formed the basis from which he ingeniously worked out what became known as Pauline theology. Those outlooks kept being brought to bear and advanced in the course of his missionary encounters and experiences. 321 Cf. H. Merklein, „Paulinische Theologie in der Rezeption des Kolosser- und Epheserbriefes“, in: K. Kertelge, (Hg.), 1981, 25–69. 322 Cf. ibid., 38. 323 The paradosis culture in Pauline thought is generally acknowledged. 1 Cor 15: 3–5 and Phil 2: 5–11 are given as clear examples. Cf. R.P. Martin, 1967, 301.

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By means of these theological orientations Paul worked out his response to such fundamental ideas of his world and time. A typical example of such basic ideas would be the cosmic ideas of the world in which Paul lived and to which he ministered. It was a world in which the Hellenistic cosmological systems, with their peculiar astral interests, had immensely influenced. Paul’s theological response to such ideas of his time, influenced by his exposure to the OT, Hellenistic and Mesopotamian cosmologies, came to be what is regarded as his cosmic theology.324 This constituted a major influence in his theology especially regarding the Christological orientation. The culture of taking up the already available theological traditions and ­developing them to give adequate response to the issues of the moment, as clearly manifested in Paul, became continued in post-Pauline times. The cosmic theology of Eph (influenced from Col) with its implications for the rest of its theological points of view – Christology, eschatology, ecclesiology etc.325 testifies to this. Pauline ‘technical’ dispositions and terminologies are taken up, further hellenized and given changed accent as dictated by the challenges of current spatial thought categories. According to G.H. van Kooten, …this Hellenization is certainly already present in Paul insofar that his Christology is highly cosmological and deals with Christ in relation to the elements, principles and powers of the cosmos. In the interpretation of the Jewish notion of the struggle between the ‘son of man’ and the powers, Paul seems to have been the first to take this struggle in a cosmological sense… On the other hand, however, once this transition from Jewish eschatology to Graeco-Roman cosmology is made, Pauline Christology is in principle susceptible to further development.326

An investigation of how this featured in Eph is our next focus. We had established that the import and goal of cosmic theology is that God be all in all (chapter 2). Paul’s cosmic (Christology) theology sees this goal realized

324 Cf. G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 9–53; E. Adams, “Graeco-Roman and Ancient Jewish Cosmology”, in: J.T. Pennington, & S.E. McDonough, (ed.), 2008, 5–27; see also J.  White, “Paul’s Cosmology: The Witness of Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Galatians”, in: J.T. Pennington & S.E. McDonough, (ed.), 2008, 90–106; E. Adams, 2000. See also chapter 2 of our work. 325 H. Merklein would point out, in this regard, that the eschatological reservations we are used to in Pauline letters, reservations that make for the futuristic realization, are so moderated in Eph (and Col) unto the present that the present more or less dictates the future and not otherwise as in Paul. Cf. idem, in: K. Kertelge, (Hg.), 1981, 42ff. 326 G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 111.

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in the salvific action of God in Christ; he views it as a progressive process (1 Cor 15:25) working out in Christ being the agent of creation (1 Cor 8:6), and the one in, and through whom creation is restored and renewed. He sees the high point of this mission of Christ in his being raised evgh,gertai from the dead (1 Cor 15:12–28). By raising Christ from the dead God’s power is made manifest. For by his resurrection avna,stasij, which is also his exaltation to the right hand of God in the heavenly places, Christ is made superior to, and brings to naught every ruler (principality), every authority and power pa/san avrch.n kai. pa/san evxousi,an kai. du,namin (v 24). In this light, R.P. Martin writes: …so the Exaltation is shown as Exaltation by God… this act of Exaltation in which the Father raised Him from the dead, and elevated him to the place of honour… the Exaltation has to do with the cosmic lordship of Christ, who is installed Lord of the universe and not simply as a cultic Lord of the church.327

The earlier Jewish eschatological factors received cosmological interpretation in Paul from the contemporary philosophical background (Philo-Plutarch) in which avrcai, and duna,meij, having become synonymous with the four elements out of which the cosmos is constituted, are made par with stoicei/a tou/ ko,smou.328 These cosmic Christological issues would be taken up in Eph through Col and given ecclesiological interpretations, thus bringing about theological accents that are manifestly post-Pauline. H. Merklein, working out a synopsis of Col 1:15–20, 21–23 and Eph 2:11–22 (especially 14–18),329 argues that the author of Col in his adaptation of the a traditional Christological hymn that is an expression of cosmic Christology, provides two basic Pauline ‘interpretaments’ – ecclesiology and theology of the cross. Eph operates within these interpretaments and sets off from them in the pursuit of his intention. The ecclesiological interpretament is the translocation and identification of the cosmic “All” in its synonym “Body” now understood as Church (the church as body of Christ), with Christ as its head (Col 1:18).330 The theology of the cross interpretament in Col 1:20 is expressed in the sense of the 327 Cf. R.P. Martin, 1967, 230–231,235. See also J. Sanders 1971. 328 Cf. Quis rer. div. heres 281; De decalogo 53; De aeternitate mundi 108–109; Quaestiones in Genesin 4:8 all works of Philo; Quaestiones romanae 263D-E; De primo frigido 947E; De facie in orbe lunae 926E-927A, works of Plutarch as cited by G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 101–103. See also our discussion of Paul’s cosmic theology in chap. 2.1.0; 2.2. 329 Cf. H. Merklein, op. cit., in: K. Kertelge (Hg.), 1981, 52ff. 330 For more on the stoic foundation of such thoughts see G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 17– 21. On page 177 he writes, “The similarities between the Stoic notion of the cosmic

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blood shed on the cross. It is not difficult to observe that it is Merklein’s understanding of the Eph ecclesiology as addressing the reconciliation of Jewish and gentile Christians that occasioned the synopsis. We would rather suggest that Eph 1:3–23 should have been more appropriate for such a synopsis, especially in the light of what we have perceived to be the comprehensive intention(s) of Eph, despite the preponderance of ecclesiological considerations. For it presents not only the Eph author’s further reception and adaptation of the traditional cosmic Christological hymn, it also gives a basic and an all-inclusive illustration of what became Merklein’s Pauline interpretaments – the ecclesiological and the cross’ theological. On the basis of this line of thought we see the Eph ecclesiological interpretament as summarised in Eph 1:22 - “…made him the head over all things for the church…” - in conjunction with the initial reference to the choice (and its consequences) made of us in Christ before the foundation of the cosmos (1:3–6). This is the basis for whatever developments that feature in 2:11–22, as well as for the subsequent allusions to cosmic ecclesiology. Moreover, the theology of the cross interpretament that he sees in 2:16–17 we see as having already been provided for in 1:7 “in him we have redemption through his blood…” For it is only as a consequence of the redemption through his blood that the “now” situation of the gentiles brought near by the blood of Christ (2:13) becomes realized. In order that the universal lordship of Christ does not become as anonymously ubiquitous as the cosmic powers and that his reign assumes some historical dimensions, it takes form in the church and spreads from and through it. Rather than argue as Merklein did, that concepts that are relevant to ecclesiology take the place of the cosmological,331 it is rather that cosmological ideas and expressions are given ecclesiological overtone and re-interpretation that stem from Christology. The reception in Eph, a reception that demonstrates its relationship with Col, the knowledge and use of some other Pauline writings on the one hand,332 and the unique accents of the author of Eph on the other, is revealing. The cosmic ecclesiological orientation of Eph (founded in its Christology) is clearly spelt out city and the views which the author of Eph expresses on God, the cosmos and the ecclesiastical community are immediately apparent.” 331 Cf. H. Merklein, op. cit., in: K. Kertelge, (Hg.), 1981, 59. 332 Cf. G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 149–150; in 242–289 (Appendix II), he presents a synopsis of the Greek texts of Col and Eph, Paul’s authentic Letters and the Septuagint, affording a nine-part structure of Col adapted in Eph with some exclusions and new accent. M. Theobald is convinced that particularly the letter to the Romans played a major role in Eph. Cf. idem, 2000, 21–22.

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in 1:10b avnakefalaiw,sasqai ta. pa,nta evn tw/| Cristw/ ta. evpi. toi/j ouvranoi/j kai. ta. evpi. th/j gh/j - to sum up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on earth. This remarkably unique protology of Eph that gives away the subject of the letter would keep re-occurring in Eph chain of thought. Over and above the immense theological discussions the term avnakefalaiw,sasqai has occasioned,333 our attention is first drawn to the prepositional expression evn Cristw|/, this frequently occurring key term of Pauline theology, itself variedly discussed and interpreted.334 Upon the fundamental idea of Christ as universal personality that Oepke sees in this expression, it contains also some instrumental moment. On a similar note M. Barth establishes that, …in about one-half of the occurrences of the phrase in Ephesians, God is the subject of the decision or action made “in Christ”. At least in these passages an instrumental rather than a spatial, mystical or sacramental sense must be accepted… in all the passages the phrase denotes the relationship formed by Jesus Christ between God and God’s people…335

On the strength of this relationship, the believers are able to have a share in the power of God in Christ over the cosmos and its powers. In this instrumental perspective, therefore, we see in the Eph evn Cristw|/ formula a reception of the Pauline understanding of Christ as the agent of creation (1 Cor 8:6), given radical formulation in Col 1:15–16. The immediate elucidation of what is meant by “all things”, as if to leave nobody in doubt, follows – things in the heavens and things on earth. That is a reference to the whole of creation, the cosmos as a whole without exception. A further elucidation is made in vv 21–22 (to be subsequently discussed), at the end of which the ecclesiological dimension will no longer be in doubt - e;dwken kefalh.n u`pe.r pa,nta th/| evkklhsi,a|336..

333 Cf. H. Merklein, „avnakefalaio,w“ in: ENWT (3. Aufl) I (2011) 197–199; L. ­Scheffczyk, „Anakephalaiosis“ in: LThK3 1 (1993), 572–573; R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 325–329 etc. Schnackenburg calls attention to the renewing and re-integrating ­dimensions of this bringing together. He opines that such features underly the Vat. II document Lumen Gentium. 334 Cf. A. Oepke, „evn“ in: ThWNT 2 (1935) 537–538; see also M. Barth, 1974, 69–71. G.E. Sterling will refer to this expression as ‘prepositional metaphysics’, a serious feature of the Stoic cosmology thought to have been of influence in the polemic of Col in its emphasis on Christ’s role in the creation and fulfillment of the cosmos. Cf. G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 123ff. 335 Cf. M. Barth, 1974, 70. 336 The dative determination th/| evkklhsi,a| is not to be overseen as it helps to bring out clearly the ecclesiological emphasis. NRSV translation “for the church” could be a

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The traditional cosmic Christological hymn (together with its ecclesiological implications) that Col presents in a number of verses Col 1:15–20 is here tersely summarized and continuously accentuated by Eph. Through the agency of Christ the world was created. In the agency of his salvific actions, the height of which is his resurrection and exaltation, another stronghold of Paul’s cosmic Christology (1 Cor 15:23–28), the restoration and renewal of creation is manifested and progresses. The author of Eph spells this out clearly in 1:20 – the power of God working evnh,rghsen (in the sense of indicative aorist active) in Christ in his resurrection and exaltation at his right hand. The crescendo of Eph keeps increasing and gets beyond Paul. Where Paul insists on the subjection of the son under the one who subjected all things under him (1 Cor 15:28), Eph, in the pursuit of its ecclesiology, emphasizes the authority of Christ over all things. It goes to the extent of introducing the concept of fullness that is somewhat ambiguous (Eph 1: 22–23) with regard to who was being referred to.337 Beyond the inherited understanding of Christ as the agent of creation, Eph credits him with creating a new humanity through his cross (2:15), a new humanity that is the church. In this light Merklein would rightly argue that Eph is not propagating an ecclesiology beside Christology, but an ecclesiological Christology in which the received cosmic Christology becomes conceptualized. Soteriology is taken up by ecclesiology, and the church is presented as the salvific setting within which the believers are to be saved.338 The clarity of the cosmological implication of “all things” in 1:10 need not be over-emphasized. The same applies to the place of the power of God progressively at work in the resurrection and exaltation of Christ at God’s right hand. These are determinant to the trend of the reception of Pauline cosmic theology in Eph. These are further marked out by vs 21. Immediately after referring to the power of God working in Christ’s resurrection (1:20), a deeper elucidation of the

little problematic in the sense that it does not clearly define the relationship between the Christology and ecclesiology Eph propagates. Following that translation “he (Christ) is given (e;dwken) head over all things for the church” we see a Christology beside ecclesiology. But when the dative is observed, the translation – he (Christ) is given head over all things to the church – becomes more appropriate, given the ecclesiological Christology Eph presents. 337 G.H. van Kooten seeing in the concept plhro,w in its combination with ta. pa,nta a cosmological notion, is of the view that it is the church that is being referred to here, and in cosmological sense. From the fullness which the church already possesses, the cosmos will be filled. Cf. idem, 2003, 158. 338 Cf. H. Merklein, in: K. Kertelge, (Hg.), 1981, 62–63; see too idem, in: EWNT (2011) 197–199.

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things that are being subjugated (already hinted on in v 10) and the timelessness of the subjugation is made - pa,shj avrch/j kai. evxousi,aj kai. duna,mewj kai. kurio,thtoj kai. panto.j ovno,matoj ovnomazome,nou( ouv mo,non evn tw/| aivw/ni tou,tw| avlla. kai. evn tw/| me,llonti. The influence of 1 Cor 2:6,8; 15:24; 2 Cor 4:4; Rom 8:38–39, Col 1:16b is not only obvious, the unique accent and accentuation by the author of Eph leaves no doubt. The accentuations feature in the subsequent and varied appearances of the terms in the course of the letter – 2:2ff; 3:10; 6:12ff. In these conspicuous correspondences of words, concepts, sequence of thoughts, the reception of Pauline cosmic theology is made very evident. The author of Eph really takes up the theologumena that seem to him specifically Pauline and employs them in “christologising” the mythological materials in his use.339 Conspicuous too and very important is the tone these subsequent accentuations begin to take. Over and above the christologised cosmic understanding of the received terms in their various variations, some spiritualization and connotations of the esoteric fatalism are expressed. Eph 2:2ff reminds one of the Gal experience where Paul battles the issues of enslavement to the stoicei/a tou/ ko,smou (Gal 4:3ff). In 3:10 the rulers and authorities are ontologised, located in the heavenly places, and referred to as expected addressees of the rich wisdom of God through the church. Eph 6:12 leaves no one in doubt about the author’s identification of the cosmic with the spiritual forces of evil which in his view must be fought. Surprising as such identification may be, and as interesting as Eph suggested weapons for this confrontation are, issues that we will attend to in chapter 7, the differing perspective from Paul is worth noting. This is a special character of Eph reception of Pauline cosmic theology. These differences arise because of his Paulinisation of the traditional cosmic Christology in the pursuit of the comprehensive intention of the author – the ecclesiological Christology that would give adequate response to the socio-religious, syncretistic circumstance of the recipients of the letter (cf. 3.5). This Paulinisation involves the employment of Pauline theologumena while opening out to non-Pauline traditions.340 The result becomes the innovative perspectives he presents in the 339 A. Lindemann using the term „Glossierung“, refers to Eph author’s skill of beefingup his vocabularies with Pauline terminologies in order to christianize his mythological materials and give them historical reformulation. This effort, he notes, often sees him in some form of misrepresentation of Paul. Cf. idem, 1975, 172ff. 340 Typical examples of such non-Pauline traditions, what A. Lindemann had above referred to as mythological materials, include the Jewish angelology and demonology rooted in the Enoch traditions (especially the traditions about the sons of God and human daughters) of the Jewish apocalyptic, as well as the Hellenistic astral

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construction of his ecclesiological Christology in which the church is the salvific setting for the believers, soteriology becomes the function of ecclesiology.341

Summary The ancient phenomenon of pseudepigraphy, the literary identification with an esteemed authoritative figure of the past, is also an established feature of the NT literature. The writings in this category provide, in their unique ways, extensions of the authorities of the apostles, the authoritative witnesses of the Jesus event that became themselves part of the tradition. Paul stands out in these apostolic traditions not only on account of his immense missionary enterprise, but more on account of his epistolary traditions, giving rise to pseudo/trito-Pauline writings. A greater percentage of NT biblical scholars consider Eph from this perspective, seeing it as a pseudo-Pauline letter, a position we share on the grounds of arguments we consider very plausible. Note is to be taken, however, that its pseudepigraphic nature does not in a way suggest a denigration of its message. In its very unique pseudepigraphic character, it walks and works within Pauline traditions even as it breaks new grounds that are manifestly “extra-Pauline.” Beginning with the controversies about determining the recipient(s) of Eph and what exactly the intention(s) of Eph is/are, Eph shows itself enigmatic. It is generally thought that the underlining goal of Eph is to stress the importance of unity among the members of the ecclesial communities. It pursues a politicaltheological goal, given the circumstance of the recipient communities of Eph. We observed within the political-theological goal, the immense importance the background metaphysical disposition of the Eph believers. This disposition that plays a great role in understanding what Eph may have been about, led to what we considered a more comprehensive intention of Eph. We are of the view that Eph intends the strengthening of the Christian self-consciousness of its recipients, the self-consciousness that would enable them give adequate response to the socio-religious differences and consequent religious psychology of their settings. The pursuit of this comprehensive goal saw the author receive Pauline cosmic

versions. These later found radical expression in such Hellenistic-Jewish documents like Testament of Solomon, Ascension of Isaiah etc. R. Schwindt, is almost sure that the deutero-Pauline author of Eph is very familiar with these traditions and must have been influenced by them in his presentation. Cf. idem, 2002, 369, 378ff. See also chapter one of our work on the reception of the spirit world designations and terminologies. 341 Cf. H. Merklein, op. cit., in: K. Kertelge (Hg.), 62–63.

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theology, a reception from which he worked out his unique accentuations. Using Pauline diction and theologumena with regard to the cosmic concepts - stoicei/a tou/ ko,smou, avrcai,, evxousi,ai, duna,meij etc., he further hellenized them, giving rise to manifestly “extra-Pauline” theological trends of thought and accentuations. These became spelt out in the identifying of the spiritual forces of evil with the elements of the cosmos. These accentuations show him as one at home with the Hellenistic world views of the Ephesian regions of the time. Little wonder he engaged himself with the task of giving theologically oriented response to these world views. In the pursuit of this response we see Eph author christologise the mythological materials at his employ. The author of Eph comes up then with an ecclesiological Christology, featuring the soteriological function of ecclesiology. An examination of the Eph world view especially with regard to its function in the understanding of the message of Eph will next be focused on.

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Chapter Four: Ephesian’s world view 4.1 World view (Weltbild, Weltanschauung, cosmology) Perceiving himself as a being in a universe whose size and make-up are quite beyond his imagination, man attempts some comprehension of the universe in his bid to survive in, and get along with it. Such perception of the world, greatly determined by the available cultural and historical dispositions,342 has to do with the totality of ideas, images and symbols with which one or a society tries to understand the universe and explain one’s/its experiences of it. Through such one/the society seeks to afford oneself/itself some orientation. These constitute the general meaning of the term world view (Weltanschauung) in relation to the concept cosmology. It constitutes the very foundation for living. Although world view and cosmology are often interchangeably used, some nuances may be observed between the two concepts. Whereas world view may most generally be about such perceptions of the world, including whatever inner (symbolic) logic they are presented with or seemingly lack, cosmology in the context of modern studies, is technically and particularly understood to be about such explanations and presentations. This leads to the understanding of cosmology as “the consciously entertained images, doctrines, and scientific views of the universe that provide a sense of structure and significance.”343 The emphasis on ‘the consciousness of the entertained’ notwithstanding, this tacit reference to the empirical methods of modern scientific enquiries, care must be taken to differentiate between the real non-existence of logic in the ancient world views, and the inability or unwillingness of contemporary methods of enquiry to recognize them as such.344 This has been responsible for the often implicit and sometimes explicit negative valuation of certain ancient provisions in this regard. K.W. Bolle’s differentiation between scientific views of the universe and world view typically examplifies such unjustified disqualifications. Succinct as the above understanding of cosmology surely is, the nuances aptly noted to be at play in its interchangeability with world view has often been issues

342 The fact of the determining roles of the cultural and historical dispositions give rise to multiplicity of world views since such dispositions cannot but be innumerable. On account of this one would better talk of world views. 343 Cf. K.W. Bolle, “Cosmology: An Overview”, in: ERE 4 (1987), 100–107(101). 344 Cf. B. Janowski, „Das biblische Weltbild – Eine methodische Skizze“, in: idem, & B. Ego, (Hg.), 2001, 3–26. The author makes a case for implicit and explicit cosmologies.

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of controversy. The controversies, especially in German scholarship, are clearly presented in the semantic fields that attempt the analysis of such concepts – Welt, Weltanschauung, and Weltbild. A cursory look at them may tend to give the impression that they all mean one and the same thing. They harbour differences, while at the same time possibly flow into one another. K. Stock345 rightly notes the high complexity these concepts involve, both from historical and systematic points of view. He argues that Welt (world) is summary concept that immediately conveys the idea of man’s relationship Weltverhältnis to the world as an object of interest. Such interest is with regard to its beauty and order, as work of God, considered in its unity or in the concentration on its individual parts. Weltanschauung on the other hand, which he sees as very closely related to Weltbild, has much to do the attempts at giving meanings to one’s perceptions of the world. The meanings that arise from claimed panoramic knowledge of the world on the one hand, and from fundamental convictions regarding the origin, essence and determinations of man in the world, on the other. The underlining character of these approaches remains the fact that they are geared towards affording some orientation. According to him, Weltbild articulates the model(s), pattern(s), literary speaking, image(s) that afford(s) one picture or comprehension of the world, models that still go back to the knowledge and orientations claim from the Weltanschauung. A general view of these attempts at differentiations is bound up in the view that the concepts embrace the efforts at giving meanings, either from the point of view of world as material-given for observation and production, or from the point of view of ethical orientations. These are based on daily experiences of natural and historic phenomena. These precede and influence the development of theories and the scientific processes that investigate the earth and its place in the universe. This is with a view of making rational presentations that are open to scientific responsibilities and management, as well as affording orientations for life. In a related development, M. Moxter,346 for whom Weltanschauung is a theological theme and successor-concept to metaphysics, sees it as the sum total 345 Cf. K. Stock, „Welt/Weltanschauung/Weltbild. I. Einleitung“, in: TRE 35 (2003), 536–538; see also W. Sparn, „IV/5. Systematisch-theologisch“, in: ibid, 605–611. The latter establishes a functional difference between Weltbild and Weltanschauung, maintaining the necessity and theological value of such differentiations because it points out both their intertwined nature as well as the irreducible polarity between thought-world and life-world. Cf. also J.E. Bauer, „Weltanschauung“ in: H. Cancik, et al. (Hg.), 5 (2001), 351–354; see also E. Topitsch, „Weltbild“, in: op. cit., 355–366. 346 Cf. M. Moxter, „III. Weltanschauung“, in: ibid., 544–544.

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of convictions, practical attitudes and life orientations that enables a group to distinguish itself and relate to its world given. It includes the presentation of the general views about God, the world and human beings. To the extent that relation to the world (ethical or material-scientific) remains the issue at stake, the interesting relationship Moxter sees between cosmology and Weltanschauung (545) works, to some extent, along the lines of the working understanding of cosmology by K.W. Bolle presented above. From the point of view of entertained images it embraces the concept Weltbild(er). From the point of view of doctrines it incorporates also the religious dimensions. Inclusive of scientific views, this adopted understanding of cosmology becomes uniquely all-inclusive. Though Bolle would insist that world view “is the term for a more general, less precisely delineated, but commonly accepted set of ideas (an ‘ideology’) concerning life and world”,347 viewing it as a pre-occupation of the historians of religion, his seeing their provisions nevertheless as “remnant of an earlier cosmology”, would defend interchangeable use of world view and cosmology in this work. In the general understanding of man as a creature, an understanding that sets a creator as pre-requisite, world views and religion are almost always very closely correlated. On this note, religious world views being the dominant among all others and operating with the fundamental division of the universe into the godly-spirit spheres (heavens) and human-material spheres (earth), seek to establish an understanding of the world from the point of view of its relation to God. Such views seek to provide answers to the questions regarding the origin(s) of the world, its meaning and goal, the place of man and the other givens. The beginnings of our work saw us establishing how these cosmological issues have been of long-standing interest for human beings right from the peoples of the ANE down through the OT and Graeco-Roman times. These constituted the cosmological backgrounds within which the New Testament era and its documents were born. On this note one sees the apparent contradiction in E. Adams’ tendency to dispute the cosmological qualities of the OT endeavours. Acknowledging that “the kind of cosmological reflection we find in the Old Testament is more theological cosmology”348 after having initially stated that it “lacks a ‘scientific’ cosmology”, he seems not only to question the claims of theology as science, but

347 Cf. K.W. Bolle, op. cit. 101. 348 Cf. E. Adams, “Graeco-Roman and Jewish Cosmology”, in: J.T. Pennington & S.M. McDonough (ed.), op. cit., 5–27 (5).

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also the cosmological qualities of its contributions. Such a stance would not only mean a contradiction and an undermining of the very platform of his endeavours – theo-logia. We consider it incorrect because cosmology, which he basically accepts as science and as scientific, is almost always cosmogony and theogony, and therefore theology. Not acknowledging it as such, as in the denial of the religious foundations implicit in the modern natural sciences, does not mean it is not the case. That the OT experience-driven cosmological reflections had different categories as the speculative levels developed from the sixth century BC onward in ancient Greece and subsequently, would not be enough to deny them their scientific character. One may rather talk of the different levels of their scientific quality.349 It is from, and within the above mentioned cosmological backgrounds of the NT that Eph operates. Because of the pre-requisite nature of its world view in the theological goal(s) Eph set out in pursuit of, its examination is a necessary step in the bid to understand Eph.

4.1.1 Ephesian world view The Eph world view operates within the NT world view. The NT world view, being basically a religious (theocentric) world view with the heaven(s)-earth dichotomy,350 is a sharing in its own way, in the complexity of ideas in the ­ancient Graeco-Roman world view(s).351 Its/their special characteristic is its (their) 349 For what might be considered an authoritative assertion on the nature of theology as science as well as its dialogue with the provisions of Greek thoughts see Pope Benedict XVI’s lecture at the University of Regensburg: “Faith, Reason and the University: Memories and Reflections.” Cf. http://www.vatican.va/holy_ father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/september/documents/hf_ben_spe_20060912_ university-regensburg_en.html (consulted on 12 Nov. 2011). 350 A difference needs to be made in the tendency to understand the term dichotomy in the sense of dualism. By dualism we understand the idea that tries to explain the issues of good and bad with the postulation of two originating principles – the one for the “good”, the other for the “bad” etc. A typical example of such is the Plato’s idea that the Good is responsible for the Ideal while the Demiurge is responsible for Matter, the Copies, the less good. The NT world view while acknowledging and battling with the issues of evil holds to the one principle of all – God. 351 Cf. L.H. Martin rightly articulates, in this regard, Hellenistic (religious) world as characterized by syncretism understood as the integrating ‘participation’ of the gods of the different peoples (eastern and western) that made up of the international experiment that Hellenism was about, making them aspects of the common religious system. He sees the attempt at capturing a picture of Hellenistic religion in the fictive work of Lucius Apuleius (c.124-c.170), Metamorphoses, especially in the

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s­ patial dimension on the one hand, and the world view of the post-exilic ­Judaism with its time (apocalyptic) dimension on the other.352 Fully aware that one cannot refer to world view of post-exilic Judaism without implying the pre-exilic, attention is drawn to the appreciation and attempts at the reconstruction of these world views presented by B. Janowski.353 Appreciating the problems associated with such efforts, he sees the underlying character of the ancient eastern and OT biblical world views as their all-sided openness to the over- and underworld. This openness brings about some ambivalence with regard to man’s understanding of himself and what his assignment is, in the face of the antagonisms he has to face in seeking to survive in the world as given. The contents of this complexity of ideas, of the multi-cultural and multi-­ religious environment within which the NT era was born,354 and with which it had to contend and partly received, include, on the one hand, the time-dimensional world view of the post-exilic Judaism. This was characterized by the emergence of the idea of, and belief in the resurrection of the dead as a post-mortem compensation of God’s righteousness, and the dualistic idea of a Messiah figure warring against the reigning powers of darkness. (The political foundations of this expression – powers of darkness - are to be borne in mind.) On the other hand, the ‘complexity of ideas’ include also the Hellenistic world view in its paradigmatic categories of the world of ideas and the material world.355 This dualism that it fostered with the Demiurge idea eventually became translated into

352 353 354 355

story of the Golden Ass in a labyrinthian World. Cf. idem, 1987, 6ff. See also H.D. Betz, 1986, xlv–xlvii, who refers to Hellenistic syncretism as some form of assimilation that evolved unified religious attitudes and beliefs. Cf. J.C. Vanderkam, 1984. Cf. B. Janowski, „Das biblische Weltbild – Eine methodische Skizze“, in: idem, & B. Ego, (Hg.), 2001, 3–26 (13–14). Cf. H.-J. Klauck, 1995, 5; see also D. Zeller, 2006. How paradigmatic these Platonic cosmic categories became, especially through the classic redactions in the pseudo-Aristotelian document Peri. ko,smou, is pointed out by R. Schwindt. He notes that the apparently eclectic author of Peri. ko,smou working in the tradition of Plato’s speech over the creative power of the Good, the power with which it gives all that is being and essence, postulates a certain “most important of the world” - the creator, sustainer and unifier of all that is – h` tw/n o[lwn sunektikh. aivti,a (397b9). Cf. idem, 2002, 221–227. In his cosmology, in which he perceives the world as a structure made up of heaven, earth and all therein (391b9f), he perceives this being (Zeus 401a26) as having allotted himself the first and highest dwelling place (397b24f). Though distanced from the world he is responsible for the rest of the details of creation through the uncreated Dynamis (397b23).

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Judaism. In Philo, for instance, we see such translation to the Logos through the Aristotelian Dynamis.356 Logos is this connection is the mediator between God and the world, the knowable part of the God.357 G. Sellin goes on to acknowledge that despite these attempts at enlightenment the popular belief that parts of the cosmos are inhabited by specific beings remained. Stars were seen as divine beings in the heavenly regions. Demons (Dämonen) were held to inhabit the air (the sublunary regions). The individual human being, understood as microcosm and connected with the macrocosm, is perceived as staying under the influence of the planets which in turn were considered as possessing divine attributions. The result was that mantic became a dominant part of the understanding of the world, and magic constituted a major influence in the world.358 In this connection, L.H. Martin articulates that Hellenistic magic, Derived from the ancient chthonic cults of the earth goddess,… included a multitude of practices… good and evil… All magical practice and investigation assumed a finite cosmos in which all things are related to one another through a cosmic sympathy… A cosmic harmony, therefore, describes a system of sympathetic and antipathetic natural forces. These forces of nature, which could be personified as demons, described a relation assumed to exist between all things within the finite cosmos, especially between

356 On the role of the concept Dynamis for the Stoics, see R. Schwindt, 2002, 217. By means of this concept with which they understood the mythical gods, they were able to personify the individual abilities or potentialities of the cosmic All. 357 Cf. G. Sellin, „Weltbild. V. Neues Testament und Urchristentum“, in: RGG4 8 (2005), 1416–1419 (1416); see also R. Schwindt, 2002, 330–340. Pope Benedict XVI in the above cited lecture notes the deep encounter between biblical faith and what he regarded as the best of Greek thought in the Hellenistic period as exemplified in the Wisdom literature, a dialogue between enlightenment and religion that was decisive for the birth and spread of Christianity. Cf. op. cit., par. 6. See also H.-J. Klauck, 1994, 251–275. 358 G. Sellin, op. cit., 1417. H.-J. Klauck viewed all these – astrology, mantic, magic, wonder - as the constitutive phenomena of the belief of the people, preferring the expression “Volksglaube” to “popular religion” in the understanding that the former is more integral than the latter, since the latter conveys the idea of mere religious expression as differing from the circumstances of such expressions. Cf. idem, 1995, 129ff. On a similar note, R. Schwindt in his interestingly elaborate presentation of the paradigm ancient world views, including the origins and spread of astral world views and astrology, the spiritualization/deification of the stars etc., sees them as man’s attempts at “conquering/overcoming” the world – Weltbewältigung. Cf. idem, 2002, 135ff. See also L.H. Martin, 1987, 16–29.

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an internal nature… and all that was external to it; between the microcosm, the ‘small world’ of human activity, and the macrocosm, the ‘large world’ of external reality. 359

In a related development with regard to the Hellenistic world in this aspect, C.E. Arnold notes: The overriding characteristic of the practice of magic throughout the Hellenistic world was the cognizance of a spirit world exercising influence over the virtually every aspect of life. The goal of the magician was to discern the helpful spirits from the harmful ones and learn the distinct operations and the relative strengths and the authority of the spirits… for the manipulation of the spirits in the interest of the individual person.360

How this form of Weltbewältigung constituted some specialty in the Ephesus’ circumstance, this magical way of looking at the world that sought to provide alternative to the terrestrial chaos personified in the Tyche/Fortuna phenomenon, is expressively pointed out by B.M. Metzger as such: “Of all ancient Graeco-Roman cities, Ephesus, the third largest city in the Empire, was by far the most hospitable to magicians, sorcerers, and charlatans of all sorts.”361 The “its own way” of the NT world view with which it summed up the above summarized inherited world views is its attempts to understand and give meaning to the world in the light of the person and activities of Jesus Christ, in whom it saw the fulfillment and embodiment of the aspirations of these other prior world views.362 Through what is understood to be Jesus’ central message – the kingdom/reign of God teachings and the actions that followed from these teachings – the goal remained the restoration of all things in God. The NT world view may, therefore, be summed up as the meaning God gives the world in Jesus Christ „die Sinnstiftung Gottes in Jesus Christus“, the witness to which the NT writings become. This meaning God has given, the highpoint of which is the 359 Cf. ibid., 27–28. While the evil magic involves those that are meant to harm or injure someone, the good magic is divided into popular and philosophical magic. The former involved power over the forces of nature (sea, wind, moon, stars, light and darkness), the philosophical was associated with the exploration of the origins and elements of the material world. 360 Cf. C.E. Arnold, 1989, 18. 361 Cf. B.M. Metzger, 1944, 27, cited by C.E. Arnold, 1989, 14; see also Acts 19:18–19. 362 A view of what may be regard as the fulfillment of the aspirations of the older world views in Jesus Christ may be gained when one thinks of the Messiah claims associated with Jesus, as differing from the messianic perspectives commonly expected and held by the contemporary Jews (Mt 16:13ff par), the son of God, agent of creation Christology, as well as the resurrection belief. D. Zeller, 2006, 49–94 makes an interesting presentation in this regard.

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dethronement of satan, and which enables the restoration of life to the standards of creation, captures the core of Jesus’ experience of reality (Lk 10:18). The contents of the Sinnstiftung Gottes in Jesus Christus include God himself, his reign, Jesus Christ, his death and resurrection, the Spirit, the Church, the Faith and the new life. Its establishment is the task the New Testament Theology as theologia viatorum, through its stages of transformation that it has taken upon itself and aspires to continue to fulfill.363 The Eph world view, therefore, given the cosmopolitan nature of Ephesus as the capital and most important commercial and political nerve centre of the Asian Minor regions even in the first century AD,364 presents a unique Christian response to the interplay of all these cosmological features and orientations according to the views and intentions of the author. This unique response is the subtle nuance in its dynamic world view. It is dynamic in the sense that it operates on the axis of dualism yet rejects dualism. Its interest was really to combat the dualism of the time. Against every tendency to see Eph world view as a dualism as F. Mussner does, despite having acknowledged Eph insistence on God being the creator of all,365 J. Gnilka states that, “It is important to draw attention, with emphasis, that on the grounds of the interest at overcoming factual dualism, Eph abandons a static view of the world. This dynamism of Eph world view must be appreciated as its remarkable characteristic.“366 H. Odeberg had argued on a similar note that Eph world view is anti-dualistic in the sense of its insistence that the one God is responsible for All, the universe and all therein. From this position, he maintains that every aspect of the universe is in interaction with the other. This is a religious realism that is contra to 363 Cf. U. Schnelle, 2007, 16,107. Cf. R. Hoppe, „Überlegungen zur Theologie des Neuen Testamentes aus katholischer Sicht“, in: J. Frey & C. Breytenbach (Hg.), 2007, 55–71 (58). See also R. Bultmann, 2007, 3–11; J. Gnilka, „Zum Gottesgedanken in der Jesusüberlieferung“, in: H.-J. Klauck (Hg.), 1992, 144–162. For more on the endeavours of theology of the NT see J. Frey & C. Breytenbach (Hg.), Aufgabe und Durchführung einer Theologie des Neuen Testamentes, 2007. 364 Cf. C.E. Arnold, 1989, 13–38; R. Schwindt, 2002, 64–134; see also P. Trebilco, 2004, 11–52. In these works accounts are given of the history of Ephesus through thousands of years to the first century AD and the various political powers that played major roles in it, the existence of multiple religious cults, imperial cults, Jewish community etc. Of particular importance is Artemis, the popular Goddess of the city, and her overwhelming influence in the life of the region. Acts 18:19–27 suggests the presence of a Christian community oi` avdelfoi, in Ephesus prior to Paul. 365 Cf. F. Mussner, 1968, 32–39 (37). 366 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 65. Translation is mine.

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the position of the Johannine Literature’s insistence on the absolute otherness between Light and Darkness, which sees them having almost nothing in common.367 While sharing his view that Eph world view is not static, we are, however, of the view that Eph world view though dualistic, is not a dualism. Rather than directly anti-dualistic as Odeberg argued, we see it rather as anti-dualism. Eph recognizes in clear terms the evil forces against God’s will, against the Christians. He even calls them rulers and principalities, yet insists on their being creatures of the one creator of All. To this extent it is anti-dualism though walking in dualistic spheres. That is the uniqueness of the Eph world view. Ephesus was indeed a religio-cultural melting point as well as market for most world views of influence at the time, a circumstance that accounts also for its place and role in Pauline missions. Cross-pollination as well as rivalry of ideas was a common feature, typical of the multi-cultural and multi-religious background circumstance of the NT. These may have contributed to the subtlety of its unique response. Particularly interesting is the cosmological tectonic of the Eph world view. The three-tier conception of the universe as Heaven(s) – Earth – Underworld (Hades/Sheol) that dominated the ancient and OT Jewish cosmologies (Ex 20:4; Gen 7:11; etc.), had undergone changes in the course of the Greek cosmological speculations from the 6th century BC onwards. These speculations that go back to the influence of the platonic idea of the transcendent world of ideas as o;ntwj o;n, and to the development of astronomy, at the foundation of which are the Pythagoreans, had consequences for the ancient religious world view. With the resultant discovery of the planets and speculations about the planetary systems, the atmospheric regions assumed unimaginable extensions. The gods and the spiritual realm became unearthly and transcendent. A two-tier Heavens – Earth schemata emerged and took upper hand.368 In this dualistic two-tier system the heavenly regions were no longer the outermost part of the earth as Anaximenes had thought. They have become the abode of the divine (God[s)]/spiritual beings as the case may be). The earth was conceived distantly direct opposite the heavens as the abode of the human and other material beings. This conception would eventually not only affect the relationship between mortals and the divine, it also brings about the question what the space, the planetary regions between these extremely positioned heaven and earth is about. Plato’s thought that the cosmic spaces must be occupied by correspondent beings (Symp 202de; Tim 39e-40a), a thought that became subsequently received

367 Cf. H. Odeberg, 1934, 4–6. 368 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 64; L.H. Martin, 1987, 19ff.

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by Aristotle (Cicero, Nat Deor 2,15,42), Philo Gig 8, Plutarch Def Orac 41, was given a radical expression by Apuleius in the establishment of his demonology in De mundo 1,290.369 This vacuous middle point that now existed between the heavens as abode of the transcendent God and the earth became a godless zone, and was readily ascribed the demons as their abode. This is in correspondence with the radical demonology of Apuleius that understood the demons as a species of beings with rational abilities, who despite their airy bodiless forms are subject to passions and live eternally.370 The consequence of such two-tier cosmological concept in which the demon occupants of the underworld (Hades) are translocated to space aeris spatio is the demonization of these particular regions. Even when it could be thought that such a demonization may have been prompted by the theodicy motif, with the author attempting some response, it is observed that the author of Eph seemed not to be particularly concerned with such details about the cause of evil or not. He was well aware of evil, but was more interested in demonstrating Christ’s superiority over it, than in the issues of its cause. This is the world view operative in Eph the details of which follow.

4.1.2 The Universe as God’s creation (Eph 3:9) In accordance with the theocentrism inherited from the OT and fundamental to the NT world view, the author of Eph establishes his position with regard to the being of the universe. This is clearly pointed out in 3:9 - evn tw/| qew/| tw/| ta. pa,nta kti,santi. Using the syntagma ta. pa,nta he moves within the cosmological koine, evoking a knowledge of the cosmological speculations of the Ephesian environment in this regard. Over and against these popular speculations, for instance

369 Cf. F. Mussner, 1968, 12ff; J. Gnilka, 1971, 64–65; R. Schwindt, 2002, 238–244. The underlying Hellenistic world view is thought to have been articulated by the eclectic author of the pseudo-Aristotelian Peri. ko,smou. In his view, the world made by Zeus (401a26) is a structure made up of heaven, earth and all therein (391b9f); Zeus having allotted himself the first and highest dwelling place (397b24f) in the heavenly areas, and so distanced from the world, remains responsible for the rest of the details of creation through the uncreated Dynamis (397b 23). For more on the cosmological presentations in the Peri. ko,smou, especially regarding the place of the heavenly constellations, the elements and the earth, see R. Schwindt, 2002, 221–227; see also R. Hoppe, 1987, 23–24. 370 „daemones sunt genera animalia, ingenio rationabilia, animo passive, corpora aeria, tempora eterna“ Apuleius De deo Socratis 148 as cited by R. Schwindt, op.cit. 241. Notice is to be taken to observe that the moralization of the initially amoral daimondaimones of Plato begun by Xenocrates reaches a radical point. Cf. op. cit. 190–192.

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those of Marcion, who in his version of this verse removed the preposition evn in his determination to confirm the attribution of creation to Demiurge as separate from his God of salvation,371 he asserts his accent about the coming into being of the universe. The universe in its totality as heaven and earth was created by God. Going on further the author expresses in clearer terms in Eph 1:10, 21 what the general term ta. pa,nta embraces. It embraces not just heaven and earth but every being in them – things in heaven and things on earth (Eph 1:10), including all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the age to come (v 21). These elucidations are the author’s confirmation of the cosmic extentions of the ta. pa,nta formula. In and through these extentions both cosmic Christology and the cosmic relevance of the church would subsequently find expression. By this position the author of Eph shows himself rooted, and moving in the OT monotheism and creation theology that are vividly expressed in the wisdom literature (Wis 1:14; Sir 18:1; 24:8), taken in by the NT and strongly established in the Pauline tradition to which Eph belongs. This OT tradition has no place for any Demiurge or creator-god phenomenon, even as it makes references to what may be understood as a plurality of heavens – ~yIm;V’h; Gen 1:1; Ps 8:3; 19:1; 115:3; 135:6 etc. Eph adopts this expression in its own way as the heavenly places (1:3), above the heavens (4:10). This direct attribution of the totality of all creation to God establishes a relationship between God and the universe, a relationship that captures both the responsibility of the creator as well as the orientation of the created. The created is drawn towards the salvific goal set by God.372 Both the relationship and the clarity about the particular God in question are further expressed and deepened in Eph references to God with the title of paternity – path.r h`mw/n (1:2), path.r tou/ kuri,ou h`mw/n VIhsou/ Cristou/ (1:3). Establishing the all-embracing nature

371 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 172–173. Marcion had taught that creation and salvation as two totally different events, the responsibility of which go to two opposed principles. This constituted the strong basis of gnostic doctrines, especially regarding the possibility of, and quest for salvation. Eph insistence on the unity of creation and salvation as the actions of the one and only God was to have implication on the realization of salvation. Because creation and salvation are united in him, salvation is sure, and pushes its course through despite the forces of opposition. This is because we were chosen for salvation by God even before the foundation of the world (1:4). Salvation was not an afterthought. It was always there in divine thought. Historical process was only to manifest it. 372 Cf. F. Mussner, 1968, 30; see also T. Holtz, 1991, 192–193.

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of this paternity he refers to God in 3: 14–15 as to.n pate,ra( evx ou- pa/sa patria. evn ouvranoi/j kai. evpi. gh/j ovnoma,zetai.373 It must have been very important for the author to make such clarifications about the Father in question given the fact that since Homer, Zeus was also referred to as father of gods and of humans path.r avndrw/n te kai. qew/n. This is because he was thought of as the originator of the human race, and also on account of his perceived goodwill toward humanity (Diod. S. 5, 72, 2). In the OT God is called “Father” in the first place to indicate a caring relationship to the Israelite nation as a whole, or to the King as the embodiment of the nation. Only in later writings (Sir 23:1,4; Wis 2:16; 14:3, etc.) did the reference to him as the Father of the pious Israelite as an individual develop. F.W. Danker is of the view that it is in this later development that path,r became adopted as a saying of Jesus in his witness concerning himself. It is also on the same note that it became taken up in the confession of Christians.374 The theological difference of this Christian confession - God as the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ and our Father - and the message it communicates, needed to be unequivocally spelt out. Both the issues of identity and the inherent empowerment accruing therefrom are featured. It was neither Zeus nor any other god, but the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, through whom the believers have become adopted as sons (Gal 3:26ff; Rom 8:14ff etc.). It is a destination, a lot that it pleased him to apportion believers (Eph 1:5). Very conscious of the polytheistic environment, and determined to straighten out the related issues concerning the possession and/or sharing of powers Machtverhältnis, he sums up the implications of this paternity approach in 4:6 ei-j qeo.j kai. path.r pa,ntwn( o` evpi. pa,ntwn kai. dia. pa,ntwn kai. evn pa/sinÅ The monotheistic root of this conviction (Deut 6:4) that also addresses the Hellenistic pantheism is clear. The conviction that he is one and at the same time the one responsible for all that is must have been a radical position in the polytheistic circumstances of the time. This expression of God’s radical sovereignty and lordship over whatever may have laid or may still be laying claim to any powers – the gods, the so-called demonic/elementary powers – is very important. It goes a long way establishing the pursuit of the intention of the letter to strengthen the

373 R. Schnackenburg sees in the issue of “being named” in the expression ovnoma,zetai as including also the issues of power and influence. Cf. idem, 1982, 149. See also M.L. White, “Paul and Pater Familias”, in J.P. Sampley, (ed.), Paul in the GrecoRoman World: a Handbook. 2003, 457–487. 374 Cf. F.W. Danker, (ed.), 2000, 787–787.

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Christian consciousness of his audience in encountering these phenomena of their socio-religious experience. A going beyond the idea of common ancestry of a family is perceived in the expression pa/sa patria, of a family. It is also understood in the sense of clan, people, and seen as transferable to the classes of angels.375 As such it embraces the grouping of all the inhabitants of the universe according to their categories – human and spiritual. It could be surmised then that the reigning ideas at the time about the angel classes, their astral cosmological identifications with the heavenly bodies, inherited from the apocalyptic Judaism and Hellenistic world views, are borne in mind376 and are here subtly addressed. If ovnoma,zetai here also includes the issues of influence and power, as R. Schnackenburg had rightly argued, and God is the one from whom pa/sa patria, receives power and influence, his sovereignty over these groups become more established. Apart from the use of ta. pa,nta, Eph uses also the word cosmos in 1:4 pro. katabolh/j ko,smou. By so doing it seemingly introduces a nuance. In the particular sense of being founded katabolh/j377 by God, another stage of the understanding of universe is brought into the scene. This is in the sense of its createdness, in articulation of the cosmos as ordered. It may be understood that the idea of a more tangible concept of the universe is being conveyed, the historical process within, and in the course of which the salvific plan of God will become manifest. Cosmos seems to give the apparently abstract and seemingly amorphous ta. pa,nta some form, and also to communicate and bring into focus the concerns about the experienced world. As such it would lead to the subsequent ecclesiological-soteriological implications of the choice made of the believers in (Christ) evxele,xato h`ma/j evn auvtw/|. Against the background of this understanding of use of the word cosmos, Eph presents what may be termed the “topography/tectonic” of its cosmic construct to which we now turn attention.

375 Cf. R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 149 (footnote 351). 376 The notorious multi-religious circumstance of Ephesus as a region where many gods, through their worshippers, rivaled one another for superiority, a superiority that Artemis was seen to embody, has earlier been noted. See also R. Schwindt, 2002, 354. Schwindt rightly sees the author of Eph as working in the footsteps of Paul to establish, in the rivalry among the religions and their gods, that the so-called gods of the pagans are, actually speaking, no gods at all (1 Cor 8:5ff). 377 That katabolh/j does not only have to do with predestination but also with the idea of creating is attested to by F. Hauck. Cf. idem, „katabolh,“, in: ThWNT 3 (1938), 623/21–22. Compare also the use of the same expression in Jn 17:24.

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4.2 The “topographical” constructions The two-tier cosmological construct that had overtaken the ancient three-tier construct of Heaven(s)-Earth-Hades (underworld) presents a dualistic world view - Heaven(s) and Earth. This construct, whose later classical version is noted to be the pseudo-Aristotelian writing Peri. ko,smou, is believed to have been a major influence in the cosmology of Eph. Sharing in this two-tier tradition, and in order to adequately accommodate all that is within this two-tier understanding, Eph maintains the idea of heavens, with some hint about hierarchy of beings. Graphically differing from the earth, the position and nature of which seem not be disputed, Eph heavens include from the visible sub-lunar spatial regions upwards. The basic structural appearance of Eph world view may be represented as such: “Above the heavens” Heavens (heavenly places) – { the spirit world } „Spatial in-between“ Earth – The human region (the lowest part of the All)378

It is within these two basic poles – the heavenly places as the spirit world and the earth as human world – that the beings of interest to the Eph are located. We now examine these regions of the Eph world view, these regions that go a long way determining the image of the church that Eph presents, now follows.

4.2.1  evn toi/j evpourani,oij This adverbial-prepositional expression peculiar to Eph occurs five times in the letter – 1:3, 20; 2:6; 3:10; 6:12, a frequency and the comparison of which attest to its stereotypical character. A related occurrence in the undisputed letters is

378 F. Mußner, gives a five-region structure of the Eph world view, a further enlargement of his earlier four-region presentation. Cf. idem, „Epheserbrief “, in: TRE 9 (1982), 744; idem, 1968, 28. We, however, think that the basic structure remains the two-tier construct of the heavenly places and the earth. Apart from the reason of details such enlargements may seem superfluous; see also R. Hoppe, 1987, 25. The astronomical compendium of Ptolemy (ca.90–168AD) is considered a lucid presentation of the bifurcation of the cosmos into the two regions of sublunar terrestrial and the superlunar celestial realms. Cf. L.H. Martin, 1987, 19.

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2 Cor 5:1 - evn toi/j ouvranoi/jÅ H. Traub379 observing that its singular root ouvrano,j ­Himmel conveys the double note of the firmament as the cloudy horizon above the earth as well as the absolute incomprehensible ein qei/on, maintains that in the most ancient of its uses, it has always served to articulate the abode of the divine. He agrees with H. Odeberg that in its stereotypical, prepositional form, its significance is determinative of space, a locus, capturing both some definite, albeit celestial regions of the universe. The latter maintains that “…the expression … should be interpreted as a general, inclusive term for the celestial regions in its totality, for the celestial world. The expression would be identical in the sense with ‘in the heavens’.”380 A problem arises, however, when G. Sellin insists on translating the prepositional phrase evn toi/j evpourani,oij as in den höchsten Himmeln – in the highest heavens, a translation that is in our opinion more of an interpretation. This is because he is not principally led by the variations of the terms in use but, as he pointed out, by the semantic components the varied expressions can serve. As a result of this criteria he considers the expression evpourani,oij as the same with u`pera,nw pa,ntwn tw/n ouvranw/n (4:10).381 He rightly observed that given the various related terms about heaven(s) that feature in Eph, and in the face of the differences generated by 3:10 and 6:12 where references are made to Principalities and Powers, and the spirits of malevolence respectively, that fundamental differentiation needed to be made. He also rightly reasoned that God, the exalted and enthroned Christ cannot not be in the same evn toi/j evpourani,oij with these others. However, if, as he suggests, evn toi/j evpourani,oij and u`pera,nw pa,ntwn tw/n ouvranw/n should mean the same thing, the question needs to be asked, how he does intend to make the difference. The situation is also not helped by his exclusion of the sublunary air space den sublunaren Luftraum (87,180), where he

379 Cf. H. Traub, „ouvrano,j”, in: ThWNT 5 (1954), 496–543 (497). See also R. Schwindt, 2002, 356ff. 380 Cf. H. Odeberg, 1934, 7–8 (8). It is interesting to note the author’s presentation of names of the heavens even after maintaining that in the first century there was no systematic doctrine of the heavens beside the generally acknowledged number of 7. (15). See also F. Mussner, 1968, 9–12. 381 Cf. G. Sellin, 2007, 86–89 (88). See also footnote 186 pg 335. For the translations of the phrase see pages 73, 121, 159, 244, 471. One may consider his interpreted translation as somewhat overstretched. Not only does he stand alone in such translation, one may think that the author of Eph would have been intelligent enough to feature the adjective u`yhlo,j high in whatever level it suits his purpose if he meant the phrase to be understood that way. Instead he chose the adverb u`pera,nw above.

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readily accepts to be the abode of the „Mächte und Gewalten“ and „Geister der Bosheit“, from the evpourani,oij. We will rather argue that it is precisely these sublunary regions of space, from the earth standpoint, that the author included in his heaven tectonic. This is in the light of the ancient world view that had understood the sky as the visible expression of the heavenly horizon. Moreover, the author of Eph must have envisaged the need for such differentiation and used u`pera,nw to score his point. There is a chasm of difference between the adjective u`yhlo,j – high and the prepositional adverb u`pera,nw – above (place). The former pertains to some considerable degrees of extentions upwards. Conveying some sense of inclusivity, it may be seen as doing an epexegetic function. The latter, both in the sense of u`pe,r as indicative of something in an entity’s advantage or in the sense of marking a degree beyond that of a compared scale of extent,382 and in reference to place a;nw, connotes exclusivity. The adverb above in relation to the All and the heavens connotes some exclusivity. In this sense it is nearer to the idea of the transcendence of God within which the author of Eph moves. Such would be in line with the background world view, even as he pursues the theological goals regarding the enthronement of Christ (and the church), that afford some bridging of this transcendence. In its heaven tectonic – in the heavenly places – in which are included the highest and the lowest points of these regions Eph locates all it regards as the spirit beings – God, enthroned Christ, the cosmic powers, the spirits of malevolence. Such location has implications for the Christology and ecclesiology of Eph. The heavenly places constitute the spirit world of Eph. Particular attention is drawn to the ontological categories unto which the cosmic forces are upgraded. For the author of Eph, perhaps in accordance with the thoughts of inherited world view, they belong to the spirits. This is a remarkable furtherance of the received Pauline traditions especially the issues of ta. stoicei/a tou/ ko,smou (Gal 4:3). The apparent derogation, metaphysical vagueness and reservations that Paul seemed to maintain about these features in his cosmic Christology are broken through. Would what Paul had degradedly regarded as the weak and beggarly elemental spirits in his bid to free the believers from enslavement to them (Gal 4:8ff)383 not be receiving some kind of re-enforcement by this categorization in the Eph spirit world? These classifications in its spirit world notwithstanding, Eph does not

382 Cf. F.W. Danker, (ed.), 2000, 1030ff. 383 Cf. R.T. Stamm & O.F. Blackwelder, The Epistle to the Galatians. The Interpreter’s Bible, vol. X (1953), 522,529.

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mince words in making clear that despite the spiritual nature of the occupants of the celestial regions, a hierarchy that cannot be mistaken exists.384 With the hierarchy Eph seemed to have emphasized, the author must have understood the issues about the sharing of powers as taken care of. The first port of call in this hierarchy is the throne of God. Direct reference is not made to it in the sense of particular locations. It is rather introduced with the idea of Christ resurrection and exaltation, his being exalted kaqi,saj evn dexia/| auvtou/ evn toi/j evpourani,oij (1:20), revealing an allusion to Ps 110(109):1. The esteem of this position is the indication that this throne and its occupant are far above u`pera,nw all rule and authority and power etc. (1:21–22), reminiscent of the hymns of Yahweh’s triumph like Ps 96(97):5–9. Every other finds his place under his feet, an expression conveying total subjugation. In this initial introduction of u`pera,nw one could perceive the author already beginning to take care of the problem inhering in the common location of God, the exalted Christ, the rulers and authorities, as well as the spirit of evil in the heavenly places (3:10; 6:12). In this expression of the absolute sovereignty of God and his Christ over the entire creation, the ANE and OT imagery of God as King (Ps 103:19–21), and the imagery of throne as the place from which authority is exercised, are brought to bear. The metaphor right hand, expressing the authority itself as well as its exercise, is seen to be employed by the author. In his location of the throne of God in the heavenly regions, a location that does not, however, limit his operation, the author sets a new accent with the use of u`pera,nw in 4:10. This time around the u`pera,nw is not just about all rules, powers etc. as in 1: 21–22, it is now about all the heavens. He is enthroned above the heavens from where he is over all, through all and in all (4:6). The consequence of this presentation is the exaltation Christology, which is to serve the ecclesiology Eph has in mind – “…to impress upon the church the far-reaching momentous importance of its spiritual situation.”385 In the Eph circumstance of the rivalry of religions, the perennial need of Weltbewältigung had become dominated by the fatal astral compulsions. These constituted immense hindrance to the faith in Jesus Christ because mantic and magic were the order of the day. The author of Eph responds with such powerful positions about Christ to strengthen the Christian consciousness of his 384 G. Sellin presumes to present the various heavenly apartments and their occupants: in ascending order he locates the demons as reigning in the sublunary space regions, the higher angel powers are found, according to him, above them; above all these comes God and the enthroned Christ. Cf. ibid., 87. 385 Cf. H. Odeberg, 1934, 20.

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audience so as to make for effective Christian response to the circumstance. As members of the church chosen by God in Christ before the foundation of the world, God has given them every spiritual blessing (even) in the heavenly places. The absolute expression of this blessing – the pledge of inheritance towards redemption as God’s own people (1:14) – is the power of God at work in the resurrection of Christ, the resurrection that is his exaltation with God over everything that can be named (1:20–22). In this being raised with Christ (2:6), believers share in his exaltation in the heavenly places and in his lordship over the cosmos. Through this exaltation of Christ the cosmic room gains a soteriological quality to the advantage of the believers, even when the complex metaphysical topography of Eph makes room for the cosmic powers and evil agencies in the same heavenly places.

4.2.2 The spatial in-between The understanding of evn toi/j evpourani,oij as in the heavens/in the heavenly places shows its plurality in the sense of many heavens. In its occurrences in Eph we see that not only God, Christ and the believers in Christ (by virtue of their being raised from the dead with Christ 2:5b-6) are in these heavenly places. According to 3:10 and 6:12, however, the cosmic powers and the spiritual forces of malevolence belong there too. This location seems at first sight to programme enormous difficulties. How would God and his exalted Christ and his Church share places with these powers that are apparently opposed to God? The influence of the dominant world view in Ephesian regions of the first century AD as articulated, for instance, in the Peri kosmou comes once again to play. The unimaginable extension of the atmospheric regions with the discovery of the planetary systems is given expression in Eph with the phrase “in the heavenly places”. The association of the planetary regions with the astrological speculation especially regarding the believed influence of the gods/ spirits sees them as parts of the heavenly places. Being spirits as they are perceived to be, they are superhuman. As such, in the conception of the world view within which the author of Eph was working, they have no abode in the human spheres. They have to take up, as it were, abodes corresponding to their superhuman nature, in the realm of the spirits – in the heavenly places. Though superhuman and spiritual, their difference from God as the spirit per se is decisive to the location of their abode. Here lies once again the importance of the adverb u`pera,nw functioning here as prepositional genitive. It establishes the idea of ranks, grades and stages. Eph seems, no doubt, to place importance on the issues of ranks in the spirit world. 168

In 1:21 u`pera,nw pa,shj avrch/j kai. evxousi,aj kai. duna,mewj etc. a hierarchy of beings is featured, at the peak of which is God whose power at work in Christ’s resurrection and exaltation sees him (Christ) share this primacy. Whereas in 4:10 u`pera,nw pa,ntwn tw/n ouvranw/n a hierarchy of places, various stages of heavens, is in question. While acknowledging that the principalities and authorities, the spiritual forces of malevolence are also in the heavenly places (3:10; 6:12), Eph maintains that Christ is, however, above all the heavens, above all. For the author of Eph, therefore, the area of influence is not in dispute. Even when these other forces, principalities or whatever name they may be named find themselves in the heavenly places, they are still no match to Christ who is in the most tran­ scendent of the conceivable heavenly places. The implications of this location for the Christology of Eph are not in doubt. It was to serve the ecclesiology Eph postulates, an ecclesiology whose cosmic perspectives and relevance such concepts like All, Pleroma, Head and Body metaphor etc., were already buttressing. They are applied to Christ and from him to the church, to whom he is given as head (1:22). J. Gnilka sees also some sociological reasons in those cosmic trends, suggesting that such elaborate handling of the exaltation of Christ over the powers was to emphasize his position of lordship over them to the advantage of the church. He is of the view that though the number of Christians was nothing to write home about at the time of the writing, such “bogus” cosmic claim was to encourage the hearers not to give in to the temptation of defeatism. Anyone who identifies with Christ identifies with the Kosmokrator and as such is secured.386 To further delineate the ranks of places in the heavens and make things clearer, Eph 2:2 would refer to to.n a;rconta th/j evxousi,aj tou/ ave,roj( the ruler of the (area of) authority of the air,387 this unique expression of its kind not found in any of the undisputed letters. While the immediate concern here is not on who or what the ruler referred to here may be,388 the delineation of the air as an area of authority is remarkable in buttressing the heavenly tectonic of Eph. It further lends weight to the author’s extention of the Pauline tradition. Air here in the 386 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 95–97. See also pages 99–110. 387 J. Gnilka translates evxousi,a here as Machtbereich – area of authority, different from 1:21 where he simply called it Macht, explaining that “Die evxousi,a ist wie in Kol 1,13 als Raum gedacht…” in agreement with the Eph cosmology. Cf. ibid., 111, 87, 115 respectively. R. Hoppe understands this aerial sphere of authority in the sense of the “atmosphere” within which the Christians lived and not in the sense of physical atmospheric regions. Cf. idem, 1987, 41, 90. 388 Cf. Sellin, G., 2007, 170ff; see also J. Gnilka, 1971, 114–115.

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understanding of the ancient world view, according to W. Foerster, refers to the area between the earth and the moon (the beginnings of the ethereal regions), and is understood to be populated by unwholesome spirits.389 In the same light F. Mussner maintains that the air constitutes in the ancient world the connecting link between heaven and earth. It thereby guarantees the oneness of the universe. The evn toi/j evpourani,oij where the principalities and powers (3:10), the spiritual forces of malevolence (6:12) are located in Eph can only be the region between the transcendent spheres of God where Christ is enthroned at his right hand, and the earth.390 This we call the spatial in-between. The insistence on specifying the delimited regions of authority of the other occupants of the heavenly places, especially as under the transcendent sphere is indicative of the author’s conviction about who has the final say with regard to the claims to powers the planetary gods/spirits are supposed to be making or perhaps already wielding. Given such hierarchical structuring, there is no doubt their supposed powers are in end no powers. On the existential reality of such structures, one may be right to surmise that the very fact of their being located in a higher position over the human area earth location is an expression of their spiritual essence, an expression that generates a multiplication of power.

4.2.3 The Earth - h` gh/ h` gh/ – the earth is the other extreme pole of the ta. pa,nta as created by God, the other pole having been appreciated as the heavens - ‘things in heaven and things on earth’- ta. evpi. toi/j ouvranoi/j kai. ta. evpi. th/j gh/j (1:10). This appreciation of the totality of the universe is reminiscent of the Semitic merismus #r ~yIm;V’h;.. In all, the idea of two extreme poles of the same reality is conveyed. The common understanding of the earth which the word gh/ conveys is a reference to the surface of the earth as the habitation of humanity, as the arena of human life. This is understood from the author’s cosmology that has located all non-human beings, benevolent and malevolent, in the heavens. In this context difference is made between gh/ and evpi,geioj, with the latter understood as pertaining more to what is characteristic of the earth in the adjectival sense of earthly as opposed to

389 Cf. W. Foerster, „avh,r“, in: ThWNT 1 (1933), 165. We call to mind again the difficulty with Sellin’s arguments about the meaning of evn toi/j evpourani,oij that excluded the sublunary spatial regions from the heavenly places. Cf. 4.2.1 of our work. Foerster’s position here lends weight to the argument against Sellin’s stand. 390 Cf. F. Mussner, 1968, 16–18.

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heavenly, or in the substantive sense as earthly things ta. evpi,geia. F.W. Danker391 goes on in this light to interpret evpigei,wn of Phil 2:10 in the context of PGM 4, 3042f. as not being confined to human beings. Remarkable, however, is the Eph author’s insistence on the use of gh/. Whether he may have been influenced by such differentiation or not is not clear. Some difficulties, however, arise on how to understand the image of the earth in Eph in the third appearance of the word gh/ in 4:9 eivj ta. katw,tera Îme,rhÐ th/j gh/j.392 The difficulty is brought about by its connection with the ascent and descent of Christ. There is the tendency to understand this expression in the light of Phil 2:10 katacqoni,wn as referring to the underworld in connection with the liberation of the condemned spirits. H. Odeberg warns against the anachronistic tendencies behind such insistence on seeing every note on the descent of Christ as being bound-up with the issue of liberation of condemned spirits. The two-tier world view foundational to, and also represented in Eph world view has excluded the idea of an underworld, having re-located the earlier perceived occupants of Hades in the supraterrestial regions evn toi/j evpourani,oij. According to him, A descent of the Saviour into the under-world could have any meaning, only if the spirits of the condemned were incarcerated in this under-world and had to be set free from their bondage in the under-world. Consequently ta. katw,tera me,rh th/j gh/j cannot signify the under-world, but must mean something like ‘as far below as to the earth’.393

F. Mussner394 seems basically to share the interpretation of the th/j gh/j given above through featuring a three-tier understanding of the genitive expression: comparative, partitive and epexegetic or appositive genitive. th/j gh/j as comparative genitive would mean “parts, lying deeper than the earth”, referring to regions below the earth. As partitive genitive it would mean “the underneath parts of the earth – the abode of the dead”, in the sense of the lowest parts of the earth. As epexegetic/appositive genitive it would mean “the lower regions, i.e. the earth”. This is seen as the Eph view given its world view in the context of the All whose lower regions is the earth, observed from the heights that evpourani,oij had indicated. From the point of view of Eph world view, therefore, it would mean “the lowest parts (of the universe) i.e. the earth.” P.J. Kobelski confirms in this regard,

391 Cf. F.W. Danker, (ed.), 2000, 368–369. 392 The discussion of the association of this context with the Sinai tradition and Ps 68 is left out, being outside the scope of our work. See J. Gnilka, 1971, 44; H.W. Harris, 1996, 64ff; G. Sellin, 2007, 330–333. 393 Cf. H. Odeberg, 1934, 18. Translation is mine. See also G. Sellin, 2007, 334–338. 394 Cf. F. Mussner, 1968, 27–28. See also W.H. Harris, 1996, 46–54.

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that, “The author’s cosmology, in which all nonhuman beings, … are located in the heights (…) supports interpreting tes ges, ‘the earth,’ as an appositional gen(itive) …”.395 F. Mussner arguing on the same note of the cosmic implications of the descent of Christ, sees a further confirmation in the understanding of the avne,bh kai. kate,bh (v9) and o` kataba.j kai. o` avnaba,j (v 10) as referring to a parallel movement in opposite directions of the one and the same person Christ. The descent must be understood in the light of the ascent, in the light of the cosmic descent of the pre-existent redeemer from the highest of the heavenly world to the earth, i.e. in the sense of the incarnation, and not in the sense of descensus ad inferos.396 The earth is then not to be understood as a prelude to hell nor hell itself. For the believer it is the place from which his contact with the heavenly is established. Here the contact – “the being in Christ” as church – develops and becomes lived out. It is the point from which his salvation, his access through, and to the heavens is worked out.397 This is despite the fact that with the location of the so-called spirits in a position directly above the human sphere (earth), and in-between the human and godly spheres an impression of a region as cut off from the salvific influence of God is given. Against such thoughts, its inhabitants delivered to the whims and caprices of these spirits, Christ’s movement from the heights to the earth and from the earth to the heights as captured by Eph is indicative of his mastery of All. He accesses every aspect of it and no aspect of the universe is excluded from his area of influence even when the cosmic powers and the spirits of malevolence are perceived to occupy and operate in, and from the heavenly places. Unlike Christ who could traverse the realm of these spirits, perhaps at will, these spirits have no access to his realm above the heavenly places. The inclusion of the earth as also part of the spheres of Christ’s influence as well as the indicated presence of Christ’s influence on earth needed to be emphasized in view of the perception of the earth as abandoned to the operations of the powers and non-benevolent spirits immediately above it in the heavenly places. The earth is not abandoned to these forces as the place where they unleash their wickedness at will, a valley of tears, as it were. There is no doubt war has to be waged by the believers against these powers (6:11ff), an appreciation of the vicissitudes of earthly existence. But it is a war which victory is already assured by virtue of the believers’ union with Christ, this notion of realized

395 Cf. P.J. Kobelski, in: NJBC (1990), 889. 396 Cf. F. Mussner, op. cit. See also W. H. Harris, 1996, 14–32. 397 Cf. also H. Hübner, 1997, 263.

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eschatology indicative of the furtherance of Pauline thought in Eph. The operation of the ruler of the aerial sphere of authority is effective in the sons of dis­ obedience (2:2b) in the form of death as sin and consequence of sin (Rom 6:23; 5:12). The believer in his status as one raised with Christ no longer shares this lot. He did once share in it but now no longer. This theological optimism really needs to be appreciated, even when it is not meant to orientate to any form of triumphalism. The reference to the operation of the spirit in the sons of disobedience is a reference to the way of life of the unconverted, the way of life from which the believers have now been differentiated by the grace of God in Christ. The remembrance of what this past way of life was about evn tai/j evpiqumi,aij th/j sarko.j h`mw/n are indicative that reference is being made here to life on earth. This is confirmed by the challenge Eph perceives as following the unmerited redemption through faith – created in Jesus Christ unto good works (2:10). It is only in the context of earthly living that the issue of doing good works would have meaning.

4.3 Implications of the Eph world view There is no doubt that the issues of world view play immense roles in Eph. The question has been to what extent the influences did go. Was the author of Eph dependent on a particular world view or not? Was he reacting to an already existent world view through his theological reflections and then emerged with what may be regarded as somewhat new perspectives? These are what may be viewed as the implication or consequences of the Eph world view. The foregoing has shown that Eph was greatly influenced by particular ­Hellenistic-Jewish world view. This is a world view in whose thought categories the author operated. We perceive him modifying the given with his Christian convictions while at the same time putting across the theological orientations he wished to establish. In the course of this development, the Eph world view shows itself adaptive, dynamic and non-static. Operating from the fundamental Christian theocentric world view, he moves to a geocentric world view in which the earth is perceived as hovering in space in the immeasurable extentions of “heavens” that was developed.398 All still lay within the influence of Christ. In such a universalistic world view with its dualistic tendencies harmony is sought in the understanding of man as a microcosm connected to the

398 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 64.

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macrocosm. Cosmic events would be perceived to have influence in human ways.399 Such cosmological modifications give rise to far reaching changes in human consciousness of God/the gods, and consciousness of the world. The place of God/the gods, man’s self-understanding of himself, and the world would need to be defined anew. These bother on the issues of relationship, the issues of man’s relationship to God/the gods, to himself, and his fellow human beings. It leaves the impression of a world in dare need of salvation, an offer Eph makes in its unique way. We examine how this features in the theological provisions of Eph against the background of the pre-Christian world view known to have been of influence to Eph.

4.3.1 God – world – man in pre-Christian Eph world view The Eph world view no doubt operates in a setting convinced of the absolute transcendence of God. Ancient Greek theogony and/or cosmology had presented the universe with the anthropomorphic experience in which the gods mingled with the humans. The gods, headed by Zeus, the father of the gods and men, and whose body was identical with the universe,400 were perceived to be part and parcel of human life. They were often involved in intrigues and favouritism, and prone to the manipulations of those who could to their advantage. F. Cumont considers such anthropomorphism of the Olympian gods in Greek mythology as merely idealized reflection of various human personalities.401 It often got to the scandalous extents that negated the nature of the gods as good. A radical reaction to such immanence of the gods gave rise to the transcendence of God with the related problems of accounting for his otherness – Deus absconditus, Deus otiosus. The Demiurge402 – creator god – phenomenon was popularized by Plato (Tim 41a etc.) and understood to be responsible for the creation of the material world, mortals, planetary gods etc. Despite his benevolence and desire to create a good world, the world allegedly remains imperfect because ­Demiurge created it out of a chaotic, indeterminate non-being. This attempt at accounting for evil, finding its peculiar resonance also in the fallen angels’ 399 Cf. G. Lanczkowski, „Dualismus“, in: TRE 9 (1993), 199–202. 400 Cf. K. Berger & C. Colpe, 1987, 279ff. A citation to this regard, credited to Eusebius in his Preparatio Evangelica III 9,2, is featured. Interesting also is the statement credited to Xenocrates by Plutarch, in which Xenocrates establishes knowing that are big, strong, ill-willing natures (beings) in the surrounding airspace whose preoccupation is only taking joy in causing confusion. 401 Cf. F. Cumont, 1960, xv. 402 Cf. W. Theiler, „Demiurges“, in: RAC 3 (1957), 694–711.

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etiology of the Book of Enoch as well as in the astrological developments of the time gave rise to the demonization of the planetary/cosmic regions above the earth. These demonic and cosmic powers were perceived to constitute a disturb­ ance to the original unity of the universe, having constituted themselves lords of those cosmic regions. Following this conception the supraterrestial regions are seen as filled with the demonic-cosmic powers.403 Between the Hellenistic dualism that accounted for good and evil through two principles of good and bad, and the OT belief in the one God and creator of all that is, raged a tension as far as the issues of evil and suffering remained unsatisfactorily explained. That is the age-old theodicy dilemma. The understanding of human existence on earth, was of one delivered to the whims and caprices of the forces of nature that have become cosmic gods/spirits.404 They had, correspondingly, become located in these regions between the transcendent God and the human beings. The history of the import of such spiritualization/ deification of these forces of nature reveal complex processes that go back to the ancient Chaldeans for whom the sign of the star was the sign of the gods (cf. section 1, 1.2.1). This was brought to bear in the giving of the name of the gods to the constellations of the firmament, a trend that subsequent civilizations (Greek, Roman) continued in their various forms. The developments that came to be the discovery of the planets in the classic ancient Greek periods went along the same lines beginning with the very name “planet” derived from plana,w - pla,nh (leading to the wrong, wandering, roaming about). It manifested further in the naming or association of individual planets with the name of one god or the other – Mercury (Hermes), Venus (Aphrodite), Mars (Ares), Saturn (Cronos), Jupiter (Zeus). Added to the already revered Sun and Moon, the number seven, was made up. The perceived influence of the moon on the tidal movements of great waters, the alternation of day and night and the yearly seasonal rhythms that are perceived to be dependent on the position of the sun kept alive the bewilderment on whether these forces of nature really cause these or merely manifest them. 403 Cf. F. Mussner, 1968, 33–34 404 Cf. H.-J. Klauck, 1995, 185ff; confer also the Fortuna/Tyche phenomenon in 2.1.1. See also the interesting critical remarks by F. Cumont, 1960, 6ff. In the introduction to this work, he referred to astronomy (astral mathematics), whose influence is pervading in the development of the sciences, as “this sapling, which shot up among the rank weeds by the side of the tree of knowledge, sprang from the same stock and mingled its branches with it.” (xii) The influence and practice of horoscope even in present age, testifies to how far reaching these beliefs have been.

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The ancients responded to these bewilderments by means of astral religion, astrology405 and related practices in the bid to “make a home” in the world. The fate of the universe and of the individual was associated to the constellations of the firmament in the belief that they are living, divine beings, and as such responsible for these. F. Cumont articulates this world view as such: Between beings and objects, all alike conceived as living, primitive animism everywhere establishes hidden and unexpected relations, which is the object of magic to discover and utilize…If all the movements of the heavens inevitably have their reactions upon the earth, it is, above all, the destiny of man that depends upon them.406

Following this understanding, man was more or less a pawn in the hands of these capricious cosmic gods and demonic spirits, who unleashed it on him in the experience of blind fate/ chance, deified as Fortuna/Tyche. Human life in this context could not but be understood and experienced as one lived in constant threat by the demons and spirits. He is more or less left to himself to evolve ways of survival. He has the task of either assuaging the cosmic gods or outwitting them to get to his desired goal of fulfilled living. F. Cumont expresses with disgust, a derision of this human quest. There is something tragic in this ceaseless attempt of man to penetrate the mysteries of the future, in this obstinate struggle of his faculties to lay hold on knowledge which evades his probe, and to satisfy his insatiable desire to foresee his destiny. The birth and evolution of astrology, that desperate error on which the intellectual powers of countless generations were spent, seems to be the bitterest of disillusions. 407

405 “Astrology was the most widespread and influential form of artificial divination in Hellenistic times… Based upon deduction from the obvious and observable effects of the sun and moon on terrestrial life, astrology was considered the most scientific and rational method of divination… By gaining access to ‘a full view of things human and divine’ through astrology, an individual was able to outwit the effects of a capricious Tyche/Fortuna and secure at-homeness in the world.” Cf. L.H. Martin, 1987, 43. 406 Cf. F. Cumont, 1960, 11, 20. Rightly critical as Cumont’s comments are, one may, however, not overlook the credit due to such milestones in knowledge among these ancient peoples especially with regard to such relationships they were able to establish between the sun and the moon, the seasons and terrestrial events. Such critical views had been made by Pliny the Elder, who rejecting such relationship between humans and the heavenly constellations, maintained that if such were to be the case the stars would have been as transitory as humans. Cf. H.-J. Klauck, 1995, 186. 407 Cf. F. Cumont, 1960, xiv.

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These spirits and powers are perceived as having shaded him off from the salvific and salutary influence of the God that had become transcendent.408 This was the foundation of the religious confusion in the bid for salvation. The manifest expression of this is the flourishing of cults, magic, mantic, astrology and other apotropaic orientations in the circumstances of early Christianity in general, and Asia Minor (Ephesus) in particular. H.-J. Klauck, noting the influence of these religious circumstances in the formative stages of early Christianity, attests that Christological expressions also made use of similar mythical patrimonies, even excelling them sometimes.409

4.3.2 Apotropaic orientations - Magic as example The existence and persistence of magical traditions in the antiquities have been attested to with the discoveries of “the Greek magical papyri”, this depository of great religious literature of over many centuries, diverse origins and nature. In the Papyri are found ancient Egyptian materials that have been Hellenized, materials of Jewish magic, as well as original ancient Greek elements. Scholars have often raised the question which preceded or influenced the other, and how such influences did come about. In response H.D. Betz, sees in the papyri the manifestation of the syncretism of the time that is more than a mixture. It was more about an assimilation and uniformity of the diverse elements from Egyptian, Greek, Babylonian and Jewish religion, with a few sprinkles of Christianity. He concludes that the papyri represent a Graeco-Egyptian syncretism, rather than the more general Graeco-Roman version. They contain the elements of ancient Egyptian religion partly surviving though profoundly Hellenized, and the pre-Hellenistic elements that have becoming egyptianized. The result became the emergence of a new religion in which unified religious attitudes and beliefs feature.410 However, the special place and role of the phenomenon magic in the Ephesian circumstance has often been noted. One of the greatest evidences in this regard

408 Apuleius captured this understanding of terrestrial living in his allegory of the wandering Lucius as golden ass in a labyrinthian world in his novel Metamorphoses. Cf. L.H. Martin, 1987, 23–24. 409 Cf. H.-J. Klauck, 1995, 128. 410 Cf. idem, 1986, xliv–xlvii. In a similar development, J.M. Hull, seems to be aware of a case of Homer magic, a gathering of verses from various parts of Homer, even while insisting on Egypt as the ultimate origin of the most central characteristic of magic – the desire to compel the gods to do one’s will. Cf. idem, 1974, 20ff.

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is the association of the magic formula VEfe,sia gra,mmata411 with the metropolis Ephesus. “The reputation of Ephesus as a magical centre may partly be derived from the fame of the proverbial “Ephesian Letters” (VEfe,sia gra,mmata).”412 These “letters” constituted of six written words whose original versions are understood to be avski kataski lix tetrax damnammeneuj aivsia are attested to have been in use in magical sense in superstitious circles as far back as 4th century B.C. They were believed to be laden with apotropaic powers effective for use in warding off evil demons, this other characteristic of Hellenistic magic that is thought to have come over from Persian sources. F. Cumont had earlier noted the origin of these tendencies as being the belief that certain stellar divinities, subject to certain invariable laws, exerted influence on the world. Believing to have comprehended the nature of this influence by means of the observation of certain regular movements, man conceived himself able to determine with certainty the effects of these movements and influences. This gave rise to theories and principles whose original sources were forgotten and discarded.413 The Persian dualistic systems were a blessing to the Hellenistic magicians, as the demonology it propagated was easily assimilated into the Greek belief in chthonic deities. J.M. Hull writes in this regard: The impact of demonology was extremely important. The idea of magic as a means of defense against evil spirits, rather than as a pressure upon the high gods, is originally Assyrian-Babylonian-Zoroastrian, not Egyptian. Devils were, of course a familiar feature of Egyptian religion, but they did not constitute the same daily terror as in the Mesopotamian cults … The dualism of the Zoroastrian system lent itself readily to the techniques of the magicians who thus found a theological justification for their superstitions and a further extension of their art in the vivid fears of the uneducated Hellenistic

411 Cf. K. Preisendanz, „Ephesia Grammata (VEfe,sia gra,mmata)“ in: RAC 5 (1962), 515–520. C.E. Arnold, following Clement of Alexandria’s version of the words, has them as follows: a;skion( kata,skion( li,x( tetra,x( damnameneu,j and ai;sia. See idem, 1989, 15. Their meanings in this latter order are given by Preisendanz as – Darkness and Light, Earth, Year, Helios, the true Voice, meanings that are understood to have arisen in the Pythagorean mystical circles (see R. Schwindt, 2002, 78). He is however of the view that these are but forced interpretations that are strange to the real meanings of the words as used in Ephesia Grammata (517). 412 Cf. C.E. Arnold, 1989, 13ff (15); Acts 19; see also R. Schwindt, 2002, 72–87. Although Preisendanz (op. cit.) sees no foundation for the association of these magical words to Ephesus, Pausanias (a 2nd century AD Greek geographer and traveller) records that this magic formula has its home in Ephesus. He brought it in relation to Artemis, the goddess of the metropolis. 413 Cf. F. Cumont, 1960, xiii, 13.

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masses. With the cult of demonology appears the supreme object of apotropaic magic, exorcism.414

Apart from for exorcisms, the magic formula was also supposed to have been worn as amulet for both personal protection or as protection for the metropole, as bringer of marital luck and blessings for newly married, as assurance for victory for sportsmen, for magical healing.415 Noting the thin line between religion and magic, W. Dupré acknowledges the intimate connection between them as founded on the bid to “domesticate”, to actualize the transcendent in the face of the tension between transcendence and immanence. According to him, the phenomenon of magic … falls primarily in the realm of human thought and action. The man concerned with magic wishes to overcome the threatening powers of nature and to enlist the help of the good or favourable forces. Above all, he wants to be master over earthly life by being able, apparently, to banish uncertainty and to meet the unforeseen.416

In the Hellenistic setting with its characteristic religious syncretism, magic was a way of life. This was because the deities and their cosmic activities had become almost the greatest matter of concern, as they were perceived to be in control of every aspect of life. The magician was a religious functionary. He was a necessary crisis-manager to enable survival, purporting to be an ­all-purpose therapist through the use of his craft and code to manipulate the incredible flow of energies that have come to be gods.417 It is man in this tragic illusion of his quest for salvation, according to F. Cumont, that early Christianity was to encounter.

414 Cf. J.M. Hull, 1974, 29–30. Regarding the concerns about magic and the uneducated, see too C.E. Arnold, 1989, 19. 415 Cf. R. Schwindt, 2002, 79. 416 Cf. W. Dupré, “Magic“, in: NCE 9 (2003), 35–39 (36). H.-J. Klauck works out areas of differentiations between magic and religion, differentiations that more or less show how thin the dividing lines between the two phenomena are. Cf. idem, 1995, 173–184 (174–175). The height of such differentiations, following D.E. Aune’s understanding of magical practice as deviation from general approved religious expressions, is that the results of the goals sought in magical practices are virtually guaranteed. But in sanctioned religion results are left to the goodwill of the approached god(s). Cf. D.E. Aune, cited by C.E. Arnold, 1989, 19. Cf. idem, 1960, xiii, 13. 417 Cf. H.D. Betz, 1986, xlvii.

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In its missionary movement, early Christianity, born in the Palestinian Judaism that is rooted in the OT, came into contact with the cultural circumstances of the Hellenistic world often mediated by Hellenistic-Judaism. It evolved its Christian response to the given situations. Eph is an example of one of such responses. Working in the categories of the popular world view of its setting – the Asia Minor of the late 1st Century AD – as shown above, its author evolved some Christian response to the circumstance, based on Pauline traditions. Given the experience of the blindly raging destiny and the unavoidable experience of suffering and death, the initiated of the mystery cults sought to participate in dramatical fate of a divinity that has had an experience of death as an entrance to new life. Successful life through overcoming fate and affect was the popular theme of the whole of ancient philosophy around the turn of time. From this background one understands the response in the message of the early Christians in the promise of salvation to believers in Jesus Christ.418 We turn attention, in this light, to some of its highlights especially regarding the Christological-ecclesiology of Eph.

4.3.3 The Eph response - the three-tier scheme of Eph: God-Christ-man (Christian/s) The earlier understanding of the world in which the gods were part and parcel of human world is overcome. The gods have become over-cosmic so to speak, expressed in the idea of the transcendence of the divine. God loses his immanence, becomes transcendent, a transcendence that Eph shares and expresses with its evn toi/j evpourani,oij formula (1:20 etc.). With this formula Eph distances the spiritual realm from the earthly human realm, a distancing that is radically expressed in 4:10 u`pera,nw pa,ntwn tw/n ouvranw/n in reference to the regions of the throne of God where Christ has ascended and is exalted. In this transcendence of God, the earth, understood as located in the other extreme, seemed to have been left to the ravaging influence of the cosmic forces (spirits) whose place, according to the pre-dominant world view, is no longer the underworld but in the spatial in-between. In this position they constitute factors of disruption to the original unity of the universe, the unity Eph expresses by the cosmic syntagma ta. pa,nta. They constitute the cosmic wall of division separating the human from the benevolent flow from, and salvific contact with the transcendent God. Man perceives himself as abandoned to his fate in the horrible situation of being delivered-up. Under their dreadful influence the situation of the world is one of this darkness. 418 Cf. U. Schnelle, 2007, 257.

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The world is perceived to be irredeemably under the reign of the demonic powers. Their supposed immense powers are expressed not just by the fact that reference is made to them as powers, authorities, but moreso by the fact of their location – in the heavenly places. From this position that expresses their superiority over the human, they also disrupt the original unity of All.419 J. Gnilka interpreting the “dividing walls of separation” (2:14) in this light also, makes reference to such separation between heaven and earth as evocative of the feeling of being in a cave in the unsaved man. He sees such a situation as necessitating the search for the new forms of salvation for man who seemed to have been imprisoned in the lower world. One form of it was the idea of the ascension of the soul to the divine world, a journey it has to undertake amidst the dangers posed by the demons in the spatial regions.420 A solution needed to be worked out to bridge the distance between God and man, to effect communication between them, to wrought the salvation of man in the face of the disruption of the original unity of the universe that the cosmic spirits are perceived to have effected. Such circumstances were very fertile grounds for various chimera practices and undertakings. Little wonder magical practices were prevalent in the entire Hellenistic world in the first century AD, with Ephesus metropole ranking topmost as the centre of such practices.421 Magical practices in such occasions that included marriage, sports, business transactions, journeys, health issues etc. thrived on the grounds of the perception that a spirit world exercised influence on virtually every aspect of life. Little wonder the inestimable importance they assumed in the daily lives of the people. Magicians sought, constructed and employed learned formula for the manipulation of the spirits for their good and that of their clients, and/or to the harm of other person(s). The quest for power and management of the supernatural that is associated with it, its intimacy with religion in the rivalry of the divinities, saw astrological beliefs and syncretism constitute the order of the day. At the centre of it all in the Asia Minor circumstance was the goddess Artemis and her cult, the popularity of which even the Luke’s Acts’ accounts records: “Great is the

419 Cf. F. Mussner, 1968, 33. 420 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 65–66. 421 Cf. C.E. Arnold, 1989, 15. The author featuring numerous evidences of the practice of magic in Ephesus and western Asia Minor, evidences summed up in the collection of the Egyptian papyri and published under the title Papyri Graecae Magicae by K. Preisendanz, notes however, that other religious affiliations within the circumstance, like Judaism and mystery cults, had their own representations (16–20).

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Artemis of Ephesus; worshipped in all the provinces of Asia and in the whole world!” (Acts 19:27b-28).422 The vicious circle seemed unending, as the quest for gain would not only see the gainers feed the fears of the clients to ensure patronage.423 The persistence of the difficulties and problems that are supposed to be overcome kept heating up the system424 despite the powers assumed to have been evoked. Dissatisfaction and disgust with the situation, typified in the burning of the magical scrolls, historically and biblically evidenced,425 made the search for salvation a perennial 422 The popularity of the goddess Artemis is founded on the flexibility and adaptability with which she could be fit into the religious mentality or spirit of whatever times and circumstances. From the pre-hellenistic to the Hellenistic and GraecoRoman times, it assumed various names, from Anatolian Po,tnia Mh,thr to Phrygian Mh,thr VOrein or Cybele as the case may be, until her hellenisation as Artemis (Roman Diana), and settlement in Ephesus, where she became identical with the city. In the course of these evolutions powers and feats were attributed to her, from being fertility goddess to being the queen of heaven, astral goddess, goddess of the cosmos, of the living and of the dead and their fate. In fact some inscriptions simply referred to her as h` qea,. In these capacities of awesome powers, the roles she had in the magic and mystery cults of the time were simply unquantifiable. She was the embodiment of the life, culture and world view of the Asian regions of the time. Cf. C.E. Arnold, 1989, 20–28; R. Schwindt, 2002, 103–134. “Als die eine Gottheit und ­Kosmosherrscherin ist sie Spiegel und Ausdruck des religiösen Empfindens und Weltverständnisses ihrer Zeit.“ (134). 423 Reflecting on the unbroken chain of the history of magic and its persistence, H.D. Betz rightly sees it as feeding on human gullibility that provides the illusion of security to the insecure. “Magicians are those who have long ago explored these dimensions of human mind. Rather than decry the facts, they have exploited them. Magicians have known all along that people’s religious needs and expectations provide the greatest opportunity for the most effective of all deceptions… Magic makes an unmanageable life manageable for those who believe in it, and a profession profitable for those who practice the art.” Cf. idem, 1986, xlviii. 424 One may relate such experiences to Luke’s accounts in Acts 16: 16ff – the healing of the girl with “divination spirit”. The problem seemed to be more about the loss of income by her masters. Acts 19: 11–20 presents the activities of the seven sons of Sceva and consequences; Acts 19: 22ff – the revolt of the Ephesian silversmiths. One must, however, not lose sight of the controversies about Luke’s intentions and the theology of Acts. Cf. J. Madubuko, “Religiöse Kulte in den Städten der paulinischen Mission (in der Darstellung der Apostelgeschichte)“, Unpublished NT Seminar Paper, Uni-Bonn, June 2010. 425 60 Suetonius (ca.69–135 AD), the roman historian of the equestrian order, recorded that Caesar Augustus in 13 B.C. ordered that the burning of 2000 magical scrolls. Cf.

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one. The consciousness of the cosmic-demonic powers, the threat they constituted and the desire to check-mate these powers saw to the keen interest in supernatural power being considered a characteristic of the Hellenistic world. The people of this era, especially in the 1st Century AD, desired to be strengthened by being part and parcel of this power. This predominant interest is viewed to have also been contributive to the triumph of Christianity.426 A similar note is sounded in the view that the ability of Christianity to respond to the challenging experiences of life with plausible answers that are emotionally as well as intellectually attractive accounted for the sustained successes it recorded.427 The author of Eph enters the scene perhaps at this point. Like his contemporaries and audience, he is aware of the factum of the cosmic powers, of their wheeling and dealings. He is also aware of the world view that provided the enabling circumstances. Apparently not interested in any lofty speculations about the origin of these ominous forces nor in the history of their activities, he sets about attending to the question – how and who would free man from this reign of terror visited on him by these forces. He seems not to be very much interested in a C.E. Arnold, 1989, 17. Acts 19:19 records similar event. It may not be clear whether Luke worked the 13 B.C. event into his writing or it happened again in Ephesus as he recorded. His going further to approximate the very high monetary value of the burnt magical scrolls is no doubt an evidence of the flourishing of magic and other apotropaic practices in Asia Minor of the time. 426 The term du,namij is seen as the summary concept of this desire in the language of pagan devotion. Interest in it accounts for the tendency to invest one deity with the attributes of others and see in it the epitome of all powers as was the case with Artemis in the Ephesus settings. A superior du,namij demonstrates its power by undoing the harm that have come from the now inferior du,namij as in the cases of cures and exorcisms. Cf. A.D. Nock, 1925, cited by C.E. Arnold, 1989, 34–35. The immense role of the Dynamis concept in Hellenistic Judaism especially in Philo’s thoughts, and its application in Pauline theology with regard to Christ (1 Cor 1:24 etc.) need not be over-emphasized. 427 Cf. U. Schnelle, 2007, 182. In as much as one may note that exactly this is the challenge that faces the Christianity of our age - the ability to offer plausible answers to the questions of the post-modern society – the question “what constitutes this plausibility?” needs to be asked. As the author pointed out, the plausibility of the answers offered by early Christianity had much to do with emotional and intellectual attractiveness. Part of the difficulties on the way of the Christian message for today’s world in this light include the general skeptical stance of the intellectual fields celebrated in the dictatorship of the individual (autonomy) as well as the general suspicion of anything that may have to do with the emotional both on the part of the traditional Christianity in particular, and the entire human society in general.

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differentiating analysis of what these forces really are or not. Whether they were merely cosmic elements that have taken on spiritual garb as a result of religious identifications as was the case in the stoicei/a tou/ ko,smou h;meqa dedoulwme,noi arguments of Paul in Gal 4:3ff or actual spiritual beings, seemed not to have been his immediate interest. He simply lumps them together, and by so doing establishes his spirit world perspectives. Whether as avrcai, or evxousiai, or duna,meij, dominions or thrones, or whatever name they may take, they represent for him powers. This evidence of sharing the Hellenistic and early Jewish belief in cosmic potencies shows the further hellenisation of Pauline dictions and theologumena we had earlier discussed (3.5). Moreover, behind the insistence on names is the ancient belief that knowing and using the name of something/somebody gives access to some measure of control over it, over him/her respectively.428 The author of Eph, understanding that in such a context where established rivalry systems are operative, that only new thought patterns and convictions with high level of connectivity and plausibility can make meaningful inroads, goes along these lines. His answer to the above stated perplexing question about salvation is the salvific actions of God in Christ for the good of the Church (believers in Christ), this triangular theological schema which hub is the evn Cristw/| formula. U. Schnelle argues that as far as the weight of this expression is concerned, especially regarding its import as the essential summary of ecclesiology, it is more than a formula. It is rather the continuum of Pauline theology, establishing vertical and horizontal relationships. The new community of believers (horizontal) emerges from, and subsists in the union with Christ (vertical).429 Noting the nuance that characterises the use the author of Eph makes of this formula/continuum in the pursuit of his theological goal, J. Gnilka observes that, it easily expresses that: God acts in Christ, having us in view. In the triangular scheme that is made up of God, Christ and the community, all the evn Cristw/| sentences that are found in the Eulogy get understood: VEn Cristw/| is used in Eph to establish the salvific action God has wrought on the community through Christ.430

428 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 95. 429 Cf. U. Schnelle, 2007, 252–253. The truth of this understanding is vividly evidenced in the ecclesiology Eph postulates. On the numerous and varied appearances of this formula in Corpus Paulinum and on the different opinions on whether its uses have more of instrumental or spatial content, see J. Gnilka, ibid., 66–67; G. Sellin, 2007, 89 (footnote 82). They seem to share the view that in Eph alone the evn Cristw/| formula in various forms feature between 35–36 times. In the Eulogy alone a record 14 times is observed. 430 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 67, 68; see also G. Sellin, 2007, 90.

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Both the cosmic-dynamic schema and Christological-ecclesiology of Eph are built thereupon. They serve to establish the theme of soteriology that Eph makes the function of the Church. From the very onset the author is convinced about the salvific work of God, on whom and from who everything is and depends, and to whom everything is oriented as its goal. It is God that acts even when sometimes, in the dynamism characteristic of Eph, a shift is made to Christ as the one handling (2:13–17). Immediately from v 18 the author returns to the action of God through him for human salvation. The Eulogy431 (1:3–14) sets the tone which reverberates in the rest of the letter. And in this light it may not be incorrect to surmise that the Eulogy contains in some large measure the themes that become developed in the rest of the letter. The salvific activities of God summarized in his giving the be­ lievers spiritual blessings in the heavenly places may be said to have begun with their predestination proori,saj h`ma/j (v5). The historical manifestation of this timeless pre-cosmic plan began, and is experienced in the choice made of the believers before the foundation of the cosmos evxele,xato h`ma/j evn auvtw/| pro. katabolh/j ko,smou (v4). It reaches its apex in the demonstration of God’s grace and goodness in the believers being raised with Christ. It culminates in their being transferred with him in the heavenly places (2:4–7). What God does in Christ, the high point of which is the demonstration of his power in raising Christ from the dead, exalting him at his right hand (1:20), he accomplishes also in us. The exaltation of Christ to the throne of God brings the issues about the transcendence of God and the supremacy of the power in question into the scene. One observes therein an indirect reference to God. It may not be out of place to surmise the influence of the traditional Jewish reverence regarding the reference to God on the author. He seems unwilling to presume a precise knowledge of where this God may be located. He seemed contented with introducing the thought through Christ’s enthronement and participation in the authority and power of God, contained in the expression kaqi,saj evn dexia/| auvtou/ evn toi/j evpourani,oij (1:20). He later distinguishes the heavenly places, as noted above, 431 G. Sellin recognises a paronomasia (word play) in the three different variations the word euvloge,w appears in v 3 alone – euvloghto,j( o` euvlogh,saj( evn euvlogi,a|. According to him, the paronomasia, which belongs with figura etymologica to Greek and later to “asiatic” rhetoric, features here to bring out the whole dimensions of the concept “blessing”, with the participial form o` euvlogh,saj (a periphrasis reference to God) in aorist narrative serving to establish a completed action of God. Cf. G. Sellin, 2007, 85.

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emphasizing the superlative superordinacy of the conceived position - u`pera,nw pa,shj… (1:21), u`pera,nw pa,ntwn tw/n ouvranw/n… (4:10). In and from this exalted position over the universe and all therein, all things are placed under his feet and he reigns over them. The believers, sharing this lordship in and with Christ (2:6), even while living on earth, need no longer fear the powers in the heavenly powers. The place of Christ as well as that of the believers is given as bi-local. On account of their faith and being in Christ the believers are theologically in heaven, even as their historical existence still plays out on earth. It is a transcended existence in which time and eternity receive salvific unification. By this cosmic presentation the author of Eph, working within the world view familiar to his audience, establishes his faith in the power of God in the Kosmokrator that is now Christ. Those who identify with this Kosmokrator are not only saved, they would also have the responsibility of letting the cosmic powers and spirits that had claimed powers know it is over with them and whatever power and influence they may have wielded. It bequeaths the community of believers, the church, the dynamics of its soteriological responsibility.432 In the salvific offer presented by the author of Eph, especially against the background of the quest for power that was characteristic of the magic-mantic approach to life in the Ephesian circumstance, grace plays a central role. It was important for him to emphasize the importance of grace ca,rij, not merely as something to be looked forward to, but as something that has already taken place – for we have been saved by grace (2:9). To overcome the disillusion about salvation as being the handiwork of man’s clever manipulations, this preponderant view in magical circles, he emphasizes that the salvation already noted in the triangular theological schema, is not the work of man. Salvation is the work of God through grace. This pillar of his (Eph) salvific view that first appeared in the form of a ­parenthesis in 2:5 (&ca,riti, evste sesw|sme,noi&) is further confirmed with definitiveness in v. 8 - Th/| ga.r ca,riti, evste sesw|sme,noi with a new accent - dia. pi,stewj –

432 J. Gnilka is convinced that the community’s sharing with Christ in his enthronement in the highest of the heavenly places, with all the transposed world views and dimensions involved (Jewish-Hellenistic, time – space), is not just for the purpose of heavenly liturgy or merely to participate in the knowledge of the heavenly mysteries. It dictates the vocation of the Church – she assumes a mediator role between Christ and the world. Enabled through her exaltation, a dynamic operation for the salvation of the world is her assignment. Cf. idem, 1971, 126–128.

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through faith.433 G. Sellin, explaining this development in Eph as founded on Paul’s doctrine of Justification (a doctrine he sees as excluded in Eph), clarifies that this concept of grace effects the exclusion of whatever over which a human being may boast of as being due to his activities. He sees in this concentration on grace some correspondence to the Hellenistic mentality, as well as an adaptation of the Pauline theology of Justification to the Hellenistic theologumenon. Within it account is given of everything there is as originating from the overflow of perfection and goodness of God.434 Typical of the dynamism of Eph in its operation in the Pauline tradition435 and advancing from it, the futuristic eschatology expressed for instance in Rom 8, ­especially in v 24, experiences a transformation into some “realized eschatology”.436 Through this deapocalyptisation of Pauline eschatology that makes salvation readily present, and in the light of the above mentioned Hellenistic mentality (in which world view magic-mantic phenomena played a major role), Eph insistence that salvation is always, and can only be the gift of God and not fruit of human activity or cleverness ouvk evx u`mw/n (v 8), ouvk evx e;rgwn (v 9) deals a lethal blow to the compulsion that fires the patronage and operation of magic. A free offer of salvation from 433 G. Sellin argues that ca,rij und sw,|xw in relation to faith are here taking the place of the justification by faith theme in Pauline theology. Cf. idem, 2007, 184 (see also footnote 167 & 168); see too J. Gnilka, 1971, 129. As right as Sellin’s presentation of faith as the medium of salvation and not the reason for it may be, the nuance in the understanding of faith on the one hand, as die Entscheidung des Menschen herausfordern and on the other hand, as not being an act of will, seem apparently contradictory (185). Decision is always an act of will. 434 Cf. ibid., 186. Apparently seeing in Philo a typical example of this so-called ­Hellenistic theologumena, Sellin cites some of his words in which he recommends that that whatever man thinks he has accomplished is attributable to God as its origin. Whoever appreciates this can only be thankful to the source of his strength and ability. 435 “For in hope we are saved.” Rom 8:24. The operation of this hope, as illustrated in Rom 8, is faith. This also calls to mind Rom 3:27ff; 4:3; Gal 4:16. When one links up the preceding verse to Eph 2:5, i.e. v 4, where the author expresses that God’s love is the foundation of his salvific action for humankind, we see a genial and dynamic articulation of the Pauline tradition of theological virtues of – Faith, Hope, Charity (1 Thess1:3; 5:8; 1 Cor 13:13). 436 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 122ff; see also G. Sellin, 2007, 177–185. The latter, understanding “realized eschatology” in terms of „geschehene Gnade” (184), and seeing some form of it featured in expression of the enthronement of the Christians with Christ in the aorist sunh,geiren (181), sees Paul’s doctrine of Justification as basically playing some formative role here. (183–184, see also footnote 161).

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an almighty whose powers are manifest in Christ is assuredly more rewarding and attractive than any human fumbling. To expose his audience to avail themselves of this advantage they possess as Christians, and by this means to attend to their spirit world concerns, must have been part of the desire of the author.

Summary In the understanding that the world view of the circumstances of the Eph plays immense role in the thoughts expressed in the letter, we undertook the examination of the world view issues of Eph. Operating in a circumstance within which the age-long three-tier understanding of the universe as Heavens-EarthUnderworld has been over taken by a two-tier system of Heavens-Earth, Eph works out its world view. In the cosmological tectonic of Eph, the phrase evn toi/j evpourani,oij – ‘in the heavenly places’ captures not only the idea of heavens as the sphere of the godly, the spirits, it conveys the implication of hierarchy of spirits, with God the Spirit par excellence and his Christ assumed to be above the heavens. With the view of the earth as the other extreme of the universe and as the human sphere, the spatial in-between, the aeris spatium that is correspondingly assigned the now translocated former occupants of Hades as well as the deified and/or spiritualized heavenly constellations, constitute what we term the spirit world of the letter to the Ephesians. The sympathetic and antipathetic systems of the Hellenistic world that sought to maintain some cosmic harmony and see cosmic events as influencing virtually every aspect of life on earth, established magic and mantic as major factors in getting along with the circumstance. Given the geographical location of Ephesus, as a metropolis with political and economic importance, it also became a central market place for religious activities. Ephesus assumed also the unenviable status of a central player as far as the practice and patronage of magic was concerned. This was the circumstance of the Asia Minor of 1st century AD that early Christianity came in contact with. The NT world view, centred on the understanding of Jesus Christ as the fulfillment of the aspirations of other inherited world views, would cash on the exasperations the inadequacy of the magic-mantic response to life and understanding of the world has left in its wake. In their inadequacies, these apotropaic practices that had claimed the ability to manage the supernatural powers, left the impression of a world in dare need of salvation. Eph offers a unique response with its theological provisions. It is the triangular theological schema God-Christ-Believers. Its hub is the evn Cristw/| formula. „Gott handelt in Christus mit Hinblick auf uns.” (J. Gnilka) What God does in Christ, he also accomplishes in the believers. The summit of the salvific action of God is the 188

show of his power in the resurrection of Christ. God grants the believers participation in the resurrection. This culminates in being enthroned with Christ above the heavenly places, away from the jurisdiction and influence of the spirit world, a bilocation in which time and eternity receive salvific unification. This is an expression of the realized eschatology. K. Berger articulates this as follows: …the perspective that God’s eschatological works have already taken place presupposes that the issues of power and the right to rule have already been decided. Either they have been resolved from time immemorial (…) or they were resolved in the wake of a more recent event (in the fate of the Messiah, Jesus Christ).437

Important for the author of Eph is, however, the insistence that this salvific act of God is prompted by his love. It is carried out through the grace of faith in ­Jesus Christ, and not by means of any human merit, (apotropaic) undertakings or the cleverness called magic. Would this response of Eph to the world view of its ­audience, especially their spirit world concerns, a world view that is very much related to the Igbo cosmology which we will subsequently examine, not also ­apply to their spirit world concerns?

437 Cf. K. Berger, 2003, 84.

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Chapter Five: Igbo World view 5.1  Igbo world view – a religious cosmology It is necessary to state from the on-set that a discussion of the Igbo world view is undertaken here within the general considerations of African world view(s). The Igbo constitute part of the African world, whose various peoples despite their specific differences, have elements shared commonly in their views of the world. While highlighting the specifically Igbo in these elements, references would often be made to and from the generally African. Attention has often been drawn to the dangers of generalizations about African world view(s) that seem to neglect the fact that most ethnic groups have basic differences readily manifest in their historical, linguistic, and socio-religious expressions.438 Awareness of the societal and individual dynamisms is also equally important. Central to the issue of dynamism is the appreciation of the lasting influence on African world views due to contacts with foreign cultures. Such contacts border mainly on the subjects of slave trade, colonialism and missionary drives. These influences pose difficulties in the bid to ascertain and decipher the originally traditional from the foreign-contact-influenced presentations. However, despite these influences, some basic assumptions and fundamental views of the African societies with regard to their world, their experience of and relation to it are identifiably original. The central and most profound of these is the issue of religion, understood in the sense of the deep consciousness of transcendence (both in the sense of beings and/a Being), the dependence on and subordination to them/him, fostering the establishment of relationship to them/him by means of rites and mores. Every aspect of life in the various African societies revolves around the phenomenon of religion despite the inherent

438 Cf. G. Parrinder, 2002 (1951), 4–7; H. Sawyer, „Grundlage einer Theologie für Africa“, in: H.W. Gensichen, et. al. (Hg.)., 1965, 110ff; J.S. Mbiti, „Afrikanisches Verständnis der Geister im Lichte des Neuen Testamentes”, in: G. Rosenkranzet. al.(Hg.), 1967, 130ff; idem, 1971, 1ff; E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1985, vii-x; A.T. Sanon, „Die traditionelle afrikanische Religion und ihre Spiritualität“, in: V. Cikala M.(Hg.), 1986, 11ff; J. van der Watt et. al. (eds.), Miracles and Imagery in Luke and John, 2008 (237–255). In the article by E.R. Wendland in the above cited work, T. Okure refers to these differences as “the fragmented and multi-faceted reality of the continent”.

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differences in its manifestations and expressions.439 Attempts at understanding the African necessarily leads to and from his nature as religious. Religion (traditional) is for the African an ontological phenomenon, leading often to the conclusions that African world view(s) is/are essentially religious. This religiousness is manifest in the idea that spirit beings and mystical440 forces in the invisible world determine events in the world of space and time. The behaviour and activities of the human – moral and ritual – influence, on the other hand, the activities of the spirit and mystical forces.441 Similarly, J.S. Mbiti, while beginning his famous work “African Religions and Philosophy” with the statement “Africans are notoriously religious…”, went on to note that this religious nature of theirs determines their understanding of the universe. This understanding is not merely an academic proposition, but an empirical experience, eloquently expressed in acts of worship.442 Note is to be taken of the adjectival function of the word ‘religious’ – meaning in this instance, ‘relating all to religion’. Inadequate attention to this nuance may have led to such misunderstandings 439 That is why it is more correct to talk of African religions rather than African religion, even when comparative study of these religions reveals manifest measure of unity in the various African experience of, and relationship to God and the numinous realities often associated with him. Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1987; see also E.E. Uzukwu, “The God of our Ancestors and African Unity”, cited by C.O. Ukeh, 2007, 45. 440 The term “mystical“, as used here, is not in the sense of Christian spirituality but in the general all-embracing reference to some form of hidden, unusual, super-­sensible and mysterious phenomena, pervading energy, powers, potencies, the o ­ perations of which are associated with esoterism or occultism. It is about the perception of some form of force that permeates the whole universe. Principally neutral, it is believed that in operation, it may be made creative or destructive use of. They are often related to myths, magic and diabolism. It is a term the content of whose meaning seem readily understood at mention, that many African writers who use the term seem to go no extra mile delineating the nuances involved. The major factor in the African setting is the mythic attributions of supernaturality to even the most common of arts and actions. Cf. G. Parrinder, 1974, 21–22; A.C. Anijielo, 1984, 1ff; E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 18. See also, J. Aumann, “Mystical Phenomena”, in: NCE 10 (2003), 105–109. B. Emebo, 2006, 80ff. 441 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, „Afrikanisches Verständnis der Geister im Lichte des Neuen Testamentes”, in: G. Rosenkranzet. al., (Hg.), 1967, 130–147(140); E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 18. The author had earlier noted that these religious phenomena are interwoven with all aspects of life – social, psychological and moral dimensions. Cf ibid., vii. 442 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1971, 1,13,57.

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as exemplified by T. Sundermeier,443 who supposes that Africans hold with nostalgia that all is religion. We acknowledge his good criticism even as we must note that it is a misconception. In Africa (traditional or otherwise) all is not religion even when there is, evidently, a religious dimension to all. This therefore constitutes our point of access into the examination of the Igbo world view in the bid to discuss its spirit world understandings. Igbo world view will be shown to be built on a religious cosmology, though not without first of all briefly establishing some specifying identification of the cultural group known as the Igbo – Ndi Igbo.

5.1.1  Brief identifications Igbo is both the name and the language of the people concentratedly located at the east-central regions of the south-eastern parts of the present day Nigeria. In the Nigerian political scene, it constitutes one of the three major ethnic groups (the rest being Hausa and Yoruba) of the country, and is made up of Abia, Anambra, Enugu, Ebonyi, and Imo states, with some other Igbo settlements found across the river Niger, in the Delta (south-west and south-south) regions of Nigeria, as well as other neighbouring states (the Middle-Belt regions). Found between the 50 to 70 latitudes North of the Equator, and 60 to 80 longitudes East of the Greenwich Line, it is within the rain forest zone of West Africa. Bordered to the North by such tribes like Idoma/Igala/Tiv, to the West by Urhobo/Bini-Edo, to the East by Ekoi/Efik/ Ibibio/Annang, and to the South by Ijaw/Ogoni, the Igbo formed the bulk of the defunct Biafran Nation (1967–1970). It is interesting to note that while the other major ethnic groups are found in other parts of Africa, the Igbo are found as an indigenous population in no other country outside Nigeria. This constitutes a puzzle with regard to the various theories about the migrations of peoples, featuring rival claims that the Igbo have been the original occupants of their present location, and the opposing position that they migrated from other parts of Africa.444 This is made no less complex by the identification of its multi-dialectical language as belonging to the Kwa sub-division of 443 Cf. T. Sundermeier, „Erfahrungen mit Heilern in Afrika und Asien – Ein Beitrag zur Magie-Diskussion“, in: J. Assmann&H. Strohm, (Hg.), 2010, 179–200(182). 444 Cf. Archeological findings around the Niger-Benue confluence (in the MiddleBelt regions of the present day Nigeria) strongly suggest the origin of the Igbo as a branch of the Bantu people along the latitude south of Asseler regions and Khartoum in Sudan. Cf. A. Afigbo, Ropes of Sand: Studies in Igbo History and Culture (1981), cited by F.O. Ike & N.N. Edozien, 2001, 20; see also R.M. Affam, 2002, 18–23.

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the Sudanic language groups,445 suggesting some link with the ancient Sudan regions, whose history date as far back as the Mesolithic (30,000–20,000 BC) and the Neolithic times (10,000–3,000 BC). Before the advent of the Europeans the traditional Igbo way of life played out in village settlements occupied by patrilineages, and made up of clusters of families and their compounds. The village groups constituting a village federation with a tradition of descent from a common ancestor or group of ancestors, shared common market and meeting places, and above all a titular deity. Indeed the entire life played around the traditional Igbo religion whose central point is the belief in a creator god Chukwu okike/Okike,446 a belief system that is thought to have specially made them open to the Christian message.447 From this central belief, the shared belief in an earth goddess, numerous deities and spirits, as well as belief in ancestors who protect their descendants from their other world habitation, are derived. This religious belief in the creator God dictates and determines the Igbo understanding of themselves and their world as creatures, hence their religious world view that is lived out in their culture Omenala and daily life. Noting what would go for a working articulation of Omenala and its strong command in the Igbo setting, S. Ezeanya writes, In dealing with the African … in his traditional environment, we must bear in mind that we are dealing with one for whom the traditional heritage has the force of law. His

445 Cf. J.T. Bendor-Samuel, “Niger-Congo Languages“, in: the Encyclopaedia Britannica, DVD Edition, 2005. 446 Controversies over the reality or a supreme being in Igbo traditional religion and its name have been part of the studies on Igbo traditional religion, especially ­regarding the suspicion of European influence with regard to the name Chukwu. We intend to address this issue in a latter part of this chapter. But suffice it for now to present the note by Ajayi Crowther (c.1809–1891), one of the earliest native missionaries, and the first African-Nigerian Anglican Bishop, in this regard. “The Igbos all believe in an Almighty-being, omnipresent and omnipotent, whom they call Tshuku, whom they constantly worship… but throughout other parts of Igbo, as Tshuku – Okike ‘God the creator, or the Supreme God.” Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1981, 159–160. 447 Cf. C. Ejizu, “Continuity and Discontinuity in Igbo Traditional Religion”, in: E. Ikenga-Metuh, (ed.), 1985, 136. See also D. Forristal, a biographer of late Bishop Joseph Shanahan, the Irish “apostle” of Igbo of Southern Nigeria, comparing his experiences among the East Africans, comments in this regard, “None of the tribes had a highly developed religious sense of the Ibos and conversions were far slower than in Southern Nigeria.” Cf. idem, The Second Burial of Shanahan, (1990), 287, cited by C.O. Ukeh, 2007, 47.

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most important reason for doing what he does is that it is handed down to him: his father and his grandfather believed and practised those things, and any deviation would be calling for trouble from the invisible world…448

Paul Tillich would seem to have borne this reality of Igbo world view in mind as he wrote that, Religion as ultimate concern is the meaning-giving substance of culture, and culture is the totality of forms in which the basic concern of religion expresses itself. In abbreviation: religion is the substance of culture; culture is the form of religion. Such a consideration definitely prevents the establishment of a dualism of religion and culture.449

Such a unity between religion and culture, and the advantages accruable from it may be seen as further typified in Igbo art following the general understanding that art has almost always been inspired by religious influences. E. IkengaMetuh, observing that works of art express religious beliefs, maintains that the examination of such art works would provide access to the traditional religious beliefs of the pre-literate African societies. Such development in the Igbo setting is evidenced in the Mbari phenomena. These are houses of religious monuments, built in honour of certain deities in parts of Igboland. These artistic expression of ideas, beliefs and myths that determine the daily lives of the particular Igbo community in question, give insight into the Igbo world view, illustrating its major characteristics. These include the multiplicity of spirit beings, the hierarchical order of beings, and the essential connection and interaction between these beings.450 F.O. Ike and N.N. Edozien collaborating this view, maintain that Igbo art is the door to accessing Igbo world view; for it encapsulates and manifests the historical, the philosophical, the aesthetic, the human-creativity, and above all, the religious in Igbo world view. In their words, 448 Cf. S. Ezeanya, “God, Spirits and the Spirit world (With special reference to the ­Igbo-speaking people of Southern Nigeria)”, in: K.A. Dickson & P. Ellingworth (eds.), 1972, 30–42(35). 449 Cf. P. Tillich, 1964, 42; see also J. Pobee, 1996, 10–20. 450 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 8–11. The author explains that within the Mbari (literally meaning Throne) house (a house constructed by a chosen few, who lived in an enclosure after their selection, fortifying the idea of Mbari as religious-sacrificial art) various images of the gods and other factors of influence in the community’s world view are found. At the centre is usually a giant-size mud statue of Ala, the earth goddess with her paraphernalia as mother and sustainer of peoples, custodian of justice and customs. There is also the monument/image of Amadioha, the deity of thunder, the lord of the sky, Njoku, deity of yam tubers, etc.

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The Igbo art is mostly a depiction of the society, tending towards its guiding philosophical preoccupation with ‘Force’ (energy)… Most apparent in Igbo art are the fundamental dimensions of existence: birth, life & death; and strongly associated with these are the concepts of force (energy) & the Divine (mystery). The Igbo’s preoccupation with ‘force’ may be related to the fact that Igbo art does not concern itself with matter alone. Rather, the spiritual element of human life embodying a breath of the Divine and the manifestations of God’s power is ever present. In Igboland, art points to religion… 451

Against this background we examine the Igbo world view as built on a religious cosmology. For “if religion could be described as the relationship between man and the transcendent as it is manifest in the world of his own experience, then the chapters on cosmology, and on man and human destiny could be said to describe the object and subject of Igbo religious experience.”452

5.1.2  Igbo world view Following the general understanding of a people’s world view as the perception, as well as the attempts at explaining this perception of their world, it reflects the people’s basic assumptions about, and experiences of their world. From these assumptions and experiences, they seek an understanding of their environment, proffer explanations about their origin, the things they experience, and their structures. From these they seek orientation. Such orientations include the attempts at managing such space-time events in the sense of predictions and exertion of control over them. These are subsequently handed down in codes and symbols to subsequent generations both as basis and as spring boards for orientations. From the basic experience of himself as a creature in the given environment, and as part of a wider scheme, he seeks an understanding of these immediate realities as well as the wider universe, cosmos Uwa, from thoughts about the origins of what is and the relationships between these experiences of his. C. Achebe insists that the attempts to examine Igbo world view can only be credible if it goes along the way the Igbo expressed this – the preferred ways

451 Cf. F.O. Ike & N.N. Edozien, 2001, 21. The understanding of “Force”, this notion that became popularized by Placide Tempels (Bantu Philosophy, 1959), borders around the affirmation of life. It involves dynamism, all that reinforces life and ensures its continuity, both this worldly and hereafter. This desire and affirmation, that summarizes the contents of Igbo (African) traditional religion is not only African, it is universally human. 452 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, xi.

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of the metaphor of myths and poetry that include folk-tales, proverbs, proper names, rituals and festivals.453 Not intending to dwell on the numerous aspects of these means of communication, we share the basic understanding communicated by the idea of the “metaphor of myths”. Understood from this metaphor point of view, the controversies inherent in the application of the categories of truth or falsehood in the critical approaches to myths,454 though important, would not be immediately preoccupying. This is because the interest remains the discovery of the lessons for life couched within the myth-metaphoric vehicles of communication. In this regard A.O. Iloanusi proposes the cultivation a mythical consciousness as inevitable for appreciating and accessing the treasury of ideas, beliefs and practices African myths contain. He had earlier understood myth in the African setting as an integral part of African understanding of the world. He writes: …myth, being an integral part of religion, portrays the wishes and fears of the Africans he makes an effort to understand the unknown world by dissecting and remoulding it to fit his frame of reference. Through this mythical consciousness African metaphysics are created and formulated, beliefs and practices come into existence.455

453 Cf. C. Achebe, 1977, 94. By means of those works of art, coded as they are, traditional African societies, including the Igbo traditional societies, provided a compensation for the regrettable non-development of the conventional way of writing. This lack, which, however, enhanced the place and importance of oral and symbolic traditions, especially art, proverbs, as means of preserving and transmitting traditional treasures and values, stands as one of the major difficulties in the study of Igbo (African) traditional societies. Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991,23ff; see also F.O. Ike & N.N. Edozien, 2001, 21, 31–64. 454 Such tendencies, culminating in the demythologization endeavours have often been criticized. A very interesting summary of such critical approaches is presented by Kurt Hübert. Essentially, he calls attention to the danger and contradictions involved in a general discarding of myths, as witnessed in modern day scholarship on the grounds of the absolutism of its “scientific” methods. He argues that myths, like the sciences, possess their internal logic through which they communicate their system of experience and reach their conclusions. The unwillingness or inability to discover this modus operandi is responsible for the hermeneutics of suspicion with which their expressions and presentations are often approached or wrongly dismissed. Cf. K. Hübert, „Mythos. 1. Philosophisch”, in: TRE 23 (1994) 23, 597–608. See also A. Anwander, Zum Problem des Mythos, 1964. 455 Cf. A.O. Iloanusi, 1984, xiv (xv). The importance of the development of mythical consciousness in appreciating the approaches in the myths generally is further underlined by Walter Sparn in his argument that world views, be they Christian, poetic or philosophical, are media of understanding, which in their cultural foundations

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The metaphysics referred to here plays out in the Igbo (African) perception of the universe, this next point of our discussion.

5.1.2.1  The compenetrating world in Igbo cosmology Central to the Igbo category of perception and thought is the idea of Duality. This vividly expressed in the Igbo saying ihe kwulu, ihe akwudebe ya – when something stands, another stands by it. Far from intending a dualism or polarization, what is meant here is a complementarity in the nature of things. Little wonder the Igbo language456 is replete with doublets in its articulation of things – Enu na Ani (Sky and Earth), Mmuo na Mmadu (Spirit and Human), Nwoke na Nwanyi (Man and Woman), Mma na Njo (Good and Bad), Oha na Eze (People and Leaders), Ikwu na Ibe (Kith and Kin), Oru na Igbo (entire human race, totality). The thought of one necessarily calls the other to mind. Appreciating this element of the Igbo language, L. Madubuko writes, “The typical Igbo would agree with the affirmation that the world is marked by doublets… They indicate in the culture and language a duality without dualism. In short, the Igbo language adequately captures the world view in its multidimension.”457 D.I. Nwoga had shared similar view noting that: Igbo see things in complementary dualities. This is evident in the perception of society as made up of oha na eze, ikwu na ibe, nwoke na nwanyi, and so on. It extends to the perception of each person as having the ordinary personal existence and also the accompanying chi the same way that all beings with agency have their physical existence and their deistic counterpart. This duality extends further into identifying ahu na mmuo in the human person and chi na eke in the deistic aspect of human existence.458

are more or less based on some regulative ideas (I. Kant) or an absolute metaphor (Hans Blumberg). Cf. W. Sparn, „Welt/Weltanschauung/Weltbild. IV/5. Systematisch-theologisch”, in: TRE 35 (2003), 605–611. 456 Presenting a general appreciation of the relationship between language, reality, mythos, A. Anwander observes that language and myths pursue the same goal – communication of, and with the world/reality above us (the divine), the world near us (fellow human beings), and the world under us (nature). Cf. A. Anwander, 1964, 103ff. 457 Cf. L. Madubuko, “Igbo Worldview“, in Bigard Theological Studies (BTS), 14/2, 1994, 27,28. 458 Cf. D.I. Nwoga, „Nka na Nzere: The Focus of Igbo Worldview”; 1984 Ahiajoku Lecture, in http://ahiajoku.igbonet.com/1984/, visited on 05.01.2012, 18.30pm. (May we observe that this article as sourced from the above cited electronic media had no paginations.)

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This perception of reality in complementary dualities, in pairs of interactive concepts, has fundamental cosmological implications. The Igbo world is the compenetrating world of the visible and invisible realities, the spiritual and the physical (human) Uwa Mmuo na Uwa Mmadu, with an anthropocentric basis reminiscent of Protagoras’ thesis that “man is the measure of all things”. In this light, according to E. Ikenga Metuh, The world of human experience is seen as one fluid, coherent unit, in which spirits, men, animals, plants and the elements are engaged in continuous interaction. The invisible world of spirits and the visible world shade into and mutually influence each other. Man is at the centre of this universe of dynamic beings and forces, and seeks through rituals to maintain an equilibrium and a harmonious relationship with all the beings and forces that impinge on his life and being.459

J.S. Mbiti, appreciating African ontology as being not only religious but also anthropocentric, notes that the physical and spiritual dovetail into each other as two dimensions of the same one universe. Even when, according to times and places, one may be apparently more real than the other, the one is not exclusive of the other.460 D.I Nwoga, disagreeing with this two-dimensional division of reality in Africa metaphysics and judging it as unsatisfactory, came up with a three-­dimensional proposal, insisting it represents the Igbo categorizations of reality. These categorizations he sees as physical, spiritual and abstract, have their implications: …three forms of being impinge on a person’s life - the physical that can be touched, weighed, eaten, that can touch one through the usual sense.; the spiritual which may not he(sic) seen or touched except by specially “washed” eyes, but which all the same can affect the shape and nature of physical being, and then the abstract which exists and may affect reality by becoming realized in either of the other forms, physical or spiritual. Each of these forms of being has reality. Each of them is capable of being transformed into the other. The differences exist in the way they are experienced and the kind of impact they have. They are the three tips of the triangle of being which may stand on any side at a given time depending on circumstances.461

Interesting as his position may be, we are of the view that it is a multiplication that can be done without. The truth of this understanding of ours is manifest not only in his (Nwoga) earlier acknowledgment of the two-dimensional position as standard. At a later part of the same work, he returned to this standard, regarding the spiritual as an alternative expression for the so-called abstract. In other 459 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 3–4. 460 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1971, 15–16; see also ibid., 57. 461 Cf. D.I. Nwoga, op. cit.

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words, the so-called contemporary African metaphysics in the sense of the twodimensional understanding of the world is also valid in the Igbo setting. Though understood in these two-dimensions, it is still the one world. The distinctive quality of this world view is the natural interaction of the inhabitants of the twoin-one world, and their intermingling with one another. “…the spiritual universe is a unit with the physical, … these two intermingle and dovetail into each other so much so that it is not easy, or even necessary, at times to draw the distinction or separate them.”462 With particular reference to the Igbo version of this world view C.O. Obiego notes that “the invisible world is the counterpart of the visible. It is symbolized or manifested by the visible and the concrete phenomena and objects of nature…; one speaks of the other; and the Igbo ‘see’ that invisible universe when they look at or feel the visible and tangible world.”463 On the structure of this perceived universe, the Igbo, like every other people, observed their environment, embedding their observations and reactions in their expressions and relationships. On the strength of these observations a spatial ordering of the universe is worked out. Space is here less about dimensions made up of discreet physical distances, but more about fields of action, spheres of authority and recognition of positions, duly inhabited by corresponding beings. The cosmos according to the Igbo world view is therefore a three-stock structure the Sky Igwe, the Earth Ani (Enu uwa), and the Underworld Ime Ani, with each of the dimensions operating as viable reality or a place of habitation. C.I. Ejizu articulates this as follows: Analytically, a structure of Igbo perception of the universe in terms of space presents a picture of three-tiered arrangement in consonance with popular intuition. There is the sky above, Igwe, then the earth, Ala, and finally we have the under-world, Ime-Ala. Each of these layers is thought to be densely populated.464

Whereas the sky is understood as palace of the Supreme Being Chukwu (Chiukwu), as well as the region of the major deities, the earth surface Enu uwa is the abode of the human, under the jurisdiction of the earth goddess Ani. The 462 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1971, 75. Though this remark is made here in reference to African world view in general, it applies also very directly to Igbo world view. 463 Cf. C.O. Obiego, 1984, 108. One could see some sharp contrast between this world view and the dichotomy between the noumena and the phenomena, the ideal world and the world of copies in Greek foundations of Western thought. 464 Cf. C.I. Ejizu, “Endurance of Conviction: The Persistence of the traditional worldviews in Igbo Christian converts”, in Neue Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft, 45(2), 132. Observe that Ani/Ala means the same. The different dialects account for the differences.

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emphatic distinction of Enu uwa as the human sphere is particularly interesting. emphatic distinction of Enu uwa as the human sphere is particularly interesting. It seems most likely to have been a tacit provision for the possibility of the habitaIt seems most likely to have been a tacit provision for the possibility of the habitation of the aeris spatium as in the Eph world view even when a distinctive concept tion of the aeris spatium as in the Eph world view even when a distinctive concept expressing it may not be found in Igbo vocabulary. This extension is readily asexpressing it may not be found in Igbo vocabulary. This extension is readily ascribed the minor deities and personified nature forces, in correspondence to their cribed the minor deities and personified nature forces, in correspondence to their spirit nature. It may as well be understood as some form of an extension of the spirit nature. It may as well be understood as some form of an extension of the territory of earth goddess. The underworld is populated by the ancestral spirits, territory of earth goddess. The underworld is populated by the ancestral spirits, myriads of disembodied spirits465 and other personified forces whose positive or myriads of disembodied spirits465 and other personified forces whose positive or negative influences affect the land of the living. A diagrammatic representation negative influences affect the land of the living. A diagrammatic representation (see below) of the Igbo cosmology, adapted from Animalu A.O.E.,466 gives a bird’s (see below) of the Igbo cosmology, adapted from Animalu A.O.E.,466 gives a bird’s eye view of the outlook. eye view of the outlook. SUPREME BEING

SKY

Major Divinities Minor Divinities Patron Spirits Nature Spirits Earth–Goddess

EARTH

Animate and Inanimate Human Beings

HUMAN WORLD

DEATH Burial and Funeral rites

Ancestral Spirits Individual Spirit

SPIRIT WORLD

Birth/ Reincarnation

Evil Spirits

WORLDBENEATH

The sum of the Igbo cosmology is, therefore, predominantly a universe of the spiritual in

465 The foundation of such ideas about the subterranean habitations have to do with the 465 The foundation of such aboutwith the each subterranean habitations havewith to do the their various andideas the interconnected and interacting the with fact that deadcategories, are interred in human, the ground, where they are thought to constitute a new fact that dead are interred in the ground, where they are thought to constitute a new other.aThe human is at the centre of the scheme. sphere is a bee-hive of after activities centred “race”, new homestead according to the His Igbo tradition of life death. Cf. Mbiti, “race”, a new homestead according to the Igbo tradition of life after death. Cf. Mbiti, on 1971, the enhancement of human life and welfare through some balance sought and brought J.S., 80. J.S., 1971, 80. 466 A.O.E. of Life in This the Modern Scientific Ahiajioku about Animalu, through his Ucheakonam with (A theWay the foundation of theAge). religious 466 A.O.E. Animalu,relationship Ucheakonam (A spirits’ Way ofspheres. Life in theisModern Scientific Age). Ahiajioku Lecture 1990, cited by C. M.A. Nwoye, “Igbo cultural and religious worldview: An undertone of hiscited thoughts E. Ikenga-Metuh wouldand therefore establish that, Lecture 1990, by and C. undertakings. M.A. Nwoye, “Igbo cultural religious worldview: An insider’s perspective”, in: International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, All beings known to the Igbo to either of two worlds – the world (Uwa), the insider’s perspective”, in: belong International Journal of visible Sociology andandAnthropology, vol. 3(9), 21world Sept.(Ala2011, 304–317(308), inpeopled http://www.academicjournals.org/IJSA; at invisible Nmuo). The visible world is by men and contains the material vol. 3(9), 21 Sept. 2011, 304–317(308), in http://www.academicjournals.org/IJSA; at surroundings familiar to man. The invisible world is the spirit world. Here is the abode of the 17.16pm on 10.01.12. 17.16pm onChukwu, 10.01.12. Creator, the deities, Mmo, the spirit-forces, Alusi, and the ancestors, Ndichie. There are besides, disembodied and malignant spirits such as witches, Amusu, and evil spirits of the dead, Ogbonuke.467

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201 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 24; see also S. Ezeanya, in: K.A. Dickson & P. Ellingworth, (eds.), 1972, 35. Ogbonuke 467

refers particularly to the restless spirits of dead young men. They are grouped as evil because of havocs attributed to them, havocs that are thought to issue from their unhappiness at having being cut-off from the human world in the midst of life. They now prowl around in envy affording the living no peace.

The sum of the Igbo cosmology is, therefore, predominantly a universe of the spiritual in their various categories, and the human, with each interconnected and interacting with the other. The human is at the centre of the scheme. His sphere is a bee-hive of activities centred on the enhancement of human life and welfare through some balance sought and brought about through his relationship with the spirits’ spheres. This is the foundation of the religious undertone of his thoughts and undertakings. E. Ikenga-Metuh would therefore establish that, All beings known to the Igbo belong to either of two worlds – the visible world (Uwa), and the invisible world (Ala Nmuo). The visible world is peopled by men and contains the material surroundings familiar to man. The invisible world is the spirit world. Here is the abode of the Creator, Chukwu, the deities, Mmo, the spirit-forces, Alusi, and the ancestors, Ndichie. There are besides, disembodied and malignant spirits such as witches, Amusu, and evil spirits of the dead, Ogbonuke.467

It is to be specifically noted that at the basis of these categorisations is an ­understanding of the universe as a coherent unit in which the categories of ­beings are in continuous interaction with one another. This is a distinguishing element in Igbo traditional religion as the quest to maintain harmonious relationship ­between the two worlds. In this regard also, C.M.A. Nwoye notes, …the traditional Igbo cosmology inspires and sustains a religion that is this-world affirming… Seen in this way, and knowing that human life and general welfare of the human world are the central focus of attention, the primary thrust of most religious activities among the Igbo, is geared towards the enhancement of human life and the promotion of human being’s total well being.468

The examination of the individual spheres of this two dimensional three-stock understanding of the universe, beginning with the spiritual, would lead to establishing the Igbo spirit world concerns.

467 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 24; see also S. Ezeanya, in: K.A. Dickson & P. ­Ellingworth, (eds.), 1972, 35. Ogbonuke refers particularly to the restless spirits of dead young men. They are grouped as evil because of havocs attributed to them, havocs that are thought to issue from their unhappiness at having being cut-off from the human world in the midst of life. They now prowl around in envy affording the living no peace. 468 C.M.A. Nwoye, “Igbo cultural and religious worldview: An insider’s perspective”, in International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, vol. 3(9), 21 Sept. 2011, 304–317(307), in http://www.academicjournals.org/IJSA; at 17.16pm on 10.01.12.

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5.1.2.2  The Numinous in Igbo religious world view - the spirit world There is no religion without the sense of the supernatural. As already pointed out, Igbo world view as a religious one, is imbued with such sense of the supernatural, what we here refer to as the Numinous. This articulation intends to capture as well the religious experience that are at the roots of the belief in deities, the transcendent, related to Rudolf Otto’s expression - Mysterium tremendun et fascinans. Igbo world view, like most other Africans, provides for a spiritual world very densely populated, a spiritual universe that is, however, a unit with the physical, intermingling and dovetailing into each other. C.O. Obiego notes to this effect, that, …the reality of this spiritual world is not an academic preposition: it is rather an empirical and common–place experience. It is perhaps a world-vision, unique but by no means lacking in coherence. It is a world-vision based on the harmonious and profound appreciation of the ‘ama-ama-amacha-amacha’ nature of Chukwu, the prime elemental force and source of their religious consciousness.469

These occupants of the spirit world are the Supreme God, a multitude of ­divinities and spirits, ancestral spirits and evil spirits in their various categories. In its close relationship to the material world, it is perceived that the spiritual beings control the world, though man perceives himself at the centre of it. In the ­understanding of space as power arena and not merely as physical distance, man in this space is dependent on these spiritual beings who in their various categories display their powers therein.470 We may immediately note major difference ­between the Igbo world view and the Ephesian world view (presented in Chap. 4 above) despite their immense similarities. This is in the aspect of the attempts at particular stratifications and assignment of places. Whereas in Eph world view we have the heavens as the sphere of the spirits, the region from which they exercise their influence on the world, and the earth as the human sphere, the Igbo world view while acknowledging the basic categories of beings, does not emphasize such specific stratifications. There is some sense of immediate nearness and i­ nteraction between the spirit and human world, with the spirit world being more or less a spiritualized representation of the human world and activities therein. The central relationship between the two world views (Eph & Igbo) remains, however, the abiding consciousness of the nearness of the spirit world and the fears it generates as consequence. 469 Cf. C.O. Obiego, 1984, 109. „ama-ama-amacha-amacha“ – the Known that is not completely known, a reference to the impossibility of an absolute knowledge of God. 470 A similar idea was shared by G.H.C. McGregor in his article on the understanding of cosmos in Pauline thought. Cf. Idem, “Principalities and Powers: the Cosmic Background of Paul’s Thought”, in: NTS 1 (1954–1955), 17–28.

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As genus, the numinous would naturally be classified as spirit – mmuo, particularly denoting the non-corporeal beings, whose influence are perceived to pervade daily life and are spoken of anthropomorphically. Within this genus, however, a necessary distinction is made. In this distinction Chukwu as the ultimate reality is seen to be on a class of his own, with the rest of the numinous beings in their various categories associated to him in one way or the other. J.S. Mbiti takes this distinction to some radical point. While noting the sharpness of the insight of the African peoples regarding spiritual realities, he observes that their spiritual world is very densely populated with spiritual beings, whom he regards as additional concepts to God, … and whose reality among the various tribes of African is so strongly felt that they surround the life of human beings and cannot be removed from African ontology. Their world lies hard on the human world, who could influence them to good or bad. They are a solid constituent of the psychic, religious and physical world of Africa.”471

This understanding of the spirits as belonging to the ontological mode of existence between God and man, and as additional concepts to God, is particularly interesting. It implies an exclusion of God from this his understanding of spirits over and above the conventional understanding of God as spirit. His going further to recognize two categories of spiritual beings – those created as such, and those which were once human beings, confirms this exclusion. For the very fact of creation cannot include the one who creates, the ultimate reality. It may, however, be thought that with such expression, Mbiti was wont to note that there are spirits, and there is spirit. He affords a further subdivision into divinities, associates of God, ordinary spirits and the living-dead, noting his use of the word “divinity” as reference to the “…personifications of God’s activities and manifestations, of natural phenomena and objects, the so-called ‘nature spirits’, deified heroes and mythological figures.”472 Very much related as the above categorization may be to Igbo understanding in whose world view the universe is full of spirits,473 some basic difference is to be noted. From the particularly Igbo perspective, two major categories are 471 Cf. J.S. Mbiti., „Afrikanisches Verständnis der Geister im Lichte des Neuen Testamentes“, in: G. Rosenkranz, (Hg.), Theologische Stimme aus Asien, Afrika und Lateinamerika. Bd II, 1967, 130–147(140). Translation is mine. 472 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1971, 75. 473 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 38. The classic presentation of this world view is made by Chinua Achebe in his epoch making book – Things Fall Apart – articulating the Igbo way of life before and at the beginnings of its contact with the Europeans. It presents the social and religious lives of the Igbo as guided by a world of spirits

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also found within the genus spirit Mmuo: mmuo – the spirits who were never humans, and ndi mmuo – dead humans that have assumed another form of existence as spirits. The expression ‘who were never humans’ is more embracing than Mbiti’s ‘who were created as such’. It is perhaps on the basis of such all-embracing disposition that E. Ikenga-Metuh, having rightly identified the invisible world in general as the spirit world, groups the spirits into four broad categories – Chu­ kwu (the creator), Mmuo (the deities), Alusi (spirit-forces), and Ndi Mmuo (the living-dead).474 Chukwu, though in a separate class of his own, rightly belongs to the world of the spirits. The categorisation that places God in a class of his own, whether on the radically exclusive note as Mbiti did, or in the all-embracing disposition as among the spirit beings notwithstanding, we reiterate that our major concern is more with the rest of the spirit beings that constitute the Igbo spirit world concerns. A brief attention to the Igbo understanding of the Supreme Being would, however, lead us into a deeper consideration of these spirit beings. 5.1.2.2.1  The Supreme Being – Chi ukwu (Chukwu) Discussions on God in African traditional religion have often bordered around the question whether God as ultimate reality is a conscious part of African traditional religion. This question is often fired-on by the very much available and experienced relationship of the African to the gods and deities in the traditional religion, over and against the perceived seeming attitude of unconcern about God. The question’s relevance to the Igbo traditional religion and its understanding of God cannot be overemphasised. Such authors like G.T. Basden, perceiving what he termed the negligible influence of God in the life of the Igbo, wrongly thought of God among the Igbo as being a purely theoretical factor with no marked influence on their life and character.475 Such gross misconception is likely to have contributed to such reactions as articulated by A. Echema among others. He notes that, …there are perhaps no other aspects of Igbo world view or life fraught with controversies than the religious aspect. These disputes centre on whether the Igbo have a correct concept of a Supreme Being, whether this Being looms large in their lives or is a

who compelled obedience, foretold the future regarding the incursion of the Europeans and the tragic alteration of their setting, this contact was programmed to bring about. 474 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 38; see also F.O. Ike & N.N. Edozien, 2001, 23. 475 Cf. G.T. Basden, Niger Ibos (London, 1966), 37. E.W. Smith cites the ignorant surprise of a certain Emile Ludwig, at the clear concept of God in African traditional religions. For him deity is a philosophical concept and therefore cannot be conceived by the untutored African. See E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 37.

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withdrawn God, the role of the numerous deities and spirits in Igbo religion and the relationship of these spirits with the Supreme Being.476

Some indigenous scholars like D.I. Nwoga even go so far to postulate that the idea of Supreme Being is not indigenous to Igbo traditional religion,477 a colonial mentality that L. Madubuko critically addressed as such: It used to be fashionable to hold that the traditional African was incapable of conceiving God, the Supreme Being. When he was conceded any notion of the Supreme Being it was readily added that such a notion was as a late-comer to the African world view, indeed a novel introduction by missionaries. At best the African was credited with a belief in a high god or sky god who because of his remoteness was inconsequential to people’s ethics and morals. What was held of the traditional African was also applied to the Igbo – not only by the expatriates but even by some indigenous Igbo scholars.478

Straightening up such issues has been a challenge to Igbo/African theologians. The crux of the misunderstanding is identified as lying in the assumption that ­African traditional religious views and practices must correspond to the views of the Judeo-Christian or Islamic monotheistic traditions.479 This view that must not be, does not take into note its difference from the other theological traditions. God’s revelation of himself to peoples had always taken into account their various circumstances (Heb 1:1ff). A document of the Pontifical Council for ­Interreligious Dialogue – Meeting the African Religions – lends its authoritative voice to our position, insisting that: The image of the Supreme Being which each constructed for himself could not have been the same in the gloom of the forest and in the brightness of the savannah. Nevertheless,

476 Cf. A. Echema, 1995, 5; L. Madubuko, “The Igbo World view”, in: BTS 14/2 (1994). The very expression correct concept of Supreme Being, revealing of the ethnographic bigotry belying such thoughts, is obviously exhibitory of the arrogance that presumes an adequate and all-time correct knowledge of God, this error of theism. It forgets that God cannot be known for who he is. Otherwise he seizes to be God. 477 He made bold to title a book of his in this regard – The Supreme God as a Stranger in Igbo Religious Thought, a work to which L.N. Mbefo dedicated a portion of his work Theology and Aspects of Igbo Culture (1997) for a critical appraisal. One of the high points of this critical appraisal reads, “His (Nwoga) chief argument for denying the Supreme God to our ancestors is pragmatic and utilitarian. What exists is what satisfies a felt need. The Igbo had no need which calls for a Supreme God, therefore such a God does not exist. We do not require any elaboration to uncover the implied fallacy.” Cf. L.N. Mbefo, 1994, 14. 478 Cf. L. Madubuko, in: BTS 14/2 (1994), 19. 479 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 37.

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at the heart of all the traditional religion we find similar structures and aspirations so that in spite of the varieties in beliefs and rites, we can realize that we are dealing with homogenous forms and we can affirm a certain religious unity.480

The traditional Igbo perception of God as ultimate reality springs from, and is imbedded in their experience of divinity in their daily life. For the Igbo such perception is really a matter of experience and not merely a philosophical aphorism. As the document Meeting the African Religions rightly pointed out, the best way to come into contact with this experience is to access the repository of such experiences afforded us in the oral traditions – stories, proverbs and charades, ancient pre-Christian/Islamic prayers and acts of worship of the people in question.481 An analysis of numerous endeavours in this regard, with all the controversies involved,482 centres on the word Chi-ukwu (Chukwu) as being the Igbo articulation of the experience of the Supreme Being, an articulation that stems from the experience of being and creation Okike. The central point however lies in the understanding of the concept expressed by the word Chi, and the understanding of ukwu as suffix of superlative degree. Chi could be understood as a generic name for the divine, capturing the Igbo appreciation of the supernatural beings in the divine category. Partly agreeing with E. Ikenga-Metuh in his argument against the suggestions translating Chi merely as spirit, in the understanding that it is a special kind of spirit,483 it is our view that it is more appropriate to understand Chi as a generic name for 480 Pontifical Council for Interreligious Dialogue, “Meeting the African Religions” 1968; cited by D.C. Isizoh, (ed.), 1998, 79–80. 481 Cf. ibid., 91–92. 482 Almost every discussion of Igbo world view sees itself troubled with establishing the Igbo ideas about God. Some of the most prominent among them include: D.I. Nwoga, The Supreme Being as a Stranger in Igbo Religious Thought (1984); C.U.M. Ezekwugo, Chi: The True God in Igbo Religion (1987); E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1985, 1991. There are other numerous articles and publications to this regard, e.g. E.N. Onwu, “Uzo Ndu na Eziokwu: Towards an understanding of Igbo Traditional Religious Life and Philosophy”, 2002 Ahiajoku Lecture in http://ahiajoku.igbonet. com/2002/; visited on 10.01.2012, 12.25pm. At the heart of the controversies seem to be the import of the name Chukwu especially regarding its association with the Aro peoples in the present day Abia State and their claims about their ancestral deity, Ibini Ukpabi. However, the hegemony of Nri (and its myth of creation), a position the Aro have never seriously challenged, is cited as classical example of the indigenous nature of the Chukwu concept. Cf., E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 64–65; see also C. O. Ukeh, 2007, 195–240 (213–215). 483 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1981, 21–22; idem, 1999, 49.

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the divine. The divine is spirit, but not all spirit is divine. Not all spirits in Igbo traditional religion have the status of chi, though chi is basically spirit. Its import and scope in Igbo language may be comparable to the ideaphone Ntu among the Bantu language groups. J. Jahu explains: In the BA NTU languages the root NTU means Being, primal Being, because the Supreme Being is not NTU, which makes him appear in all his transcendence. He transcends the NTU category. NTU is an ideophone, and the rather structural base of a rather extensive series of determinations.484

Depending on the particular use made of the Chi concept, it could readily mean all/one of these – the creator, the spark of the divine directly responsible for the ­individual being (human) in the form of a personal god, as well as the destiny allotted one at coming into existence, the destiny with which one wades through life. G. Parrinder appreciates this phenomenon as “Guardian Genius, transcendental self, or super-ego”, identifying it as related to the ancient Egyptian Ka in terms of superior genius intended to guide the fortunes of the individual, as well as with Plato’s daemon.485 These comparisons are true, quite interesting and full of insights. However, his consideration of Chi as “over-soul” is not only an over-statement, his position that this genius “…may be a living person of either sex, provided that he or she is of the same clan…” is wrong and misleading. The same applies to issues about the relationship of a person to his guardian genius with regard to assistance, burial etc.,486 that he subsequently addressed. Not only is Chi in Igbo understanding completely spirit, it does not depend on its human ward for anything other than due sacrifice and obedience. It is always uniquely endowed to its ward. It is neither self-acquired nor shared, not even by identical twins. Ikenga-Metuh going through a number of Igbo proverbs, names and sayings in this regard, is of the view that: Chi in the Igbo religious context, besides the Supreme God, could refer to ‘the personal god’, or ‘Destiny’. Igbo beliefs have it that Chukwu gives each person a Chi. At the moment of conception, God assigns to each person a ‘Chi’, an emanation of himself, which thereafter acts as a guardian angel of the person to whom it is assigned.487

484 Cf. J. Jahu, Muntu (1961) cited in the document Meeting the African Religions, in: D.I. Isizoh, (ed.), 1998, 81. 485 Cf. G. Parrinder, (2nd Edition), 2002, 57ff. (65–66 emphasis is mine!) 486 Cf. ibid., 65–66. Italics aremine. 487 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 24; idem, 1999, 48. Plausible as these explanations may be, the examination of some of such sayings present difficulties with regard to the relationship between a person and his Chi as personal god and or as destiny. This is clearly brought forward in the issues of who guides/controls who, especially at some

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Going further to admit the inadequacy of the term “personal god” in designating ‘Chi’, he establishes that it is this ‘Chi’ that chooses the destiny of the newly born at creation, a personification of a person’s destiny indeed.488 We note, at this point, that destiny is a pervading idea in Igbo life and thought. The contention that Chi contains in its meaning some reference to the creator, and therefore, establishes the reality of Supreme Being in Igbo traditional religion, even though it may not be very clear here, may be somewhat plausible. The plausibility flows from the appreciation of creation as the most unique of every event, the very beginning of whatever there is. Whatever is responsible for creation, the traditional Igbo religion must have thought, would therefore be the supreme of all there is. This is embedded in the above stated idea of the allocation of destiny. That which allots other beings their destinies must be the Supreme Chi. In this light Ikenga-Metuh notes: The idea of Chi pervades Igbo life and its belief system. Every event in a man’s life, whether success or failure, is ‘onatara Chi’, a gift of Chi… Chi whether it be personal god or personal destiny finally derives from Chukwu God. Chi could in fact be the said to be the Igbo expression of God’s providential care for each individual person. Chi is God’s own representative in man.489

The fact of his supremacy becomes expressed through the qualitative attribute ukwu - great, giving rise to Chi-ukwu (Chukwu) – great Chi as the Supreme Being in Igbo traditional religion. The controversies about whether the idea of Supreme God is indigenous or how indigenously appropriate the name Chi-ukwu is, seem to us to have been based on some false expectations. The document Meeting the African Religions articulates them as such: Though African religious thought recognizes the Supreme Being as the foundation of the universe and maker of the world, yet it must be admitted that the concept of “first cause” never came to be formulated. The things exist. That is enough. God is master of

consideration of Igbo beliefs expressed in such sayings as onye kwe chi ya ekwe – if one says yes, his chi says yes; o mebere ma chi ekweghi, onye uta atala ya – there should be no blame for one whose fortune refuses to improve despite his efforts; ehi na-enwegi odudu, chi ya na-achuru ya ijiji – chi drives away the flies for the tailless cow. 488 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1999, 49. 489 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 28. The originality, pre-Christian/Islam and indigenous nature of the belief in the Supreme Being in Igbo traditional religion from the experience of creation is further buttressed by the name given him in the Nsukka (northern Igbo axis) regions: Eze-chi-to-ke. This may be simply transliterated as – The King creator Chi, with the “king” concept articulating supremacy.

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life. If one calls him shaper or sculptor of the world, it is because this is the only way to understand this attribute; the only way to see creation as a personal and instantaneous action. Of the Supreme Being the(y) say, quite simply, that he is the foundation of the world and its master.490

We are of the view that the refusal to acknowledge the priority and validity of this via experience point of view, lies at the bottom line of the arguments about the reality and place of the Supreme Being in Igbo world view. This refusal features the insistence at establishing a philosophical suppositum as a foremost pre-requisite as if God can only be understood in philosophical aphorisms. Contributive to such difficulties and misunderstandings are also the issues of transcendence even in these via experience foundations. Chukwu as the great Chi, naturally is belonging to spirit spheres. But more than this, Chi is basically transcendent. In Igbo world view, however, his transcendence is so mediated and moderated by his immanence that the thoughts of him as Deus otiosus/absconditus have seemed to dominate the scene of the relationship to him in Igbo traditional religion. This is the paradox of transcendence and immanence of the Supreme Being in Igbo (African) religions. He is appreciated as omnipresent and omnipotent, referred to in invocations and in the repositories of oral traditions. Yet one rarely finds cults, shrines, sacrifices, festivals directly related to the Supreme Being.491 His transcendence, expressed in the reference to the sky, the heavens as his abode, the references that sometimes become his identity, is complimented with his immanence. This example of the complementary duality of Igbo world view is seen as expressed in such sayings in reference to God as Eze bi n’enu ogodo ya na-akpu n’ani – the king who dwells in the sky but whose garments flow upon the earth. This is more of an attempt at grappling with the issue of divine transcendence and immanence. Perplexity over this incomprehensible transcendent, feared for his

490 “Meeting the African Religions”, in: D.C. Isizoh, (ed.), 1998, 95. 491 S. Ezeanya is aware of such direct worship of God as manifested in the Aja eze enu – sacrifice to the king of the sky, this ancient and widespread proto-type cult of the Supreme Being. Cf. idem, in: K.A. Dickson & P. Ellingworth (ed.), 1972, 38–41. E. Ikenga-Metuh, sharing the same view, notes the influence of socio-cultural changes in Igbo history to this regard. Such include the historic influence from the Aro peoples that is suspected to be accountable for the introduction and proliferation of the Iruma Chukwu (pitching the altar of God), Ugwu Chukwu (God’s hill) among the Ihembosi people, or the related Ihu Chukwu (God’s face) shrine among the Mbaise folk, etc. Cf. idem, 1981, v-viii, 128–132; idem, 1991, 50–55, 63–69; C.O. Ukeh, 2007, 238–239.

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awesomeness yet desired for his friendly omnipotence and providence, is a universal human dilemma in the face of the quest to come to terms with his worldgiven. It precipitated in the Igbo world view the generation492 of subordinate divinities and spirits, perceived to be mediators of divine transcendence, and agencies of divine immanence. They are perceived as functioning as intermediaries between God and man, and thereby constituting the immensely monstrous field of the Igbo spirit world to which we now turn our attention. Ikenga-Metuh articulates this evolution in the Igbo world view thus: Thus factors which predetermine the transcendence and immanence of God are many and vary according to the historical experiences of each society… Whichever they are, where such changes result in substantial exposure of the community to macrocosmic or microcosmic experiences, they precipitate a process of rationalisation which tends to result in more ritual attention to the Supreme Being or his ‘withdrawal’ from human affairs,…493

5.2  The belief in the mystical forces - the deities and the spirits The reality of such belief among the African peoples has been frequently noted.494 G. Parrinder gives what may be regarded as a succinct and generally inclusive description of this phenomenon. According to him, the African belief in mystical power is “the belief in, and the practices associated with the belief in hidden, mysterious, super-sensible, pervading energy, powers, potencies, forces.”495 Our

492 Though the Igbo world view is our focus at the present, reconciling this development with our earlier discussion of the Ephesian world view (chapter four) re-­ establishes the universality of such tendencies in human societies. The difference may lie more or less in the times of their occurrence and how determining they become in the life of the peoples in question. 493 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 69; see also E.E. Uzukwu, „Der spirituelle Gehalt der IgboGebete”, in: V. Cikala M., (Hg.), 1986, 71–92. Interesting mythological presentations that seek to account for God’s withdrawal from human affairs are found among various African peoples. Cf. A.T. Sanon, „Die traditionelle afrikanische Religion und ihre Spiritualität”, in: V. Cikala M., op. cit., 11–32; J.S. Mbiti, „Afrikanisches Verständnis der Geister im Lichte des Neuen Testamentes“, in; G. Rosenkranz et. al.(Hg.), 1967, 130ff. 494 Cf. A. C. Anijielo, Theological Investigation into fear of Mystical Forces. 1984; J. S. Mbiti, 1971, 197; B. Emebo, 2006, 80ff. The understanding of the term “mystical” as used here has been offered at the beginning of this chapter. 495 Cf. G. Parrinder, 1974, 21–22. We regard it as generally inclusive unlike the expositions by J. S. Mbiti, in idem, 1971, 194–203. In as much as the latter shows some deeply interesting insight, it seems exclusively devoted to the issues of the practices

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interest in his understanding is fanned by its openness and relationship to the general issues of belief in spirit beings in African traditional religions. Misunderstandings of these issues have naturally led to some misrepresentations.496 In this relationship also, the word “mystical” is perceived to be communicative of the general category of the supernatural realm in African cosmology, including beings, practices and objects. However, the initial specific focus here would be more on the other spiritual beings, deities and the likes, having discussed above the issues concerning the Supreme Being. J.S. Mbiti rightly sees the reason for this in the distinctively sharp African insight with regard to spiritual realities. Noting that the spiritual world of African peoples is densely populated, he is aware that the spirits in general belong to the ontological mode of existence between God and man, a view that calls attention to the bewilderment over the natural phenomena of colossal dimensions. These are often regarded as associates of God, deified, though understood as created by God. According to him, Divinities are on the whole thought to have been created by God, in the ontological category of the spirits. They are associated with Him, and often stand for his activities or manifestations either as personifications or as the spiritual beings in charge of these major objects or phenomena of nature. Some of them are national heroes, heroes are associated with some function or form of nature.497

Corroborating this view, the Document Meeting the African Religions referring to African pantheons notes that: There is a profusion of communal cults devoted to secondary personalities, intermediate between the Supreme Being and men… Some are personifications of the forces of

of magic, sorcery, witchcraft etc., with some implied exclusion of issues regarding the belief in the Supreme Being in this connection. Whereas in the light of the general understanding, some openness to the belief in the Supreme Being as part of the spirit world and believed source of such phenomena is experienced. Cf. J.S. Mbiti, in: G. Rosenkranz et. al., (Hg.), 1967, 130ff. 496 E.B. Tylor had proposed in his theory about the evolution of religion, that its earliest forms were characterized by man’s ideas concerning a plurality of spirits. His theory about the origins of religion came to be translated as being that animism was the religion of primitive peoples, with the traditional African religions readily but wrongly seen as qualified for such classifications. The ubiquity of the belief in the plurality of the spirits and the relationship to them in the African traditional religion, apparently obscuring the appreciation of the place of the Supreme Being, may account for such wrongness. Cf. B. Emebo, 2006, 83–84. 497 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1971, 75–76.

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nature, a whirlwind, an unusual collection of rocks or trees,… In a word, everything that is strange or to be feared…498

In the Igbo world view, from the import of Chukwu’s transcendence, and within the logic of the complementarity that earmarks the Igbo world view, God is understood to be immanent also. He is perceived to manifest himself in the natural given of certain phenomenal dimensions. These become included in the spiritual ontological category. They become deified, seen as imbued with mystical powers, and are related to as such. C. Ejizu observes in this regard, that: …the belief and preoccupation with the divinities and deities… are manifestly the most striking aspect of Igbo traditional religion. Although a lot of local variations exist in names, categories and details of worship of these deities, a number of them are believed to be primordial divinities and are widely acknowledged across the region.499

Most predominant among these divinities in whom some relationship are recognized between them and Chukwu are - Igwe – Sky(god), Anyanwu – the sun-god, Amadioha – the god of thunder and lightning, Ala – the Earth-goddess. Though perceived as divinities, they are nonetheless created by God. In his infinite transcendence he is far above them in power and excellence. Yet these deities, seen as immanent signs of God, are imbued with divine attributes entitling them to sacrifices in recognition of their divine nature.500 Though the history of how these phenomena became deified may not be placed, it is not difficult to appreciate that such must have been motivated from the experience of their utmost awesomeness, an example of the religious experience expressed as mysterium tremendum et fascinans. In addition to their natural awesomeness is the immense importance of these and other phenomena in the existence and survival of the Igbo people. C. Ejizu notes once more, that: …a lot more of the spirits which constitute the dominant feature of Igbo religious cults, are personifications of natural forces, phenomena of interests, of considerable importance to the survival and well-being of the Igbo… There is hardly any important aspect of the total life of the traditional Igbo which has no patron deity overseeing it.501

498 “Meeting the African Religions”, in: D.C. Isizoh, (ed.), 1998, 96–97. 499 Cf. C. Ejizu, in: E. Ikenga-Metuh, (ed.), 1985, 138. 500 Cf. A.J. Shelton, (1964), cited by E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 41. Some other important deities include Ikenga - god of achievement and success, very similar to personal Chi, and often thought to be its symbol in the sense that a man cannot live without his Ikenga – ‘strength of a man’s right hand’ (cf. C. Achebe, 2000, 313–314), Ahiajioku – identified with yam, a staple food crop among the Igbo, etc. 501 Cf. C. Ejizu, in: E. Ikenga-Metuh, (ed.), 1985, 133–155 (138–139). The extra-­ ordinary reverence to Ala/Ani – the earth, deified as such and imbued with such

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This explains why differences are found in the various localities with regard to both the number of the deities recognized, and their areas of influence. Riverine or mountainous Igbo communities, localities with great caves, often have deities associated with these natural phenomena. They often have totems and sacred animals associated with them as in the case of the popular Eke Idemili – sacred/royal python of Idemili.502 Some of these deities are man-made, evolved in response to the particular needs of the society involved. Such needs include security, epidemic and other traumatic occurrences. By the unanimous will of the community, through its elders and specific ritual processes, such deities are called into existence. They become furnished with identity, cult and priesthood. A fictionalized account of this religious phenomenon is given by C. Achebe in the case of the deity Ulu of Umuaro.503 All are generally regarded as a special group within the Mmuo category, with an obvious but subtle nuance that differentiates

attributes as being responsible for fertility, as custodian of public mores, is thought to be closely connected with the development of Agriculture and the Igbo dependence on it for subsistence. The cosmogonic myths of Eri give such indications. Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1981, 3–12, 60–67; idem, 1991, 60. Also the fact that the earth is experienced as being everywhere, and eventually is the final resting place for man, confers its deification not only with sacredness with reference to the revered ancestors, but also with the divine attribute of ubiquity. The earth goddess is also queen of the underworld. Cf. S. Ezeanya in: K.A. Dickson & P. Ellingworth (ed.), 1972, 42; R. M. Affam, 2002, 57–58. 502 C. Achebe in the Arrow of God, gives insight into this phenomenon. Though presented there as a fiction, Idemili phenomenon used to be an uncompromised reality in the lives of the Idemili peoples in present day Anambra state. Among others we are led into the understanding that Idemili – pillar of water, is associated with the rains, and in-turn with the sky(god). We read also the associated privileges and rivalries of among the priests and ministers of these deities. Cf. C. Achebe, 2000, 327–333, 341. 503 “In the very distant past, when lizards were still few and far between, the six villages - Umuachala, Umunneora, Umuagu, Umuezeani, Umuogwugwu and Umuisiuzo – lived as different peoples, and each worshipped its own deity. Then the hired soldiers of Abam used to strike in the dead of the night, set fire to the houses and carry men, women, and children into slavery. Things were so bad for the six villages that their leaders came together to save themselves. They hired a strong team of medicine-men to install a common deity for them. This deity, which the fathers of the six villages made, was called Ulu… The six villages then took the name of Umuaro, and the priest of Ulu became their Chief priest. From that day they were never again beaten by an enemy…” Cf. C. Achebe, 2000, 304.

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them as naturally benevolent deities over and against the erratic group of spiritforces that are called Arusi.504 Interesting in the whole scheme, however, is the role man played in this regard especially with regard to calling these deities into existence, imbuing them with powers, as well as stripping them of such when they are perceived as not living up to expectations. The above cited scene from C. Achebe (footnote 503) refers to such development in the case of the people of Aninta who burnt their deity for failing them. The story was recounted in the scene to serve as a threat to Ulu in the face of its apparent impotence. The unavoidable critical question at this juncture may include, who really has the powers? Are these powers real or are they merely psychological projections articulating human attempts at attending to the problems of survival? J.S.Mbiti expresses this enigma thus: Spirits are more powerful than men,... Yet, in some ways men are better off, and the right human specialists can manipulate or control the spirits as they wish. Men paradoxically may fear, or dread, the spirits and yet they can drive the same spirits away or use them to human advantage.505

(We will turn attention to such critical evaluations in the later part of our work.) Suffice it to note in the moment that however critical one may view such issues today, in the traditional Igbo world view, the presence and influence of these deities were greatly felt. They were even made more present by the innumerable other spirits below the hierarchy of the deities but still above the human status.

5.2.1  Ndi Mmuo – the spirits The submission by J.S. Mbiti that myriads of spirits, this ‘common populace’ of spiritual beings, are reported from every African people506 is readily true in the Igbo world view. This is pointed out by C. Ejizu as such: “Equally significant in any meaningful analysis of Igbo traditional cosmology is the myriads of spirits and cosmic forces which besiege the Igbo religious horizon. These are thought to

504 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1985, 54–55. For some insight into the mentioned nuance in categorizing the deities one could confer the discussion between Akunna (a traditional religionist) and Mr Brown (a missionary) over God, the gods, the relationship to and between them in Igbo traditional religion in Achebe’s Things Fall Apart. Cf. C. Achebe, 2000, 126–127. 505 Cf. J. S. Mbiti, 1971, 79–80. 506 Cf. ibid., 78.

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be highly dynamic, ferocious and generally malevolent,…”507 In the Igbo setting they are called Ndi Mmuo, generally understood as spirit-beings and assigned the underworld as their abode. The Igbo word Ndi is expressive of a collective, a group, a race. These articulations establish not only their perceived ontological category, but also the innumerability in the understanding of this species of beings, thought to constitute a sub-category among the spiritual beings. However, two major groups that necessarily need to be differentiated exist within this spirit sub-category – the non-human spirits and the living dead.

5.2.1.1  The non-human spirits – umu agbara Just as the suffix ndi, umu articulates a group, precisely speaking, offsprings, descendants of a particular genus, in this case agbara. Agbara would then stand as a rendition of the progenitor non-human spirit directly responsible for the rest of the non-human spirits in Igbo world view. The general description of ndi mmuo in Igbo setting as myriads of spirit and cosmic forces that pervade the Igbo horizon, perfectly describes umu agbara. The issues about their being highly dynamic, malevolent and unpredictable, accentuates their descriptions. These are the invisible, non-corporeal spirits perceived to have been created as such by the Supreme Being, bridging up the ontological transcendence between the Supreme Being, the deities and men. They constitute an essential class and integral part of Igbo (African) ontology. Innumerable and highly dynamic as they are perceived to be, yet ranking below the deities, they are at the same time above human beings. They are usually regarded as ubiquitous, possessing neither distinct personality nor cult, yet powerful and dreaded.508 Their location in the underworld strata in Igbo cosmology does not constitute a limitation of their area of influence. In the light of the basic understanding of the world by the Igbo as uwa mmuo na uwa mmadu – spirit world and human world, and the understanding that the cosmological spheres intermingle with 507 Cf. C. Ejizu, in: E. Ikenga-Metuh, (ed.), 1985, 140. The immediate characterization of this spirit category as generally malevolent, though affording room for positive exceptions, gives insight into what further elucidation would have in store. C.O. Ukeh is aware of O. Onwubiko’s view about their ambivalent nature, that the same spirit may be benevolent this moment and malevolent in the next. Such capriciousness and unpredictability would naturally make life insecure. Its consequences can easily be imagined. Cf. C.O. Ukeh, 2007, 253. 508 Cf. L. Madubuko, in: BTS 14 (1994/2), 21. One calls to mind once again the paradox Mbiti earlier pointed out in this regard, namely, they are dreaded; still it is held that man is able to hold them in check!

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each other, their presence and influence are readily believed and felt. Though they are assigned the underworld as their abode, the understanding of the world as an arena of power, sees them perceived as operating in the human world. J. S. Mbiti corroborates this as he notes that: Spirits are invisible, but may make themselves visible to human beings. In reality, however, they have sunk beyond the horizon…, so that the human beings do not see them either physically or mentally… They are ‘seen’ in the corporate belief in their existence. Yet, people experience their activities, and many folk stories tell of spirits described in human form, activities and personalities.509

They are supposed to be encountered at cross-roads, in the quietude of forests and woods, and naturally in the dead of the night. Going to the streams, to the rivers at unusual hours is supposedly a predetermined exposure for an encounter. Exotic trees and animals are supposed to be emanations of them, and they are believed to be lurking behind these. They are believed to take on various shapes at will, disclosing themselves where, when and to whom they like. They could also take possession of people not necessarily for harm but also to enhance performance or to use them as oracles.510 The special attention drawn to the word ‘seen’ in the citation above says volumes about the belief in this category of beings and the activities imputed to them. It clearly gives the impression of some make-believe, emphasised by the central role played by the words believed, belief etc. In this regard, C. Achebe attests that, “The world of the spirits, wherever it might be situated… is invisible to the eyes of men: people only know or believe that it is there, but do not actually ‘see’ it with their physical eyes.”511 It baffles to think how such exercised so much influence in the lives of the people concerned, despite the above understandings.

509 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1971, 79. (Emphasis mine!). Most interestingly tales about such apparitions increase awareness about them and the likelihood of such encounters. Cf. C. Achebe, 2000, 297–298. 510 Achebe knows, for instance, of the spirit of drums taking possession of drummers and driving them to frenzy drumming that generated intoxicating rhythms. He writes about the sacred, big and ancient silk-cotton tree in Umuofia, within which the spirits of good children waiting to be born had their abode, and of Chielo, the priestess that prophesied when the spirit of Agbala was upon her. Cf. C. Achebe, 2000, 35–37. It is interesting to note that the belief in tree-spirits is not a peculiar phenomenon. J.G Frazer was aware of this belief in ancient Europe, a belief he saw as having come over into modern (and lives on in contemporary) Europe in the May-pole practices. Cf. idem, 1951 (vol. 2), 7–96. 511 Cf. C. Achebe, op. cit., 80.

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Such influences still abound today among Igbo and many African societies. Moreover, it is interesting to note that such stories told about umu agbara are often embellished to enhance effects. The notion of their invisibility, ubiquity and unpredictability constitute essential parts of such embellishments, and perpetuate the dread at which they are held. The cited example of Obika’s apparition of the spirit Eru in Achebe’s Arrow of God, meant to be understood as a moral lesson about the dangers of nocturnal movements in the darkness of the Igbo village settings, buttresses this. In his criticism of such ‘mystifications’ in the light of related issues around masquerades in Igboland, L. Mbefo asked how long such illusions are to be maintained. What is behind the mask is common knowledge, yet people adopt a different attitude to the masquerade, because to demonstrate such knowledge is viewed a crime against the masquerade institution.512 A vociferous presentation of the illusions of the masquerade phenomenon had earlier been made by A.C Anijielo. Discussing the cult of secrecy weaved around the masquerade phenomenon through the initiation of members, he states that such practices serve to perpetuate the deceptive outlook that masquerades are disembodied spirits. This attitude, among other things, serves to perpetuate male chauvinism in Igbo communities.513 When every aspect of life has a spirit purported to mastermind it, an atmosphere of unfounded fears that cripple rather than enhance life is perpetuated. There is no doubt that the forebears had intrinsic messages they had communicated by means of such configurations. Something really needs to be done if these messages are not to be lost in the current dispensations. Proper hermeneutics of the symbolisms of such ancient institutions are required for the present times, a goal to which this work intends to be a contribution. B. Bujo, acknowledging such an approach in his appreciation of the sapiential morality of the aspects of African oral traditions, shares a similar view. He writes: …proverbs, which express the synthesis of past experiences, play a great role for the future and for the coming generations. Since, however, this morality is sapiential, the virtues communicated and acquired by means of fairy tales and proverbs are not intended to be applied in a static manner to the various situations in life. Rather they must be continually expounded and actualized new.514

512 Cf. L. Mbefo, 1997, 1–6. 513 Cf. A.C Anijielo, 1984, 69–73. 514 Cf. B. Bujo, 2001, 25. For more on the importance of the interpretation of symbols in the African settings see also T. Sundermeier, in: J. Assmann & H. Strohm, (Hg.), 2010, 180–182.

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Losing touch with this task of continued actualisation, and lack of openness to widened horizons could be seen as what has perpetuated the problem of the spirit world phenomenon in the Igbo (African) settings. Thought of as a ‘race’, the question arises about the origin of this so-called common populace of spiritual beings. It is acknowledged that no clear cut information to this regard is given. Understood as included in the category of beings, while being subordinate to the Chukwu and the deities, it is assumed that they are created as such, non-human and incorporeal. The thought that umu agbara reproduce their own kinds despite being non-human and incorporeal, accentuates the attending paradox. Such view falls in line with the basic Igbo (African) thought that the visible world mirrors the goings-on in the invisible world. O. U. Kalu, however, hits the nail at the head with regard to the origin of such spirit phenomenon. He writes, “In our (Igbo) traditional setting, men faced with the uncontrollable forces of nature; their reaction was to imbue these with spirits and to seek the aid of the good gods, patron ancestors, magic, divination and elaborate propitiatory rituals as counters to the evil forces.”515 Similarly, the Document Meeting the African Religions rightly sees the origin of such ‘contraptions’ and fascinations over the spirit world as the product of conditio humana. Faced with the precarious drama of the human condition, man seeks a response with, and in such fascinations. It understands these responses as being really in themselves cry to God.516 A popular saying with which the Igbo express bewilderment at the ‘wonders’ of western technology –Bekee wu agbara – the white man is spirit! – says volumes about the coming to being of the popular spirit world beliefs. The unpredictable and dynamic nature of the spirits, especially felt in negative experiences, give rise to another sub-group of umu agbara – Uruchi.

5.2.1.2  Uruchi – spirit(s) of malevolence The discussion about Chi above showed it as the personal guardian spirit responsible for the fortunes of its ward. The Igbo, like every other people, have their experiences of the vicissitudes of life, both as individuals and as communities. In this light, that which goes against the fortunes one’s Chi has in store for one, this

515 Cf. O.U. Kalu, “Precarious Vision: The African Perception of His World”(1978), cited by C. Ejizu, in: E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1985, 139–140. 516 Cf. “Meeting the African Religions”, in: D.C. Isizoh, (ed.), 1998, 107. In a similar development, D. Wyss sees the human natural experience of dissonance as a fundamental anthropological situation. The attempts to grapple with it open out his anthropological horizons and possibilities. Cf. idem, 1991, 18–20.

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negation of the good, is Uruchi. Its name is derived from the experience of made about it, with uru conveying the idea of negation, spoiler. This is the mischief making spirit, the spirit of malevolence per excellence. The capricious nature of the spirits is typified in Uruchi, manifest representation of every counter-force constituting hindrance on the way of well-being and successful living. On the grounds of the enormity of hindrances that are part and parcel of life, especially given the level of development and enlightenment in such settings, one can only image how innumerable the spirits found under this category would be. IkengaMetuh refers to Uruchi as “The only non-human spirit which is regarded as essentially evil in the Igbo sense … the name itself means ‘destroyer of fortune’ … its activities are therefore completely negative… Evil spirits for the Igbo are those who bring misfortune.”517 The above appreciation of evil throws light on the issue of demonology in Igbo world view, and urges some considerations. The Igbo appreciate the existence of evil as a metaphysical reality. This is, however, not in the sense of a concept or “principle”, but as fact of experience! This is in the sense of the experiences of the undesired and the discomforting, mainly in the issues of sufferings and misfortunes. From a general African perspective J.S. Mbiti would note in this regard, that for the African the devil is not just an academic problem, but a reality in life.518 The interesting side of this presentation is the irony that Mbiti neither tells us what/who the devil is for himself nor for the Africans. What we have is the honest irony that it is experience of sufferings and disorder, sickness and misfortune etc., that become the devil in the African understanding. Does this not have a consequence for traditional Christian demonology in the tendencies to dual principles of good and evil? The moral dimensions of the experiences of evil in Igbo settings are appreciated in the sense of sin as njo, aru, nso-ani (offenses against the land/customs omenani) etc. These latter are, however, moral theological issues that are outside the scope of our work here. In the world view in which everything is attributable to spirit influence and spirits, it will be no surprise that as many benevolent spirits that are thought to be, so also are there hundreds of malevolent spirits. Every experience of evil in the negative experiences of his life is attributed to one of these malevolent spirits or the other. Attempts at pinning down evil to a particular “principle” or the other as in the western-Christian concept of the Devil/Satan519 are strange to traditional Igbo 517 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1981, 78. 518 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, „Afrikanische Beiträge zur Christologie”, in: G.F. Vicedom, et. al. (Hg.), 1968, 72–85(77). 519 Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 292–305.

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world view. Given its polytheism and apparent admission of capriciousness as a unique quality of the gods or spirits as the case may be, the emergency of the tendencies to the dual principles of good and bad as by-product of strict monotheism is not indigenous to Igbo traditional religion. The understanding of evil in Igbo traditional religion, with regard to its origin, is akin to the controversial OT theological problematic in which evil is regarded as “the dark side of Yahweh” (Zech 3:1ff; 2 Sam 24: 1–17; Gen 32:23–31; Is 6:2,6.; 30:6; 45:7; Job 2: 1–7; 19:6; etc.)520 Such Igbo perceptions of God as – Ugwu a na-ari atu egwu – the mountain one climbs with trepidation (similar to Rudolf Otto’s Das Mysterium tremendum et fascinans), as ogbu onye mgbe ndu na-agu ya – one who takes life even when it is most desired - are appreciations of such integrations in God. Upon encountering shocking experiences an Igbo man/woman exclaims – chim egbuo m – my Chi (god) has killed me! Such sayings articulate the Igbo belief that good and evil, death and life issue from Chi. Acknowledging the Supreme Beings’ responsibility for all there is, the Igbo say – Chukwu kelu mma, kee njo, onwu na ndu! They believe that one whose god does not permit his demise cannot be killed by any human being - onye chi ya egbughi, mmadu agaghi egbu ya. Such perceptions of evil may lead to conjecturing that theodicy, in the sense of its classical accentuations, is strange to Igbo traditional religions. It is the legacy of the Christian tradition with regard to the idea of the Devil that the identification with the figure Ekwensu came to be. Ikenga-Metuh, arguing that Ekwensu in Igbo traditional religion is not the devil but an Arusi – one of the spirit forces –, insists that such an identification stems from the dualism that insists on pitching the principle of Good directly against the radically opposing ‘principle’ of Evil, a dualism that does not exist in traditional Igbo religion.521Ekwensu is rather a spirit of violence, made responsible for reckless 520 At the end of his interesting article to this regard O. Keel, having observed that the NT not only took-up but also orchestrated the Persian-Hellenistic dualism inherent in the demonology of early Judaism, clearly notes that such perception was strange to a greater part of OT. He makes a plea for the possibility of a theological view that perceives evil as an integral part of God, of the cosmos. According to him such a theological view opens out to the possibility to restitutio ad integrum that will undo the tendency to the absolute which evil assumes in dualistic systems. Cf. idem, „Schwache alttestamentliche Ansätze zur Konstruktion einer stark dualistisch getönten Welt”, in: A. Langet. al.(Hg.), 2003, 211–233; see also K.-W. Thyssen, 2012. 521 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1981, 75–77. The attempt by C. Ezekwugo, (1987) proffering an etymology of the name Ekwensu as associated with a dead Ekwe (wooden gong) music instrument maker named Nsu, has not found acceptance. Moreso it seems ridiculous. Cf. R.M. Affam, 2002, 66–67.

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violent actions of one thought to be under its influence.522 In line with the understanding of evil as the experience of misfortune and suffering, evil spirits are for the Igbo the bringer of misfortune, of malevolence. In the Igbo setting, where everything revolves around human life and its sustenance, the most direct experiences of such misfortune include poor harvest, sickness, childlessness, infant mortality, unnatural death and other miseries. These and any accident are necessarily attributed to, and understood as the handiwork of Uruchi, destroyers of fortune, this group of anonymous, wandering spirits, characterised by ubiquity and malevolence. The so-called ‘untimely’ death, i.e. dying without reaching old age, is considered the height of the activities of Uruchi, the greatest evil as it were. Every effort is expended in Igbo traditional religion to rid oneself of the wheelings and machinations of these spirits. Sacrifices are made to them, not as a sign of friendship, but as a way of keeping them away from oneself; as means of ensuring that one is spared any consideration from them. The objects of such sacrifices, things that are of little or no use for human life, include strips of old, torn cloths, rotten eggs, toad, lizard, broken cowries.523 The fact that these sacrifices are made with the left hand (significant of something discarded), and at crossroads, add to the bewilderment over such exercises. The persistence of such misfortunes, however, this recurrent human experience, not only questions these understandings and practices, it may have been responsible for the next extentions into what came to be regarded as the ex-corporate evil spirits. According to F.A. Arinze, Evil non-human spirits and disgruntled ex-corporate human spirits (Akalogeli) are classified together by the Ibos for practical reasons. These spirits act in the same way. They are wicked, evil, reckless, and capricious. They torture both men and children, guilty and innocent. They do no good to no man.524

522 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1981, 77; see also C. Achebe, 2010, 313–314 – the story of the conflict between Akukalia and Edo. The former in his rashness committed the unpardonable crime of splitting Edo’s Ikenga, prompting Edo’s “righteous anger” in shooting him. His death was the considered the only appropriate expiation. Such action and reaction are considered typical examples of the work of Ekwensu. One notes again how wrong G. Parrinder is when he refers to Ekwensu as the wandering and vengeful ghosts of evil deceased persons, bringing misfortune and death upon men. Cf. idem, 2002, 94–95. Ekwensu is no doubt understood to be spirit and brings misfortune, confusion and death. But it is not thought of as ever having been human. 523 Cf. S. Ezeanya, in: K.A. Dickson & P. Ellingworth, (ed.), 1972, 44. 524 Cf. F.A. Arinze, 1970, 112.

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It is obviously this common classification that G. Parrinder must have misunderstood in his classification of ekwensu as ghost of deceased evil men and women.

5.2.1.3  Akalogeli – Ex-corporate evil spirit (1) The qualification “ex-corporate” already says much about this sub-category of the evil spirits in Igbo spirit world. It indicates they once had bodies but are now no longer corporeal. Unlike in the case of Uruchi, the evil sub-category of umu agbala, thought to have been created spirits as such, Akalogeli refers to the wandering spirits of dead human beings, whose spirits are yet to reach the peaceful world of the ancestors. The Igbo believe that after death, depending on the circumstances of one’s life, death and burial, the dead either goes to join the forefathers as ancestors (an issue we will consider shortly) or his/her spirit roams around disturbing the living and wreaking havoc on them. The dead who have not joined, or as the case may be, may never join the ancestors, constitute the Akalogeli, the homeless ex-corporate evil spirits who are perceived as extensions of Uruchi. They share with it the responsibility over such misfortunes as sickness, lack of progress in undertakings, accidents etc. People who lived as wicked and evil human beings, those who died without children (childlessness was believed as a sign of curse) or died bad deaths,525 and therefore are unable to receive proper funeral rites, belong to this category in the Igbo spirit world. Unable to reach the spirit land, their spirits become disgruntled and restless. They wander about, making life unbearable for the rest of the community especially their surviving relations. The idea behind such conception is that these, having led unsuccessful lives, endeavour to ensure others share their fate in life and subsequently at death. Parrinder’s reference to them as ghosts is very apt. In his articulation, Departed spirits… if their deeds have been very evil he will banish them to an intermediate space of wandering between this world and the land of the dead. These ghosts (…) have thenceforth no fixed place of abode but are doomed, like Cain, to wander for ever.

525 The idea of “bad death“ captures such experiences of death through strange diseases, i.e., sicknesses whose causes, progress and cure were unknown, violent death like suicide, pre-mature death – dying very young etc. Such people are not committed to mother earth (burial), this means of entrance into the regions of the underworld Ani/Alammuo – the land of the spirits. Their remains are deposited, practically thrown away in the evil forests at the distant outskirts of the community, having become unacceptable to the mother earth and also rejected by the community in whose life they shared.

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Their life is helpless and hopeless, for they neither pass on to the abode of the just, nor yet be permitted to reincarnate into this world.526

The fact that these spirits are perceived to be within the environments of their past lives as human beings buttress the interconnectivity between the spirit and human world in Igbo traditional world view. Having being thrown away in the evil forests, a vivid expression of rejection and the indication that the living do not want to associate with them, they are said to dwell in the bushes, hover in the market places, and other familiar environments. This understanding which brings them very close to human beings, not only increases the insecurity associated with them, it necessitates and fuels the practices of the religious functionaries in the forms medicine men/women. They are thought to be endowed with the knowledge and means of dealing with them. The worry is not about their origin or the contradiction inherent in their ability to find their ways back to and around their former places. Uppermost in the thoughts of this world view is the penchant of these spirits to cause harm, wrought pain and discomfort. A prominent group among these spirits that affords some insight into these understandings and what enlightenment can offer in this regard is the Ogbanje spirit phenomenon. The name, deriving from two Igbo words igba (running a course) and nje (repeatedly), would mean one repeatedly running a course.527 These are spirits of children perceived to be repeatedly running the course of birth and death. They are thought to assume human bodies through the course of conception till birth. They die shortly after birth (days, months, a few years), and reincarnate again in the womb of their mothers when the latter conceive again. A little while after birth they die again, and begin the vicious cycle all over. By so doing they constitute an emotional terror to parents who helplessly go through these traumatic experiences. The pains are heightened when after

526 Cf. G. Parrinder, 2002, 94. E. Ikenga-Metuh would refer to such perceived intermediate region between the living and the restless spirits as captured in the Igbo phenomenon of Ajo ohia (evil forest). Cf. idem, 1991, 117. The idea is that such a place is for those rejected by relatives as unfit to be buried at home, and unaccepted by the dead in the land of the dead Ana mmuo, to which they really should belong, as unqualified for that stage of life and its goodies. 527 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, literary refers to them as “repeaters”, “born to die babies”. Cf. idem, 1981, 76. C. Achebe, in his account over this phenomenon and how people got along with it in the traditional Igbo society, referred to them as babies doing “their evil rounds of birth and death”. Cf. idem, 2000, 54–60. It is, however, not a phenomenon peculiar to the Igbo. The Yoruba, the western neighbouring tribe of the Igbo, call it Abiku.

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raising the hope of the parents and surviving a while, though sickly, they still die young. There is the understanding that they form a kind of league ndi otu, where they enter into some binding agreement in the spirit world regarding how long they would live and when they would die.528 Initiation of non-members is also thought to be effected through the sharing and exchanges that happen among children at play grounds. Attempts to deviate from this agreement, perhaps out of pity for the parents or because the baby has fallen in love with the pleasures afforded it in the human world, see the baby struck with sickness. The battle begins all over again, often ending in the death of the baby. The emotional and economic impoverishment of the parents, who naturally do all they can to save the babies, may only be imagined. This is the very torture the Ogbanje spirits had intended. Interestingly, however, this understanding through which the Igbo (and similar African societies) sought to grapple with the issues of high infant mortality rate has been identified by modern medical science and genetics as cases of sickle-cell anaemia. This health deficiency (haemoglobin disorder) has been identified as one of the hereditary diseases that account for many cases of high infant mortality in sub-Saharan Africa. The geographical location of the Hb S gene responsible for such developments in the broad equatorial belt of sub-Saharan Africa, to which Igboland belongs, has fortified these associations among scholarly circles.529 Moreover, the availability of proper medication and pre-marital education nowadays has seen to the disappearance of the Ogbanje phenomenon, giving eloquent testimony to the relationship between spirit world beliefs and unenlightenment. In addition to the above discussed spirits, there are numerous others like the so-called aquatic spirits popularly called Mamiwata - Meeresjungfrau. These are thought to be maiden spirits believed to be interested in, and associated with young women, especially beautiful ones. They are thought to be common in the riverine areas. They are said to woe the young women with beauty and material 528 Cf. E.B. Idowu, 1975, 175; see also E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 167ff. 529 Cf. “Sickle-cell anemia” in Encyclopaedia Britannica (2005) DVD Edition; see also E.A. Isichei, (1976), cited by B. Emebo, 2006, 97; R.M. Affam, 2002, 69–70. A 2006 WHO report on Sickle-cell anaemia (cf. www.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_files/ WHA59/A59_9-en.pdf, visited on 06.02.2012, 12.00pm) would seem to further confirm these associations. It noted that Nigeria has a carrier rate of 15–30%, with a record of about 150,000 children born annually with the disorder. One can only imagine what the rate was in the distant past, if despite the developments in the medical circles in modern times the rate is as much.

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possessions, prevent them from getting married or begetting children so that they will be completely devoted to her. Breaking any of these pacts, sees the concerned visited with punishments like childlessness if married, sickness of various kinds. These become torments to the young woman in question and her “unsuspecting” spouse. It is no wonder that in a tradition were the ability to have offsprings is considered a priority, that such inability in a supposedly healthy and beautiful woman would be readily attributed to spirit world phenomenon. It becomes obvious then that because the Igbo (Africans) explain the experience of evil, sickness and other misfortunes with the existence of malevolent spirits, the more such experiences, the more the evolution of a multiplicity of such spirits held accountable for the experiences. This constitutes the reason why the spirit world in Igbo world view is not only populous, it extends to other portents in the form of the so-called mystical forces of charms, witchcraft, sorcery etc.

5.2.2  Mystical forces/potents Our earlier discussion on mystical forces (5.2) had focused on the spirit beings – deities and spirits in their various categories. This time we intend to examine what may be regarded as an extension of these in the belief in forces and potents. These refer to material objects that are believed to have become imbued with special characteristics by means of some form of association with one spirit being or the other, or through rituals. A.C. Anijielo, insisting on the differentiation between supernatural powers and mystical forces, maintains that while the former refers to spiritual personal beings, the latter, particularly from the point of view of the word “forces” refers to mere objects. He notes that “the use of the word-pair ‘mystical forces’ aims at bringing out this intricate connection between the objects associated with the belief in mystical forces, and the rites from which they are believed to derive their powers.”530 He argues that the rites must be differentiated from personal spiritual beings. However, while drawing the implication that not 530 Cf. A.C. Anijielo, 1984, 3ff. One sees here a continuation of the problems encountered in the attempts at sharp distinctions being made between magic and religion. Rituals are not for their sake. They are almost always oriented to some other outside themselves in the search for results. If rites, as L. Petzoldt argues, are merely manifestations of standardized (recommended) magical or religious procedures (Handlungsabläufe) intended to guarantee success, this feature of both religion and conventional understanding of magic, then a further proof of the principal affinity of the two – magic and religion – is once again available. The principal difference lies in the attitude to the spiritual, in the value placed on the role of human activity and on the work of the spiritual (divine) personage in question. Whereas religion approaches the transcendent

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all forms of belief in the mystical are really directly identified with the personal spiritual beings, one sees a tacit agreement that both belong in the mystical realms despite their categories. The differentiation, important as it is, was in pursuance of the goal of his dissertation – “to point out the purely profane nature of some of these practices, i.e. to desacralize them,” through making clear the forced magical associations between the objects and the spirit beings. L. Madubuko sees the identification between objects and spirit beings, and the mixing up of the two. This is brought to bear in the practice of harnessing the influences of the supernatural that suffuse the African world view. This is the wide area of the magico-religious phenomenon in Igbo (African) traditional religion. This practice is manifest in the artefacts or instruments of the process, the charms and medicines of the African world.531 Corroborating this identification between the objects and the supernatural beings, J. S. Mbiti establishes that: African peoples are aware of a mystical power in the universe. This power is ultimately from God, but in practice it is inherent in, or comes from or through physical objects and spiritual beings… Access to this mystical power is hierarchical…; and some human beings know how to tap, manipulate and use some of it. Each community experiences this force or power as useful and therefore acceptable, neutral or harmful and therefore evil.532

Both the object and the symbolism imputed unto it in the magical praxis imply the assumption of an invisible reality that is transcendent. It is to this that recourse is made, even when such recourse goes more along the lines of automation rather than solicitation. That is the magico-religious phenomenon. Having earlier noted the commonness of this experience among Africans as constitutive of their psychic environments, Mbiti gives interesting insights into the wideness of this magico-religious phenomenon. He argues that its manifestations are experienced as magic, sorcery and witchcraft.533 Interesting as Mbiti’s examples of this phenomenon are, one notes the absence of some form of personal attestations, the critical distance or appraisal one would have expected of such work. They suppliantly, magic seems to attempt such approach by force. Cf. L. Petzoldt, in: idem, (Hg.), 1978, XI-XII; see also E. Ehnmark, in: op. cit., 302–312. 531 Cf. L. Madubuko, in: BTS 14 (1994, 2), 23. The concept “magico-religious” calls attention to the very thin border between the phenomena of magic and religion. These borders are often criss-crossed. Their determination depends often on the degree of obedience accorded the authority defining them. 532 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1972, 202–203; see also ibid, 199. See also W. Dupré “Magic” in: NCE 9 (2003) 35–39. 533 Cf. ibid., 194–198.

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were taken from stories published in other works, making the piece belong to what J. Middelton refers to as “…the kind of materials found in the many travelers’ tales of mysterious powers possessed by exotic practitioners whose behavior they have never actually seen…”.534 They may qualify for tales by moonlight. Interesting as a discussion of these features would promise to be, we, however, note that the corresponding adequate attention to the individual features would be an over-extention of the scope of our work. A direct link to our pursuit at examining the spirit world issues of the Igbo in this regard is, however, provided in the understanding of sorcery, witchcraft, divination and related practices as subcategories of magic, despite their peculiarities. In this understanding magic (especially from the aspect of the so-called ‘black/evil magic’) is regarded an umbrella name for sorcery, witchcraft and related practices.535 Following this understanding we examine the Igbo perspective.

5.2.2.1  Magic among the Igbo – General brief note Magic, a generic term for a number of practices that are often lumped together, is generally understood as the manipulation of an external power by mechanical or behavioural means to affect others. Its distinguishing factor is its instrumental character, the praxis which proves effective within given belief systems.536 The contents of this belief system that make for the perceived effectiveness include the magician’s belief in his technics, the belief of the victim or client in it, and 534 Cf. J. Middelton, “Magic”, in: ERE 9 (1987), 82–89 (82). 535 Cf. G.E. Parrinder, 1974, 116ff; see also J.S. Mbiti, 1971, 198; J. Middelton, op. cit., 87. Within the general classification of magic as white or black is the understanding that white magic is generally positive, public, and serves communal good, whereas black magic embraces all nefarious practices that serve egoistic purposes of the one/ persons involved. J.G Frazer, however, arguing that the central principle of magic is the law of sympathy – things act on each other at a distance through a secret sympathy, a kind of invisible ether –, worked out such other classifications as Sympathetic/ Contagious magic and Homoeopathic/Imitative magic. Cf. J.G. Frazer, 1951, 52ff; see also L. Petzoldt in: idem, (Hg.), 1978, VII. As noted above, the consideration of sorcery, witchcraft as subcategories of magic does not necessarily imply that they are one and the same. They have their basic differences and/or nuances. Their common denominator is their being means of the employ of mystical power to do harm to others. Cf. B. Emebo, 2006, 104–109. 536 Cf. L. Petzoldt, in: idem, (Hg.), 1978, VIII; J. Middleton, op. cit.; see also idem, “Magic”, in: Encyclopaedia Britannica (2005) DVD Edition. The general difficulty at precise definition of magic is often noted. Most attempts at such exhibit the biases of the author. Aware of this, most modern studies rather go in the direction of description.

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the trust and patronage of public opinion on it. These constitute the gravitational field that define magical operations.537 Such manipulation, a psycho-technical perception of, and relation to reality, is governed by a magical “must” in whose remoteness a psychological affinity to wishes lies. This in turn is fired by hope and kept alive by the power of “positive” thinking that readily accommodates even the greatest losses on the grounds of the memory of the least sign of success. C. Clemens notes in this regard, that “The ‘necessity’, the ‘law’ implicit in developed magic… is something that has but the remotest psychological affinity therewith, namely such a ‘must’ as is involved in ‘may so and so happen’, or ‘ I do this in order that so and so may happen’.”538 Magic is widely viewed as the hinge of archaic world view in the course of man’s attempt to grapple with his world and its given. B. Malinowski establishes that the very beginnings of magic and the belief in its effectiveness is found in the human inventive geniality that transforms the tension that arises when man sees himself in situations of hopelessness into a productive force. So pushed to the wall, yet challenged by the instinct of, and passion to self-preservation, a flood of imaginations, words and actions beset him, marking the spontaneous birth of conjuration, and rite. Recourse is then made to projection about the certainty of the reality of what is wished. This is experienced as a force from outside, a force that exercises influence on the concerned.539 It is the subjective satisfaction or quietening of needs by means of suggestive or auto-suggestive measures. This in turn is based on what has been termed the complex consciousness of the homo divinans, a consciousness in which the sharp separation between the subjective and the objective, the internal and the external world is lacking. The objects become projected and subjectified. They get filled with spiritual character; they are perceived/ experienced as containing power in them, a power whose appropriation is aimed at. As soon as the object is spiritualised, it becomes materialised as well. The way becomes open for the appropriation of what has become associated with it. A typical example would be the cannibalistic act of eating the heart of a strong enemy who has fallen so as to take-in his strength – emanation or the transfer of power.540 537 Cf. C. Levi-Strauss, „Der Zauberer und seine Magie“, in: L. Petzoldt, (Hg.), op. cit., 256–278(257–258). 538 Cf. C. Clemen, „Wesen und Ursprung der Magie“, in: L. Petzoldt, (Hg.), op. cit., 1978, 45–78 (60); see also B. Malinowski, „Kunst der Magie und Macht des Glaubens“, in: ibid., 98. 539 Cf. B. Malinowski, op. cit., 94–98. 540 Cf. T.W. Danzel, „Die psychologische Bedeutung magischer Bräuche“, in: L. Petzoldt, (Hg.), 1978, 79–83; see also C. Clemen, in: op. cit., 45–78. The latter cites similar

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The hub of this world view is the sympathy belief, the belief man and nature are essentially identical and related. The principles of this foundation of sympathetic magic are: similia similibus, contraria contrariis, and the belief that external contact can lead to internal relationship (contagious magic). This has also come to be understood as the distinguishing character of primitive thinking and mentality, what L. Levy-Bruhl refers to as the Law of Participation, articulated in Sophistry as post hoc, ergo propter hoc.541 Primitive mentality rests on the understanding of nature as a complex of mystical participations in which the natural and the supernatural constitute a magical totality. The consequence of this viewpoint is the exclusion of any form of accident in human life. Every event is understood to be some form of supernatural power manifestation, a manifestation that can only be grasped intuitively. With such views of magic as pre-religious, pre-logical and non-scientific, it has more or less proved impossible to discuss one without the other as magic almost always shares borders with religion and science. Ambiguous as the relationship between them may be, the debate over their relationship is observed to have moved from the evolutionist model of earlier anthropologists and sociologists like E. B. Tylor (1832–1917), J. G. Frazer (1854–1941), E. Durkheim (1858–1917), Max Weber (1864–1920) etc., towards more context-sensitive, cross-cultural dimensions. This was pioneered by the likes of B. Malinowski (1884–1942), E. E.

examples like that of Arabic women who drink the remains of the water drunk by thoroughbred horses in the belief that it would enable them give birth to strong children. He sees the origin of the idea of the experience of transfer or appropriation of power in the experience of certain bodily or mental changes after the consumption of particular food items or plants. This natural biological phenomenon took on multiplication effect and enhanced the basis upon which magic builds. Such beliefs cum practices like eating the meat of a particular animal or the other (or extracts from them) so as to appropriate the character(s) associated with the particular animals, are related to magical view that things that come in contact with a person or something exude power from, or communicate effects on the person or thing, etc. 541 Cf. L. Levy-Bruhl, „Das Gesetz der Teilhabe“, in: Petzoldt, L., (Hg.), 1978, 1–26(7). Beyond the racial/ethnocentric prejudice that governs Levy-Bruhl’s application of “primitive mentality” in this essay, as observed in his use of “our way of thinking” and “their collective ideas”, we observe that primitive mentality in the sense of objectively wrong association of ideas is not limited to any particular race. It is a general human tendency irrespective of observable predominance in one region or the other. Otherwise how does one explain, for instance, the persistent place of horoscope in magazines and newspapers in the so-called developed world.

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Evans-Pritchard (1902–1974). Gainful as this move is supposed to be, inherent tendencies to cultural hegemony in them reveal some western-Christian biases. These lead to such divisions into the “high” magic of the intellectual elite, bordering on science, and the “low” magic of common folk practices. The central argument, however, remains that magic and its associate tendencies have been part and parcel of every human culture.542 The difference may lie in the level of influence and patronage it enjoys in particular cultures and times – the context-­ sensitive approach –, depending on the pre-dominant world view. From this point of view we intend to look at the phenomenon among the Igbo in the context of the influences of the traditional magico-religious world view.

5.2.2.2  Igbo perspectives The black/evil magic is of particular interest to our study. Just as the name implies, it captures the abiding notion among the Igbo (like many other peoples) about the use of magic in causing harm to people. This is in the form of sending curses, effecting misfortune, sickness or death of someone even from a distance. This calls to mind J.G. Frazer’s classification of magic as Homoeopathic/ Imitative and Contagious magic543 noted above. Noting that in practice the two branches are often combined, he asserts that: …its two great principles turn out to be merely two different mis-application of the association of ideas. Homoeopathic magic is founded on the association of ideas of similarity: contagious magic is founded on the association of the ideas by contiguity. Homoeopathic magic commits the mistake of assuming that things which resemble each other are the

542 L. Petzoldt refers to it as a fundamental anthropological re-occurring decimal - “anthropologische Grundkonstante”. Cf. L. Petzoldt, op. cit. See also B. Malinowski, in: Petzoldt, L., (Hg.), 1978, 84–108; K. Gloy, in: J. Assman & H. Strohm, (Hg.), 2010, 222. The appropriations implied in the divisions – high magic of the intellectual elite and low magic of the common folks – becomes problematic when the magical traditions, as B. Malinowski rightly acknowledges, prove to be the works of geniuses, people of great intelligence and enormous power of enterprise. (98) 543 Cf. J.G. Frazer, 1951 (vol. 1), 52ff. What Frazer called misapplication of the association of ideas L. Levy-Bruhl referred to as naive and false application of the principle of causality. This consists, according to him, in the insistence on the pre-conceived existence of mystical causal relationship between a former and a later event/occurrence/person, a point of view that is apparently uninterested in evident contradictions. Cf. L. Levy-Bruhl, „Das Gesetz der Teilhabe“, in: L. Petzoldt (Hg.), 1978, 5–26. The naive and wrong application evidences the gross fallacy of the post hoc ergo propter hoc principle that takes correlation for causality.

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same: contagious magic commits the mistake of assuming that things which have once being in contact with each other are always in contact.544

The contagious form of magic is wide-spread among African peoples. This is rooted in the belief that things which have once being in contact with each other will continue to act on each other irrespective of the distance between them. Among the Igbo for instance, (an experience J.G. Frazer found among other peoples), there is the belief that evil/harmful influences could be effected on someone if such items as one’s hair, finger nails, piece of cloth, spittle, money one had handled, sand from one’s footprints etc. gets into the hands of a black magic practitioner. Even though these items are away from their owner, they are believed to still constitute part of him/her, and could be used to establish contact with the one. This is a typical example of the application of the pars pro toto principle. As a result, most people take extra care to dispose such materials, much less for the purposes of hygiene and order as for the fear of the evil magician/enemy. The Igbo saying – a maghi ndi a na-eze - one never knows who one should be wary about – points this out. This morbid sense of insecurity that is ever ready to see a connection between an event, an experience as some power play feeds general suspicions among even kits and kin and is responsible for the wide-spread fear in Igbo (African) settings. It must, however, be noted that is not a character trait. It rather belongs to the general conditio humana. B. Malinowski observed in this regard that the atmosphere of rivalry, envy and malice is common to human beings in the pursuit of their socio-political ambitions. He argues that the sociological interplay between success and envy, ambition and malice, willing success and willing misfortune, accounts for, and fans the existence of magic, white or black.545 There is no doubt that in Igbo societies, like every other, there are dubious and sadistic people. The misapplication of the association of ideas earlier spoken of comes into play when such sadistic people are associated with the above explained views about so-called malevolent spirits. They are believed to work in co-operation to inflict harm on their victims in the forms of sicknesses, misfortunes etc., whereas the actual explanation would either be accidents or the clandestine use of natu544 Cf. ibid., 53–54. C. Clemen, observing that Frazer’s position was a furtherance of E. Tylor’s argument (57), argues that the whole idea about similarity and contact in magic rests on the assumption of/belief in an extraordinary or supernatural power, and moreso on the complex-collective thought pattern of “primitive” mentality. This collective pattern of thought is summarized in the statement – pars pro toto. Cf. idem, op.cit.(57–59). 545 Cf. B. Malinowski, op. cit., 101 (85–86 also).

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rally harmful objects as they come in contact with their victims. These acts of wickedness become eventually mystified with tales of collaboration with malevolent spirits. The impression of mystical causation is generated and subsequently fortified and handed on.546 Related to the magic as contagious is the homoeopathic or imitative magic among the Igbo. This captures the belief and practice that one’s enemy could be injured or destroyed by doing such damage to an image thought to be a representation of the enemy. This could be the enemy’s picture, a doll that is believed to represent him/her, etc. This includes also such practices as calling the name of, or conjuring the target in front of a mirror, or into a calabash or water container. The belief is that the image of the target will appear on the mirror, in the calabash respectively. Whatever harm done him/her on the mirror or in the calabash, the height of which is piercing the image or smashing the mirror or calabash, is believed to come to pass on the physical target. This explains the practice among the traditional Igbo societies of not directly answering a perceived call of one’s name when one is not sure of the voice calling. People are taught to immediately withdraw such mistakenly made responses by cursing the voice that may have called and wishing it that evil spirits respond to it on behalf of the called. The psychology of such response, despite its contradictions, is obvious.547 546 Cf. A.C. Anijielo, 1984, 78, 84–89. The author gives such instance as the so-called sorcerers going out by night to the homesteads of victims, placing their “medicine” on the way of the victim, uttering their spells and going away. It is often the victims contact with the harmful substances and or the unattended health situation that harm them and not any use of their hairs, nails or such other materials that had had contact with them. The generated legendaries around the magician/sorcerer thought to have been responsible also play immense roles. C Achebe gives examples of related connections often made between unattended health situations and supposed magical causation in the Arrow of God. The collapse of the colonial master Captain Winterbottom is associated with the supposed magical powers of the feared Ezeulu, whom he had mishandled. The death of Obika is linked to the dibia he had assaulted at the masquerade festival at the village square. A critical reading observes that Obika had actually felt sick before yielding to the pressure of undertaking the highly physically exhausting task of carrying the masquerade ogbazuluobodo. Cf. C. Achebe, 2000, 440ff; 506ff. Further on the role of myths in the perpetuation of magic, and on the use of material objects thought suitable for magical operations see also B. Malinowski, op. cit. 98–100, 88 respectively. 547 Anillustration of what a hoax such a belief is has been presented by A.C. Anijielo in his account of an encounter with one of the so-called magic practitioners. He relates that during the Biafra-Nigeria civil war (1967–1970) the magic practitioner and his colleagues were called together by the government of the defunct Biafra

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Yet despite this eloquent and public manifestation of its hoaxness this b ­ elief remains operational. It would not be difficult to see the foundation of such superstitious beliefs. They are founded on and enhanced by ignorant fear and some wide range of phenomena yet to be unravelled. These are issues imbued in the African world view especially in the belief in the spirit world whose ­being and activities have been shown to be more or less a spiritualized projection of human thoughts and activities. These views have poisoned perceptions and corrupted faith, making more urgent than ever the task of demythologisation. B. Malinowski explains the persistence of such beliefs despite their evident hoaxness in the fact that human memory very much treasures seeming evidence of any positive case. Such evidences, immensely assisted and perpetuated by the myths surrounding the magical claims, always overshadow the negative cases, failures and actually incoherent associations.548 This belief of many Igbo (Africans) in the existence and operations of black magic as agents of evil, lead us to the issue of charms in traditional African belief systems. Such beliefs are more about the attempts at proffering explanations about accident occurrences, sickness, misfortune and death, as well as protective measures against them. Generally, the word “charm”, derived from the Old French charme and the Latin carmen, “ritual utterance,” “incantation,” or “song”, refers to a practice or expression (in the form of artefacts also) believed to have magic power, similar to an incantation or a spell. The term is sometimes interchangeably used for amulet or talisman but more in the sense of an object carried on the person or kept in the desired sphere of influence, and believed to be endowed with special powers to protect or bring good fortune.549 Charm is generally expressed in Igbo as “ogwu”, a rather equivocal term that conveys both the sense of prophylactic-therapeutic medicine as made by traditional healers, and also the magical issues of spells. This latter sense of spells in the Igbo setting is, however, more strongly expressed by such terms as “otu(ru)mokpo” or “Ju ju”.550 They refer

Republic. The Biafra side, feeling the immense weight of the arsenals of Nigeria and its foreign allies, sought every means to survive. These magic practitioners were called together to use their homoeopathic magic to destroy the Nigerian soldiers even as the Biafran soldiers were doing their lot. Biafra lost the war, and formally surrendered in 1970. There is no doubt that if the whole system was not a hoax the story would have been otherwise. Cf. A. C. Anijielo, 1984, 90, 100–101. 548 Cf. B. Malinowski, op.cit. 98. 549 Cf. “Charm“, “Talisman“, in: Encyclopaedia Britannica (2005) DVD Edition. 550 The word Juju is derived from the French word “Joujou” – toll, doll, and related to Portuguese word “feitico”, referring to the talisman the Portuguese traders wore.

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to both the material object perceived to have been imbued with some mystical force and the power of such forces believed to be employed in the general context of Igbo magico-religious thought and practice. This is the world of spells, considered as all-powerful spoken formulas, words, or phrases of power accompanying the preparation of potions, amulets, weapons, magical paraphernalia, sceptres or objects of sorcery.551 Among the numerous kinds of charms that are thought to be, and the uses to which they are put, the central issue remains the search for security amidst the insecure circumstances of life. Such uses include serving as protective measures against physical and unseen enemies, procuring personal advantage as in means of enhancing one’s business and prosperity through one ritual or the other, hunting down an enemy or effecting malicious wishes on others, etc. The fears such situations generate, the pattern of thought that insists that nothing (especially harmful/painful experiences) happens by chance, the unwillingness to admit natural flow in the course of life and events, constitute factors that enhance the belief system for such perpetuations. Should the associations of ideas that are operational in both in the forms of pars pro toto and post hoc ergo propter hoc, these mainstays of magical “logic” and psycho-technic processes, be encountered with some critical consciousness, the fallacies and the weave of cleverness at work will be bared. By means of such critical consciousness what is thought to be the efficacy of charms, would be seen to be the interplay of chemical and physiological laws,552 This latter is derived from the Latin word “factitius” – artistic work. This is the foundation of the culture of addressing African traditional religion as “fetishism” expressing the prevalence of images in African traditional religion, especially with regard to the reverence accorded these images that tend to be understood as worship. Cf. A.C. Anijielo, 1984, 19–20. 551 Cf. B.B. de Pina Chan, “Spells”, in: ERE 14 (1987), 1–4(1). 552 Cf. C. Levi-Strauss, „Der Zauberer und seine Magie“, in: L. Petzoldt (Hg.), 1978, 257ff. The author gives an eloquent illustration of the psychosomatic mechanism that leads to dysfunction and death of victims as a result the feeling of being bewitched and being targets of conjurations. The feelings are strengthened by the intensive terror unleashed through the rituals of the society and behaviour of relations who, having been made to distance themselves from the victim, sees the latter deprived of his/her social basis and stability. Such a one sees him/herself as committed to the grave. Fear and anger that normally stimulate the activities of the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) to enable adequate reaction to changed circumstances become so overwhelming, leading to the overstretching of the activities of the sympathicus. So overstretched, the SNS gets disorganized, the blood pressure

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upon and out of which the operators cleverly weave up seemingly plausible associations. Noting the spiritual connections that are often imputed on such manifestations, C.O. Ukeh writes: Medicines are no spiritual realities as such. But a good understanding of them helps in appreciating the place and purported operational modes of the spirits in the African worldview. Charms are also seen as media through, and in which spirits may act or manifest.553

In the face of this dare need for justice, security and growth, recourse is made to the supernatural as higher instance. The “gods/spirits” become the guarantors of these desired, as well as law enforcement agents, working for and through human agents with the requisite know-how. This situation that leads us to a consideration of the place of man in Igbo cosmology vis-à-vis Igbo spirit world considerations.

5.3  Igbo anthropology An understanding of the place of man in Igbo cosmology follows the Igbo understanding of the world as a constellate phenomenon. This is in the sense of the cosmic oneness that characterises the African world view in general, and the Igbo world view in particular. It emphasizes that the material and the spiritual as integral parts of the one reality. The human world uwa mmadu and the spirit world uwa mmuo dovetail into each other, mutually influencing each other. The term mmadu, the generic term for human being, is often used as antonym of mmuo spirit. The view that everything there is has visible and invisible, spiritual and material sides is most manifest in the understanding of man, understood as a composite being made up of spiritual and material aspects. Ikenga-Metuh554 quickly notes in this regard, that this understanding of the composite nature of man is devoid of the dualism characteristic of the body-soul conflict in western thoughts. Sharing with most other religions the belief in a creator God, Chukwu Okike, who is spirit and responsible for all that is, the Igbo believe that the human being is created by God. In his composite nature as body and spirit, the spiritual and the corporeal are unified in him. and volume sink. The consequence becomes the irreversible damage of the organs of blood circulation. The end result is obvious – death. This theory, showing the enormous damage intensive fear brings about, has been confirmed in traumatized war victims. Retrospective application to the magic scenario of “primitive” societies further confirms its plausibility. 553 Cf. C.O. Ukeh, 2007, 259. 554 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1981, 85–86.

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It is little wonder that in Igbo ontology, man perceives himself as the centre of the universe, ably relating to the various dimensions of the universe that find themselves constituting him. He is a microcosm of the entire reality, as buttressed by the constituent principles of man, viz, the heart Obi – man’s life force linking him with the cosmic forces; spirit – Mmuo, ‘the real self ’ directly created by the creator, Chi – the destiny-spirit – the spark of the creator in man and determinant of man’s personal destiny; Eke – the ancestral guardian, linking man to his clan’s life-force.555 This understanding sees Igbo world view as anthropocentric, and his representations of the spiritual realities anthropomorphic. Ontologically, he is a force to be reckoned with within the plethora of forces the universe is perceived to be, and with which he relates. Socially, his being plays out in the balance between his uniqueness as a person and moreso as a member of his society in whose collective identity he shares. In Igbo understanding a person is defined from the group to which he belongs – family, kindred, clan, and tribe. This social life plays out in the three cycle of birth, living out one’s destiny, and reincarnating after death. The role of the spirits in this cycle includes the determination of the destiny of the person at birth, guiding him through the various stages of life, being his mouth-piece/representative in the relationship to other spirits. Man has, in turn, the responsibility of proper relationship with these spirits. In this anthropocentric understanding, however, man recognizes he is not the master of the universe. He acknowledges the superiority of the spirit world, even as his regard for the spirits and deities is dictated more by the amount of influence they are perceived to have in his life. On this account Igbo traditional religion consists in seeking continued harmonious relationship with the spirit beings, these citizens of the invisible world, believed to be always in action around him, and who he is “condemned” to appease so as to guarantee his wellbeing. It is with the thoughts of this relationship to the spirit world in the cyclic process of life in Igbo understanding that the issues of the ancestors arise, the living-dead, these former human beings who are now in another sphere of existence, further bridging the gap between the human and spirit worlds.

5.3.1  Ex-corporate beings (2) – the Ancestors In our earlier discussion of the non-human spirits we dealt with the sub-category Akaliogeli, characterised as ex-corporate spirit (1) (cf. 5.2.1.3). The categorisation of the ancestors as ex-corporate spirit (2) not only calls to mind the relationship between these, but also and more importantly establishes the differences 555 Cf. ibid., 87–90; see also idem, 1991, 112.

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between them. Unlike the Akaliogeli, the wondering spirits of dead human beings, condemned to such homelessness on the grounds of their unwholesome life, death and burial circumstances, the ancestors in Igbo settings are the good dead fore-fathers of particular families, clans etc. Having lived meritorious lives, died in ripe old ages and received befitting burial rites, circumstances that now accord them the respectful place in the abode of the dead, the fore-fathers are thought to constitute another category in the spirit world. They are necessarily spirits, having shed in death the corporeal component of their humanness. The general Igbo term for them Nna nnaa ha/Ndiichie – the fore-fathers communicates both the idea of familial relationship that is continuous, as well as the sense of reverential distance that brings out the generational gap. Though dead, they are considered living-on in a special spirit form. This is because in traditional African understanding, death is not necessarily the end of life but a transition to another order of living, an understanding that have given rise to the term the living-dead556 - disincarnate human spirits. The specific difference in the Igbo understanding of ancestors as the living-dead is that it is reserved to worthy founders of families or clans, as the case may be, and not to every dead with whom particular families or clans have had contact. In this categorisation, “Ancestors are therefore people who have made it to the spirit-land and are being venerated by their descendants.”557 In their living-dead status they traverse the human and spirit worlds, constituting intermediaries between these worlds. These are the world of the spirits to whom they are ontologically nearer, and the human world they had been part and parcel of. They are understood to be custodians of the affairs, traditions and mores of their families and clans. They constitute the invisible police of their communities, providing security, warning about impending dangers, as well as dealing punishments on deserving offenders. This is the raison d’être of masquerades as ‘ancestral spirits’, intended to serve as manifestations of the ancestors.558 Similar to other spirits, every effort is made to be at peace with the ancestors, to solicit and ensure their benevolence. This gave rise to what has come to be known 556 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1971, 82–85. As ordinary human beings they are dead. But they liveon as spirits, identifying with their wards in the various familial or community circumstances. 557 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 120. 558 Apart from the carved masks worn by the masquerades who are believed to be the visiting spirits of the living-dead, E. Ikenga-Metuh is aware of Okpossi – miniature wood carving found at the domestic ancestral shrine, and Nkwu Mmo – stature of an ancestor) as symbols of the ancestors. Cf. ibid., 14–18.

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as ‘ancestral cult’, with the attendant misunderstanding that the label ‘ancestor worship’ often communicates. This veritable aspect of African traditional religion, that does in no way rival the worship rendered to God,559 is the bid to foster a continued father-son, children-parents relationship that death does not severe. No wonder the ancestors are not only part and parcel of the daily lives of their families and communities. Such relationships are serviced through the pouring of libations. They are invited at the breaking of cola-nuts, at meals and festivities of the family or community. They are believed to sometimes make their way back to the human world through re-incarnation in their descendants. Note is to be taken, however, that despite their benevolent dispositions, it is also believed that they can bear grudges and take revenge on the living if disobeyed or neglected. This could be in the forms of various maladies and misfortunes, including set-backs, sickness or even death. A critical attention to these beliefs would show them as constituting traditional explanations for fortunate and unfortunate occurrences and experiences.560 Our interest, however, is more on the background of such understandings that have turned into/made spirit the memory of, and relationship to these categories of beings. The held existence of the living-dead/ancestors among the Igbo, spiritized as they have come to be, represents, in our opinion, man’s struggle with the phenomenon of death. It is his unwillingness to vanish into nothingness, an original resistance to the temptation to, and frustration of nihilism. Despite, and in the face of the inevitability of death, which in African (Igbo) settings is almost always attributed to external causes with human influence – magic, sorcery, the living-dead, spirits – immortality has always been sought. Igbo world view responds to this quest through, and in the Living-dead category. Man continues to “give himself life” and relevance in the living-dead/ancestor mode of existence. The establishment of this mode of existence seeks to get above merely existing in the memories of loved ones. It provides for some more concrete expressions of this memory in the form of identification as spirits. The paradox of not knowing what these spirits actually are has never been the worry. Belief in them and the purposes they are accepted to serve, enhanced by the religious socio-familial contacts to them, is seen to have overtaken such critical concerns. On-going awareness of their presence and the familial relationship to them assist to overcome the disruption that death would be.

559 Cf. G. Parrinder, 1951, 216–218; see also E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1985, 92–96. 560 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1971, 155–156.

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By ensuring such continued respectful relationship with and to his forebears, the individual Igbo is also making provision for his own future too. He would die like every other mortal with the hope to be respectfully related to as well, and not suffer the apparently difficult-to-imagine experience of sinking into oblivion. This thought counters in very remarkable ways the loss death is supposed to be. Having overcome the limitations of space and time, in this new mode of existence, the living-dead become better placed to assume and perform even better the duties they had hitherto carried out - providing for their families and communities. Over and against Mbiti’s argument that “…viewed anthropocentrically, the ontological mode of the spirits is a depersonalisation and not a completion or maturation of the individual,…”561 Igbo cosmology, in its belief that the human personality survives the death and decay of the body, rather extends the establishment of its anthropocentricity here. For, “…the final end of and aspiration of every Igbo is to reach the spirit-land of his ancestors, to be venerated by his descendants as an ancestor, and eventually to reincarnate.”562

5.4 Traditional Religion – linking the human and the numinous The understanding of universe as visible and invisible, as human and spirit worlds that interact with and influence each other, readily underlines the place and meaning of religion in the traditional Igbo cosmology. Having already noted that Igbo cosmology is a religious cosmology, suffice it to reiterate here that this religiousness is borne out in enhancing the relationship between these two worlds – the human and the spirit worlds. The basic acceptance of the reality of the Supreme Being is the principal factor in Igbo traditional religion. All there is come from him, and depend on him for life and sustenance. The traditional Igbo would not merely profess a belief in God. He rather affirms his existence: Chukwu di – God is! Over and above the Deus absconditus phenomenon that is often suspected to summarise the Igbo (African) understanding of the Supreme Being, the traditional Igbo is aware of God’s presence in his daily practical life, even when his religious practices seem to busy themselves more with divinities, deities and spirits, ancestors etc. An explanation for this preponderance is offered by the fact that the traditional Igbo (African), seeking explanation for his varying levels of experiences, did so in concrete terms. These attempts at discovering and concretizing the 561 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1971, 79. 562 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, op. cit., 120.

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influencing factors of his daily experience gave rise to such objects of belief being perceived as models explaining these varying levels of experience.563 F.A. Arinze, articulating the constituents of Igbo traditional religion notes that, These people believed in God, in one God. And they believed in spirits – good and bad spirits. A very important constituent of this religion was the belief in the ancestors, i.e. the link with the forefathers who did live good lives in the past. This religion was expressed in worship, in the reverence to the good spirits and the ancestors. This is a summary of that, which we call African Traditional Religion.564

There is no doubt this understanding applies even more directly to the Igbo when one notes that F.A. Arinze is an Igbo, and must have been argued from that point of view. Note is also to be taken of the fact that religion, in this traditional understanding, is not merely an individual or family affair. It is a community engagement, lived out in Igbo strong community sense of worship. Having adopted the understanding of religion as the relationship between the transcendent and man as manifest in the world of his own experience (5.1.1), and given the anthropocentric understanding of the universe in Igbo cosmology, there is little doubt what and how this relationship would be like. The major function of religion would then be about linking the human and the numinous, effecting and servicing this relationship. Since the transcendent is not known for what he is, natural phenomena and objects become associated with him as means of his immanence. Perceiving him as the source of all that is and upon whom he depends, man in Igbo traditional religion, does all he can to maintain proper relationship with the numinous to ensure his sustenance. He is conceived, spoken of, and related to in anthropomorphic terms, relationship that amounts to worship and plays out in sacrifices and propitiations.565 His experience of hierarchy is readily projected unto these transcendental spheres. The ambivalence of deities and spirits become attempts at making sure every aspect of his experience, perceived to be under the control of a member of this hierarchy or the other, is taken care of. E. Ikenga-Metuh rightly notes that “…a lot more of the spirits which constitute the dominant feature of Igbo religious cults, are personifications of natural forces, phenomena of interests, of considerable importance to the survival and well being of the Igbo…”566

563 564 565 566

Cf. ibid., ix. Cf. F.A. Arinze, 1970, vii. Cf. ibid., 111. Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1986, 138.

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Given the above, one sees that religion in the Igbo traditional setting had a different role. As the central pre-occupation is survival and personal well-being in a world experienced to be replete with capricious, benevolent, as well as malevolent spirits, the major goal of his religious endeavours is to keep these deities and spirits in check. This is sought via positiva through friendship or via negativa through abeyance, expressed in sacrifices. This form of understanding has led to the appreciation of Igbo traditional religion as more or less utilitarian. However, we may note that this character is not peculiar to the Igbo traditional religion. It is rather typical of most traditional religions as expressed in the formula do ut des with which the contractual nature of religion of ancient Rome, for instance, is articulated. The peculiarity of Igbo traditional religion in this aspect would be the disposition of the traditional Igbo to have nothing to do with any deity he perceives as irrelevant to his intimate personal interest in his daily affairs. Any deity he may have recognised, but who proves inefficient by failing him when he needed him, is done away with. The theological implications of such dispositions would be enormous. It raises, for instance, the question about the actual divinity or not of such, and about the powers attributed to them. One may not be wrong to ask whether it was man who made god or vice versa! However, providing what may be considered a succinct summary of the understanding of Igbo traditional religion, and at the same time opening up the field about the issues of religious personnel, Ikenga-Metuh writes: “Igbo traditional religion consists in maintaining a harmonious relationship between the visible and invisible worlds; hence the importance of the three institutions – Divination, Afa, Medicine-man, Dibia, and sacrifice, Aja.”567 These institutions function as agents of traditional religion through which the harmonious relationship between the two worlds are sought or established as the case may be, in the bid to guarantee human well-being.

5.4.1 The Agents of Igbo (African) Traditional Religion – Diviner, Medicine-man, Priest Divination, the act of deciphering the particular spirit(s) that is/are responsible for a particular experience or the other, as well as how to propitiate it/them and be freed from the experience, is the work of a diviner – dibia afa. The diviner, believed to have come to his vocation by being possessed by the spirit Agwu – the patron spirit of divination – becomes the eye through which the invisible spirits are ‘seen’ – anya eji afu mmuo. His chief instrument is Afa, the four strings of four 567 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 24.

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half-shells of the kernels of ujuru (irivinga gabonensis) or those of the almond (pterocarpus osun), with cowrie shells at the ends of the strings.568 By casting the strings in the appropriate circumstances, rituals and other paraphernalia, he accesses the spirit world and communicates with the spirit beings. The minds of the spirits in consultation are interpreted from the positions of the shells when the afa strings are cast. By these means the diviner provides the information sought from him. Such information includes the interpretations of the mysteries of life, conveying the message of the gods, seeing into the past and the future, and offering guidance in daily affairs. A. Ribi shares similar understanding when he refers to the shaman as the master of spirits, noting that “In spirit-mediumship the spirits mediate the power of divination, providing information about the future and about matters removed from ordinary perception. They mediate between the spirit world and men…”569 In such settings characterised with the search for well-being and mastery of human conditions against the background of the belief that life and all about it are under the influence of the invisible spirit beings and forces, the importance of the diviner cannot but be enormous. The diviner is the first to be consulted before major decisions are taken, or when misfortunes strike etc. He/she is indispensable in the life of the traditional Igbo. Having diagnosed, as it were, what has brought about the situation, especially in the case of the misfortune of sickness, the role of the next institution in Igbo traditional religion/ world view sets in. This is the field of the medicine-man/ woman. This is the herbalist – dibia mgborogwu na mkpa akwukwo, whose role in the health issues in the traditional Igbo environment cannot be over-emphasized. With his knowledge of roots and herbs he comes to the aid of the sick to provide cure. Since sicknesses are perceived to issue from the spirit forces, either as punishment for an offence or as warning, the medicine man has his means of reaching out to the spirit world. This he does, only to know the appropriate mixture but also to conjure the spirits so as to ensure the efficacy of his medication. In such cases he may recommends sacrifices to be made for such propitiations. Another class of the medicine-men/women operate on the terrains of magic. They provide protective charms against evil forces or ‘assault missiles’ against enemies. Some prepare charms that are believed to be capable of impacting positively on people’s lives by influencing their destinies – to attract fortune: fertility, health, and relationship matters etc.

568 Cf. ibid., 176; see also F.A. Arinze, 1970, 64ff. 569 Cf. A. Ribi, “Demons: Psychological Perspectives”, in: ERE 4 (1987), 288–292 (290).

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We have argued above that Igbo traditional religion is about fostering the relationship between the numinous and the human in the understanding that life is about the interaction between the invisible and visible forces. This relationship finds vivid expression in sacrifices, as a means of securing the good-will and favour of these superior beings. Offering sacrifice is the duty of the priest in Igbo traditional religion as in every other. However, the understanding of a priest in Igbo traditional religion spells out some uniqueness. He is understood as “a person who holds a culturally recognised status and role in society as the official minister of a particular spirit or spirits, mmuo, which has a shrine and an organised cult.”570 The importance of priest, in its various categories,571 in Igbo traditional religion is summarised in the understanding of his place and role as isi/eze mmuo/arusi – head of spirit cults. We note that the term “spirits” here is used as general reference to deities and other spirit-forces (Arusi). It becomes obvious that the priest of the highest deity in a particular setting plays enormous roles in the life of the setting. He is both the caretaker of the god in question as well as his mouth-piece. As one who “carries a deity”, he partakes of the reverence owed the particular god. He is looked upon as the ‘father’ of all the members of the community under the patronage of the particular deity. He is a man astride two worlds, okala mmadu okala mmuo, in whose person and office a lot is brought to bear about the relationship to the gods. In most Igbo societies where no central political authority is found, his position has political implications too. He must, however, be careful not to overestimate himself or his god. He may be embarrassed by the god in the capriciousness that characterises the spirit world, and be punished for overstepping his bounds. The community may also decide to abandon him and his god in crisis situation, and turn to another that has proved more efficient.572 570 Cf. G.T. Basden, 1938, 53, quoted by E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 168. 571 Outside the personal priestly functions every adult male takes up in his devotion to his personal chi, there is the Okpara – the father/eldest incharge of the family ancestral shrine, the Isi/Eze mmuo – head of the spirit-cults, who is responsible for the shrine of major god/spirit of the. There is the Ezealain charge of the earth goddess, this main stay of Igbo traditional religion. There is then the Eze Nri, the priest-king of Nri, the ancestral religious home of the Igbo. Cf. ibid. 572 This is eloquently presented by C. Achebe, in one of his popular novels Arrow of God in the character Ezeulu, priest of Ulu. We may note here on the issues of how one gets to being a priest though it is not directly within the scope of our interest here. It is hereditary in the sense of the gods making a choice of a successor from among the sons or relations of the incumbent. The extra interests by the believedchosen in the affairs of the priestly job become signs to assist the keen eyes of the

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Such situations generate rivalry and competition among priests of various gods. Another source of friction is the fact that a priest can be a medicine-man, a diviner etc. Whereas a medicine-man or a diviner, respected as he is in his own capacity, must not be a priest. Such a concentration of offices in a person no doubt becomes a source of immense power and attendant respect. In such position he divinizes the minds of the gods, can be approached for cures and magical remedies, and obviously for sacrifices. It is therefore little wonder that in such a world replete with spirits who are dreaded in their unprecedented capriciousness as sources of fortune and misfortune, the hegemony of medicine-men and whatever promises to be of assistance in bringing them under control would be unending.

Summary It is within the presentation of the Igbo world view as a perception of reality in complementary dualities, in pairs of interactive concepts that the issues of its spirit world views emerge. In the traditional Igbo compenetrating perception of the universe as visible and invisible is given concretion from the anthropocentric point of view as uwa mmuo na uwa mmadu – the world of the spirits and the world of human beings. An examination of the world of the spirits presents God, as the Supreme Being, and his associates as other divinities and deities. The spirits became located in the ontological mode of existence, between the Supreme Being, on one extreme, and man on the other. In Igbo settings, like other African settings, the world is populated by myriads of spirits, whose influence are felt in every aspect of life. Little wonder that they are thought to be as many as there are aspects of life. It is however a paradox that no distinctive image(s) of these spirits is/are available, a circumstance that contributes to their legendary awe and fame. A closer examination of this claimed or generally accepted mode of existence, however, reveals that they are fundamentally personifications of the divine activities in the traditional Igbo man’s bid to make immanent the transcendent in order to enable a relationship. In addition, they are personifications of major objects of natural and other phenomena that are experienced, and are essential for the his survival. J.S. Mbiti gives a critical evaluating summary of these summations thus: These mythological figures of a spiritual nature are on the whole men’s attempts to historicize what is otherwise ‘timeless’, and what man experiences in another context

priest in confirming the choice. His training is more by proximity and observation. At the death of the incumbent priests he underscores some rituals of initiation and becomes installed and imbued with the priestly paraphernalia. Cf. F. Arinze, 1970, 70; C.O. Ukeh, 2007, 280.

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as divinities. They explain customs, ideas or institutions whose origin is otherwise lost to historical sight, in the oblivion of the Zamani period. The explanation is an unconscious attempt to bring into Sasa a phenomenon which is either difficult to grasp or shrouded with the mystery which covers it as it sinks deeper into the Zamani reality.573

The Igbo world in the bid to grapple with the conditio humana, the uncontrollable powers of nature, imbued these with the spirit nature. This was an expression of the awe with which they are perceived and related to. It is often the case that experiences that are beyond his immediate explanations, that he cannot immediately handle, become mystified. They become spirits or spirit directed. The positive experiences are attributed to the good spirits, ezi mmuo. The negative experiences of misfortune, illness, childlessness, death, etc. are readily attributed to one bad spirit, ajo mmuo, or the other. Evolving ways of relating to, and/or dealing with these spirits became the issues of the magico-religious orientations in the Igbo traditional religion. The goal is more or less ensuring human survival and well-being. This is why sacrifice is a very prominent aspect of Igbo traditional religion. Since man perceives spirits as readily available and very influential to his life, as more powerful than himself and in control of his world, he seeks by such means to be in good terms with the spirits or at least, to keep them off his heels. The quest for power and for some measure of control over his fate sees man evolving various means of approaching the spirit phenomena. This function is fulfilled in Igbo traditional cosmology and religion by the diviner, medicineman, priest, as presented above. In such a setting where the world is perceived to be populated with spirits, dangerously capricious as they are, and having as it were every aspect of life under their influence, one would not wonder that such functions find ready patronage. This traditional background founded the disposition upon which the experience of Christianity in the Igbo (African) settings took place. The Christianity experienced did not, either by commission or omission, do away with such cultural dispositions regarding the spirit world beliefs. The situation would be similar to C.E. Arnold’s view with regard to the background of the letter to the Ephesians. Noting the popularity of magical practices in the Hellenistic world of the 1 AD, he is convinced that the Ephesian converts to Christianity did not automatically drop their inclinations to the old practices. This, according to him, prompted the cosmic Christology concerns of the letter, and the replete occurrence of related power language in the letter. The implications of Eph cosmic

573 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1971, 78.

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Christology is that it serves as a most powerful alternative to the magical power issues of the time and circumstance.574 In the Igbo (African) traditional religion-Christian experience there seems to be more of transference of the traditional allegiance to a different centre. This is manifest in the challenges the New Religious Movements and African Independent churches pose to the so-called traditional/mainstream churches both in doctrinal issues (where they obtain at all) and more on the issues of faith practices. Syncretism is the order of the day. Such challenges lead to malapropism with regard to the use of the Bible. There are also increasing uncertainties in the self-understanding of the person and role of the priests/pastors, leading, for instance, to the proliferation of healing, prophetic ministries of every kind. The orthodoxy of doctrine and praxis are sacrificed to quackery, all in the bid to find forge anew in the religious figure of contemporary circumstance the priest, diviner, medicine-man image and function. Some more attention to these issues is intended at a later part of this work. In this regard, L.N. Mbefo observes that while “our pre-Christian ancestors sought out Arochukwu and the Igwekala of Umunoha. Indications today are that priests engaged in healing ministry have replaced without displacing the recourse to these traditional oracles.”575 It is in such settings that immediate recourse is often made to Eph and its penchant on principalities and authorities. This becomes interpreted in the light of the plethora of spirits in the Igbo religious cosmology. It founds and fans the fears of the people, and provides justification for the “exorcisms” that are believed to be needed or conducted. Are such interpretations right? What may be wrong with such approaches? The next chapter, undertaking some textual and exegetical considerations, searches for some answers to these questions.

574 Cf. C.E. Arnold, 1989, 38–40; see also idem, “Ephesians, Letter to the”, in: DPL (1993), 247. 575 Cf. L.N. Mbefo, 1996, 67.

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Section Three: Hermeneutical And Exegetical Appraisals

Chapter Six 6.1 New Testament Hermeneutics576 and exegetical considerations Hermeneutics is generally understood as the technical term for the art of interpretation.577 This understanding stems from its association with the ancient Greek messenger-god Hermes, and to the function of interpreting. This background sees the term imbedded in the fields of the sacred. Despite its place in the communication-enhancing task of translating foreign languages between interlocutors, its link with the sacred came to be its distinctive feature (cf. 0.5). This may be considered the true origin of the consideration of theology as hermeneutics,578 in the light of its being imbedded in knowledge, which in turn is interpretation. Theology, in general, is understood as methodic reflections about God. Originating from religious experiences and maturing into (scientific) articulations, theology remains the attempts at interpreting and re-interpreting these encounters and symbols. Through these means it enables the emergence of meanings and traditions, diversifying into various specifications.579 The development of hermeneutics into the classic understanding as the methodic or scientific approach to the interpretation and understanding of texts, 576 Klaus Berger differentiates between New Testament hermeneutics and hermeneutics of the New Testament in his criticism of Hans Weder’s approach as seemingly implying the non-inclusion of OT considerations. Our use of the expression here does not involve such differentiation. We understand them as referring to one and the same issue. Cf. K. Berger, 1988, 15–16. 577 On problems regarding the ambiguity associated with the term “Hermeneutics”, and the developments that came to be articulated as revision and expansion of the term “hermeneutics”, see A.C. Thiselton, 1980, 10–23; see also W. Schenk, „Hermeneutik. III. Neues Testament”, in: TRE 15 (1993), 144–150. 578 M. Leiner would understand theology in this light, as the science which, by means of various methods and in various subjects, seeks to serve the proclamation of the gospel. Cf. idem, „Dem Evangelium die Seele wiedergeben? Grundsätzliche Fragen einer Psychologie des Urchristentums”, in: G. Theißen & P. von Gemünden, (Hg.), 2007, 43; see I.U. Dalferth, Theologie als Interpretationspraxis, 2004. 579 An elaborate treatment of theology as hermeneutics and the diversifications of theology is outside the scope of this work. However, for more on the topic see among others, J. Putti, Theology as Hermeneutics. 1994; H. Hübner, 1995; I.U. Dalferth, Radikale Theologie. 2010; P. de Letter & W.J. Hill, “Theology, History of “, in: NCE 13 (2003), 902–918;

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speeches, art works, pieces of music, etc., even when it widened out unto secular settings, retained the fundamental association to religious settings. The ancient texts of prominence in those settings were no doubt the works of Homer, the Hebrew and Greek versions of the Scriptures of Israel, and the Christian Bible as Old and New Testament. Little wonder Webster’s Third New International Dictionary responds to the question ‘what is hermeneutics?’ thus: “the study of the general principles of interpretation and explanation; specific; the study of the general principles of biblical interpretation.” It is in this context of the classical understanding of hermeneutics, especially as applied to the Bible, that the general understanding of biblical hermeneutics as the science of biblical interpretation is located. New Testament hermeneutics, in particular, subsists within its ambience, even as it (hermeneutics) was made the primary task of theology. J. Putti argues in this light, that Theology’s task is being seen, more and more, as bringing out, especially in this age of change and upheaval, the eternal significance of the Word of God for the world today, rather than as the scrupulous transmission of the tradita… Theology is hermeneutics, first of all, because its task is to interpret the texts of the faith in the light of today’s questions so that they become relevant for the contemporary world. It is hermeneutics in a second sense, because the texts of faith theology it is called to interpret, namely, Scripture and tradition, are already an interpretation.580

However, over and against the wider understanding of hermeneutics as the theory of interpretation within which the difference is made between the truth claims of a statement and its actual meaning that is derivable from the historical point of view, G. Wieland argues that theological hermeneutics is rather the correlation of meaning and truth.581 It is the quest for this correlation that really earmarks the task and relevance of hermeneutics. The meaning from the historical perspectives addresses the circumstances of the present, and establishes the truth of the message being communicated. With regard to NT hermeneutics which O. Wischmeyer defined as the science of the adequate understanding and interpretation of the NT texts, as well as the possibilities of, and the appropriate conditions for their proper understanding and interpretation,582 two important issues emerge. These are the issues of the 580 Cf. J. Putti, 1994, 262–263; see also K. Berger, 1999, 5. 581 Cf. G. Wieland, „Hermeneutik I. Begriff u. Geschichte“, in: LThk3 5 (1996),1–3. 582 Cf. O. Wischmeyer, 2004, 3; see also eadem, „Hermeneutik. II. Neutestamentlich”, in: LBH, 246–248. The allegiance of this definition of hermeneutics to the foundational work laid by the father of modern hermeneutics, F.D.E. Schleiermacher, whose radical contribution lay in the shifting of the central focus of hermeneutics

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theoretical prerequisites as well as the practical orientations of the hermeneutical endeavour, in the sense of contemporarisation. This has earlier been noted by G. Schunack for whom NT hermeneutics is the science that concerns itself with the understanding, the interpretation and responsible communication of NT texts, in the awareness of the texts as products of already consummated hermeneutic experiences in the Christological re-interpretations of God’s plan of salvation.583 This is on the grounds of the most basic presupposition upon which biblical hermeneutics in general is built. This general basic principle of hermeneutics is identified as being the acquiescence that God is for, and not against the human person, despite the experiences of dissonance, the reality of sin as the most abysmal irritation and corruption of understanding.584 Upon this, therefore, the sacred texts are seen to have very much to do with the elementary phenomena of experience, experience of the world, the world order and related subjects through which the Transcendent (God) allows a glimpse of itself (himself). Biblical message shows inference from, and refers to them (phenomena of experience). One would, however, not lose sight of the individuality, of the contingence of these experiences that is perceived in NT texts as summed up in Jesus Christ.585 The importance of serious attention to the language of these articulations, their cultural and historical contents, cannot be over-emphasized. For human experience is basically lingual. Such understanding aids the overcoming of the age-old contestations that sought the relinquishing of exegesis as mere text-linguistic and philological exercise, as the art of deciphering the intended meaning of a given biblical text from the meaning of texts to the consideration of the very possibility and conditions of understanding, is clear. Cf. A.J. Godzieda, “Hermeneutics”, in: NCE 6 (2003), 786ff. 583 Cf. G. Schunack, „Hermeneutik. III. Neues Testament“, in: RGG4 3 (2000), 1651– 1652. U. Schnelle, appreciating the hermeneutic experiences that NT texts present, notes that the texts and the authors had their various perspectives on the common central figure Jesus Christ. The generated multi-perspectives enable faith, thought and action. Cf. idem, 2007, Vorwort. 584 Cf. ibid.; see also K. Berger, 1999, 210–211. 585 Cf. H. Weder, „Biblische Theologie. Konturen und Anforderungen aus hermeneutischer Perspektive“, in: JBTh 25, 2010, 19–40(35–36); see also H. Hübner, „Was ist existentiale Interpretation?“ in: A. Labahn & M. Labahn, (Hg.), 1995, 229–251. W. Schenk understands hermeneutics in this light as the interpretation of the text in question as the “Word of God” that has taken place in Jesus, as „Sprachlehre des Glaubens”. Cf. idem, op.cit. 147.

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through analysis of words with presumed abstraction from any faith instance.586 This also includes the tendency to understand theology merely as use of biblical text for pastoral purposes.587 Despite the essential differences between exegesis and application, the strength of their complementary relationship has continued to be recognized and encouraged as indispensable in the pursuit of the truth of the word of God. Care is, however, taken to note the tendencies to, and the facts of misuse. Most importantly, exegesis, affording some critical distance to the text, enables the discovery of new, immense richnesses of the Scriptures, the possibilities for application and response to theological problems. NT hermeneutics, once thought to be merely concerned with establishing the relevance of ancient texts to contemporary life, became now understood as including exegesis as an integral part of the interpretative process.588 Hence NT hermeneutics, in its bid to adequate understanding and interpretation of NT, is not isolated from other fields of biblical study. Its process includes exegesis and its fundamental tools – form, textual and historical criticisms, even as they differ from each other. K. Berger, noting the fact that early Christian writers to whom the NT writings owe their origins engaged in radical hermeneutical encounter with the OT589 586 The difficulty of such supposition as well as the tendency of a radically opposite view to make nonsense of the importance of exegesis is pointed out by W. Schenk. He proposes reliance on the scientific methods with which exegesis operates as a way out of such dilemma. He sees in these scientific methods exegesis’ practice of love in the ethics of verifiability. Cf. W. Schenk, op.cit. 145–147. Note is to be taken, however, to understand that “faith” here is not only religious belief. It embraces fundamental positions. 587 Cf. K. Berger, 1999, 111–120; see also J. Schröter, „Wie theologisch ist die Bibelwissenschaft? Reflexionen über den Beitrag der Exegese zur Theologie“, in: JBTh 25 (2010), 85–104; M. Theobald, „Exegese als theologische Basiswissenschaft. Erwägungen zum interdisziplinären Selbstverständnis neutestamentlicher Exegese“, in: JBTh 25 (2010), 105–139. 588 Cf. W. Schenk, op.cit. 148; see also U. Schnelle, 2007, 20–22. 589 Cf. K. Berger, 1999, 5. The author uses the very strong expression rabulistisches Ausschlachten – to exploit, to cannibalize (in very radical ways) – to describe the use the early Christian writers, following the rabbinic systems of the time, made of the OT scripture LXX to present their message. O. Wischmeyer would rather refer to such encounter as hermeneutical usages of OT texts, approaches that eventually saw the NT texts become, for subsequent generations, word of God, theology. Cf. eadem, 2004, 7–10, 25–26. See also K. Berger, 1999, 120–135. Some examples of such use resurrection of kerygma in 1 Cor 15:4 (Acts13:32–33) where the OT Scriptures being referred to may have included among others, Is 55:3; Ps16:10; Hos 6:2 etc.

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in their reading and interpretation of the LXX in the light of the Christ event, writes: Exegesis is the scientific-descriptive approach to the text, involving the whole of the philological and historical methods, and inter-subjective verifiability. Application has to do with applying the text to the present situation. Hermeneutics is the attempt to scientifically establish the two approaches to the text and their relationship to each other... Hermeneutics is not the process of application itself, rather its scientific presentation in the sense of showing coherence and substantiations.590

Sharing similar view, P.J. Achtemeier distinguished exegesis from interpretation. He argued that while the former denotes inquiry into the meaning which a text had for its author and its original readers, the latter concerns itself with present meaning for today. Hermeneutics formulates rules and methods that facilitate the movement from exegesis to interpretation; it reflects not only about application of biblical texts, but also the very pre-requisites for such understanding, as well as the responsibility of exegesis.591 In this understanding of hermeneutics as scientific presentation showing coherence and substantiation in the light of the application process and endeavour, one sees a highlighting and development of the position of Schleiermacher, this father of modern hermeneutics, with regard to the place of the grammatical and the psychological, speech and thought, in the making of, as well as in the bid to understand a text.592 The orientation to a hermeneutically responsible application to experiences of the present leads to multi-dimensional hermeneutics.593 Among them is psychological hermeneutics, the task of our next chapter. Meanwhile, we note that the process of NT hermeneutics, in the bid to access a proper understanding of the NT text in question, involves engagement with the NT language – the Koine Greek; for language, being the characterization of thought and the means of the

590 Cf. K. Berger, 1999, 110. Translation is mine! 591 Cf. P.J. Achtemeier, 1969, 13–14; T. Söding, „Hermeneutik. II. Biblische Hermeneutik“, in: LThk3 5 (1996), 3–6. 592 Cf. A.J. Godzieba, op. cit. 787–788. 593 Cf. G. Schunack, op.cit. 1652. These multi-dimensional developments are, however, very different from what K. Berger terms “new developments of hermeneutics” in the sense of “creative interpretation as (being) the hermeneutics of the moment”. Berger refers here to random individual attempts to make personal application of a text or the other to one’s personal circumstance(s). He rightly called the fundamentalism that is often a manifest feature of such, “a secularized form of religious individualism”. Cf. idem, 1999, 207. See also Cf. O. Fuchs, „Kriterien gegen den Mißbrauch der Bibel“, in: JBTh 12 (1998), 263–269

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expression of reality, is the primary phenomenon of expression and understanding. It determines and shapes perceptions of reality. Our engagement with language is done within the appreciation of the literary form or genre of the text in question, and in conscious consideration of the historical/cultural conditions and circumstances of the text. This is because there is no understanding without prerequisites. ‘The prerequisites to understanding’ (or precisely to interpretation) meant here is in no way a reference to the prioritization of one conceptual system of understanding or the other. The “prerequisites” here is in the sense of the preunderstandings, the conditions that influence one’s/people’s perception of reality.594 This refers to the circumstance(s) of the author(s), under/within which the text(s) was/were produced, the situation it was/they were intended to address, as well as the circumstance(s) of the addressed. O. Wischmeyer, noting the importance of an understanding of the language of the text as a first step in the hermeneutic endeavour, insists on the inadequacy of the attempt to understand a given NT text without reflective attention to its genre concerns.595 Our endeavour so far has been governed by the understanding of Eph as belonging to the Pauline (deutero) epistolary genre. This is the literary form in which the message of Jesus as the son of God is presented in the two parts of theology and paraenesis for the life of the individual Christian and for the entire Christian community/communities. Special attention has also been paid to the historical circumstances of Eph especially the influence of its world view, and the effects (Wirkungsgeschichte) of its articulations. We will now proceed with lexical-analytical attention to our verse of focus after some preliminary notes on the place of Eph 3:10 in the Eph epistolary genre framework.

6.1.1  Eph 3:10 within its Epistolary Genre Framework As one of the NT letters, Eph is traditionally categorized in the epistolary genre. In our earlier discussion of this form of communication in Chapter Three, Eph was seen as belonging to the Pauline Letter tradition. Though belonging to this tradition marked out by the Paul’s unique adaptation of the Graeco-Roman epistolary formulaic in a general three-tier system of Opening – Body – Closing, Eph proved to have its specific characteristics. This is mainly in the observed circular correspondence of the various parts of the letter to the other, giving it some stamp of unity and coherence (3.3.2). Our general analysis of Eph (3.3.2) showed 594 Cf. W. Schenk, op. cit., 146–147; U. Schnelle, 2007, 18–19. 595 Cf. O. Wischmeyer, 2004, 22–59.

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our verse of interest 3:10 - i[na gnwrisqh/| nu/n tai/j avrcai/j kai. tai/j evxousi,aij evn toi/j evpourani,oij dia. th/j evkklhsi,aj h` polupoi,kiloj sofi,a tou/ qeou/ - as falling within the Body of the Letter, specifically within is theological-doctrinal (indicative) aspect. This aspect running from 2:1 – 3:21 is linked to the paraeneticexhortative (imperative) aspect 4:1 – 6:9 by the Parakalw/… of 4:1. The attempt at some exegetical investigation of 3:10 therefore calls for an understanding of “Body of the Letter” as an aspect of the epistolary communication conventions that is of serious importance.

6.1.2  “Body of the Letter” Within the general understanding of letter body as functioning to convey the central information, information that includes the specific historical context(s) and purpose(s) of the letter in question, delineating Pauline letter body, in order to more establish such information more clearly, has constituted relevant issues of investigation in the epistolography in the 20th century. Response to the question ‘where does a letter body begin or where does it end?’ is to a large extent determined by default.596 This is by means of firstly determining the opening and closing of the letter under study, and then considering the rest as constituting the body. Such delineations, difficult in themselves regarding the problems of interpolations and partition theories, are however helped by the identifiable formulaic these parts of the epistolary form are generally acknowledged to have. Despite these aids, the much less straight jacket nature of letter bodies has not made it easier. The diversity of the contexts, of the purpose(s) of the Pauline letters generally, and moreso the pseudepigraphic Pauline letters particularly, account for such unspecific formulaic. Be that as it may, certain epistolary formulae have been identified in the body of ancient letters, and have been applied to the Pauline or pseudo-Pauline letters. Such include the Disclosure formula, Appeal formula, Confidence formula, Peri de formula, Ta de loipa formula.597 The disclosure/request formula that is often introduced with such phrase as “I want you to know that…” (Rom 1:13; 2 Cor 1:8; Gal 1:11; etc.) also admits some variations. In Eph the “einst-jetzt” formula presents the beginning of the

596 Cf. T.W. Martin, “Investigating the Pauline Letter Body: Issues, Methods, and Approaches”, in: S.E. Porter, & S.A. Adams, (ed.), 2010, 185–212 (187, 188). 597 Cf. J.A.D. Weima, „Letters, Greco-Roman“, in: A.E. Craig & S.E. Porter (eds.), 2000, 642–643; see also, C.J. Roetzel, 1988, cited by T.W. Martin, op.cit. 188. For C.J. ­Roetzel, the disclosure or request formula is a most frequently reoccurring pattern in Pauline letter body.

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major pieces of information the author wants to present to his audience. The author reminds his audience what their life looked like before, and what the grace of God has now made of it – you were once dead in your trespasses and sins (2:1)…but God has saved you by his grace (2:4,5). While the Appeal formula with its characteristics is seen to be typically presented in 4:1 with the use of Parakalw/, the confidence formula, expressing the author’s confidence with the emphatic use of the 1st person pronoun and the course of action expected of the recipients, may be seen to be presented in 3:1ff, and 4:17ff respectively. A clear presence of the Peri de formula, often serving as a topic marker and signaling response to an issue that had been raised formerly (cf. 1 Cor 7:1, 25; 1 Thess 4:9,13 etc.), is understandably absent given the impersonal and general character of Eph.598 The Ta de loipa (finally/for the rest) formula, itself a concluding transitional formula that may introduce the concluding subject matter to be attended to in the body of the letter (2 Cor 13:11; Gal 6:17; Phil 4:8, etc.), may be seen in Eph 6:10. The fact that it seems to serve here more as introduction of the Conclusio, becomes an attestation to the already noted difficulty in placing the letter bodies. It is perhaps such diverse, complex fluidity and transitional devices that led J.L. White to propose the existence of ‘body opening’ and ‘body closing’ in his analysis of Pauline letter body. Agreeing that body opening often begins with a disclosure formula, he submits that the body closing begins with an expression of the motivation for writing, as well as the statements of the recipients’ responsibility.599 H.-J. Klauck, however, assuages misunderstandings in this direction. While maintaining that the second major part of Eph runs from 4:1 – 6:20, he specifically cites 6:10–20, referred to as the military metaphor, as constituting the body closing.600 Eph 3:10, therefore, embedded in the pericope that began from 3:1, constitutes an essential part of the body middle. The confidence formula identified in Eph 3:1ff is made more forceful by the author by means of

598 For an understanding of what is meant by general here with regard to Eph see R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 20. It refers to a writing issuing from a universal church consciousness. Even though such writing is perceived to be addressed to the church in a particular region (Asia Minor), its thought content and exhortations are seen to be applicable to other areas. 599 Cf. J.L White, Form and Function of the Body of the Greek Letter (1972), cited by T.W. Martin, in: S.E. Porter & S.A. Adams, (ed.), 2010, 191–192; see also R. Schnackenburg, op.cit. 19. 600 Cf. H.-J. Klauck, 1998, 239. The opinio communis, which he also shares, is that 6:10 leads into the peroratio (3.3.3).

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refreshing the memory of the recipients of the letter on the ‘Paul’ that is the author.601 It is from this perspective that it is to be discussed.

6.1.3  Eph 3:10 in the light of body middle understanding In the theological-doctrinal part of the body of Eph that runs from 2: 1–3:21 (cf. 3.3.2), Eph 2:11–22 has been generally understood to constitute the centre of this epideictic part of the letter.602 It buttresses in clearer terms the contents of the salvific event that the einst-jetzt formula of 2: 1–10 had more or less introduced on some general notes. It presents the ecclesiological viewpoint of Eph, viz., the coming to be of this great umbrella of the one new humanity. That is the church made up of Jews and gentiles through the reconciliation wrought by Christ by his death on the cross. The church in this understanding becomes the objectified and unifying figure of the salvation wrought by Christ, this soteriological ecclesiology of Eph. It is however very important to the author of Eph to demonstrate that this salvific event is no chance occurrence. It is rather the eternal plan of God with which the author has busied himself in the Eulogy of Eph (1: 3–14). Manifestly showing thought-links with the Jewish election theology (Deut 7: 6–8), he gets beyond above the parochial or Jewish nationalistic understanding to a universal tone. He shows an understanding of this election as supratemporal even when it is experienced intratemporal in time and history. The kern of the manifestation gnwri,zw (v 9), the intratemporal experience of the God’s plan of salvation is the Christ event, the son of God, sent by God at the fullness of time to redeem the world (Gal 4:4). It is through him and in him evn Cristw/|603 that the plan of God

601 The difficulties of such detailed divisions have, however, been noted by K.S. Stowers and R.W. Wall. While the former observed that epistolary elements are more clearly seen at the beginnings and conclusions of letters, the latter argued that main body is often resistant to formal analysis. Cf. T.W. Martin, in: S.E. Porter & S.A. Adams (ed.), 2010, 194 (footnote 45). 602 Cf. R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 101–102; M. Gese, 1997, 107ff; G. Sellin, 2008, 62. The latter, leaning on other authorities in this field, would make bold to suggest that 2:11–22 is the central theology of Eph given the fact that the generally accepted theme of Eph – ecclesial unity – is fundamentally spelt out in that pericope. Cf. ibid, 243. 603 M. Barth sees in the Eph “in Christ” formula the expression of a summation, revelation and execution of God’s decision in the one person, the Messiah. Analogous to the mediationsof God’s will in the OT through such individuals like Abraham, Moses etc., the Christ event is the concentration of such mediations,

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is made known. An examination of this term of manifestation introduces the terminological investigations our verse of interest – 3:10.

6.2  Terminological overview and theological considerations 6.2.1  gnwrisqh/| The verb gnwri,zw “to make known”, used in 1:9 in its aorist participle form gnwri,saj “having made known”, and here in 3:10 as gnwrisqh|/ aorist subjunctive passive – “would/might be made known”, is an important word in the development of Eph thoughts. In the 25 times the verb gnwri,zw is noted to have occurred in NT, apart from Lk 2:15, 17; Jn 15:15; 17:26; Acts 2:28; 7:13, the rest of the occurrences are identified with Paul. In Eph and Col it features more strongly to underline the unique character of the Christian message as revelation.604 The passive presentation here in 3:10 is indicative of passivum divinum as we will later see in the study of dia. th/j evkklhsi,aj (6.2.3), showing that the real actor (though in the background) in the event of the making known is God.605 The expression “to make known” is surely related to knowledge, as attested to by R. Bultmann,606 who indicated that gnwri,zw is used in the LXX to translate the Hebrew word [dy – to know. This is in the sense of knowledge of God’s will and its manifestations. In this context it becomes a synonym to the word “to reveal”, bringing in the idea of “revelation” avpoka,luyij.607 This becomes clear with the immediate reference to to. musth,rion – the mystery.

604 605 606 607

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and, remarkably, unto universal dimensions. The author of Eph does not cite OT texts but uses its dictions, figures and elements to buttress his thoughts regarding the relationship between Christ and the faithful. Cf. idem, 1974, 107–108, 120; also on the use of OT texts in Eph see M. Gese, 1997, 101–104. However, Gese’s view that such use of OT texts by the Eph author is merely an extension of Pauline thoughts Weiterführungvon paulinischen Grundgedanken seem somewhat an undervaluation of the ingenuity of Eph author. Eph author shares some Pauline thoughts no doubt, but sets his unique accents. Cf. R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 50–51. Cf. O. Knoch, „gnwri,zw”, in: EWNT I (2011), 616–617. It is known that aorist in passive form also does have active meaning. Cf. J.A. Fitzmyer, “The Power of his Ressurection” in: A. Descamps, 1970, 411–425(414). Cf. R. Bultmann, „gnwri,zw”, in: ThWNT 1 (1933), 718–719. Cf. R. Schnackenburg, op. cit., 56, 351; G. Sellin, 2008, 101; see also T. Holtz, „avpoka,luyij”, in: EWNT I (2011), 312–317. See also M. Smith, “On the History of ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΠΤΩ and ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΙΣ”, in: D. Hellholm, (ed.), 1983, 9–19. For M. Smith, avpoka,luyij in the sense of the revelation of Jesus Christ in him, is the

The mystery, a central concept in this context, and no doubt one of the unique pillars of Eph theology,608 is known to have some theological history the background of which is traced to the Jewish apocalyptic literature among other traditions. Such include the classical and late prophets of Israel, the Qumran community, the Hellenistic mystery cults, Gnosticism etc. R. Hoppe, noting “the wisdom of God in mystery” as a major theme of Jewish-Hellenistic and Christian theology, sees it as an inheritance from the early Jewish apocalyptic. Understood as that beyond human understanding, over which one can say nothing, this inheritance, moving through Philo and then Paul, became an abiding interest for Pauline interpreters as is evidenced in Col and Eph.609 By the import of the concept of mystery, the Christ event clearly receives the character of total belongingness to the plan and will of God.610 However, the uniqueness of Eph (a uniqueness it shares with/from Col 1:26f in this regard) is that it does not talk of mysteries but the mystery. For Eph it is the Christocentric will of God Eph 1: 9–10 (1 Cor 1:24; 2: 7–10a), the lordship of Christ that has been made known, and now exemplified in the unity of Jews and gentiles in Christ (2:11–22; 3:5). It has assumed a universal and cosmic dimension, historic form and responsibility in, and through the church. Note is taken of the tacit change in the substance and content of the concept musth,rion in Eph. Whereas in the authentic Pauline letters the mystery is the Christ event revealed to Paul by the special grace of God (1 Cor 2: 1–2; 1 Cor 1:23; Gal 1:11,16; etc.), in Eph the substance of the mystery is more of a present reality, as evidenced in the inclusion of the gentiles in the promise of the gospel (3:6). H. Merklein sees this ecclesiological interpretation of the mystery of Christ as a unique feature of Eph among related thoughts in the apocalyptic tradition. Qumran community for instance, understood itself as eschatological

core of Paul’s life. The deutero-Pauline letters, sharing this view in terms of the importance of the terms in Paul’s work, slightly extended their meanings. Revelations became understood as means of solving present and past problems of the church – Eph1:7; 3:3ff etc. (17). 608 For H. Merklein the concept “mystery” is the theological hub of Eph not only in the sense of its interpretation in Eph but also in the sense of its being made known understood as the central concern of the letter. Cf. idem, 1973 (1), 210–215; 1973 (2), 9–11. 609 Cf. R. Hoppe, 2010, 175–192; M. Barth, 1974, 123–127; R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 56; G. Sellin, 2008, 101–102. See also, H. Krämer, „musth,rion”, in: EWNT II (2011), 1098–1105. 610 Cf. H. Merklein, 1973 (1), 211.

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community but never characterized itself as mystery as Eph does the church.611 According to M. Barth, The one mystery no longer exists in hiding… But in Ephesians Paul speaks he uses the word mysterion he has in mind a fact, not a method; an event, not a cryptic reason or operation. The fact and event he mentions is this: the one mysterion has been revealed, therefore it must be made known everywhere…, the gospel is its disclosure.612

The experienced unity of Jews and gentiles that the author presents serves as an example of the unity of the cosmos through and under Christ. The author feels called upon to buttress this. There is no knowledge of mystery unless it is revealed. It is the revelation that gives access to the knowledge of the mystery in question, a position Eph author clearly presents in 3:3 in his Pauline anamnesis. The words avpoka,luyij and gnwri,zw are featured. gnwrisqh|/ despite its passive tone, is in the context connotative of a continued responsibility, as is typical of the aorist and its use in expressing in absolute time. Being in the subjunctive mood, expressive of potential, possibility, the continuity of the responsibility is further underlined. The revelation has been made by God in Christ, and would continue to be made known. It is a process; the salvation process that culminates at the fullness of time, avnakefalaiw,sasqai ta. pa,nta evn tw/| Cristw/|( (1:10) the gathering of all things in heaven and on earth in Christ. This is in the sense of aorist eschatology and not in the sense of an event that merely lies in the future. It has been achieved in the eternal plan of God in the Christ event. Its continued realization in the intratemporal dimension of the earth and in the cosmic dimensions is the task of the church (3:10), based on the foundations of the apostle(s) and the prophets. The process nature is further underlined when the author presents this plan of God with the architectural image of construction. Taking reference from the architectural image of a physical edifice that is joined together, an expression that emphasizes the Eph concern about unity, he transcends to the spiritual dwelling place for God (2:21, 22; compare 1 Cor 3:10–16). Particular note is taken, in this regard, of the sense of on-going development that the words sunarmologoume,nh (participle present passive) au;xei (indicative future active) sunoikodomei/sqe (indicative present passive) convey. Having viewed this plan of God as a construction process, it becomes the preoccupation of the author to establish how this mystery is made known. This is the so-called 611 Cf. ibid., 214; see also R. Hoppe, 2010, 186. 612 Cf. M. Barth, 1974, 127.

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Revelations-schema, featuring the enormous influence of Col 1:24–29 in the Eph formulations.613

6.2.2  Excursus – Revelations-schema Eph revelation’s plan/pattern refers to the progressive programme through which the mystery of salvation came to be made manifest. Patterned after other Pauline (Rom 16:25b-26) and pseudo-Pauline (Col 1:26f) letters in a three-tier programme: a) hidden since ages (b) now revealed by God (c) made known to the present circumstances, Eph revelation pattern presents a two-tier approach. The (a) hidden nature of the mystery and (b) its revelation are brought together in 3:5f, and made the privilege and task of the apostles and prophets in the sense of the mission to the nations. On the other hand, the (a) hidden nature of the mystery and (c) its being made known are brought together in 3:9f; the emphasis is now turned to the cosmic dimensions as the addressee of the message through the agency of the church. The involved transference of responsibility to the church that this two-tier pattern brings to light is understood as a further demonstration of the pseudepigraphic nature of Eph. The time of the apostles (Paul inclusive) and the prophets lay in the past.614 The saints – the Christians as church (2 Cor 8:4; 9:1,12; Rom 15:25, 26; etc.) – have become the privileged recipients of the revelation and the consequent mandate to evangelize. Among these saints, the exalted place of the holy apostles and prophets (3:5) in the revelation programme is spelt out. It is not surprising that the place and role Paul in this knowledge and process is given topmost priority (3:3). After all, it is the person and authority of Paul as the Apostle of the gentiles that Eph author assumes. The revelation is made for a particular purpose, namely, to make known the wisdom of God in its rich variety to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places (3:10). From this perspective, the consideration of Eph 3: 1–13, the mother pericope within which our central verse of interest – 3:10 is located, as the development of Eph 1:9,615 becomes understandable. The ‘mother pericope’ (3: 1–13) of our verse of interest 3:10 presents the role of the author “Paul” in the salvific process – the communication of the mystery to the gentiles. He is no doubt a unique herald and interpreter of the mystery of

613 Cf. U. Luz, 1998, 143–145. The term “Revelations-schema” is credited to N.A. Dahl, „Formgeschichtliche Beobachtungen zur Christusverkündigung in der Gemeindepredigt“, in: W. Eltester (Hg.), Neutestamentliche Studien FS R. Bultmann, 1954. 614 Cf. M. Gese, 1997, 228–235; G. Sellin, 2008, 254–255. 615 Cf. ibid., 101.

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salvation that is brought to light through the church. Grammatically, this passage presents the typical monstrous build of long sentences characteristic of Eph – a deluge of thoughts, often disjointed, and whose internal logic and binding syntactic elements616 are not immediately obvious. V.1, initiated with a seldom but far reaching phrasal link - Tou,tou ca,rin in the sense of ‘on account of this’, introduces a reminiscence of the rhetoric confidence formulaic. It is meant to re-establish some note of familiarity between the authority and the person of “Paul”, and the recipients, and precisely in connection to the presentations in Eph 2:11–22. It initiates an anacoluth, which on account of its constitutive parentheses of different syntactical valuations is regarded by G. Sellin rather as digression. He maintains that it runs up to v 14 with the re-occurrence of tou,tou ca,rin as congruent.617 The two constitutive parentheses are v 2–7, and v 8–13. The different syntactical valuations are seen in the fact that v 2–7 constitute a dependent clause without a principal clause, a syntactical aberration as it were, while v 8–12 is a full sentence paralleling the first parenthesis. Different currents of thoughts and motives are seen to be stuffed in-between these verses. Apparently in a flurry of thoughts, the author seemingly overlooks the conventional grammatical correctness of his presentations. For instance, the thought sentence that began in v 1, and is seen to end in v 7, does not have a predicate. V 13 is a complete sentence constituting a semantic cross-over to another section of the letter (3:13–19) that spells out the intercessory intentions of the author. His major preoccupation seems to be to communicate his message as deeply rooted as possible in the authority of Paul. The Pauline anamnesis618 in 3: 1–12, given a special emphasis with the combined presentation of pronoun evgw,, and followed by the name Pau/loj, features couched allusions to the very beginnings of Paul’s vocation, the Damascus event that Paul himself recalls in Gal 1:1ff., and which are also presented by Luke

616 Cf. R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 146. See also R. Hoppe 2010, 186–189. 617 Cf. G. Sellin, 2008, 245; see also U. Luz, 1998, 143. The congruence existing between 3:1 and 3:14, and what follows to v19 gives the impression that the initial intention intercepted by the anacoluth/digression is the intercessory prayer offered for the recipients. This is reminiscent of the prayer intention in 1:15ff. 618 For A.T. Lincoln, the language of anamnesis in Eph constitutes one of the major ways the author pursues his goal of reinforcing the Christian identity of his audience in the symbolic world his constructs. Cf. idem, 1993, 91. M. Gese, rightly observes that this anamnesis is a demonstration of the Eph author’s awareness and use of other Pauline letters. The author’s interest is more on the office than on the person of Paul, the purpose being to reinforce his understanding of the importance of the apostle for the church. Cf. idem, 1997, 241ff. See also H. Merklein, 1973, 171.

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in Acts 9: 1–20. The Gal account is more interesting not merely because it is a personal account from Paul himself, the influence of the choice of words in the Eph allusion is clear.619 Paul is clear about the divine and revelatory origin of his vocation, and therefore the authenticity of his claim to apostleship Gal 1:1,11,15–16. He would not also hide his past life as a persecutor of the church of God Gal 1:13–14. This fact serves to underline both the enormity of God’s power in general, and in particular, the immensity of the grace of God in the vocation extended to him to preach Christ among the nations v 16. These issues are taken up in Eph Pauline anamnesis in the form of self-introduction of the author “Paul”, thereby building on the foundations of the Pauline image as apostle of the gentiles. Such key words as revelation of the mystery, of the grace given him, and above all, hvkou,sate – you have heard, more strongly emphasized by the conditional conjunction eiv and the enclitic participle ge,620 leave no doubt about the dependence. Moreso the immense role of Col, especially 1:23–29, as an immediate influence is evident in the similarity of concepts even as Eph presents its peculiar accents.621 The kern of the Eph peculiarity is located in staging the historical person of Paul as typical; Paul becomes idealized as a prototype receiver of divine revelation and grace (v 3), enabling him to be the successful missionary to the gentiles and executor of God’s plan. He is presented as a soteriological figure

619 H. Merklein notes the abiding internal relationship between Eph 3(:6) and Gal 1 despite the different accents in the formulations of the subject matter. The former featuring passive presentation is an interpretation of the later in active formulation. While Gal1 presents the Christological content of the gospel, a word that Eph does not use, Eph, preferring the word mystery to gospel, develops an ecclesiological interpretation of this Christological mystery. Cf. idem, 1973 (1), 196–199, 203, 208–209. 620 The combination of the enclitic particle ge to the conjunction eiv is often used to either give emphasis (1 Cor 4:8), or to add concessive nuance (Jn 4:2), enhancing the conditional clause it constitutes its part. Cf. H.W. Hoehner, 2003, 421. 621 Cf. H. Merklein, 1973, 159–165. G. Sellin sees Col 1:23–29 as actually being responsible for the epistolographic and rhetoric function of this portion of Eph, with the former serving as the source material from which the latter was modeled. He was however quick to note that Col itself is an epistolographic reworking of some of the fundamental ideas already established in the authentic Pauline letters. A typical example would be Paul’s reference to himself as the least of the apostles 1 Cor 15:9 seen to feature in Col 1:26, and then in Eph 3:8a; the motif of the wisdom of God 1 Cor 1:24f is taken up in Col 1:28b, and then in Eph 3:10, etc. For more on the influences on Eph from other portions of the authentic Pauline letters as well as the peculiar accents of Eph Cf. idem, 2008, 246ff; see also R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 130ff.

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with sub-christological function Col 1:24 ↔Eph 3:18. He is depicted as having a unique place in the salvific plan of God, the mystery of Christ, the content of which Eph interprets anew in v 6 – that the gentiles are part and parcel of the gospel promises in Jesus Christ. To the extent Paul is singled out as the champion of this message, what the singular title Apostle of the gentiles/nations embraces, to that extent is he becomes first among equals. The Revelationsschema in which the unique place and role of Paul stand out reaches its goal in 3:10. The final clause, introduced by the subordinating conjunction of purpose i[na – “in order that”, is indicative of this development. E. Stauffer draws attention to the immense theological content of this conjunctional word that is often prone to being glossed over. Observing the NT preference for i[na-sentences to other words of final constructions (o[pwj, eivj etc.), he notes that this preference is based on the theological implications of the conjunction and not just on the linguistic value of the word employed at explications or at moderation of points. Its leading theological motif is the ability to communicate the teleological understanding of the ways of God and the destiny of man that has been given conclusive expressions in the Christ event. This teleologyfulfillment motif is given forceful expression in the NT writings.622 Discussing the origin, the forms and the universalisation of teleological thinking, J.-E. Pleines notes that it is under the influence of the stoic Cleanthes, and the Jewish-Christian contention with the skepticism of the ancient world that teleological thinking assumed the status of universal concept in the understanding of history and nature. Thenceforth, every decisive natural and historical occurrence, whether in nature itself, in the life of a people or an individual, became understood as a necessary moment in the course of the fulfillment of it or another purpose. It became a veritable instrument in the development of thoughts about an immanent driving force, a being responsible for the world and happenings in it.623 The theological thought-pattern of the OT is replete with the teleological motif that understands every action of God as having a purpose – 622 Cf. E. Stauffer, „i[na”, in: THWNT 3 (1938), 324–330. The teleology motif, running through the Genesis accounts (beginning with the very domination of chaos Gen1:2f; Ps18 etc.) and Exodus events (Ex 3:7ff; 9;16 etc.), sees creation and historic events as the manifestation of the glory and power of God. Reaching its climax in the wisdom and apocalyptic literature, the quest for response to the theodicy puzzle sees it extended into eschatological understandings. 623 Cf. J-E. Pleines, „Teleologie“, in: TRE 23 (2002), 36–41. A reflected foundation of the skepticism of the ancient world may be sought in Aristotle. In his Physics II he establishes that individual entities have their purposes but denies the world as a

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the manifestation of his divine glory and power. This understanding, given classic presentation, for instance, in Ex 9:16, a motif that underlies the wisdom literature (e.g. Wis 16:1ff), constitutes the basis of the NT understanding of God especially in Johannine, Pauline and Deuteropauline writings.624 A classical example of such teleology-fulfillment motif in Pauline writings is Paul’s attempts as addressing the paradox and dilemma of Jewish nonacceptance of the gospel message in Rom 9–11. He had earlier given a hint about God’s ways in Rom 8:28f. Towing the familiar lines of the teleological motif “Paul” in Eph sees the final point of the revelation schema in the soteriological role of the church as instrument of proclamation,625 to make known to the powers and authorities in the heavens the rich variety of the wisdom of God (an issue to be subsequently examined). The interest for now is the Eph author’s emphasis that the church has this role courtesy of Paul. His new interpretation of the content of the mystery he had referred to (3:6) is presented as evidence with historical and (present) eschatological consequences. The protological creation plan is fulfilled in the eschatological conception of Eph in the avnakefalaiw,sasqai ta. pa,nta evn tw/| Cristw/| (1:10). The restoration of the unity of all in heaven and on earth in Christ, exemplified in the unity of the Jews and gentiles in the church, establishes the church as the reality in which the mystery of Christ is revealed and realized.626 The quest to further understand what this mystery and its end recipients are about, this responsibility the Eph theology had made ecclesial, leads us to examine the terminological givens in these regards.

6.2.3  h` polupoi,kiloj sofi,a tou/ qeou/ Often translated as “the manifold wisdom of God”, and rightly called the content/subject of the revelation627 that Eph 3 is preoccupied with, this phrase has

624 625 626 627

whole purpose, a position scholastic Philosophy made immense use of in its proof of God presentations. Cf. E. Stauffer, op. cit., 327–330. Jn 9:3; Rom 8:18ff; 9:17; Eph 3:10–11 may serve as archetypes. Cf. U. Luz, 1998, 146. Cf. R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 133, 140. See also R. Hoppe, 2010, 188–189. Cf. M. Barth, 1974, 355. The author makes a difference between the substance and the content of the revelation in Eph 3. Whereas, for him the content of the revelation is the manifold wisdom of God that has to be made known, the substance is the church by the fact of the full inclusion of the gentiles in the promises of the good news, salvation.

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its singular appearance in the whole of the NT in Eph 3:10.628 The rendition of polupoi,kiloj as manifold seem somewhat an understatement given the observed combinations that may be suggested to have generated the adjective. The adjective variety poi,kiloj, which can also mean colourful, complicated, subtle,629 is seen to have been further strengthened with an additional adjective of quantity polu,j – many/much, prefixed to it. Such double adjective is obviously a seldom occurrence in the sense that polu,j, pertaining to being of a large number, being high on a scale of extent, is almost always preceded or followed by a noun.630 Here it is followed by an adjective. The double adjective polupoi,kiloj is, therefore, some form of a superlative reinforcement of the variety in question. This would be in the sense of being more than any known measure of variety. A preference of “very multifarious” to “manifold” would then be our submission. Eph use of this seldom compound adjective is very likely to be the author’s attempt to establish the utmost difference of such qualifications in relation to God in the face of the contemporary religious connotation of poi,kiloj. In the theology of the Hellenistic mystery cults the colourfulness that had come to represent the cosmic order was represented in the lavish colourfulness of the garments of the goddess(es) Artemis and/or Isis, in the lavish colourfulness of its/their statues. Their temples and sanctuaries were dotted with such colourfulness. The colourful vestments of the priests and initiates of these cults, for instance, the duodecim sacratus stolis of Lucius signified his/their participation in the authority of the goddess Artemis/Isis over the cosmos and its forces. Philo did share this idea in his allegory over the high priest’s vestment. His consideration of his Jewish-Alexandrian community as “the true community of mysteries”631 is understandably a tactical polemic against the rivalry Hellenistic cults and their paraphernalia. From these wisdom-cosmos traditions of the mystery cults the author of Eph, in relating it to God and his mysterious wisdom in the Christ event, adopts the

628 G. Sellin, calls it a Hapaxleg in the NT, and is aware that it is unknown in the LXX. Cf. idem, 2007, 267. 629 Cf. ibid. R. Schwindt establishes that since the times of Plato and Critias, the concept “colourful” had become an aesthetic expression of order of astral cosmos and the epitome of divine world wisdom. Cf. idem, 2002, 464. 630 Cf. F.W. Danker, 2000, 847–850. H. Seeseman, is also aware of the occurrence of polupoi,kiloj in Orph 6:11; 61:4 and in Sib 8:120, and explains its use in Eph 3:10 as a further demonstration of Eph author’s preference for plerophories. Cf. idem, „poi,kiloj“, „polupoi,kiloj”, in: ThWNT 4 (1942) 483–484. 631 Cf. R. Hoppe, 2010, 175.

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conceptual framework and sets it in his superlative tone with the polupoi,kiloj.632 This is in pursuit of the goal of affording Christological response to the uneasiness in the Eph environment with regard to the perceived influence of the cosmic forces in their lives. A tacit polemic may have been at play here. If the unbelievers had gloried in the colourfulness of their goddess, in her perceived immensity of powers, and thereby felt protected through the patronage of the goddesses in the mystery cults, so much so now the believers through Christ, this unique very manifold wisdom of God. This would be in the sense of “something greater than Jonah/Solomon is here”. (Mt 12:41) Σofi,a, and particularly of God tou/ qeou, constituting the central concept of the phrase, is not only a unique and prominent aspect of Pauline theology in particular, but also remarkable feature of the Scripture.633 A discussion of the development of the ancient Jewish wisdom traditions and their popular convergence in the OT wisdom literature is outside the scope of this work. Summarily articulated in the Hebrew word hm;k.x’ in the sense of technical skill, all that enhanced life, proper insight that become manifested in actions, were referred to in this light as constituting a “source of life”. Its association with the transcendent as the ultimate source of life was already obvious, thereby featuring its theologisation. For the ancient Mesopotamians, Egyptians and ancient Greeks, the various ideas of wisdom were readily associated with the gods. In Israel’s context, it was readily associated with Yahweh. This identification with Yahweh, both as wisdom itself and the giver of wisdom, as explicitly expressed in the activity of creation for instance (Is 40:13ff; Jer 10:12; Prov 3:19f), was a later and decisive development. This theological development (articulated by Plato, for whom the content of wisdom is Being, which, like the idea of Goodness and Beauty, belongs to God alone: Symp 204a, Phaedr 278d)) is given classic expression in OT wisdom traditions in the saying: “the fear of God is the beginning of wisdom” (Prov 1:7; 9:10 etc.), with the understanding of this fear being the observance of the Law. Though manifest in the creative activity of God and in ethical injunctions, wisdom, considered by Jewish wisdom writers more as an emanation from God than as an attribute, remained a mystery known to God alone (Job 28). In 632 Cf. R. Schwindt, 2002, 464–467. 633 E.J. Schnabel, maintaining that Paul, more than any other NT writer, used the term more frequently, noted the numerous words that belong to the semantic field of the concept wisdom. In the OT and early Judaism it included all that bordered around thought, discourse and action. Cf. idem, “Wisdom”, in: DPL, 967–972. R. Hoppe had earlier noted the wisdom of God being as thematic in Jewish-Hellenistic, and then Christian theology. Cf. idem, 2010, 175.

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Judaism, both in its apocalyptic and Hellenistic traditions, it experienced various forms of personification and hypostatization634 (Prov 1:20ff; 8:1ff; 1 En 42). These culminated in its being considered God’s throne associate (Wis 9:4), playing determining role in the creative and salvific actions of God (Prov 8:22ff; Wis 11: 2–4; etc.).635 The theologisation of wisdom, earlier hinted on, establishes it as proper to God even as he may choose to give man some share of it. The ancient Jewish sapiential traditions saw in Solomon the epitome of such endowments. The personification of wisdom in the OT and Jewish wisdom traditions constitutes the basis of NT Jesus-Wisdom traditions in general, and the Sophia-Christologies in particular.636 Such influences are evidenced not only in the allusions to, and direct quotations of the OT wisdom sayings in the NT, but also in the use of genres, motifs and concepts traceable to the sapiential traditions (Lk 2:40,52; Lk 7:31–35 par; 11:49–51 par; 13:34f par; Mt 11–13; Jn 1: 1–18; Mt 23:34–36; etc.). The paraenetic catalogues of the early Christians (1 Cor 5: 9–11; Gal 5:19–23; Col 3:5,8,18–4:2; Eph 5:21–6:9; James’ letter; etc.) are also examples.637 These influences have their high points in such presentations of Jesus as that personified wisdom of God (1 Cor 1:24) that has now appeared for us (1 Cor 1:30). The Christological hymns and confessions (1 Cor 8:6; Phil 2: 6–11; Rom 9:5; Col 1:15–20; etc.) transfer the attributes of the personified wisdom, especially such sayings concerning pre-existence, divine nature, role as mediator of creation, to Christ (Sir 24:1ff; Wis 7:25–26 ↔ Col.1:15–20). 634 On the nuances between personification, hypostasis, metaphor, prosopopoiia etc. in general, and with regard to wisdom see J.R. Dodson, 2008. 635 Cf. U. Wilckens, & G. Fohrer, „sofi,a ktl)“, in: ThWNT 7 (1964), 465–514; see also K. Rudolph, „Weisheit/Weisheitsliteratur I. Religionsgeschichtlich”, in: TRE 35 (2003), 478–486; E. J. Schnabel, in: DPL, 968. 636 Cf. H. von Lips, „Weisheit/Weisheitsliteratur IV. Neues Testament“, in: TRE 35 (2003)508–515. See also H. Hegermann, „sofi,a” in: EWNT (2011), 616–624. R. Bultmann, treating the issue of the relationship between the message of the earliest church and the message of Jesus, noted the enormous influence of the JewishMessiah-theology and the interpretation of the OT history as a foreshadowing of the events in the eschatological period. The earliest church, understanding itself as the eschatological congregation, appropriated OT eschatological terms and orientations, seeing them set in the person and teaching of Jesus. Cf. idem, 2007, 33ff. We note, however, that the Jewish-Messiah theology and indeed OT history shared influences from the Hellenistic givens of the Hellenistic-Jewish interactions. Cf. C. H. Talbert, 2011, 1–42. 637 Cf. U. Wilckens, op. cit., 514–525; E.J. Schnabel, op. cit., 968–969, 972.

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Paul stands out most prominently with his distinctive marks in the presentations of the NT wisdom Christology. Appreciating Paul’s articulation of the significance of the person and mission of Jesus Christ in wisdom parlance, articulations that no doubt manifest indebtedness to pre-existent traditions,638 E.J. Schnabel opines that the Damascus experience was the decisive point for the identifications. According to him, … as he saw Jesus as the Lord exalted by God and sitting at the right hand…, he came to realize that Jesus was the son of God… not only in the messianic sense but in the sense of standing in an intimate relationship with God from the beginning, being the image of God and his agent in creation and now salvation.639

Such wisdom terms and identifications by Paul find most vivid presentations in 1 Cor 1–4 especially in 1–2, and in Rom 9–11. While the Corinthian passages present the highest concentration of the word group sofi,a/sofo,j in the Pauline corpus, the discourse in Rom 9–11 may be understood as Paul’s summary presentation of the salvation history. He does so in the light of the Jewish election theology (Deut 7: 6–8) with the wisdom language, seeking to justify the universal dimensions of God’s salvific plan. They present Paul’s interpretation(s) of the events of salvation. The high point of the Corinthian presentation is no doubt the explicit declaration by Paul that “Christ is the power and wisdom of God” (1 Cor 1:24). This may be seen to share some affinity with Rom 10:4 where, for Paul, Christ is the end of the Law. The affinity is made clearer bearing in mind the meaning of the Law in the Jewish sapiential traditions and its identification with wisdom (Sir 24:23). This Corinthian declaration is more understood against the background of the gnostic-sophia Christology controversies of the time. Such Sophia-Christology placed more importance in human wisdom in the sense of rhetoric and speculative eloquence (1 Cor 1:17; 2:1, 4), these factors of self-aggrandizement (1 Cor 12:8) that were at the roots of the partisanship in the Corinthian community. Paul recognized this danger and moved against it. Related to this Corinthian declaration is the declaration in Rom 10:4 - Christ is the end of the Law. Insisting that such tendencies undermine the message of the gospel, the heart of which for him was the cross of Christ which cannot be proclaimed through

638 Such traditions include Jewish-Hellenistic apocalypticism and wisdom speculations, OT ideas of God’s foreknowledge and foreordination etc. These factors that played influential roles in the historical contexts of Pauline mission to the gentiles left their traces in the Pauline reformulations. Cf. R.G. Hamerton-Kelly, 1973, 103ff. 639 Cf. E.J. Schnabel, op.cit.

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human wisdom (1 Cor 1:17), Paul engaged in some form of polemical reaction.640 Employing the very terms of this Sophia-Christology, he seemingly engages in a paranosomia over their wisdom ideas to achieve his goal. The real wisdom is the paradoxical wisdom of the cross lo,goj tou/ staurou/. It is paradoxical in the sense that the cursed and tortuous means of death (Deut 21:23↔2 Cor 5:21) is made the source of life. This is God’s foolishness that is more than human wisdom. This unparalleled wisdom of God641 was hidden and known to God alone until he chose to reveal it in Christ (1 Cor 2: 7–10) as the plan of salvation. This is the universal offer of salvation Christ’s death on the cross has become. It is this dazzling and amazing wisdom of God, whose depth and dimensions remain unfathomable avnexerau,nhtoj though manifest in the history of salvation, that Paul extols in Rom 11:33. We may therefore submit that the Eph author’s unique expression h` polupoi,kiloj sofi,a tou/ qeou/ (Eph 3:10), related to the poiki,lhj ca,ritoj qeou/ of 1 Pet 4:10, is most likely his own way of underlining this overwhelming inscrutability of the plan of God. If Paul, this paragon of apostolic personage and authority the Eph author so much believed and he now assumes to be, could, despite his insight and intelligence, only extol, this new “Paul” can only extol it the more. One would remember Heb 1:1 in this context, where the various ways with which God revealed himself to the patriarchs is the issue. The current experience of the manifestation of this mysterious ways of God in the earlier unimagined but now realized inclusion of gentiles in the promises of the gospel (Eph 3:6) on equal levels with the Jews, is a fortification of the astonishment over the wisdom of God that got qualified with the unique expression polupoi,kiloj. By such unique expression, the author of Eph remains true to the popular perception of mystery as that beyond human understanding, over which nothing can be said (R. Hoppe, 2010). Such understanding of mystery, however, must not be interpreted as a limitation, or shrugged off as meaningless. It is rather a motivation to creative inquiry. For it shows the mystified as in need of being given meaning deutungsbedürftig, in need of being understood. The right use of knowledge that wisdom implies means that perfect wisdom presupposes perfect knowledge. h` polupoi,kiloj sofi,a tou/ qeou/ becomes an expression of this perfect knowledge. Using it, Eph author follows as closely as

640 Cf. U. Wilckens, op. cit., 519ff; J. Goetzmann, „sofi,a III“ in: ThBNT I (1997)I (2000) 1881–1883; against E.J. Schnabel op.cit. (969). 641 “Uncountable”, “immeasurable”, “boundless richness” are understood to be the original predicates of the wisdom of God. Cf. G. Sellin, 2007, 268.

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possible642 the extolling language of Paul in undertaking the task of describing the salvific event, this centre of Pauline apostolic endeavours. For Paul the wisdom of God includes foreknowledge, the perfect plan of God to form a people after his image, a plan that is realized in the salvific deeds of Christ. R.P. Martin, seeing this as essential constitute of Paul’s image of God, argues that the contextual setting of this divine plan in Eph, …is the pastoral concern to answer to the needs of people in first-century society who felt threatened by a sense of purposelessness and powerlessness in the face of astrological determination and the role of impersonal fate.643

The means of this pastoral concern dia. th/j evkklhsi,aj will now be considered.

6.2.4  dia. th/j evkklhsi,aj The ancient Greek word evkklhsi,a that came to be a popular Christian appellation came into the biblical scene through the LXX. Expressing in its original Greek and profane sense the political gathering of entitled citizens of the Polis in accordance with particular regulations to make specific decisions in the sense of a democratic setting, it came to be used in the LXX in various articulations of the Hebrew word lhq.644 Even when evkklhsi,a was very rarely associated with cultic or religious gatherings,645 its being used to render lhq with the primary religious connotation of the term, is readily remarkable. This followed from Israel’s obvious self-understanding from the election-theology point of view (Deut 7: 6–7; 32:8). In this understanding that was shaped by the deuteronomistic traditions, lhq referred to the community that gathered at Sinai/Horeb, with whom Yahweh entered into covenant Ex 19–24:8; Deut 9:10; 10:4. lhq assumed an exclusive 642 The earlier consideration by C.L. Mitton of Eph as the available most effective summary of Pauline message, so edited to make it intelligible and applicable to the time and circumstances of its recipients, receives further confirmation. Cf. idem, 1951, 268–269. 643 Cf. D. Guthrie & R.P. Martin, “God“, in: DPL 354–368 (362). 644 There are indications that the earliest OT traditions of the word qahal referred to selected men for war (Gen 49:6; Num 22:4) before its use to refer to the general assembly of Israel. There are also instances in the LXX where such other words as sunagwgh,,, o;cloj,plh/qoj in the sense of crowd, horde of people, instead of evkklhsi,a are used. They include Ex 12:6; 16:40; 17:7; 2 Chron 31:18; Jer 31:8; etc. Cf. K. Berger, „Kirche”, in: TRE 18 (1989), 198–218; Cf. L. Coenen, „evkklhsi,a” in: ThBNT II (2000) 1136–1150. See also P.T. O’Brien, “Church”, in: DPL, 123–131. 645 Cf. L. Coenen, ibid., 1136. The appropriate word for such religious/cultic gathering in ancient Greek is qi,asoj.

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characterization of this community that has become a cult/religious community, consecrated and bound to Yahweh by the laws of the covenant. This gave rise to the appellation hw”hy> lh;q. (Deut 23:2). Even when the subsequent weakening of the strict religious determinations set in, especially in the post-exilic times, leading to the understanding of qahal as general assembly of the people, its religious designations remained determining. All these connotations that feature in LXX’s use of evkklhsi,a to render lhq (Deut 9:10; 23:3ff; Judg 21:5; Ezra 10:8,12,14; Neh 8:2,17; etc.) get summed up in the cultic identifications 2 Chron 6:3; 30:2,4,13,17; Joel 2;16; Ps 21(22); 23; 89(88) etc. The zenith of such identifications are most clearly expressed with the genitive attribute kuri,ou, tou/ qeou/ related to the LXX evkklhsi,a (Deut 23:2,3,4,9; Mic 2:5; Judg 20:2), indicating the people as assembled in response to Yahweh’s call. This constitutes the background from which it is taken up in the NT (Pauline) dispensations. The election-theology that found re-enforcement in the apocalyptic-eschatological traditions (Is 11:11; 43:5; Jer 31:8; Ez 37:21) became re-energized and renewed in the Kingdom of God teachings of Jesus and its eschatological implications. The action of gathering that the word evkklhsi,a essentially communicates is understood to be part of Jesus’ ministry even when the word is not found in the Gospels except in Mt 16:18; 18:17, contended as these passages are as postEaster interpolations.646 His gathering of disciples, beginning with the Twelve, and his association with the tax-collectors and sinners are considered foundational aspects of the new Jesus movement for the renewal of Israel. The Twelve constitute the caucus for the crystallization of this programme647 of “gathering the lost sheep of the house of Israel” (Mt 15:24). The post-Easter Christological development(s) and the differentiation it(they) generated in the life, actions and self-understanding of the initial Jewish disciples of Jesus, brought about the parting of ways between them and the rest of their Jewish religious contemporaries (Acts 1–3). C.H. Talbert points out in this regard, that: …the earliest followers of Jesus had a distinct constitutive core, experientially grounded, that gave them the ability to sift and sort through language and concepts from their surroundings to express what the Christ-event meant to them in terms of their past, present and future…, there was a sovereign use of the general culture for selfunderstanding and evangelization insofar as it could be adapted to the constitutive soteriological core.648

646 Cf. R. Bultmann, 2007, 10. 647 Cf. K. Berger, 2003, 210. 648 Cf. C.H. Talbert, 2011, 41.

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Seeing in the encounter with the resurrected Lord, as witnessed by some of the disciples, the fulfillment of the eschatological power of God at work, these followers of Jesus began to perceive themselves as the eschatological community par excellence. Thus began the reference to the earliest groups of Jesus’ disciples, beginning with the original Jerusalem community (Acts 8:1), with the name evkklhsi,a.649 Variedly translated as community, gathering, church, the reference featured the appropriation of the various theological predicates of Israel. According to L. Coenen, the church concept operational here is the consciousness of itself as the herald of the reign of Christ that is already manifest in the midst of this assembled people, but whose reign would soon be universal at the Parousia. This identity as herald is manifest in their life, actions and words. They afford the recognition and experience of the presence of God and the dawn of his reign.650 This understanding of the church is distinctively Pauline. In his Letters the term evkklhsi,a appears more than in any other NT writing, and his use of it predates the other instances in the NT.651 The appropriation of the theological predicates of Israel in Pauline understanding of the evkklhsi,a is experienced in his point of departure – the election-theology which now assumes a universal dimension in the mission to the gentiles. He was the untiring champion of this mission. Just as Israel was called, the evkklhsi,a event in the proclamation of the risen Christ and the faith of the people accepting this call, is both a fulfillment and a continuation of God’s act of summoning and gathering of his people (Rom 8:29ff). It is God that is working, but this time, and most importantly, evn Cristw/|,652 as is evidenced in the earliest of his letters: th/| evkklhsi,a| Qessalonike,wn evn qew/| patri. kai. kuri,w| VIhsou/ Cristw/|( 1 Thess 1:1; tw/n evkklhsiw/n tou/ qeou/ tw/n … evn Cristw/| VIhsou/( 2:14. The numerous taking over of the genitive ­attribute tou/ 649 K.L. Schmidt, notes the preference for beginning such enquiries with the accounts of the Acts of Apostles even when Paul’s uses predate the other occurrences in NT. Cf. idem, „evkklhsi,a”, in: ThWNT III (1938), 502–539 (505). It is interesting to note the introduction of the missionary motif in Acts8:1ff account in the circumstances of the spread of the community by means of severe persecutions that arose. The featuring of the strong role of Saul, who would eventually be the champion of this mission, is also remarkable. 650 Cf. L. Coenen, „evkklhsi,a”, in: ThBNT II (2000) 1142, 1162. 651 P.T. O’Brien is aware that 62 out of the 114 instances of evkklhsi,a in the NT are associated with Paul. Cf. idem, “Church”, in: DPL, 123–131 (124). 652 This formula, regarded by A. Deissmann as having both a local and mystic meaning in which Christ as a kind of universal Spirit constitutes the atmosphere in which believers live, is for K. Berger the pivotal point of Pauline ecclesiology. Cf. K. Berger, „Kirche”, in: TRE 18 (1989), 198–218 (203).

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qeou/ in subsequent letters 1 Cor 1:2; 11:16, 22; Gal 1:13; etc. are confirmations of Paul’s conviction that the church exists only through the action of God, and can only be understood from that point of view. God is for him the source of the church’s life and existence. The evn Cristw/| formula, expressing the mediation through Christ and his gospel, constitutes the distinctive character, the identity-giving quality of the gathering that the church is - klhtoi/j a`gi,oij (Rom 1:7; 1 Cor 1:2), klhtoi. VIhsou/ Cristou/ (Rom 1:6), ai` evkklhsi,ai pa/sai tou/ Cristou/ (Rom 16:19). This identity is given through baptism, this sign of being taken into Christ. It is participation in the death and resurrection of Christ, the all-important Christian experience (1 Cor 15:3ff; Rom 6: 3–11; etc.) that gives birth to the eschatological new creation (2 Cor 5:17ff). It is important to note, as indicated, for instance, in 1 Thess’ references above, that Paul’s use of ecclesia refers to local assembly in particular region, to house fellowships, as well as the congregation of Christians scattered over the regions.653 It is descriptive of identifiable objects distinguished from the other gatherings through the words “in God the Father”, “in Christ”. Paul employed a number of images – temple of God, Bride of Christ, Body of Christ etc. - to express the concreteness of this identity that his evkklhsi,a understanding and its identification with Christ contains. The most significant of these images, however, is the sw/ma metaphoric, this body/member metaphor (1 Cor 12:4ff) expressive of the corporate personality concept. Paul chose this designation of the church as sw/ma Cristou/ (1 Cor 12:27ff, with its differing accentuations in 1 Cor 10:16ff, Rom 12:1ff), underlining with it the church’s real solidarity with Christ. E. Schweizer, reiterating the close similarity between the people of God and body of Christ concepts in Paul, notes that the formula body of Christ establishes an understanding of the church in spatial category that emphasizes its unity with Christ as a continuously present phenomenon.654 A dialectic is evident here, a dia-

653 1 Cor 1:2; 1 Cor 16:19; Gal 1:2,22; Col 4:16, house church (Rom 16:5; 1 Cor 16:19; Philem2; Col 4:15). It is, however, disputed whether Paul conceived of the church as a single universal phenomenon. Such instances as 1 Cor 4:17; 10:32 are thought to present distributive or generic view of the church, referring to the entire Christian community that finds expressions in the various local congregations. Cf. P.T. O’Brien, ibid. M. Gese, however, sees in the individual local communities some representation of the general church that the term evkklhsi,a gives as a comprehensive view. Cf. idem, 1997, 172–173. 654 Cf. E. Schweizer, „sw/ma”, in: ThWNT 7 (1964), 1064–1072; see also R.Y.K. Fung, “Body of Christ”, in: DPL, 71–82; K. Berger, op. cit., 204–205. M. Gese, 1997, 175– 179. A renowned treatment of this subject is the work of E. Percy, Der Leib Christi

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lectic of the spatial/heavenly existence as well as an earthly concrete manifestation, this special feature of Eph understanding of the church (Eph 1:3, 20–23; 2:6 etc.). In this category it is given to serve as contact-enhancing environment, contact with Christ and with fellow human beings as members of the one body of Christ for the nurturing of faith. P.T. O’Brien argues in this regard that the purpose of the evkklhsi,a, this gathering, more than the common notion of gathering to worship, is edification oikodōme. He sees in this understanding of oikodōme Paul’s hermeneutical transformation of the worship terminology into application to the work of Christ, preaching of the gospel, and the new lifestyle of believers. …Paul’s revolutionary teaching is that they are meant to worship him (God) in every sphere of life (Rom 12.1)… Instead of the language of worship, Paul regularly uses the terminology of upbuilding, or edification, to indicate the purpose and function of Christian gatherings…655

It is in the light of the understanding of oivkodomh, as the activity of the church,656 against the background of its relationship with the assignment of ‘making known’ that the meaning of Eph dia. th/j evkklhsi,aj is to be sort. It is this ministry of making known, captured in the various uses of the word gnwri,zw, that the Eph ecclesiology assigns the church as seen in our verse of focus. Featuring its characteristic taking-in and further development of Pauline theological perspectives in this regard,657 it expresses this assignment with the prepositional phrase dia. th/j evkklhsi,aj.658 Having understood that ecclesiology is the central subject of Eph theology, we note, however, that an elaborate treatment is beyond the scope of this work. However, suffice it to note some of its dis-

655 656 657 658

(Sw/ma Cristou/) in den paulischen Homologoumena und Antilogoumena, 1942. See also H. Merklein, 1973, 83–97. Cf. P.T. O’Brien, “Church“, in: DPL, 129; see also L. Coenen, „evkklhsi,a”, in: ThBNT II (2000), 1143. Bracket (God) is mine. Cf. H. Merklein, 1973 (1), 98. The fundamental Pauline perspectives taken-up includeso/ma Cri,stou/, plh,rwma, oivkodomh, terminologies. R. Hoppe works out from the use of these terminologies in Eph a correspondence between Eph 1 and 3. Cf. idem, 2010, 211–229. M. Barth is aware that this unique formula appears no other place in Pauline or NT writings, and notes its cognitive-mediatory-function connotation. Disagreeable, however, is the initial tendency to some singular esoteric interpretation of “the principalities and powers”. However, he corrects this tendency in a broader appreciation of the function of the church in this regard as including every facet of human existence – political, religious and socio-cultural institutions and traditions. Cf. idem, 1974, 363–365.

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tinctive features: involving a flow from Eph Christology, the general understanding of the church here is in the sense of a universal phenomenon. This gets over the traditional Pauline use of the term in reference to local congregations. Even when a particular local congregation in Eph circumstance may be presumed, it would merely typify the universal dimension the church has assumed in Eph, and to which it keeps reaching out. Eph ecclesiology involves the dialectic of heavenly-earthly existence and operation. Stemming from the so/ma Cristou/ Christology of the authentic Pauline letters that became cosmic soteriology in Col, it received radical ecclesiological interpretations in Eph. This radical ecclesiological interpretation sees a movement from the Pauline so/ma Cristou/ Christology to the nuance of Christ being the head kefalh, of the his body the church. This Eph perspective introduced in Eph 1:3,10, emphasized in v 22–23, is given perceptible form in 2:11–18, 19–22. It became and summed-up as the content of the mysterious will of God in 3:6. The detailed paraenetic concerns in the later part of the letter, showing the importance the author of Eph attaches to ethical concerns, constitute further elucidation (5:32), and the consequences of this ecclesial identification.659 That reference is being made here with dia. th/j evkklhsi,aj to a singular but general/universal phenomenon, the Christian community in its totality, is attested to in the nine references to the church in the letter, all with definite article in the singular form.660 R.P. Meyer sees this universal reference as a tacit response by the author of Eph to the political and social circumstances of the Asia Minor about the end of the 1st century AD. The cosmopolitanism of the time that was characterized by political, commercial and religious upheavals, left at its smack, syncretism, individualism, pessimism and the flourishing of the mystery cults. In such a crisis-ridden situation, where nothing seemed to hold any longer, the church as universal, as figured in the body of Christ formula, presented an “alternative” society that offered hold and togetherness. Such imagery contained, no doubt, challenges to the responsibilities of the individual constituent parts over the facilitation and maintenance of this unity.661 659 Cf. M. Merklein, 1973 (1), 83–97; Idem, 1973 (2); R.P. Meyer, 1977; F. Hahn, 2002, 359–363; R. Hoppe, 2010, 211–212, 230–250. See also H. Schlier & P.V. Warnach, Die Kirche im Epheserbrief. Beiträge zur Kontroverstheologie. Münster, 1949. 660 Cf. Eph 1:22; 3:10; 3:20; 5:23, 24,25,27,29,32. Eph continued emphasis on oneness of this body, new person, faith etc. is also an indication of this sense of universal oneness of its understanding of the church. 661 Cf. R.P. Meyer, 1977, 35–37. Eph 4:3 brings this to the point, requesting its audience to make every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. The rest of the paraenetic part of the letter may be interpreted as pursuing this goal.

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Dia, + genitive expresses agency, instrumentality, means of achieving a purpose. Such sense of instrumentality emphasizes that the church is not the ontological expression of the wisdom of God as it were, but the means, the instrument through which the wisdom of God, that is Christ himself, is being made manifest. This understanding that buttresses Eph ecclesiology as imbedded in its Christology.662 The passivum divinum indicated by the aorist subjunctive passive gnwrisqh/| presents God as the subject, the actor who makes known his mysterious will. The church is the facilitator,663 the active façade as it were. This reiterates once more the Eph theological triangle: God → Christ → Church. What God does in Christ he does in us. This activity, however, has to radiate from the church outwards in order to bring about the integration of all, this initial creative-salvific plan of God. The facilitator, agency-function of the church according to Eph is seen to be more than just an activity. It is the very being of the church being in the context of the Eph interpretation of mystery – the union of Jews and Gentiles in the church (3:6). Such expression that is the church’s life and ministry shows an inclusion, rather than the radical separation of the worship and edification in the ministry of the church, as earlier argued by P.T. O’Brien. Rather than his extreme position that “the focus of attention is on the ministries of the word”, Eph understanding of the church is that it is the instance that displays the revealed mystery of God. As „photitisches Offenbarungsgeschehen“,664 it is similar to what R. Hamerton-Kelly referred to as living a life conditioned by transcendence, in the strength of its succour and demand.665 This is in the fact of the church being a manifest and lively presence that radiates the divine salvific wisdom. Eph, through its cosmological concerns, perceives this wisdom of God in the unity of creation, as threatened. This threat, illustrated by the dissension between the peoples, is seen to have been overcome in the unity of the Jews and gentiles in the church (Eph 2:14ff). The church in Eph is the objectified setting of the reign of Christ over chaos, the chaos that was symbolized in the disunity and enmity that reigned before now between Jews and gentiles. The achievement of this unity presupposes the defeat of whatever may have been responsible for such disunity. This fact of the Eph church understanding dictates its being and presents its mission, viz, the continued display of the defeat of the cosmic chaos perceived to be manifest in the traditional enmity between peoples (Jews and gentiles).

662 663 664 665

Cf. H. Merklein, 1973 (2), 85–91. Cf. H. Merklein, 1973 (1), 214. Cf. R. Schwindt, 2002, 463–464. Cf. R. Hamerton-Kelly, 1973, 179.

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From the foregoing, the seeming difference between the ministry of the word (P.T. O’Brien) and the function of the church as tangible manifestation of God’s wisdom, need not be overstretched as if they really differ from each other. They belong together. The one should really include the other. Worship, when it is more than empty repetition of rituals, no doubt edifies also. This would be akin to the Pauline injunction – “offer your bodies as a living sacrifice…” (Rom 12:1ff). Worship in related sense would include prominently, the listening to and sharing of the word of God, this original feature at the foundation of the qahal-ecclesia relationship – the gathering to listen to what is proclaimed, or address made to it. Hermeneutically, the Ite Missa est at the end of the ritual enactments in liturgical (Eucharistic) celebration becomes the commission to the life of witnessing, the mandate to every participant. Sharing similar view, R.P. Martin sees the evidence of Paul’s worship perspectives in his redaction of traditional creedal hymns and prayers. In these Paul heralded the dawn of a new age of God’s salvific actions in Jesus Christ (e.g. Phil 2: 6–11) and his view of the church as the locus where God’s saving activity is rehearsed and displayed (Edh 3:10). Consequently, he is sure that for Paul, the goal of worship on the horizontal plane is edification (Gk. Oikodome) which, for Paul, is more than a feeling of well being or an ecstatic experience. Rather, oikodome … is a determined effort to promote God’s will in human lives, our neighbour’s no less than our own…666

This urges the understanding of Edh 3 as a veritable mission theology667 especially in the light of the understanding that the revelation the church’s being displays has a target audience - tai/j avrcai/j kai. tai/j evxousi,aij evn toi/j evpourani,oij.

6.3  Recipients of the message The place of the church as the heralding facilitator of the very manifold wisdom of God would have been understood as obvious if not for the audience our verse of focus brings into the scene. Beyond the normal expectation of usual human audience, the audience here is given as tai/j avrcai/j kai. tai/j evxousi,aij evn toi/j evpourani,oij. These constitute, as it were, the key issues of our investigations in which the issues of motif analysis - examination of traditional/religious and intellectual backgrounds, the possibility and fact of modifications in the context

666 Cf. R.P. Martin, “Worship”, in: DPL, 982–990 (990). 667 Cf. H. Merklein, 1973 (1), 98; see also, R.P. Meyer, 1977.

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of the religious environment of the issues in question668- are expected to play decisive roles in the determination of who or what these are.

6.3.1  tai/j avrcai/j kai. tai/j evxousi,aij 6.3.2  Pauline prelude As the plural dative objects of the verb “to make known” in the aorist subjunctive passive gnwrisqh/, our understanding of the these concepts would move from their nominative plural forms – ai` avrcai,, ai` evxousi,ai (from the singular forms avrch,, evxousi,a).669 Often translated as “the Principalities/Rulers and the Authorities/Powers”, and understood within the setting of “Powers/Power theology” in Pauline scholarship, it has remained a problem area in the study of Pauline letters, generating innumerable literature and perspectives.670 In our earlier investigation of the contents and antecedents of ‘Pauline spirit world’ (chapter 1), and especially in our study of this aspect of Pauline theology in the cosmic theology orientations (chapter 2), we established that Paul shared in his own way in the traditional beliefs about the spirit world. It is established that the existence and reception of these beliefs, running through the ANE into the Jewish apocalyptic traditions and languages, had their forms also in the Hellenistic dispositions.671 The dominance provided by the latter occasioned their perpetuations in the philosophico-religious traditions of the time and subsequently. What has come to be noted as the peculiar characteristics of apocalypticism, set the tone and direction of our appreciation of Pauline involvements. Regarding apocalypticism as a universal phenomenon, T. Olsson rightly observed that it rests on the very belief in the possibility of communication between man and the supramundane world. It borders on the premise that secret or divine plans that relate to the mundane world, its history and existential problems, are communicable to a human recipient or the other, a phenomenon that often climaxes in crisis circumstances. As such, he proposed a definition of apocalypticism as: …the speculative and verbal activity which emerges when communities or groups are involved or perceive themselves to be involved in such types of situations mentioned

668 Cf. T. Söding, 1998, 177. 669 Cf. G.Delling, „avrch,”, in: ThWNT 1 (1933), 477–483; W. Foerster, „evxousi,a“, in: ThWNT 2 (1935), 559–571; K. Weiß, „avrch,”, in: EWNT I (2011), 390–392; I. Broer, “evxousi,a”, in: EWNT II (2011), 23–31. 670 Confer the 0.1 General introduction of our study – especially 7–17. 671 Cf. D. Hellholm, (ed.), Apocalypticism in the Mediterranean World and the Near East. 1983.

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above. These communities or groups tend to codify or restore their cultural identities or traditional value-system in opposition to rival communities or groups through revelatory systems of ideas, which verbally manifest themselves by way of actualizing and reinterpreting traditional values, motifs and religious literature or ritual with reference to the contemporaneous situation.672

Against this background, W.A. Meeks worked out the major characteristics of apocalyptic universe. Among others, he noted that the apocalyptic universe is characterized by three corresponding dualities: 1) cosmic duality in terms of the merismus: heaven and earth; 2) temporal duality – ‘this age’ and ‘the age to come’; 3) a social duality – the sons/children of light versus the son/children of darkness, the righteous versus the unrighteous, the elect versus the world.673 Meeks further observed that apocalypticism affords apocalyptic exegesis of scripture674 in the fact that it enables the apocalyptic interpreter to present the moment and his own group as the focus of the revelation. All that preceded the moment in question become understood as prologue and catalysts to what was about to happen. He sees this trend of hermeneutical monopoly in Paul’s use of scripture (e.g. 1 Cor 10:11; Rom 15:4), featuring the reading of scripture in new, sometimes radical ways for the benefit of the course he was pursuing – establishing the gospel message. In such endeavours, Paul employed apocalyptic categories, featuring innovative use of traditionally associated factors to establish tacit solidarity from the patrimonies of Judaism, as well as ensure stability for the Christian congregations being built-up. The NT authors in his circle of influence also employed same language, adapting it to the varied nature and source of the issues they had to deal with. It is within this circumstance that the patrimony of Jewish apocalypticism in terms of its spirit world issues, articulated in its angelology and demonology, came into the scene. Paul like every other Jew of the time had his own share of this influence.

672 Cf. T. Olsson, “The Apocalyptic Activity. The Case of Jasmasp Namag”, in: D. ­Hellholm (ed.), 1983, 21–47(31). The situations in question include real or imagined conflict or crisis situation, contexts in which fears of such situations reign, as in war situations, colonialism, situations of political or religious propaganda. 673 Cf. W.A. Meeks, “Social Functions of Apocalyptic Language in Pauline Christianity”, in: D. Hellholm (ed.), op. cit., 687–705 (689). Other characteristics include the revelation of secrets to the author/prophet, the secrets concern imminent cosmic transformation. Time climaxes to the end of days”, followed by judgment that preceeds the rectification of the world, reward/punishment of the good and bad respectively. 674 Cf. W.A. Meeks, op. cit., 698. See also, K. Berger, 1999, 5.

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Most importantly, however, it is noted that Paul, in his spirit world articulations, made little use of such traditional terms like a;ggeloj, daimo,nion, dia,boloj, satana/j, and pneu/ma. W.A. Meeks notes this characteristic of Paul in the establishment of his theology as innovative. It involved the use of the known and accepted traditions in new combinations in the innovative system of beliefs. He maintains that Paul …incorporating these experiences into a master complex of metaphors built upon the kerygma of the crucified Messiah, Son of God… in a way which is quite characteristic of apocalyptic seers, Paul wove into that metaphoric complex traditional images and beliefs, which were often warranted by sharply perspectival reading of scripture, all skewed and reshaped by the radically new event, the crucifixion and resurrection of the Messiah Jesus.”675

In this innovative approach, Paul’s central attitude seemed to be more of denigration,676 meaning to make nothing of the traditional high esteems those traditional spirit world nomenclatures had assumed in common parlance and popular religiosity – 1 Cor 6:3; Gal 3:10ff; 1 Cor 10:20–21; 1 Cor 2:12; Rom 8:11; etc. All these played out in his bid to establish the supremacy of Christ over these power configurations in traditional beliefs (Phil 2:10) for the salvific benefit of man. Paul’s languages for articulating the spirit world rather range across a cluster of terms. These include a wide spectrum of concrete terms, sheer poetic abstractions, semi-abstracts and metaphor, a conglomerate summary of which is presented in Rom 8:38–39. The deliberately abstract and impersonal, but sometimes personified terminology – avrcai, and evxousi,ai – principalities and authorities, is registered as frequently occurring, as more preferred.677 675 Cf. W.A.Meeks, “Social Functions of Apocalyptic Language in Pauline Christianity”, in: D. Hellholm (ed.), 1983, 687–705 (701). 676 O. Böcher would refer, in this regard, to the “sinfulness of the angels” in Paul’s reference to them here. Cf. idem, 1972(2), 12. 677 Cf. C. Forbes, “Paul’s Principalities and Powers: Demythologizing Apocalyptic?” in: JNST 82 (2001), 61–63. See also K. Weiß, „avrch,”, in: EWNT (2011) I, 390–392; R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 76; E. Lohse, 2003, 353–359. J.R. Dodson, offers an interesting insight into the confusing interplay that occurs in the understanding and use of such terms as personification, metaphor, semi-abstract, abstract etc. He upholds the understanding of personification as the attribution of human traits to inanimate objects, abstract ideas or impersonal beings, noting that personification can be casual – i.e. without any tone of personality; it can be general or representative, in which case the personification assumes a personality, a human or suprahuman being, and makes a being(s) out of an attribute, a concept or a phenomenon it set out to represent. Cf. idem, 2008, 27–40.

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The originality of this configuration and the extent to which Paul may have been influenced (or not) by pre-existing traditions have often been debated. W. Carr provides some insight on the development of this terminology as configured by Paul. Discussing the issue of Powers in Jewish and Pagan thought, he traces a history of the various receptions of this phenomenon in the various cultural settings and their suspected influence in Pauline usage. Most interesting in this direction is the avrch, link. As a word that always conveyed the note of primacy, W. Carr argues that with the hypostatization678 of avrch, as an extension of God, the Jewish association of angels to God and the apocalyptic fascinations with the angelic hierarchies readily identified avrcai,, its plural form, with the angelic hierarchies. This is seen in 1 En 6:8 avrcai. au,tw/n oi` de,ka, referring to the leaders of the angels. He sees Paul’s use of evxousi,ai as paralleled in 1 En 61:10 where reference is made to all the angels of power and all the angels of principalities.679 Highly disagreeable, however, is his exclusion of the astrology and astral mysticism of the surrounding cultures from the perceived sphere of influence.680 E. Lohse in his analysis of the historical developments that had to do with stoichea tou kosmou evidences the astrological associations of the terms and the major roles they played in horoscope and magic in Col circumstances.681 It is our view that Carr must have adopted this position to justify his conclusions that avrcai. kai. evxousi,ai “are confined to the angels and archangels of Yahweh, and never are used of demonic forces”, and that “the concept of mighty forces hostile to man, from which he sort relief, was not prevalent in the thought world of the first century A.D.”682 We think that this opinion needs some correction. Not only has the struggle between the experiences and appreciations of good and 678 Dodson’s understanding of hypostasis as a figure between a personification and an autonomous being, is called to mind. According to this understanding, it is ambiguously more than personification and less than a myth. It is not altogether one or the other but able to be both for the sake of the argument. Cf. idem, 2008, 39–40. This applies to our Eph spirit world views. 679 Cf. W. Carr, 1981, 25–40. Emphasis is mine. 680 Ibid., 41–42. The compact presentation of the various traditions that influenced this Pauline configuration, is made by K. Weiß, op. cit., 391, is a very strong argument against Carr’s position. 681 Cf. E. Lohse, 1977, 146–150. 682 Ibid., 43. It would be interesting to know which 1st century A.D. Carr had in mind. Would it be the Asia Minor in the 1stcentury A.D. whose spirit world concerns notoriously ensured the continued flourishing of mystery religions and the patronage of magic? That would tantamount to a deliberate distortion of history. Cf. C.E. Arnold, “The ‘Exorcism’ of Eph 6:12 in Recent Research: A Critique of Wesley Carr’s View of

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evil been a distinctive feature of human history in every epoch, the relationship that is exhibited by the association of “elements of this world” Gal 4:3,9 and the principalities and powers in Rom 8:38–39; taken-up very directly in Col 2:10,683 bears witness to how incorrect Carr’s conclusions are. Demonstrating with an analogy drawn from two English words “principal” and “principle”, C. Forbes observes that Paul’s usage of the abstract term derives from avrch, in the sense of ‘principle’, an abstract rule or some form of standard, as different from a;rcwn in the sense of ‘principal’, a person in authority.684 In this light, with regard to Paul’s preferred terminology, he argues, after an extensive consideration of their appearances in Pauline letters (1 Cor 15:24; Gal 3:23–4:10; Rom 8:38–39; 13: 1–3; etc.), that, We have, then, in Paul, (a) a cluster of terms for ‘principalities and powers’, (b) the closely related ‘elements’ terminology, and (c) the striking personification and/or hypostatization of Law, Sin and Death, all of which function in related ways. In each case impersonal terms stand for realities that Paul clearly treats as if they were in some respects personal; at the very least, personal language is appropriate for describing them… these three features of Pauline thought belong together and express primary features of Paul’s concept of the ‘spiritual world’.685

One witnesses in the Pauline terminology the employment of metaphor in the direction of hypostatization – neither altogether a personification nor a myth, but

the Role of Evil Powers in First-Century AD Belief ”, in: JSNT 30 (1987), 71–87; see also idem, 1989; H.D. Betz, (ed.), 1986. 683 Cf. C. Forbes, in: JSNT 82, 2001, 70. For more on scholars sharing the same view on such relationship see footnote 29 of the cited page. See also 2.2.1 of our work. Carr W. denies the correctness of such relationships and identifications. Cf. W. Carr, 1981, 72–77. In our opinion, one of the major issues in Carr’s denial is his position on the authenticity of Col. Vehemently holding to Pauline authorship of Col he seems fore-closed to the new interpretations that characterized the deutero-Pauline dispositions. The cosmological dispositions and influences he allows in Eph (93– 98) are for him impossible in Col. 684 Cf. C. Forbes, op. cit., 68; see also “avrch,”and “a;rcwn” in: F.W. Danker, 2000, 137– 139, 140; G. Delling, „avrch,”, in: ThWNT 1 (1933), 477–483; W. Foerster, „evxousi,a”, in: ThWNT 2 (1935), 559–571. I. Broer, „evxousi,a”, in: ENWT II, 23–31. 685 C. Forbes, op. cit., 73–74. G. Williams opines that Paul may have used the terms as a generic but neutral angelic vocabulary. He argues that though such generic use may not be directly alluding to evil spirits some moral connotations are associated. Cf. idem, 2009, 132. Despite the eloquence of his analysis attempts, one cannot help observing the unfortunate featuring of the mix-up J.R. Dodson (2008) had talked about in the use of such terms as personification, metaphor, hypostasis etc.

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able to be both for the sake of the argument (Dodson above). Over and above the conceptual framework of apocalyptic Judaism with its extraordinary fascination about angels in their ranks, demons in their organizations and specialties, Paul seemed to go the way of personification of ‘forces’ and abstractions. The task remained to decipher between when such personifications remained figures of speech and when they evidence belief in real personal beings. C. Gunton, rightly observing the pitfall inherent in an inadequate attention to such subtlety in Paul, argues that Paul’s terminology – Principalities and Powers – would not mean Paul envisaged superhuman hypostases globe-trotting around. Rather he uses the language to express metaphorically moral realities that otherwise would defy expression.686 The task and the skill lie in deciphering the subtlety between spiritual ‘powers’ in the sense of influence, and spiritual beings in the sense of real personal beings. Would it not be the inattention to this nuance that accounts for the seemingly perpetual malapropism in the ontologisation of principalities and powers in Edh? Would not this be the foundation of the charlatan-like and fundamentalist uses made of it in certain circles?

6.3.3  Eph perspective It is in the context of the reception of Pauline cosmic theology in Eph that its peculiar understanding of ai` avrcai,, ai` evxousi,ai is to be sought. As earlier noted (3.3.3 & 3.5), the basis of Eph’s reception of Pauline cosmic theology (cosmic Christology) lies firstly in the taking-up of the basic imaginations/ideas Basisvorstellungen of their settings, and then in their Paulinisation. The Basisvorstellungen in question here are those featured in the spirit world concerns in Jewish apocalyptic speculations and their Hellenistic-cosmological receptions and applications. Paul has given the Hellenistic cosmological systems and peculiar astral interests and identifications had received theological re-interpretations in his bid to respond to such common and beleaguering ideas of his world and time (Gal 4:3ff). In their Pauline re-interpretations, certain Pauline theologumena were generated. ai` avrcai,, ai` evxousi,ai constitute part of these. In the style of the pseudepigrapic Paulinisation,687 featuring reflective selection, modification and innovative interpretation of Pauline thoughts, Eph is seen to

686 Cf. C. Gunton, “Christus Victor revisited. A Study in Metaphor and the Transformation of Meaning”, in: JTS 36 (1985) 129–145 (135). Emphasis is mine. 687 Cf. H. Merklein, „Paulinische Theologie in der Rezeption des Kolosser- und Epheserbriefes“, in: K. Kertelge, (Hg.), 1981, 38, 42ff. See also H. Merklein, 1973 (2), 85–89.

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employ Pauline dictions, and open them out to non-Pauline traditions in order to respond to the situations of his audience – the Christians in Asia Minor. H. Hübner, also referring to such developments in Col and Eph, remarks that the authors so made use of the contents of the authentic Pauline letters, creatively applying them to the circumstances of their audience in such a manner that new theological orientations emerged.688 By so doing Eph, for one, continues the hermeneutical process already begun by Paul, the first to translate the Jewish-Graeco-Roman eschatology and cosmology, respectively, into Christology.689 By means of this ingenious employment of Pauline terminologies, what A. Lindemann calls “Glossierung”, the author of Eph is able to christianize the mythological materials available to him and give them historical reformulation.690 The central mythological material given expression in ai` avrcai,, ai` evxousi,ai concepts is in the area of angelological speculations and attempts at systematizing the cosmological orientations. In the Eph circumstance, inherited Ancient Near Eastern, Jewish-Hellenistic monotheistic and pantheistic thoughts about, and reference patterns to God and the cosmos have become mixed up. The angelologies and demonologies of the different traditions have intermingled (1.2.1ff; 4.1.1, 4.3.2 of our work).691 In the ensued spatially conceived world views, the determining idea was the concept of the Ideal-Material worlds. With the radical transfiguration and ascription of the heavenly realities to the Ideal, the earth dimension, beginning with space-aerial axis, was materialized and increasingly demonologized. The perceived vacuum in-between the ideal/upper world and the lower realm where humans find themselves needed to be occupied, in line with the dictum nature abhors vacuum. The natural human tendency of fear of the unknown made of this horror vacui. This provided an enlivening ground for the age-old, 688 Cf. H. Hübner, 1997, 23. 689 Cf. G.H. van Kooten, 2003, 111. 690 Cf. A. Lindemann, 1975, 172ff. Knowledge of the world view concerns in the Eph circumstance reveal their immense influence in the making of Eph. One observes an intermingling of mythological materials with a language pregnant with theological contents in the author’s attempt to address issues about God and the world, and the relationship between them. Cf. R. Schwindt, 2002, 272–310; 351. See also chapter 4 of our work. 691 Ibid., 353–355. An interesting and important example of such mixed-up reception and continuation has to do with the regions assigned to the spirits associated with negative experiences. Whereas in ancient Greek traditions they occupied the space according to the Slavonic Book of Enoch, in the Ethiopian Version the earth was their abode. Cf. R. Schwindt, 2002, 287.

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wide-spread spirit world concerns. It is to the credit of the Platonists that, in the context of the age-long, wide-spread spirit world concerns, this world-in-between became readily filled with spiritual forces, the fear of which developed into the negative demonization of space.692 Variously conceived as hostile, capricious deities, demons, astral powers, Gnostic aeons or simply as Fortuna/Tyche, they were believed to constitute hindrances between heaven and earth. They were made responsible for the unwholesome and hostile experiences in human life.693 They functioned as bondage under which human existence played out. In Eph they were not only regarded as hostile and evil, they became hypostatized and received ontological interpretation. The preoccupation with these spirit world belief and experiences of the Eph world view account for the various terminologies the author fields to capture and express them.694 These power/force concepts are generally addressed in 1:21 with the all-embracing participial genera panto.j ovno,matoj ovnomazome,nou - every name that is named. It is in the context of the magical world view of the ancient world which asserts that the cosmos is full of powers that Eph use of this phrase is to be understood.695 Evidently less interested in making an order of preference or the individual characteristics of the powers, Eph thus sums them up as the cosmic totality of everything that is any way perceived as having a position of power or exercising influence on the universe. That they are named conveys the idea of control over them. Christ, having been exalted, is invested with the totality of such control. This is preparatory to the share in such authority Eph would make the lot of believers in Christ in their being “in and with Christ”. These

692 Ibid., 361, 284. 693 Cf. C.H. Talbert, 2011, 39–40; see also O. Böcher, 1972(1), 11. 694 Eph 1:21 pa,shj avrch/j kai. evxousi,aj kai. duna,mewj kai. kurio,thtoj kai. panto.j ovno,matoj ovnomazome,nou(Eph2:2aivw/na tou/ ko,smou tou,tou( kata. to.n a;rconta th/j evxousi,aj Eph 3:10tai/j avrcai/j kai. tai/j evxousi,aij evn toi/j evpourani,oij Eph6:12 ta.j avrca,j( pro.j ta.j evxousi,aj( pro.j tou.j kosmokra,toraj tou/ sko,touj tou,tou( ta. pneumatika. th/j ponhri,aj evn toi/j evpourani,oijÅ Observe the similarity between the Eph rendering pneumatika. th/j ponhri,aj with the pneu,mata ponhra, of Ethiopian Enoch Book (1En15:8,11), referring to the mythological Giants, these offsprings of the sexual union between the angels (sons of God) and the daughters of men, these beings that became the embodiment of the opposite of good. Cf. R. Schwindt, 2002, 287. 695 Cf. R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 77. For more on such derivations see Arnold, C.E., 1989, 54–56; L. Hartman, „o;noma, -atoj, to,“, in: EWNT II (2011), 1269–1270. The expression shares some relationship with Phil 2:9.

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power configurations have avrch, and evxousi,a in their different accentuations and cognate forms as major representatives. The root form of the avrch, concept – avrc-, with its accompanying concept evxousi,a, had political, organisational meanings and connotations in their original earliest usages. Their usage in the biblical scenery, as seen in Theodotion and LXX Dan 7:27, had the same political reference to earthly kingdoms. However, in their rendition in Dan 10–12, the influence of the evolving angelology was already at play. Such was to be expected of a document that originated within the Jewish apocalyptic milieu,696 the apocalyptic which cosmology was likewise angelology (and accompanying demonology). This disposition is founded on the Völkerengel tradition (Deut 32:8) that is also seen featured in Rev 2:1 – 3:22. The ontologisation that had taken place in early Judaism, this objectification of power appreciations and experiences with regard to both astral-cosmic connotations and physical manifestations, became a legacy for subsequent generations in New Testament times. An instance is Ps 110:1, often interpreted in such light by the early Christians as illustration of the power of God in Christ, and corner stone of their Christology. The power conceptions expressed by the terms principalities and powers now contained a mixture of personal, concrete and spatial categories. Whereas Pauline use of these configurations was in terms of metaphorical personification and abstraction (C. Forbes, op. cit. Cf. footnote 105) as exemplified in his hypostatization of Law, Sin and Death, the author of Eph in his Paulinisation, shares these basic ideas. However, while adopting Pauline theologumena, in this case the configuration – a.rcai. kai, evxousi,ai – Eph returns rather to the power conceptions within which personal, concrete and spatial categories are bundled together and perceived as superhuman hypostases. By such return Eph gets beyond the subtle nuance evidenced in Paul’s metaphorical personification of these phenomena. Instead of mere metaphorical personification, Eph directly personalizes these force phenomena. This marks its specific 696 Jewish apocalyptic mentality, what W.D. Bousset referred to as the psychology of the apocalyptic, re-interpreted situations of political hopelessness in religious terms. Whatever political development that stood between them and the realization of the hoped national glory was made God’s adversary and objectified through the readily available mythological imageries that enlivened the age-old spirit world beliefs. The influence of such idea in theological literature is very much evidenced. Cf. J. Maier, „Geister. Frühes und hellenistisches Judentum”, in: RAC 9 (1976), 626–640.; see also W.D. Bousset, 1906, 233ff (242–245; 277ff). See also M. Ebner, 2012, 86,197.

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difference in the “Pauline spirit world” articulations. Inadequate attention to the semantic nuance at play here accounts for the mix-up that regards spiritual/evil powers as being the same as personal spirit beings made responsible for evil inclinations and occurrences.697 R. Schwindt698 argues that this return is founded on the overbearing influence of the mythical etiology on the origin of the Heroes699 that became the mainstay of Jewish demonology in the intertestamental times. As Nephilim in the Jewish context, the Heroes received negative interpretations. They became variedly represented in, and associated with astral-cosmic phenomena and the story of the fall of the angels, as severally featured in the Book of Enoch and many biblical works associated with it. This tradition that sort to account for the origin of moral disorder in the sexual relationship of the angels (sons of God) with women (1 En 15:4; Gen 6: 2–4), and in the revelation of a certain heavenly secret to those women (1 En 16:3), is taken-up by the author of Eph as a model for his interpretation of the a.rcai. kai, evxousi,ai diction inherited from Paul. By so doing he indicates how well versed he is with Jewish tradition about the Watchers, and brings it into his Hellenistic-Christian setting. This would obviously be the mythological material A. Lindemann (1975, 172ff) was referring to. G. ­Williams’ view that the understanding of the principalities and powers in Eph does not refer to “evil powers per se, though hostile spirits do feature significantly”,700 seems to be a contradiction, even as we agree with him that they are deliberate qualifications. Would his insinuation that the reference to the rulers and principalities as powers of darkness and spiritual beings of evil, are mere deliberate qualifica697 A.T. Lincoln, for instance, seems to have overlooked this nuance. Cf. idem, 1990, 185. Awareness of the grandiloquent hypostatization of these forces in Eph opens the way to our hermeneutical endeavours in the understanding of Eph spirit world in the Igbo-Christian context. 698 Cf. R. Schwindt, 2002, 284–285, 367; see also J. Muddimann, 2001, 89; W.D. B ­ ousset, 1906, 370–371. The various versions conglomerate in the concept of Watchers, originally referring to the ancient understanding of the celestial bodies as animated beings. They became associated with the angels and constitute the foundations of Jewish angelology as typified in the Book of Enoch. 699 Cf. W. Speyer, „Heros”, in: RAC 14 (1988), 861–877. It is plausible to locate this association of the Heros-Nephilim tradition in the apocalyptic motif inventory within which the tradition of the overcoming of chaos plays a decisive role. O. Böcher notes how the fearful phantasies of the ancients in the face of the dangers they faced led to the imagery of demons as giants in human and other animal fearful forms. Cf. idem, 1970, 26–29. 700 Cf. G. Williams, 2009, 138.

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tions rather than technical terms for evil701 not mean an overstretching of the difference between something and its qualifications? In his reference to the principalities and powers as the “addressees”702 of the mystery of the variety of the wisdom of God through the instrumentality of the church (Eph 3:10), the author of Eph leaves no doubt about his hypostasized understanding of the terms as personal beings. These terms have been given personal, and above all, negative categorization. N.A. Dahl sees the influence of the apocryphal work Ethiopian Enoch in the principalities and powers/authorities in Eph being addressees of the wisdom of God. In the Ethiopian Enoch, the angels, the spirits and human beings are to be shown the wonderful work of God in creation. And when they see this work of his power, they will praise him (1 En 36:4).703 G. Williams seems to have wrongly understood this responsibility of the church here in 3:10. Having stated, as supportive of his above noted position that the expression “the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” does not refer to evil spirit beings, he concludes that, “to understand these as a regimented scheme of evil angels makes it difficult to connect this with the church’s missionary activities. The only conceivable reason for proclaiming God’s wisdom to these powers would be the assumption that they might be receptive of it.”704 He seems to have forgotten that the reception or not of the message of salvation would not determine whether it be preached or not (2 Tim 4:2). Moreover, the understanding of “proclamation” he presents seems to be exclusively verbal communication, whereas what is expected of the church is more about ministering by the fact of its being. The proclamation is the manifestation of the wisdom of God in the sense of displaying. A.T. Lincoln emphasizes this thus: It is not by its preaching nor by its worship but by its very existence as the new humanity out of Jews and Gentiles, overcoming the division within the old order, that the church reveals to the hostile powers that their divisive regime is at an end.705

701 Ibid., 139. 702 The motif of proclamation of the mystery to the principalities and authorities may be seen to have been modeled after a similar motif in the Book of Enoch where Enoch is commissioned to go and proclaim punishment to the Watchers of heaven (1En12:4f). The difference, however, is that this time it is the message of salvation not punishment. Moreso “addressees” here refers to their evidencing or realizing the wisdom of God through the church. 703 Cf. N.A. Dahl, Studies in Ephesians. 2000. 704 Cf. G. Williams, 2009, 138. 705 Cf. A.T. Lincoln, 1993, 95. However, such a way of being, of existence is in itself a living preaching which may even be considered more effective that verbal persuasion.

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It is plausible to surmise that the Völkerengel tradition is lurking at the background of the principalities and authorities being the audience of the message. This thought is supported by the fact that this pericope of Pauline anamnesis was the setting of the mission to the gentiles (3:1, 8). The thought would seem to be “where the angels/spirits perceived to be in charge of a people is addressed, the people in view become doubly addressed, as it were.” Corroborating this understanding in view of the atmosphere of dissension between the Jewish and Gentile Christians of the Eph/Asia Minor settings, R. Yates remarks: Possibly the suggestion is that the discord and ill-feeling between Jew and Gentile was the work of evil celestial powers, and that the vision of unity presented through the proclamation of the church provides the powers with tangible evidence that their authority has been broken and that all things are to be subject to Christ.706

The plan of God in creation, pictured as having been perverted in the persons and roles of the fallen angels (principalities and authorities) in the mythical etiology, is to be restored. Presenting the location of these principalities and authorities as being in the heavenly places evn toi/j evpourani,oij, and in the use the adjective polupoi,kiloj to qualify the wisdom of God, an adjective whose cosmic implications we have noted earlier (6.2.3), the astral-cosmic dimensions are clearly brought to bear. An understanding of Eph 3:10 in the light of its correlates in 1:21 and 6:12, therefore, shows an objectified understanding of the powers’ concepts as spatial spirit beings. For the author of Eph, they are personal beings, understood as evil in nature, and responsible for the unpleasant experiences in the world. This view is no doubt rooted in the world view of the Eph circumstances featuring a blossoming continuity of the inherited ancient world views and spirit world beliefs. With such a language, the author of Eph was being true to the sensitivities and concerns of his audience within their world view, a world view in which spirits, benevolent and malignant, are believed to encompass the universe, having the earth and its human occupants at their mercies.707 Most importantly, however, the author’s preoccupation and main interest remained the instrumentalisation of these concerns for the cosmic Christology he was propagating, the Christol-

706 Cf. R. Yates, “Principalities and Powers in Ephesians”, in: New Blackfriars 58 (1977), 516–521 (517). 707 G. Theißen, noting how tied religion is to language, to its expression, gives an example of how, by means of rhetoric, evil das Böse becomes hypostatized into a demon. Cf. idem, „Erleben und Erkennen in frühen Christentum. Einleitung und Einführung“, in: G. Theißen & P. von Gemünden, (Hg.), 2007, 18.

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ogy upon which his ecclesiology is based. The mainstay of the Christology is the undisputed lordship of Christ over All. No matter how powerful the principalities and powers may have been conceived to be, they are now subjected under the authority of the enthroned Christ, the head of his body the church, and in whose authority this body of his shares. The integral participation of the believers in Christ’s being and in his universal sphere of authority becomes the panacea for, the liberation from the strangulating bondage of fear of these powers under which the people were living. The inspirational role Pauline u`pernikw/men and pe,peismai, this triumphal confidence of Paul in Rom 8:37–39, may have played could be readily be assumed. The love and power of God manifest in Christ is more than any cosmic configurations, pretensions and contestations. The reality of the ecclesia, this gathering that is made up of Jews and Gentiles as a united people in love and freedom, is the clear sign to these powers of discord and perversion of the creational order that their days are over. This emboldening message was not meant for the Eph audience only. It remains a sempiternal hope and challenge of the church.

6.3.4  “Ministry/Mission” Theology of Eph 3 dia. th/j evkklhsi,aj in Eph 3:10 does not only constitute the hub of the ecclesiology of Eph it enables some view in the mission theology of Eph. Eph understands the being of the church as missionary imperative. It is less an activity and more of being. The tone of this missionary imperative that inheres in the church’s being, according to Eph, is set from the outset of the letter when in its eulogy it gives thanks for the choice made of the believers in Christ by God before the foundation of the world (Eph 1:3ff). The endowments that this choice came along with, having its zenith in the making known to us the mystery of his will in Christ with all wisdom and insight as a plan for the fullness of time (1: 8–9), show it to be a choice with vision and mission - the gathering up of all things in Christ (1:10).708 The vision and mission crystallizes in Eph understanding of the resurrection of Christ that is at the same time his enthronement over all, as manifestation of God’s power. It inheres above all, in the identification of the church as the body of Christ, the fullness of him who fills all in all (1:22–23). This “body of Christ” ecclesiological formula with which the abiding belongingness and solidarity of the church to Christ (its head) is given expression, is understood by E. Käsemann as the terminus technicus with which the Hellenistic Christianity stepped out

708 Cf. R.P. Meyer, 1977, 21–22.

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unto mission.709 Strengthened by such very intimate identification with Christ whose area of dominance has become cosmic and universal (cosmic Christology Col 1:15–20↔Eph 1:22–23) by virtue of his enthronement, the church thus endowed by God with the enthroned Christ, participates in this dominance though without the sense of triumphalism. Thus emboldened, it ventures to embark on the ongoing manifestation of this lordship of Christ to the world. Observing that in the whole of the NT the application of the plh,rwma to the church occurs only here in Eph 1:23, R.P. Meyer sees this God-Christ-ChurchAll relationship especially within the body of Christ formula, as expressive of the being of the church in the light of service to the world. Christ, who is the fullness of God (Col 2:9), is made the fullness of the church, so that the church becomes the place in which the godly fullness of Christ that is directed to the All shows its effectiveness.710 The mission perspective put forward by Eph is then primarily in the sense of the very being or existence of the church. Then follows the justification of its being through its function as the facilitator, as the agent through which the multi-faceted wisdom of God is made manifest.711 Eph pursues this mission thematic in its presentation of the concrete being of the church as sign of the missionary success of proclaiming the good news. This success is witnessed in the constitution of the church by Jews and Gentiles, this concrete expression of universal character of the body of Christ, the church. The immensity of the success that the coming together of Jews and Gentiles in the church is, may only be fully appreciated when one bears in mind the separatist 709 Cf. E. Käsemann, 1972, 245. H. Merklein, agrees in substance with the missionary implications of the “soma” concept of Eph ecclesiology even as he sees it as being more in terms of internal growth of the church than about missionary extensions. Cf. idem, 1973, 97. The internal growth of the church, whatever that may mean, cannot, in our opinion be for itself. It is a growth that is destined to have external implications, and as such missionary. 710 Cf. R.P., Meyer, 1977, 42–44. Disagreeable, however, is her suggestion thatta. pa,nta in 1:22 and 1: 9–10 be understood as referring exclusively to the human world because 1:13 would talk of the preached andbelieved gospel of salvation. ta. pa,ntais all inclusive – the universe – both the world of human beings and otherwise; for it remains unacceptable to refer to human beings as things. Moreover “the principalities and powers” in 3:10, to whom also the wisdom of God would be made known, is in own considerations, no reference to humans. 711 This understanding may have inspired the Vat. II position in her Document Ad Gentes where the church is presented as missionary in nature and as sacrament of universal salvation. It points out also the Trinitarian origin of this mission – through the mission of the Son and the Holy Spirit according to the decree of God. Cf. AG 1.

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character of the Jewish religious traditions. The author of Eph may have tacitly hinted on this as he referred to the commonwealth of Israel, the covenant of promises, from which the Gentiles, perceived as godless, were formerly excluded (2:12). He attributes the overcoming of this hurdle to no other than the salvific death of Christ on the cross, his death through which he broke down the separating walls of enmity, reconciling the two groups and creating out of them one new humanity. The realization of the missionary orientation that was insinuated in the expression that God’s eternal and universal plan of salvation - the gathering of all things in Christ – will be effected at the fullness of time oivkonomi,an tou/ plhrw,matoj tw/n kairw/n (1:10a), would not fall from the blues. A process of realization is tacitly implied. The aorist form of the verb of gathering together avnakefalaiw,sasqai gives credence to this implication in the understanding of aorist as applicable to both a completed action and also one open for the future. That is exactly the function the being of the church as the body of Christ and the fullness of him who fills all in all assigns her. The author goes on to show this already in progress in the concrete experience of the church as made of Jews and Gentiles. What was perceived as a manifest impossibility, according to earlier standards, was now being witnessed (Eph 2). Perhaps an appreciation of this “wonder” may have been contributive to his re-interpretation of the church as the mystery of God’s will, a radical shift from the earlier Pauline understanding of what the mystery of God’s will is. Whereas for Paul the mystery of God’s will is Christ (1 Cor 1:24, 30), the author of Eph, claiming Pauline authority in the understanding of the mystery of Christ (3:4) transposes this to the church coconstituted by Gentiles as co-heirs of the promises of Christ (3:6). Eph 3 becomes a culmination of these missionary insinuations. This is not only because it sets out from an anamnesis of the missionary personage of Paul, a reminder of the person of Paul as the apostle of the Gentiles, but also because it hints on the immense success of this missionary endeavour as it were – the inclusion of the Gentiles in the promises of the gospel of Jesus Christ (3:6). This success, concretized in the unity of Jews and Gentiles in the one church, this example of the universal church with the Jews and Gentiles serving as representation of the entire humanity, receives a further missionary mandate – that through it, the church, the wisdom of God in its rich variety be made known to the principalities and powers in the heavenly places (3:10). The “potencies” of the cosmos, in accordance with the Eph world view, are here seen as factors of the world and its affairs.712 The chaos that they are seen to be responsible for, as 712 Cf. R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 140.

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manifested in the hostility among peoples (Jews and Gentiles as examples), are seen to be overcome in the unity of these peoples in the church. This fact the being of the church radiates is also its continued mission as the “sacrament of salvation”. Less of what the church does, it is more of what God does in and through the church. J. Gnilka articulates this pointedly: The action of God finds expression in the church. In the church the various human groups that were antagonized and hostile to each other are reconciled with God and with one another. This character of the church dictates her responsibility. She validates this character as long as she makes it principle of her responsibility to the world and lives up to this assignment as representative of Christ in the world… She should not only maintain the peace within its own ambient but also be actively involved in fighting against evil.713

It is the re-awakening of the consciousness of the practical consequences of this missionary task and challenge that our understanding of the “the principalities and powers” in Eph against the background of Igbo spirit world issues seeks to establish.

6.4  Critical evaluation It is clear that the author of Eph was motivated, among other reasons, by the need to offer a Christian response to the spirit world and power concerns of his environment. These concerns were founded on dualism (4.1.1; 4.3.3). It was a circumstance in which a multi-cultural and multi-religious complexity of ideas have fostered an understanding of the world as being under the influence of forces personified as myriad of spirits. They were believed to steer the course of events on earth (Fate/Tyche/Fortuna) from their supra-terrestrial abode in the spatial ambients. Magic, as a way of overcoming this terrestrial chaos, in the sense of the ability to manipulate these powers that have become spirits, became a dominant characteristic of this world view. Ephesus (Asia Minor) of the 1st Century AD seemed to have served as cosmopolitan headquarters. Establishing a dynamic world view in which all that is must be located in the unity of God’s creation, the author of Eph, true to the Sitz im Leben of his audience, appreciates these powers and articulates them as personal spirit beings. He acknowledges their spatial domain and their apparent perversion of the cosmic unity and harmony of creation. However, he insists in their subjection 713 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 110. (Translation is mine!) See also M. Barth, 1974, 363–365. The “war metaphor” in Eph6:10ff would be understood in this light as the culmination of the paraenetic instructions of Eph. See our chapters 7 & 8.

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in the events of the mystery of Christ, and by the agency of the church, through whom the original unity of God’s creation plan is restored - avnakefalaiw,sasqai ta. pa,nta evn tw/| Cristw/| (Eph 1:10). In this way he follows, and at the same time transcends what W.A. Meeks calls the Pauline tradition of innovative apocalyptic exegesis,714 constructing a symbolic world of discourse language from earlier traditions.715 This transcending is characteristic of Pauline pseudepigraphy. By so doing he steps into the role of a prophet, providing a new myth. By means of this myth, which, invariably includes many traditional beliefs and images but in novel combinations, he seeks to provide some explanatory power for coping with present distress716 – the spirit world-power concerns of his audience and their perceived influence. Demythologisation attempts in the face of the contemporary developments that have seen the foundational world view of Eph as overtaken have kept raising the question how these powers, principalities and authorities are to be understood. Are they to be understood in the NT context that sees them as personal beings with names or as purely anthropological or structural factors? These attempts have seen the emergence of pro and contra positions with little tendency to consensus.717 While some hold to the personal character of the spirit world figures, others plead for the interpretation of these figures in terms of existential power structures, calling to mind their foundations in the apocalyptic psychology/mentality. Against these apparently extreme positioning, K. Berger718 advocates a middle course that would take note of the concept of held in NT settings. Such a course would appreciate that NT settings operated with mythic language even as it seeks to respond to contemporary developments and orientations. The central problem, however, lies in the hermeneutics of suspicion with which almost every mention of, and attempt at demythologisation is encountered. At its background is the misunderstanding of demythologisation as the

714 Cf. W.A. Meeks, op. cit. in: D. Hellholm, (ed.), 1979, 687–705. 715 Cf. A.T. Lincoln, 1993, 86. 716 Cf. W.A. Meeks, op.cit. 701. Meeks considers Paul as having played the role of a “millennial prophet” in the sense of one who determinedly provided ordering complex of beliefs for a millennial (eschatological) movement. (688) “Cognitive dissonance” as a technical term for the distress of the audience of Eph will be featured in our psychological hermeneutical attempts in the next chapter. 717 Some major representatives of such attempts include C.E. Arnold, 1989; O. Böcher, 1972; R. Bultmann, 1961, 1964; G.B. Caird, 1956; W. Carr, 1981; P.T. O’Brien, 1984; M. Theobald, 2000; W. Wink, 1984, 1986, 1993; G. Williams, 2009, etc. 718 Cf. K. Berger, 1999, 190–206; see also Schwindt, R., 2002, 392.

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elimination of myths. Rather than the elimination of myths, demythologisation, rightly understood, is about the interpretation of myths719 so that they would speak to contemporary generation. This is the field of hermeneutics, the task of our next chapter in pursuit of the goal at some understanding and applicable actualization of the spirit world beliefs in Eph in the Igbo Christian circumstance. At the basis of the endeavour is, however, the appreciation that such mythic understandings of the experienced as reality are but attempts at articulating the convictions about the experiences of the superhuman power of evil and its influence (Rom 3:9). This is especially in the corruption and disturbance of the order of creation, experienced as dissonance. This is the pervading circumstance under which the human experience as being-in-the-world plays out. The author of Eph attempts to make immanent this human transcendent reality of evil. In this attempt, he projects the immanent human experiences of this reality back into the transcendent spheres, and shares the conventional personal identifications as demons/devil, his principalities and authorities.720 Following ancient world view in which the benevolent forces of nature became personified and tagged angels while the dangerous and feared natural forces became demons, the demons became the causal principle(s) of every wrong, the dark sides of human life and experience.721 Agreeing with W. Carr that the cosmology and moral of Eph have immense role to play in the expressions of the letter,722 we join H. Hübner in seeking a hermeneutical approach to this complex in the context of knowing [dy .723 This is in the sense of the critical consciousness that enables and charges to responsibility and freedom of action, where human action will no longer be primarily understood as steered by the gods/spirits, as in horoscopic interpretations and their likes,724 this bane of the Igbo spirit world belief and influence.

719 Cf. H. Hübner, 1997, 268. 720 Cf. ibid., 267–270; see also R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 77, 140, 279–281. 721 Cf. O. Böcher, 1972(1), 11; 1970, 18. Borrowing the words of van der Leeuw, he talks of “die boshafte Unzulänglichkeit des Geschehens, das Irrationelle im Lebensgrund.“ 722 Cf. W. Carr, 1981, 110. O. Böcher had pointed out earlier, on related notes, the reinterpretation of the Jewish (OT) perceptions about the demonic into ethics and catharsis in the NT as being a continuation of a programme begun in the prophetic theology. Cf. idem, 1970, 202–201; 1972(1), 60–66; 1972(2), 138ff. 723 Cf. H. Hübner, 1997, 269. 724 Cf. R. Schwindt, 2002, 375.

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Chapter Seven: Psychological Hermeneutics – towards application 7.1  Psychology as a hermeneutical approach One of the fundamental problems of psychology is articulated in the difficulty of a generally accepted definition, as almost every attempt exhibits a bias for/against a particular school of thought or the other. To this are added the issues about its specific boundaries, the scientific quality of its various approaches as different from so-called common sense associations, pre-scientific and daily psychologies. While the term daily psychology refers to those common place conjectures and opinions about human behaviour and experience, opinions with which people go through their daily lives, pre-scientific psychology refers to those attempts to describe, explain or interpret human behaviour and experience, which however, lack the systematic method of science.725 Against this background, A. Vergote, underscores the importance of differentiating between fundamental and applied psychology. He calls attention to the separation of scientific research and the practical use of psychological insights in for e.g., education, pastoral work, etc.726 A working definition is, however, afforded by P.G. Zimbardo & R.J. Gerring, who in very general terms defines Psychology as “the scientific examination of the behaviour of individuals and their mental processes.”727 One observes the absence of the word “experience”, often taken for granted as a must in psychological discuss. The choice of “mental processes” seems to suggest a preference which, however, evokes the question whether mental processes capture all the contents of experience. Seemingly defending this position, the authors go on to argue that many human activities take place as private, internal events (perhaps before they manifest as observable), and that psychologists have recognized that human behaviour cannot be understood without understanding the mental

725 D. Cervone & L.A. Pervin, at the beginning of the 10th Edition of their work - Personality Theory and Research (2008), call attention to the differences between everyman’s daily observations and “theories” about life, and scientific, systematic theories. Cf. idem, 2008, 2–6; see also M. Leiner, 1995, 152, 317. 726 Cf. A. Vergote, Cause and Meaning, Explanation and Interpretation in the Psychology of Religion”, in: J.A. Belzen, (ed.), 1997, 11–34. 727 Cf. P.G. Zimbardo & R.J. Gerring, 2004, 3. Translation is mine. (Hence Zimbardo & Gerring, 2004).

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processes that prompt and bring them about.728 True as the second proposition may be, the objection remains that the qualification ‘many,’ with regard to the view about human activities, does not mean all of human activities. As such, the absence of experience and what it is understood to embrace, in the definition, is remarkable. This may, however, be seen to be complemented by the view that inner behaviour (mental processes?) embraces perceiving, thinking, remembering, judging. M. Leiner, in his epoch making work in our field of discussion – Psychologie und Exegese: Grundlagen einer textpsychologischen Exegese des Neuen Testamentes – seemingly appreciative of the issues of the bias of definitions, gives a rather all-embracing description. According to him, scientific psychology is to be understood as: …the designation for the variety of research programs, which satisfying specific scientific standards, and by means of free and standardized self and external observations, surveys, measurements and experiments, seek to understand, explain, describe, and possibly quantify and predict the behaviour and experience of the individual.729

Going by the general terms, however, psychology is understood as the scientific attempts at comprehending and describing human experience and behaviour. It is to be borne in mind that behaviour is not just about actions/conduct. It also includes the underlying mental processes - perception and its underlying cognitive structures, thought and thought patterns, judgment, memory etc.730 The interest in such enquiries is as old as the quest for knowledge itself. It is based on the very interest in man, his feelings, actions and motivations, in the bid to understand himself, his world and reality around him. Beyond the general association with knowledge scientia in the bid to understand, and consequently becoming eclectic by nature, psychology became a veritable aspect of hermeneutics as the general theory of interpretation and understanding. This is credited to the pioneering works of F.D.E. Schleiermacher.731 Its growth into the adoption of specific scientific character, resulting in the

728 Cf. ibid., 4. 729 Cf. M. Leiner, 1995, 152. Translation is mine. See also C.E. Henry, “Psychology, History of ”, in: D.G. Benner, & P.C. Hill, (eds.), Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology & Counseling (BEPC), 1999, 952–957; Zimbardo & Gerring, 2004, 5–9. 730 Cf. Zimbardo & Gerrig, 2004, 3–4. Interesting here is their understanding of behaviour as activities through which an organism adapts to its environment. 731 A. Vergote traces the relationship back to Aristotle to whom the name and project of hermeneutics is attributed. Cf. idem, op. cit., in: J.A. Belzen, 1997, 11–12.

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relationship to related sciences Nachbarwissenschaften,732 widened its scope. Schleiermacher, understanding that the fundamental goal of hermeneutics was the examination of the overall art of understanding, especially with regard to articulating its elements and conditions, defined hermeneutics as “the historical and divinatory, objective and subjective reconstruction of the given utterance.”733 Whereas “the objective” refers to the grammatical, the linguistic aspects, “the subjective (the empathetic)” is the psychological. Observing that the given utterance is a product of thought, thereby establishing the reciprocal relationship between thought and speech/text, he argued that true interpretation of a given speech/text would have to proceed from the reconstruction of the author’s thought and the underlying feeling(s) that originally gave rise to the expression presented to us by the speech/text. For the meaning of a text exceeds what any purely grammatical interpretation may disclose.734 Upon this radically pioneer perspective, subsequent hermeneutical endeavours would no longer be considered thoroughly thought through without engaging the place of the experiences, feelings and thoughts of the author of the particular text(s) in question. The purpose the text pursues as well as its receptivity by the original and subsequent audience is not left out.735 The subsequent emergence of document analysis, involving the scientific evaluation of documents, targeted some encounter of the author and the addressees in their life situations. This is on the grounds of the generally accepted position that the authors of documents represented their own experience in their documents, and have endeavoured to objectify these experiences through their writings. Scripture, as document of faith with the system of belief that it contains, shares in the basic character of texts as articulations of the experiences of the various authors of its books and their various audience in their times and circumstances, even as they came to assume normative status (Canonicity). It is this understanding of these texts of faith as stemming from, and related to the elementary phenomena of human experience, even as their basis and point of departure remain their theocentric/religious character, that constitute the 732 Among the related sciences are anthropology, sociology, historical and literal sciences, philology, ethnology, religion and theology. Cf. M. Leiner, 1995, 77ff. 733 Cf. F.D.E. Schleiermacher, Hermeneutics and Criticism. Introduction, 18; cited by A.J. Godzieba, “Hermeneutics”, in: NCE 6 (2003), 787; see also G. Wieland, „Hermeneutik. I. Begriff u. Geschichte”, in: LThk3 5 (1996), 1–3. 734 Cf. A.J. Godzieba, op. cit., 788. 735 The place of this method of inquiry in exegesis cannot be over-emphasized. Cf. T. Söding, 1998, 16, 37–53.

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foundations of hermeneutical engagements with them. The very appreciation of the fundamental roles of experience and behaviour, this bedrock of psychology, in the coming to be of the scriptural texts, give psychology its place in the endeavours of biblical hermeneutics. This is, above all, complemented by, and evidenced in the irresistible augmentations (Ergänzungen)736 that often occur at contact with these texts. On more reflective levels, however, the question is raised about the relationship between psychology and exegesis. Would the findings of scientific psychology, in the light of the abiding influence of psychology on contemporary world, aid the discovery of the intentions and the truth of the biblical (NT) texts? Can they assist in communicating the message of NT texts to the present generation, whose self-understanding, language and existence have become, as it were, psychological? This is in the sense of the increased sensitivities to psychic processes, conflicts and difficulties, in the search for orientation. The fact that biblical (NT) texts originated from socio-religious experiences, and in their normative status intend orientation for their audience, sees them already (at least implicitly) psychological. This position is not negated by the fact that their authors would be said to have been more interested in their message and in their reception than in explicit psychic sensitivities. The seeming lack of explicit expressions about psychic sensitivities must have been very much influenced by the manner of expression of the time. According to M. Leiner, The New Testament itself speaks the language of the popular psychology of its time. Exegesis, in its bid to interpret it, has to take up the concepts and theories of popular psychology of our time… and with the help of scientific psychology, exegesis examines, differentiates and develops these further.737

It is the positive response to this realization that constitutes the fact and business of psychological exegesis. For it has been realized that the appreciation of the psychological issues around the people and time of the NT gives fuller access 736 This refers to the almost natural tendency, at contact with biblical texts, to visualize, historicize and psychologize their sceneries, characters etc. Visualization refers to the imaginations in connection with biblical scene; historicizing is the transference of the scene into action by some historical reconstructions; psychologizing here is about augmenting the biblical characters with presuppositions with regard to emotions, experience and behaviour. Cf. M. Leiner, 1995, 17–22. Elementary and fundamental as these tendencies are, it is very remarkable how defining they are in subjective and common circles. 737 Cf. M. Leiner, 1995, 39; see also idem, „Dem Evangelium die Seele wiedergeben? Grundsätzliche Frage einer Psychologie des Urchristentums“, in: G. Theißen & P. von Gemünden, (Hg.), 2007, 29–54. Translation is mine.

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to their image, it enriches the historical basis upon and through which exegesis operates. The intentions of the statements made by particular authors or by the redactors become more accessible.738 Contentious as a number of biblical scholars skeptical of this approach have held it to be, contentions expressed in the so-called ‘sins’ of psychological exegesis,739 this perspective in the exegetical endeavours has continued to assert its usefulness.740 Undeterred by the vehement objections to the relationship between the two disciplines, G. Theißen, with regard to the NT, maintains that psychological exegesis: …seeks to describe and explain, as far as humanly possible, human behaviour and experience in ancient Christianity. Its foundations are early Christian texts, whether it concludes from them to human behaviour and experiences or interprets the texts themselves as psychic acts – as acts of praying, appealing, thinking, interpreting, and evaluating.741

In a related note G.R. Wayne, insisting that psychological critical approach to exegesis basically approaches a text as a “psychic event”, argues that,

738 Cf. Ibid, 32. Such psychological issues that belong to more complete anthropological and historical appreciations include such feedbacks from experience like being overcome by emotions, eruption of memories, thinking in inner pictures etc. See also G. Theißen, 1987, 2–3. Petra von Gemünden advocating, in this light, more for the historical-psychological research provides a list of approaches for better results in the exegesis-psychology relationship. Cf. eadem, 2009, 13–33. 739 On the so-called „sins“ of psychological exegesis which includes the allegations about interpolations, naivety, triviality, anachronism, incongruity of methods, subjects of investigation and self-understandings etc., and responses to them, see G. Theißen, 1987, 1–2, 42–45; idem, 2007, 20–32; M. Leiner, op. cit., in G. Theißen, P. von Gemünden (Hg.), 2007, 47–53; M. Leiner, for one, considers the rejection of collaboration (interdisciplinary dialogue) between psychology and exegesis as a misunderstanding that should be given up, given that psychology affords exegesis some intelligibility of the biblical texts with regard to highlighting the “humanity” of the texts. Cf. idem, 1995, 235; see also P. von Gemünden, 2009, 13–33. 740 For a historical sketch of the stages of the development of psychological approaches to biblical interpretations and the hurdles on its way to assert itself, see M. Leiner, 1995, 41–76. It is remarkably noted that such approaches have been as old as the Bible itself even as the scientific specifities became issues of later developments. Cf. T. Vogt, 1993, 9–16. 741 Cf. G. Theißen, 1987, 1; see also ibid., 45–49. That the psychological endeavours are based on early Christian texts justifies the name of the undertaking as textpsychological interpretation.

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it views the text not only as the product of historical, social, and literary processes, but also as the product of a psychic process or processes in which conscious as well as unconscious factors are at work in the authors of the text, their communities, and historical settings, as well as in those of the readers, and in which the nature and the habits of the psyche are at work in the selection, formulation, organization, and rhetorical orientation of the textual materials.742

Consciousness here embraces thinking, feeling and willing as its three ultimate modes. They are also referred to as Cognition, Feeling and Conation. It is in the co-operative functioning of these modes that the phenomena of conscious life are arranged.743 G. Theißen, going on to understand psychological exegesis as including “…all attempts to interpret texts as expression and occurrence of human experience and behaviour”,744 concedes the possibility of differentiations. This is between psychological evaluation of texts as conclusion from texts to experience and behaviour, on the one hand, and psychological exegesis as interpretation of the texts themselves as forms of experience and behaviour, on the other hand. From these concessions and accommodations he worked out what he termed hermeneutically oriented psychology. This refers to a convergence between psychological and hermeneutical approaches, i.e., the interpretations of texts, explanatory models that are oriented to psychology. According to him, The hermeneutic approach offers no independent approach to explanation on the same level as learning theory, or as psychodynamic and cognitive models. It is on the one hand a corrective in the exegetical use of these models, and on the other hand a general framework that becomes concrete and fruitful only through assumption of explanatory models... they do not contradict the tested historical-critical methods of exegesis but rather make them more profound. They have the same goal: to make texts intelligible on the basis of their connection with life.745

742 Cf. G. R. Wayne, “A Psychological-Critical Approach to the Bible and its Interpretation”, in: idemet al. (ed.), 2007, 17–21(19); see also T. Vogt, 1993, 8–10. For more on attested psychological contents of rhetorical materials see P. Lampe, „Psychologische Einsichten Quintilians in der Institutio Oratoria”, in: G. Theißen & P. von Gemünden (Hg.), 2007, 209–230; P. von Gemünden, Affekt und Glaube, 2009. 743 Cf. M.S. Fletcher, “The Psychology of the New Testament”, in: G.R. Wayne, et al. (eds.), 2007, 11–17(16). 744 Cf. G. Theißen, 1987, 1. 745 Cf. ibid., 2; see also 50, 394; M. Leiner, 1995, 39. A brief summary of the five premises of this general principle may be presented as follows: 1)Human experience and behaviour are mediated interpretatively; 2) they are historically conditioned; 3) can be objectified in texts or other signs; 4) human experience and behaviour form a unified whole; 5) human experience and understanding are marked by content. (pg. 2–4).

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On what hermeneutical psychology actually is, G. Theißen related it in a later work of his to historical psychology. This is the a posteriori interpretation of received texts, which, because of its methodic limitations (regarding the empirical methods obtainable in scientific psychology), contents itself with classifying, understanding and explaining from given texts. Cultural rules and norms, despite their contextual variations, provide the basic regimentations that may parallel the regular rules of scientific methods.746 While agreeing with, and substantially sharing this understanding and the immense insights of these developments in which G. Theißen rightly counts as one of its strongest advocates, we are wont to go a step further, to suggest a different approach. This is summed-up in our preference of the term psychological hermeneutics (psycho-hermeneutics) to hermeneutical psychology. Very much related in their basic meanings, our understanding of psychological hermeneutics portrays a nuance. This is based on our earlier understanding of hermeneutics as not only being interpretation/explanation but also involving application in the sense of actualization (6.0). This is not in the sense of making hermeneutics become the process of application, a misunderstanding against which K. Berger warned. It is rather in the sense of hermeneutics being the articulation of the two approaches to text – exegesis and application –, showing coherence and substantiation.747 Whereas the understanding of hermeneutics employed in Theißen’s hermeneutical psychology, seems to give the impression of analyses with little involvement of direct application,748 our perspective of psychological hermeneutics is precisely in the direction of application with careful analysis as prerequisite.749

746 Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 16–18; see also idem, 1987, 45–49. K. Berger, while appreciating the importance of historical psychology, sees it as scientific response of theology to hermeneutic significance of human experience. However, his skepticism about the danger of imposing too much of the modern situation on the text, while insisting on deliberate openness to the biblical modes of experiencing reality, on the historical specificity of the text, is responded to by M. Leiner. Cf. K. Berger, 2003 (1991), 1–25; see also M. Leiner, 1995, 243–247. 747 Cf. K. Berger, 1999, 110; see also section 3 (6.0) of our work. 748 Although immense credit is owed G. Theißen for his defining contributions in the field of the relationship between psychology and exegesis, in this pioneer work of his in this regard, he may be said to be more or less involved with laying down principles, following them in his analysis. His target was, as he noted, “posing new historical questions.” Cf. G. Theißen, 1987, 394. 749 Cf. K. Berger, 1988, 27. See also T. Vogt, 1993, 10. Such considerations of historical and sociological situations, comprehensive reception process, conditions and possibilities, had governed our exegetical considerations of our Eph 3:10 particularly

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The point of departure in our psycho-hermeneutical approach is founded on our understanding of hermeneutics, following K. Berger, as engagement with the ancient texts in the quest for orientation and meaning in life, given the reality of the vagaries of conditio humana. Such hermeneutics necessarily involves application, one that is motivated by the inadequacies and wants in praxis. Application here is more than the transference of ideas to the present. It is an attempt at understanding which is oriented towards responsible action. It is about the discovery of these wants, a criticism of the praxis and the proffering of some assistance. For K. Berger, The beginning of application is the evidence of the appeal arising from the situation in which there is the need for action, a need that one cannot close oneself up against or explain away with one ideology or the other… Liberation, comprehensively understood, is the goal of applicative endeavour.750

We share, thereby, the conviction that human beings are optimally motivated to action by the conviction that they can influence the proceedings of things rather than submit to the crippling dispositions to inaction. The dispositions in question are such that seem to make fate of every experience, even the ones that have very natural explanations and demand such attention. The motivation to such application informs and defines our psycho-hermeneutical understanding and orientation with regard to the Igbo spirit world concerns and Christian message. Its primary point of take-off is the psychology of the early Christianity within the approaches of the psychology of religion, and in the circumstance of their religious world and cultural orientations. This is because the place of psychohermeneutics is between theology and theory of religion. Where theology is understood as the science which seeks to serve the proclamation of the gospel by means of various methods and in various subjects,751 the implications of psychology therein is obvious. In this relationship, it is of great importance to differentiate between scientific psychology and para- and pseudo-scientific (esoteric) psychology. In the scientific reflection on the subjective and practical aspects (6.2ff), as well as the earlier parts of our work especially in the examination of the Ephesian worldview (3.0 – 4.0ff). 750 Cf. ibid, 18–19. Translation is mine! A comprehensive understanding of liberation would be, in my opinion, captured by what we may call the Johannine Good ­Shepherd manifesto – “I have come that they may have life, and have it in full.”(Jn 10:10) K. Berger refers to such theological application of the biblical message as “a comparing of experiences”. Cf. idem, 2003, 25. 751 Cf. M. Leiner, op.cit, in: G. Theißen & P. von Gemünden (Hg.), 2007, 43–47. See also I.U. Dalferth, Theologie als Interpretationspraxis, 2004.

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of religion that theology is about, it cannot afford to remain in the fundamentalistic or the pre-scientific traditional understandings of man.752 F. Cumont sums up the need and value of such interdisciplinary approach thus: If psychology to-day conscientiously applies itself to the disorder of the memory and of the will, it cannot fail to interest itself in the ailments of the faculty of belief, and specialists in lunacy will do useful work in dealing with this species of morbid manifestation with the view of settling its etiology and tracing its course.753

The ailment of the faculty of belief in question here is the life-hindering affect – fear – engendered by debilitating spirit world beliefs. Applied to religion, the issues of indiscretion, abuse and exploitation, make religion, in the circumstance of spirit world beliefs and practices for example, to foster life-hindering fear instead of otherwise. It is this aliment of the faculty of belief in the Igbo spirit world belief that our psycho-hermeneutical endeavour with our text of choice (Eph 3:10) endeavours to contribute to its healing.

7.1.1  Psychology of Religion Generally concerned with inquiries into the relationship between a person’s religious expressions and thoughts, feelings and behaviour, psychology of religion is technically understood as the “scientific study of individual’s beliefs and behaviour, including the relationship of individual religion to other aspects of psycho-social make-up”754. K. Hoheisel, however, calls attention to the difference that must be made between the scientific description of views, ideas, behaviour and experience by means of psychology, and the study of the goals of particular religion or world view. While the former is properly psychology of religion, the latter is rather religious pedagogy clothed with psychology.755 Conscious of the skepticism that often accompanies the relationship between religion and psychology, especially on the grounds of methodology and object, S.L. Jones notes the absurdity of such general hermeneutic of suspicion. He argues that, ...the universality of religious experience and the necessity of the contribution of some potentially explainable human element in even the most pure religious experience

752 Cf. B. Grom, 1992, 14. 753 Cf. F. Cumont, 1960, xiii. 754 Cf. C.D. Batson, „An Agenda Item for Psychology of Religion: Getting Respect”, in: B. Spilka & D.N. McIntosh, 1997, 3. See also B. Grom, 1992, 11–19; C. Henning, et al. (Hg.), 2003. 755 Cf. K. Hoheisel, „Religionspsychologie“, in: TRE 29 (1998), 1–7.

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would suggest that there can be value in the rigorous empirical investigation of the human element of such religious experiences...756

Because persons, subjectively intimate as they are, manifest and express themselves in activities, they become subject of scientific research. The tendency to the danger of inadequacy in the above understanding, with regard to its seeming concentration on the individual, is overtaken by its return to the corporate nature of religion as involving aspects of psycho-social make-up. This understanding of religion as both individual and social phenomenon underlines the nature of the psychological investigation into it as basically inter-disciplinary. Observing in this regard that psychology of religion cannot be rightly thought of as psychology applied to religion, on the grounds that psychic reality can only be studied in the particular cultural settings of the person(s) involved, A. Vergote notes that the hermeneutic character of religion sees psychology of religion collaborating with other sciences that are hermeneutical. These include history, philosophy, theology, sociology, social psychology, cultural anthropology.757 This saw the emergence of what came to be referred to as historical psychology of religion, emphasizing the ethno-social dimensions of such endeavours,758 as well as the acknowledgement of the utmost hermeneutical importance of historicity for psychology of religion.759 Psychology of religion, attempting to determine what is psychic in and about religion, religious experience, knowledge and behaviour, employs the theoretical and methodic instruments of psychology. In this bid, it makes the most of the best suitable of them for its goal. This goal is no other than “…the study of the processes in the field of religion. These processes are the ongoing tensions and conflicts which the subject (or the religious society) is in the process

756 Cf. S.L. Jones, “Psychology and Religion“, in: D.G. Benner & P.C. Hill (eds.), 1999, 961–965(962). The undisputable basis of such relationship is noted by M.P. Cosgrove as being the very fact of presuppositions about reality and about the universe that undergird the general scientific framework. This in turn affect the so-called scientists' ability at objectivity in the scientific process(es). Cf. idem, “Psychology, Presuppositions of,“ in: D.G. Benner & P.C. Hill (ed.), op.cit. 959–961. 757 Cf. A. Vergote, op. cit. in: J.A. Belzen, 1997, 11. U. Popp-Baier, would argue, in this regard, that psychology of religion is hermeneutical cultural analysis. Cf. idem, “Psychology of Religion as Hermeneutical Cultural Analysis – Some Reflections with Reference to Clifford Geertz“, in: J.A. Belzen, op.cit. 195–212. See also ­Zimbardo & Gerring, 2004, 4. 758 Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 20–21. 759 Cf. A. Vergote, op. cit. 18–21.

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of solving.”760 The push and pool of life, these discrepancies that constitute the current and dynamic of life, occasion the evolution of some system of regulation, motivational impulses, as it were, with which they are dealt with. Religion is regarded as such a system. Psychology of religion is about the examination of this system and its structures. From the point of view of the traditional classifications of the schools of psychology – psychoanalytic, behavioural and cognitive schools etc. – and their various points of emphasis,761 the cognitive orientations in psychology asserts itself as the most appropriate for the psychological investigations of religion. This is not only because of the nature of the object of study – religion – as an issue of interpretations (interpretation itself is basically an issue of perception/cognition). It is moreso on the nature of the cognitive turn in psychology. It assumes the position of a uniting point for the seeming extremely divergent positions of the psychoanalytic and behavioural schools of psychology. The Psychodynamic School, while thematizing the archaic aspects of human (animal) behaviour, attributed decisive influence over human experience and behaviour to the unconscious, to instincts. According to this school, a complex network of internal and external drives, which in most cases are irrational, motivates human activities. Religion, for this school, was more or less confrontation with the unconscious. The Behavioural School on the other hand, rejecting such introspections, strove for the exclusion of the mind and its meaning contents. It meant to concentrate only on the observable as the objective human data. It sought, on the strength of the relationship between the individual and his environment, to determine particular kinds of behaviour and their antecedent conditions. It saw religion as a result of social learning, as socially mediated reaction to reality.762 These seemingly diametrically opposed positions of the psychodynamic and behavioural schools of psychology find a united front, a common basis in a factor – the devaluation of consciousness. Understanding man as a being driven by instincts (psychodynamism), and as a being that merely reacts to his environment (behaviourism), the humanness of the human, is denied him. He would be nothing but mere animal, an automated being. Man is evidently more than 760 Cf. ibid., 22. 761 Zimbardo & Gerring present a table of seven perspectives in contemporary psychology with their different points of emphasis. They include, in addition to the above mentioned three, the biological, humanistic, evolutionary and cultural-comparative perspectives. Cf. idem, 2004, 17–18; see also B. Grom, 1992, 80–111. 762 Cf. ibid., 12–15; G. Theißen, 1987, 11–30; 2007, 40–41; see also A.T. Beck, 1979, 43ff.

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that given his rational endowment - the ability to conscious action arising from reflection and decision. However, the increasing admittance of the active roles played by symbols in psychic dynamics, and the reality of a cognitive mediating process between stimulus and reaction in the later developments in these schools got over their foundational devaluation of human consciousness. In this realization that behaviour as expressions of human activity is the results of active processing and interpretation of information, conscious interaction with the environment, greater appreciation of the place of human consciousness was made. This initiated, and manifested in the movement from mere cognitively modified psychodynamic and learn (behavioural) theories to cognitive psychology. For G. Theißen, The step from cognitively modified learning theory and psychodynamic approaches to a cognitive psychology takes place when all interpreting processes are understood as expressions of human activity,… and when they are recognized as having a tendency toward construction of a coherent ‘interpreted world.’763

These relationships – the psychological schools united in the cognitive turn, and religion as issues of interpretation and world-construct – prompt some attention to cognitive psychology.

7.2 Cognitive psychology and religious concepts: ghosts, spirits, gods Cognition is the general term for all forms of knowing. It is thought of as embracing the processes by which human beings acquire, transform, store, and use information about the world. Including both the processes of knowing and the contents of knowledge, such understanding expresses in the most intensive way the outstanding place of the cognitive turn in psychology as all-embracing. While the contents of knowledge include terms/concepts, facts, assertions, rules, and memory, the processes are constituted by their manipulation or interplay in man’s bid to interpret his environment, work out creative solutions and overcome the dilemma of life.764 This manipulation is the activity of the enormously complex human endowment – the brain. Understood as attempts at deciphering 763 Cf. G. Theißen, 1987, 29; see also idem, 2007, 40–42. For a detailed summary of the developments that led to the outstanding position and uniting front the cognitive turn assumed in psychology see A.T. Beck, 1979, 10–24; 43ff. As a result, CognitiveBehavioural Therapy is considered of a leading preference among psychologists ­today, at the increased realisation of the influence of cognition on behaviour. 764 Cf. Zimbardo & Gerring, 2004, 344–345.

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the nature of human intelligence, how people acquire, store and use knowledge, cognitive psychology is defined as “the study of the higher mental processes like attention, use of language, memory, perception, thought and solving of problem”.765 It involves the attempt at making sense of the environment, understanding human cognition by means of the observation of people’s actions.766 The fact that the process of acquisition of knowledge involves examination and selection of information available in and from the environment, issues that are in themselves culture-determined and culture-determining, perception, attention and expression are very significant areas of investigation in cognitive psychology. In this capacity, cognitive psychology operates within the ambience of cognitive science, this multi-disciplinary science that busies itself with the investigation of information processing, their processes and systems of access. Cognitive science, embracing philosophy, social and neuro-sciences, cognitive psychology, linguistics and informatics, thus investigates the whole range of human experience. It includes the details of individual cognition, the dynamics of entire cultures, and the examination of the expressions of these cognitions both in the forms of speech, texts, and actions. The above noted fields of study with which cognitive science and psychology are seen to be involved make them veritable partners in the quest of the psychology of religion. The understanding of religion as a way of relating to the world on the basis of a relationship to the supernatural captures this relationship. This understanding views religion as schema, cognitive structures or mental representations that influence how things are perceived, how situations understood.767 765 Cf. ibid., 345, Translation is mine! See also C. Koch, “Cognitive psychology”, in: D.G. Benner & P.C. Hill, 1999, 221–223. 766 Cf. M.W. Eysenck & M.T. Keane, 2010, 1. In an earlier work (1992), M.W. Eysenck, one of the most eloquent champions of cognitive psychology, calls attention to C.R. Brewin,s differentiation between experimental cognitive psychology and cognitive social psychology. Preferring the former which is primarily concerned with the basic aspects of human information processing like attention, perception, learning, thinking, and memory, with standard laboratory tests constituting its major instrument, the 6th edition of his work on Cognitive Psychology (2010), is founded on this particular differentiation. The latter (cognitive social psychology) constituting our area of focus, concerns itself with conscious attitudes, expectancies and beliefs. Cf. M.W. Eysenck, 1992, 7. 767 Cf. D.N. McIntosh, „Religion-as-Schema, with implications for the relation between Religion and Coping”, in: B. Spilka & D.N. McIntosh (ed.), 1997, 171–183. Eysenck & Keane will generally refer to this as cognitive biases. The most important of these include - Attentional bias, Interpretative bias, Explicit and Implicit memory

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And the basis of these structures, its fundamental axiom is the depth-dimension, God as the reality behind our daily world. In this regard, G. Theißen argues: The cognitive approach sees in religion the construction of an interpreted world… Religion, from its point of view, is a result of data processing mechanisms that have evolved through time and became universally spread, while remaining open to according or denying her adaptive value. The basic principle is: religious ideas are a corpus mixtum from intuitive and contra-intuitive thoughts.768

Shedding light on this phenomenon, T. Tremlin explains counter intuition as the structural combination of an ordinary concept with extraordinary features that do not belong to it according to its natural categories and expectations, but which have come to be so correspondingly imputed unto it and made credible, even when they violate intuitive expectations. Examples of such include animals that are said to speak like humans, an inanimate statue that weeps, the animated spirit of a dead person etc. He sees such as constituting the foundation of the concepts of gods and supernatural agents, these central concepts upon which religion rests.769 Featuring in our fantasies (intuitive/folk psychology), the capacity to which the human mind/brain seem inexhaustibly disposed, they become preserved and handed-down in folklores, this strong determinant of folk psychology. The foundation is the human perceptual system that is basically relational, perceiving the world as alive and person-like, culminating in anthropomorphism – the perception of the faintest cues in terms of human traits.770 It is in this light that religion is considered by cognitivists as a natural consequence of human character, arising from his/her cognition and association, these results of evolutionary history. T. Tremlin arguing further, maintains that,

biases, factors that play major roles in the development of anxiety, and attention to which becomes important in the cognitive therapy for anxiety. Cf. M.W. Eysenck & M.T. Keane, 2010, 595–605. 768 Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 42. Translation is mine! See also idem, 1987, 51–52; T. Tremlin, 2006, 108. Note is to be taken, however, of the difference between religious ideas in themselves, and religion itself. Whereas the former is on the level of thoughts, the latter is on the fact of it, on its expression. They, however, share very mutual relationships. 769 Cf. T. Tremlin, 2006, 86–93. 770 Cf. ibid., 99–102. Anthropomorphism constitutes a psychological factor. Perceiving himself as a person with mind, man projects mind and human-like traits unto everything that matters for him, making anthropomorphism a fundamental default assumption, the perceptual bias from, and upon which interpretation of his environment springs and revolves, respectively.

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It turns out that thinking about gods, while requiring the complete brain system, actually pivots on just a handful of quite ordinary mental tools that are present at birth and mature in the first years of life. The two most important of these mental tools are the Agency Detection Device (ADD), which recognizes the presence and activities of other beings around us, and the Theory of Mind Mechanism (ToMM), which ascribes sentience to agents and tries to interpret their intentions.771

According to Tremlin, evolutionary history shows that human beings became endowed with the mental mechanisms ADD and ToMM in response to natural selection. Primarily designed for social interactions, social cognition being a central aspect of the human as intensely social being, these mechanisms are employed in the identification, explanation, prediction, and possibly, control of people and events around us. However, given their over-sensitiveness (or overzealousness as the case may be) they are often prone to biases that speed our ability in making of objects, events, and even mental concepts personally interesting, in seeing agents and reading minds. Their combined operations account for the most critical as well as most creative of human endeavours both in the areas of survival in most hostile of circumstances as well as in the conceptual frameworks that underlie man’s imaginative thoughts. Through these activities that recognize and understand agents in terms of mental states, the concept of gods are processed. They become conceptualized as social agents with minds, and are made readily intelligible.772 C.G. Jung, in a related note, referred to this as the translation of inner experiences into the language of pictures, the translation of unconscious contents into comprehensible language. He regards this as fundamental feature of mythology that accounts for the concepts of spirits. Spirits for him, therefore, „... are complexes of the collective unconscious, which replace a lost adaptation to reality, or which compensate for the inadequacies of large groups of men (i.e. social groups).“773 Generally, this is a consequence of the anthropomorphic perceptual bias noted earlier as the ­basic human perceptual platform. Very interesting in these findings to our endeavour is the noted ability of the ADD, in ambiguous situations lacking obvious agents, to generate „novel and imaginative candidates“ in the bid to provide explanations for such ambiguous situations. On the grounds of the basic anthropomorphic perceptual bias 771 Cf. ibid., 75. 772 Cf. ibid., 75–86, 109–111; see also M.W. Eysenck, 1992, 51. 773 Cf. C.G. Jung, “The Psychological Foundations of Belief in Spirits“, in: Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, vol. XXXI, part LXXIX, 1921, 75–93(91–92). Bracket is mine.

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associated to the interpretative bias774 that tends to interpret ambiguous stimuli in a threatening fashion, the idea of supernatural beings, gods, spirits and ghosts (what we have generally termed “spirit world”) is born. Imbued with ubiquity, they become the readily available candidates of an agent-search in an ambiguous situation, a ready response to inconclusive searches. A creak in the night, movements and events that are inchoate and whose agents cannot be immediately located are readily made ghosts of. They become spirit realities. ADD is simply intent on its goal of finding an agent behind an event... Recognizing an agent as an agent is only the first part of this essential cognitive process, however. The reason... why, conversely, imaginary agents like ghosts manage to endure, is that agents are looked upon as much more than things that can move and instigate actions. Our knowledge of agents links physical causality to mental causality... Our personal beliefs that agents operate mentalistically is referred to as theory of mind, and the mental tool responsible for this perception is the Theory of Mind Mechanism, or ToMM.775

In these cognition and association, the more basic dynamics of which is the detection of agents, intuition plays a major role. This is experienced in the postulation of superhuman agents imbued with extraordinary properties and potents – a result of human experience of powers he cannot comprehend nor master.776 The more these powers are not comprehended, the more the anxiety about them. And since, as earlier noted by Eysenck, the cognitive system of anxious individuals is selectively attentive to rapid detection of threat, the result is obvious. 774 For more on interpretative bias as a feature of “trait-anxiety” i.e. the general disposition/vulnerability to tension and apprehension, over and against its operation in the case of the so-called “general anxiety disorder”, classified a clinical issue, see M.W. Eysenck, 1992, 35–50. Other important cognitive biases include Attentional bias – selective attention to threat-related stimuli; Explicit memory bias – the tendency to retrieve mostly negative or unpleasant information; Implicit memory bias – the tendency to exhibit superior performance for negative or threatening information; Selective attentional bias that programmes a readily available rapid detection of threat is a central feature in the cognitive system of anxious individuals. Cf M.W. Eysenck & M.T. Keane, 2010, 596; idem, 1992,51, 68. 775 Cf. T. Tremlin, 2006, 79–80. 776 Cf. R. McCauley, “The Cognitive Foundations of Religion and Science“, in: D. Z ­ eller, (Hg.), 1999, 55–69. The relationship between emotion and cognition constitutes a major factor in the cognitivists' perspective on religious representations in particular, and in human perception, thought and action in general. It has been observed that emotional colouring play major roles in these human dispositions. Cf. I. Pyysiäinen, How Religion Works: Towards a New Cognitive Science of Religion. (2001); cited by T. Tremlin, 2006, 124–126.

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R. McCauley maintains, in this regard, that human beings have natural cognitive dispositions, cognitive mechanisms, endowments with which they are imbued to cope with their being-in-the-world nature. Such include the discrimination of actions, the recognition of agents, and the imposition of natural kinds.777 These cognitive dispositions with their inherent mental biases are exploited by man’s religious tendencies to establish his/her religious expressions, as manifest in the postulation of superhuman agents, itself a product of culture. It gets employed for the explanation of actions and occurrences – attributions -, and is preserved and handed-on by means of folk psychology – folklores and dreams. The persistence of such means of explanation in Igbo-African circumstances, given its religious world view where the culture of belief holds rein than the culture of critical enquiry,778 may be explained by these cognitive dispositions. When one notes the outstanding place folklores have as means of education in the traditional setting, the perpetuation of the provisions of folk psychology would no longer be a surprise. We may plausibly contend that the earlier noted “overzealousness of the ADD” (T. Tremlin ), referred to by M.W. Eysenck as “hyper vigilance” in his theory about high and low trait anxiety, an issue influenced by the environment (conditions of stress), and which in-turn is a central factor to cognitive vulnerability,779 makes a whole lot of difference in the Igbo-Africa 777 Cf. R. McCauley, op. cit., in: D. Zeller (Hg.), 1999, 55–69. A typical example of the so-called „imposition of natural kinds“ is the anthropomorphic perceptual bias. T. Tremlin, differentiating between objects as all the things that act in purely mechanistic ways, and agents as beings capable of independently and intentionally initiating action on the basis of internal mental states like beliefs and desires (with animals and peoples constituting the most obvious of intentional agents), maintains that because of the utmost importance of adequately discerning agents to survival, evolution has attuned the brain's ability to quickly identify them or presume their presence on the grounds of signs and traces. He, however, notes the tendency of ADD to over-attribute agency to objects following the fact of motion being one of its natural triggers. Cf. T. Tremlin, 2006, 75ff. Emphasis is mine. 778 The expressions – „culture of belief “ and „culture of inquiry“ – are used by O. Oladipo, cf. idem, „Knowledge and African renaissance“, in: West African Journal of Philosophical Studies, vol.2, 2–16. Evans-Pritchard noted the enormous power of such culture of belief, maintaining that the limits its patterns of ritual behaviour and mystical belief condition the people in its confines account for the apparently unwholesome psychological dispositions and stereotyped reactions witnessed. Cf. idem, Witchcraft, Oracles and Magic among the Azande (1937, 338), cited by D.L. Pals (ed.), 2006, 238. 779 Cf. M.W. Eysenck, 1992, 38–44,50–51. There is an interplay of factors here. Over and against the idea that genetical issues are responsible for the development of

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circumstance. This is where the ways part between the various appreciations and operations of these general human endowments in different cultural settings. While the culture of critical inquiry and science have afforded accounts over those phenomena that were earlier understood as agents, in the settings where the culture of belief reigns, the strong mental biases in the tendencies of ADD and ToMM to overestimate the stimuli they were supposed to detect780 perpetuate the conceptualization of agents, hence the persistence of spirit world beliefs. That religion is concerned with such intuitive and contra-intuitive ideas in the bid to understand, explain and adapt to reality, is basic knowledge. Human organic, motivational, intellectual structures and strategies are forms of such adaptations. C.S. Carver and M.F. Scheier, noting in this regard how the pursuit of goals, expectancies and attainment strategies influence behaviour, earmark the place of confidence (optimism) and doubt (pessimism) in such endeavours.781 Psychological hermeneutics strives to lay these adaptations bare and make them more obvious to contemporary society. It seeks to show that they constitute the experiences whose expressions we witness in physical (religious) behaviour or texts. This is especially buttressed in the cognitive use of the theories of attribution and cognitive dissonance (the experience of “boundary situations”). The caveat for such hermeneutically oriented psycho-exegetical projects, however, remains, as G. Theißen rightly noted, “…the correspondence of an interpretation with the whole of the text, not the consistence of theories.”782

hyper-vigilance in high trait-anxious individuals, the author insists on the role of the environment (stress/threatening conditions) and its importance to the cognitive system. This would enable the restructuring of new information about the environment would deal cognition in terms of therapeutic approaches. 780 Cf. T. Tremlin, 2006, 105. The author explains this relative overzealousness of ADD as arising from its application of ready inferences and expectations about what agents are like. This sees the ADD sometimes overrriding compelling visual evidence, as in the case of geometric shapes moved with unseen magnets for instance, and sees them as agents. Interesting in this experiment he cited is the observation that subjects who merely observed the movements tended to think of the figures as agents, while those who assisted in the movement of the shapes never didem. This underlines the place of enlightenment (education) in the reality or not of agents. Cf. ibid., 76. See also M.W. Eysenck, 1992, 51. 781 Cf. C.S. Carver & M.F. Scheier, “Confidence, Doubt and Coping with Anxiety“, in: D.G. Forgays, et al. (eds.), 1984, 13–22. 782 Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 50. In our psycho-hermeneutical endeavour, we refer to what Carver and Scheier (op.cit.) called “confidence” as faith.

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7.2.1 The theory of Attribution – an elaboration of the mental mechanisms ADD and ToMM Attribution is a concept addressing the processes by which people explain the causes of events and behaviour. It represents an integral part of the attempts at coping with the environmental givens. Operating, as it were, within the circles of the age-old principle of causality, it is designed to explain how people perceive and account for their behaviour. The theory of attribution is rather a loose coalition of theoretical models sharing mutual compatibility and constituting conceptual framework. It is employed in this light by social psychologists in their bid to appraise how people explain everyday occurrences. The fact that human beings experience themselves not just as understanding beings, but are almost always preoccupied with explaining their own experience and that of others, sees attribution being regarded as one of the most fundamental among the realities of our consciousness. All theories of attribution begin with the assumption that people seek to make sense of their experiences, to understand the causes of events…, specifically, a general desire to seek meaning in the world and an attempt to control and predict events… to maintain or enhance self-esteem.783

It is on this platform that G. Theißen sees attribution (causal) as related to anticipation, self-assessment and assumption of roles as interpretative strategies in the construction of an interpreted world.784 When behaviour or experience is attributed to a particular cause or the other, the possibilities of future occurrence and management become plausible. Depending on how one assesses oneself, one is able to assume one role or the other in the attempt at evolving interpretative strategies with which to get along. Though psychological research into attribution began with the work of Fritz Heider (1896–1988) in the early part of the 20th century (The Psychology of Interpersonal Relations, 1958), and became subsequently developed by others such as Harold Kelley (1921–2003) and Bernard Weiner (1935-), Epictetus (c.55–135) is considered the precursor of attribution theory. According to him, behaviour and experience are determined not by things in themselves but by our opinion of things. The latter is in turn dependent on whether we regard them as under or

783 Cf. B. Spilka, P.R. Shaver, L.A. Kirkpatrick, “A General Attribution Theory for the Psychology of Religion”, in: B. Spilka & D. N. McIntosh (eds.), 1997, 153–170 (154– 156). (Hence – Spilka, Shaver & Kirkpatrick) 784 Cf. G. Theißen, 1987, 34–39.

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outside our control, and therefore attributed to internal or external causes.785 On a similar note, F. Heider observed in his dual attributional categories – internal (i.e. personal dispositions) and external (situational factors) causes –, that people often ascribe causality to these factors. There is no gainsaying causality is traceable to an interplay of the factors.786 A misconception of this leads to inferential errors, the so-called fundamental attribution error. Most important, however, is the individual’s assessment of these attributions. Both proper assessment of the attributions as well as the ability to reattribute events and actions give some measure of enhanced management. They increase the horizons of possible reactions. Spilka, Shaver & Kirkpatrick note: Attributional activity consists in part of an individual’s attempt to understand events and interpret them in terms of some broad meaning-belief system… (in order to) maintain personal security and a positive self-concept, including a general striving toward self-enhancement and the protection of both the physical self and the self-concept against threat.787

It is particularly this emphasis of the attribution theory on the interpretations of experience and behaviour on the basis of some broad meaning-belief that provides the obvious paths for its engagement with religion, itself the very realm of beliefs and interpretations. As an elaboration of the thoughts on the mental mechanisms: ADD – Agents Detection Device -, and ToMM – Theory of Mind Mechanism788 – factors that have been shown to be at the foundation of such religious concepts like gods, ghosts, spirits, we examine the use relationship between attribution theory and religion. This informs our psycho-hermeneutical interpretation of the spirit world concerns in Eph 3:10, as well as the challenge to such concerns in the Igbo-Christian society. For in a society where the world view is principally religious, the mental mechanism that naturally generates “novel and imaginative candidates” as agents for the explanation of ambiguous situations, would be generously proficient. Confronting such so called ambiguous situation with some 785 Cf. Enchiridion 1.1, in http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html, at 14.00 pm on 21.08.12. 786 Constituting an improvement to F. Heider’s two attributional categories – internal and external causes – H. Kelley would talk of persons, entities and contexts as covariation, conditions relating with one another, and to which behaviour is attributed. Cf. P.C. Hill, “Attribution Theory”, in: D.G. Benner & P.C. Hill (eds.), 1999, 109–111. 787 Cf. Spilka, Shaver, & Kirkpatrick, 156–157. (Bracket mine). 788 Cf. T. Tremlin, 2006, 75ff.

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critical consciousness, even along religious lines, goes a long way divesting the ambiguity. It motivates to proper action and betterment of life. By so doing, the way is opened the more for the realisation of the freedom and fullness of life the gospel promises.

7.2.2  Attribution Theory and Religion Religion is generally viewed as attempts at some understanding of, and relationship to the world in relation to the supernatural.789 The attempts to give meaning to the data of experience in connection to the ultimate reality – God -, attempts that manifest in behaviour, see religion as major source of meaning. Succinctly put, religion is a repertoire of meanings given the broad-meaning belief it constitutes. From the psychology of religion’s point of view, it provides cognitive schemata by means of which attention is given to the problems of interpretability raised by boundary situations, such anomalous experiences, in which people encounter the limits of their world.790 This is in line with the very factors that initiate the attributional processes. They include the occurrence of events that cannot be readily assimilated into the meaning-belief system of the concerned. The consideration of such events as significant for the self-appreciation of the concerned, necessitates the need to evolve some mechanism of control over future occurrences and consequences. Religious attribution, therefore, refers to attempts at explaining/understanding the causes of events (experiences) and/ events themselves from religious motifs. In the effort to some meaningfulness in order to attain some control and maintenance of self-concept, these factors that generally motivate attributional activities, the turn to the ultimate reality, seem very consummate. This is so because “Systems of religious concepts provide individuals with the comprehensive, integrated meaning-belief system that 789 The term “Supernatural“ is chosen as an all-embracing term for all that belong to this category in the sense of the polytheistic and monotheistic orientations. It embraces the differentiations between God, gods, the Numina etc. An investigation of the theories of religion is not intended. However, on general notes on religion see the article „Religion“ in: TRE 28 (1997), 513–559. The various accents of the article – I. Religionsgeschichtlich by Gregor Ahn; II. Theologiegeschichtlich und systematisch-theologisch by Falk Wagner; and III. Praktisch-Theologisch by Reiner Preul, are very informing. See also G. Theißen, A Theory of Primitive Christian Religion, 1999. The bibliographical comments of this work were very helpful. 790 Cf. W. Proudfoot and P.R. Shaver, “Attribution Theory and the Psychology of Religion”, in: B. Spilka & D.N. McIntosh (ed.), 1997, 139–152.

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is well adapted to accommodate and explain events in the world”.791 Similarly, W. Proudfoot and P.R. Shaver submit that “Attribution theory, with its emphasis on beliefs and interpretations of experience, provides a natural path into the realms of religion. In fact, if it is to account for the beliefs and explanations of real people, it cannot omit consideration of religious claims.”792 The comprehensiveness of religious systems, as far as attribution is concerned, is centered on the very understanding of the world as created by God. Considered in this understanding, as not being a product of chance, the world and all it contains, the human being, his experiences and actions are traceable to God in one way or the other. They are given meaning and purpose from him (Acts 17:28), an exercise that features the interplay of both causal attribution and final cause. Psychology of religion appreciates this as the ascription of intention Intentionalitätszuschreibung, a thought-pattern in which facts of reality become personified.793 The order of the universe, originally articulated in the word Kosmos, leads to the thought about a being responsible for it. God is both personal God as well as the depth of being; the Logos is both rational structure of things as well as a person (Jn 1:1ff). From this consummate position that is represented in the most fundamental of theologies – creation accounts -, an understanding of most other events, especially tragic events and crises, are sought. Causal attributions are thus not only decisive factors in religion, they constitute a basic reality of human life. Religion supplies, by such means, answers to questions that might otherwise seem unanswerable. Through such concepts like sin, salvation etc., it attends to the cognitive dissonances and discrepancies of experience. Through such other concepts like personal faith, prayer, rituals etc., religion affords a range of possibilities for the maintenance and enhancement of self-concept. The factors that influence the employment of religious attributions are the interplay of situational and personal factors. This leads to the observation that explanation for the psychological availability of religious attributions is a cultural 791 Cf. Spilka, Shaver, & Kirkpatrick, 160. 792 Cf. W. Proudfoot & P.R. Shaver, op. cit., 151. 793 The concept goes back to H. Sundén, Religionen och rollerna, 1959. Cf. G. Theißen, „Kausalattribution und Theodizee. Ein Beitrag zur kognitiven Analyse urchristlichen Glaubens“, in: idem & P. von Gemünden, (Hg.), 2007, 183–196(186). Tremlin's mental mechanism - Agents Detection Device – and the attribution of sentience to these agents through the Mind Mechanism are similar views. Cf. T. Tremlin, 2006, 75ff. The personification of the facts of reality calls to mind the earlier related issues of the fundamental anthropomorphic perceptual bias.

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provision.794 This is in the sense of prior beliefs, explanations, practices and expectations with which peoples/individuals have sought to understand their environments and get along life and living. These data become operational social influences. The selection of a particular attribution in the bid to grasp and grapple with the dissonant experiences in order to restore some cognitive coherence to the meaning-belief system of the concerned is thus influenced by such readymade data that have evolved in the course of time, even as new orientations are sought and developed. According to Spilka & co. The relative availability of these systems in a given situation (and hence the relative likelihood of using one or the other) is seen as a product of four major categories of factors …: (1) the attributor, (2) the attributor’s context, (3) the event being explained, and (4) the event’s context.795

The interaction of these categories, each of which is equipped with its own meaning, control and self-esteem components, determines the turn of the attribution to be employed. This calls to mind once again the issues of world view and cosmology,796 veritable facts of influence in biblical studies in general, and the letter to the Eph in particular. In such circumstance where religion is the world view, as it were, there is little wonder that religious attributions become dominant. Religion constitutes the central lens from which the world is viewed, the central point from which the world was understood and related to. For “to the extent 794 Cf. Spilka, Shaver, & Kirkpatrick, 159; see also R. Pekrun, “Expectancy-Value Theory of Anxiety: Overview and Implications”, in: D.G. Forgays et al. (ed.), 1992, 23–41. For C.G. Jung, one of such cultural provisions is the belief in souls, the immortal spiritual component of man, upon which is based the primitive conviction in ghost as spirit of a dead person. He regards the belief in souls is almost a necessary condition of belief in spirits, providing some explanation to the naïve mentality for psychological conflicts of an unconscious order. Cf. idem, “The Psychological Foundations of Belief in Spirits”, in: Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, (1921), vol. xxxi, part Lxxix, 75–93 (78–80). 795 Cf. Spilka, Shaver, & Kirkpatrick, 161; see also 162–168. The authors distinguish here between religious and non-religious (naturalistic) attributions. The dominance of a particular system as well as the satisfactory level of its explanations determines the choice that is made for or against it. 796 D. Hymes, introducing the Part III of his edited work dealing with world view and grammatical categories, rightly notes that world view is understood to include a range of terms that capture some general or pervasive aspect of a culture. These terms include – ethos, configuration, pattern, theme, metaphysics, logico-meaningful integration, etc. Cf. idem, (ed.), 1964, 115.

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one’s self-concept is dependent on religious sources of self-esteem, this type of attribution is likely to be preferred.”797 Little wonder also that the Igbo (African) world view, which we have earlier shown to be a very religious one (5.0ff), proves to be a fertile ground for religious attributions. Against this background, it becomes the case that even most natural of things and experiences, not to talk of apparently ambiguous ones, are spiritualized and attributed to the supernatural – gods, spirits, the Numina. Such attributions assume sometimes ridiculous extents. It is often the case to hear such expressions among the Igbo (Africans) like spirit of life, of death, of sickness, of health, of wealth, of poverty, of success, of failure, of football etc. These expressions are often made, not in the figurative sense as in when reference is made to the “spirit of soccer” regarding the luck-factor in goalscoring or not, but literally so. Little wonder the enormous energy and efforts expended at soliciting the favours of these “spirits”, or as the case may be, in ridding oneself of their malaise. One readily calls to mind the Greek- and Near East theogonies and mythologies, the personifications that gave rise to them. The critical consciousness of the 5th Century BC upwards that brought about reforms and eventual deterioration and repulsion of such imaginations, may better appreciated from this background.798 This patrimony of the past often hindered and does hinder, even in the present generations, despite supposed enlightenment and developments, the responsibility of taking one’s fate in one’s hands in the sense of working out veritable solutions to problems at hand. Exciting this courage to be,799 this ethico-ontological virtue as Paul Tillich rightly calls it, is part of the goal of this study. This is in the sense of the empowerment to strip our fears the masks they put upon things. When such masked things are seen for what they really are, through self-understanding and some understanding of the world and its structures, the disabling mindset they bring about and perpetuate will be overcome. This courage involves critical consciousness. It plays out in the use of the human rational nature, in the sense of the God-fearing power of judgment 797 Cf. Spilka, Shaver, & Kirkpatrick, 163. 798 For more on these see E. Stafford & J. Herrin (ed.), Personification in the Greek World: From Antiquity to Byzantium. London, 2005; C. Lopez-Ruiz, When the Gods were Born: Greek Cosmogonies and the Near East. USA, 2010; see also A.C. Anijielo, 1984, 48ff. 799 Cf. P. Tillich, 1991, 13–18, 20–21. Confer also what one may call „Affektlehre“ by P. von Gemünden, in: eadem, 2009, 34–51. The next sub-section (7.3ff) gives attention to the phenomenon of fear.

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(gläubige Vernunft),800 to assert oneself against the accidents and coincidences of life that constitute threat to life. The situation is, however, often exacerbated by the very manifestly gross socio-structural underdevelopment and absence of such social amenities in these (Igbo-African) settings. For it is established that religious attributions are most prevalent where secular efforts are perceived to be ineffective.801 Understanding of the role of language in the bid to evolving critical consciousness is a very important step. This is because the psychological availability of religious attributions afforded by culture is most efficiently transmitted by language. This is on the strength of the interdependence between thought and language, conceptualization and linguistic representations.802 Noting this relationship especially with the difficulty primitive cultures did have with abstract ideas, F. Boas observed the primitive man’s way of getting along with such. Thought of as not being in the habit of abstractions due to his preoccupation with immediate attention to the demands of daily life, philosophic problems that would not be wished away were often brought into concreteness by relating them to definite individuals or in more or less anthropomorphic forms of religious beliefs.803 These in turn constitute, in a given language community, 800 What we term „critical consciousness“ is captured by the concept of cognitive appraisal in the therapeutic approach of the cognitive school of psychology. This refers to the process of categorising an encounter/experience to enable some form of coping with it. Cf. R.S. Lazarus & S. Folkman, 1987, 55–82. On the other hand, the content and operation of the gläubige Vernunft with regard to the affect – fear amount to the disposition that understands human existence as something naturally temporal, and as such necessarily accompanied with the apprehension of its finiteness. It is, however, a finiteness that is not a loss into oblivion, but one that is fulfilled in the promise of salvation, in the conviction about an order that bears him, the creator whose creature he is, and in whom his salvation is guaranteed. 801 Cf. Spilka, Shaver, & Kirkpatrick, 162. A typical example of the ridiculous heights of such attributions is the statement in one of the Nigerian national dailies credited to a newly appointed Minister of Power (an academic professor and former vicechancellor of a university) purporting that „Witches, demons hinder electricity reforms in Nigeria“, and praying God to give him the power to drive out the demons in the power sector. Cf. Punch Newspaper, 24th January, 2013. 802 J. Nuyts & E. Pederson, deciphering the various levels of this relationship noted that these issues are dependent on cognitive systems. Cf. idem, “Overview: on the relationship between language and conceptualization”, in: J. Nuyts & E. Pederson, (ed.), 1997, 1–12. See also U. Schnelle, 2007, 20–21. 803 Cf. F. Boas, “Linguistics and Ethnology 1”, in: D. Hymes, (ed.), 1964, 15–26 (18). See also P. von Gemünden, 2009, 22. W. Burkert, however, argues against the

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the highly-coded utterances. These are ready-made terms or phrases attached to designate a referent or the other – this result of common conditioning and learning. Through such means, social symbols are created and reinforced by speech, even as part of individual experience.804 This is the way their impacts in mentalities and religion begin to assert themselves. In this light, B. Bernstein establishes that, “Language marks out what is relevant, affectively, cognitively and socially, and experience is transformed by that which is made relevant.”805 By so doing language, speech, shapes and moulds world view, individuality and behaviour, constituting itself an enormous influence on meaning-belief systems. It structures human experiences, reflects and expresses emotions, these “habits of the heart”. Buttressing this position through his differentiation between public (restricted) and formal (elaborated) language, Bernstein refers to the system of communication dominated by highly-coded utterances as the pure form of public language. Opposed to formal language that is characterized by its flexibility and enhancement of individuality, public language with its generally rigid and restrictive character has enormous psychological and sociological implications for the individual(s) in its confines. According to him, Where an individual is limited to a public language, the possibilities signaled by language are perceived in a distinctive manner… Language, in this case, is not a means to verbalize, relatively precisely, the experience of separateness and difference. Rather, with a public language, an individual inter-acts within a linguistic form which maximizes the means of producing social rather than individuated symbols… As speech marks out a

supposedly non-existence of abstractions among the ancients. He sees in such linguistic formations like -tus, -tas, -ia etc. in Greek and other Indoeuropean as well as in Semitic languages examples of well-established suffixes and prefixes for abstracts. According to him, the meeting of abstracts and anthropomorphic verbs generated personifications, this fantasy world of roaming significations that impact mentalities. Cf. idem, “Hesiod in context: abstractions and divinities in an Aegean-Eastern koiné”, in: E. Stafford & J. Herrin, 2010, 3–20. 804 Cf. B. Bernstein, “Aspects of Language and Learning in the Genesis of the Social Process”, in: D. Hymes, (ed.), 1964, 251–263 (252,258). P. von Gemünden, observing in this regard that word semantic is one of the principle approaches of historicalpsychological exegesis, notes that concepts are culturally dependent as seen in the associations, feelings and values they bring about at being mentioned. Cf. eadem, 2009, 17–18. 805 Cf. B. Bernstein, op.cit. 254.

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pattern of stimuli to which the child adapts, so, in the learning of this pattern, his perception is organized, structured and reinforced.806

The structured and reinforced adaptation becomes showcased in the affect, which in turn become critical for behaviour. It constitutes reinforcement of special affective correlate. He notes, in this regard, that: Affect is not used to discriminate among meanings carried within speech sequences. It is used to reinforce specific dominant words or accompanies the utterance in a generalized diffuse manner… This means that much affect is unconventionalized by language, and is available to be triggered off in a diffuse manner.807

It is in this light that we consider the affect triggered off by the public language understanding with which the word spirit – ndi mmuo - in the Igbo spirit world context, is imbued. This accounts further for the generation of, and belief in various forms of spiritual beings functioning as mystical forces. The affect in question is fear. The word spirit becomes, in this light, the highly-coded utterance (F. Boas) embracing objects/ideas of human fears. This specific dominant word reinforces the affect. Some insight into this affect especially with regard to its foundations in the conditio humana would assist our hermeneutical endeavour at attempting to disabuse what we consider some abuse of this affect especially in the Igbo (African) spirit world settings.808 It features a critical appraisal of the religious inundated world view and practices that more or less hinder appreciating these 806 Cf. ibid., 254–257(254). This fact about the beginning and process of socialization applies also to adults. The child grows into an adult with learned pattern of stimuli perception and reaction. True sign of adulthood includes some critical appraisal of these stimuli, perception and reaction. J. Fowler illustrates this in his book “Stage of Faith” (1981). 807 Cf. ibid., 254–255. An example of the unconventionalisation of affect by language is given by C.G. Jung when he notes, on the authority of his experience as a physician, that what the primitive attributes to spirits and call ghosts are regarded by the civilized as psychological phenomena, viz., dreams, phantasies and neurotic symptoms. So regarded, they are attributed less importance, a devaluation that makes of them morbid symptoms. Cf. C.G. Jung, op.cit. 77. 808 Our goal is not the total obliteration of this affect, fear. Not only is it impossible, it is also unrealistic. It is the fact of human existence given his nature as creature, and in the light of the uncertainties of this nature. As part of the conditio humana, healthy dosage of this affect is a positive factor in personality formation. It also amounts to some form of „kick“, spurring reactions that have led to, and leads to discoveries and inventions that have brought and still brings mankind further in his God-given task of encountering his environment, „conquering the world“.

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sources of fear for what they are, namely, the hazards of nature that can be got along with by means of acknowledging the natural principles that are effective in them.809 The challenge is about the Christian message living up to its bidding – offering hope and salvation. It is not its place to amplify and exploit people’s fears and ignorance because of the supposed profit accruable from such dispositions. K. Berger admonishes, in this relation: It is indeed both given and presupposed that there is a genuine potential for anxiety. The decisive consideration is the object. To whom will we let this anxiety be directed or before whom... our anxiety … can all too easily be manipulated by some power-hungry ecclesiastical hierarchy, thereby becoming an anxiety before that which is merely human.810

Thus establishing through our investigation of the perspectives of cognitive psychology on religion in general, as having to do with man’s perception of his world, affording explanations for ambiguous situations through the generation of agents that are personified, dreaded and worshipped, we examine the relationship between fear and religion.

809 One could cite an example with the phenomenon lightning and thunder. Thunder, now understood to be the sound produced by lightning, beginning with a shock wave in the air due to the sudden thermal expansion of the plasma in the lightning channel (cf. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunder; http://en.wikipedia. org/wiki/Lightning; 17:00, 03.05.13), used to be understood in the primitive societies as voice of the gods. In some traditional religions, as among the Yorubas of western Nigeria, it is even ascribed its own god – Sango, god of thunder, the harbinger and executor of Justice. Dreaded also as such among the Igbo, to be struck by lightning was considered an irrefutable demonstration of the victim's utmost wickedness, a sentence from the gods. Interesting enough, such primitive notions are held, and are still operational across the world even in these post-modern times. 810 Cf. K. Berger, 2003, 142; see also H. von Stietencron, „Von der Heilträchtigkeit der Angst: Religionsgeschichtliche Perspektiven“, in: idem, (Hg.), 1991, 13–36 (20). O. Böcher, at the tail end of his very interesting book – Das Neue Testament und die dämonischen Mächte (1972), notes as very unfortunate, the insistence of the fears of the pagan world in Christian settings despite the victory of Jesus Christ over the demonic systems. He declares, and truly so, that the guilt does not lie on Jesus nor on his apostles but on the poor appreciation of the consequences of this victory, of Christology and Ecclesiology by subsequent Christian generations. Cf. idem, 1972, 73–74.

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7.3  Fear and Religion 7.3.1  Fear as human experience – cognitive perspective811 The affect/emotion “fear” as a phenomenon has been an object of study in various fields of human endeavour from very ancient times. Such studies reveal not only its reality as a common human (and animal) experience, but also its complexity. While not intending a presentation of the history of researches into this affect, our appreciating it as an affect, and locating it in the religious ambience captures our interest as limited to the psychological-theological settings.812 There is no doubt the present stages of such researches owe their developments to the legacies of prior endeavours, even as they make their particular contributions. Like most concepts no singular definition of fear seems adequate, as each portrays a particular bias for, or preference of an aspect of the affect or the other.

811 Our adoption of the cognitive perspective tallies with our appreciation of cognitive school of psychology, as more or less, a uniting forum for the apparently extreme positions of the Psychoanalytic and Behavioural/Learn-Theory schools of psychology. In this regard it goes beyond the understanding of fear in Psychoanalytic school as expression of suppressed instincts/drives, and Learn-theory's view of the conditioned relationship between stimuli and reaction. It rather understands fear as an issue of perception, expectation and appraisal, issues that are very important in the evolution of coping strategies, especially with regard to the roles of adequate or inadequate cognitive thought patterns (cognitive schemata). Cf. A.T. Beck, 1979, 10–24, 43ff; R.S. Lazarus & J.R. Averill, “Emotion and Cognition: with Special Reference to Anxiety“, in: C.D. Spielberger (ed.), 1972, 242–279; R.S. Lazarus & S. Folkman, 1987, 11, 55–82; V. Günther & H. Hinterhuber, „Die Psychologie der Angst und die Religion“, in: H. von Stietencron (Hg.), 1991, 79–101 (88ff); see also R. Pekrun, „Expectancy-Value Theory of Anxiety: Overview and Implications“, in: D.G. Forgays, et al. (eds.), 1992, 23–41. 812 Some of the major monographs in these discussions include the works of S. Kierkegaard (1965); H. van der Loos, 1965; O. Pfister (1975); H. von Stietencron, (Hg.), 1991; confer also T. Vogt, (1993), P. Tillich, (2000), J. Kuttikottayil, (2005), and other numerous articles. V. Günther & H. Hinterhuber, „Die Psychologie der Angst und die Religion“, in: H. von Stietencron (Hg.), 1991, 79–101, make the veryimportant differentiation and analysis of psychiatric illnesses that are, however, outside the scope of this work, even when they are regarded as some clear reflections of the political, philosophical and socio-cultural structures of given epochs and peoples. We note, with regard to Pfister's work, that in as much as we find some of his explanations plausible, we are not in agreement with some of the basic tenets of his psychoanalytic basis. Thomas Bonhoeffer's critical remarks, in his foreword to the 2nd edition of the book, are quite illustrating in this regard.

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R.S. Lazarus and J.R. Averill observed in this regard, with particular reference to emotions, that “the difficulties inherent in defining an emotion are, indeed, substantial, especially if only one or a few types of responses are utilized and underlining appraisals are ignored.”813 This often leads to the danger of merely functionalizing the concept or making inflated use of it. This is often typified in the various attempts at differentiating between Angst (Fear, Anxiety) and Furcht (Fright). A number of these differentiations, despite the efforts at eruditeness in them, almost always amount to paronomasia. They often seem to neglect the flowing ambivalence and interdependence the two terms imply. Paul Tillich sounds a caveat in this regard: Anxiety and fear have the same ontological root but they are not the same in actuality. This is common knowledge, but it has been emphasized and overemphasized to such a degree that a reaction against it may occur and wipe out not only the exaggerations but also the truth of the distinction.814

G. Schnurr, however, argues that such traditional classifications that confine Furcht to concretized, personalized and particularized feelings of being under threat or danger, and Angst to the supposedly non-concretized, depersonalized and objectless versions of the same feelings are questionable, artificial and contrary to practical language use. For him, such terms like horror, trepidation, dread, timor etc. are but different expressions of the same spontaneous but ambivalent feelings over threat, whether they occur with personalized or depersonalized effects.815 However, acknowledging that though they are to be differentiated but not separated, a general understanding of their common ground is the fact of their

813 Cf. R.S. Lazarus & J.R. Averill, “Emotion and Cognition: with Special Reference to Anxiety“, in: C.D. Spielberger (ed.), 1972, 242–279 (244). (Hence: Lazarus & Averill) 814 Cf. P. Tillich, 2000, 36–39(36); see also H. von Stietencron, „Von der Heilträchtigkeit der Angst: Religionsgeschichtliche Perspektiven“, in: idem, (Hg.), 1991, 16–17. S. Epstein, insisting on some difference despite the relatedness, observes that ‘Fear’ involves the submission to inaction, what he called “commitment to avoid action“-, whereas ‘Anxiety’ has to do with indecision, unavailability of directed action. Cf. idem, “The Nature of Anxiety with Emphasis Upon its Relationship to Expectancy“, in: C.D. Spielberger (ed.), 1972, 291–337 (311). 815 Cf. G. Schnurr, „Furcht III. Theologiegeschichtlich und pastoralanthropologisch“, in: TRE 11 (1993), 759–767. See also P. Tillich, 2000. K. Berger arguing from the biblical point of view, observes that the differentiations made between fear and anxiety are non-existent in the Greek and Hebrew Bible. This is because both are expressed in the Greek variants of phobos and phobeisthai. Cf. idem, 2003, 138.

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nature as feeling, as affect. Against this background, the word Angst, asserting itself over Furcht as more established, and seen as derived from the Latin stem ango, angustiae – choking, limitedness, narrowness –, is generally understood to refer to that affect that results as reaction in an organism due to a perceived danger or the other,816 whereby the limitedness of the possibility of ridding oneself of the threat become expressed. It is understood as the expression of the fundamental endangeredness, vulnerability, finiteness, these experiences of the living beings, especially human beings. It is the feeling that results at the appreciation of his/its nature as perishable, when confronted by the threat of unavoidably vanishing into non-being, into the oblivion of nothingness. It is ultimately the natural but undesired apprehension about personal demise,817 faced with anything that is perceived to bring it about. As such, this affect is part and parcel of existence. It is a fundamental human condition. It is this understanding of this affect, captured in the English word “fear” that we wish to work with. The English word “fear”, embracing within its meaning most (if not all) aspects of these nuances and differentiations – apprehension, nervousness, anxiety, phobia, fright, panic, etc., seem to make the journey towards understanding the concept in question easier. H. van der Loos, maintaining that fear and danger are closely bound up with each another, notes that in his terror, man “sees” the danger bearing down on him. “It seizes him like an evil force, as if a demon has taken him by surprise.”818 The emphasis placed on “seeing” in this articulation is very important, so also on the immediate demonisation of the phenomenon. It is an association that is explained by the view van Loos shared with G. van der Leeuw. They opine that the origins of the belief in demons „entails a thrill of fear“, arising from being overwhelmed by the experience from nature, sensations of unfamiliarity and terror from the world of dreams, and despondency in the experience of disease, madness and ecstasy.819

816 Cf. O. Pfister, 1975, 13; see also S. Epstein, op.cit. 310–311; T. Vogt, 1993, 17–18; V. Günther & H. Hinterhuber, „Die Psychologie der Angst und die Religion“, in: H. von Stietencron (Hg.), 1991, 79. 817 Cf. P. Tillich, 2000, 32–39. See also G. Schnurr, op. cit., 767. Lazarus & Averill appreciate this as uncertainty characteristics, - the symbolic and ambiguous nature of the threat that makes it impossible to appraise its length and breadth in order to excite corresponding reaction. Cf. Lazarus & Averill, op. cit. 250–251. 818 Cf. H. van der Loos, 1965, 340. 819 Cf. ibid., 339ff. On the strength of these observations the author argues that evil spirit(s), given the general name demons and appreciated as “supernatural force”, is(are) the objectification and personification of these projected fears, an

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On a more general note, however, W.T. McReynolds would express an understanding of fear as ...broadly conceptualized to include all that heretofore has been called fear and anxiety. The purpose in doing so is to both formalize the parsimony that results from reducing two concepts to one and to be maximally heuristic. Fear is best conceptualized as a complex response involving cognitive, motor, and somatic components combined in idiosyncratic ways within each person and experienced as an unpleasant affective state.820

It is understood as a general human phenomenon. This is in the sense of the human as an evaluating being, who, in the course of relating to his environment, establishes it as a part of the conditio humana. It’s been made an issue of perception (cognition), and setting out its subjective character, spells out its fundamental psychological basis. To this extent we will adopt the concept of Mischangst by O. Pfister. This refers to the blending of the so-called object-related Furcht and the seemingly non-object-related Angst. Such is the content of our understanding of the word fear. It is characterised by its subjectiveness, this pre-disposition to fear, borne out in the fact of the least event of an object-related apprehension producing an unimaginable dimension of disquiet.821 Along these paths of seeking to identify the origin(s) or source(s) of fear, P. Tillich differentiates between existential anxiety/fear as conditio humana, and pathological/neurotic anxiety/fear as an issue of psychological attention. The former, considered basic, most universal and inescapable, plays out relatively as fate (weakness, sickness, accidents and coincidence etc.), and absolutely as death. The latter (pathological/neurotic objectification that takes on the ability to “possess” the concerned. The constantly re-occurring ancient myth of the fall of angels, its association with medicinal developments among others, shares this category. 820 Cf. W.T. McReynolds, “Anxiety as Fear: A Behavioural Approach to One Emotion“, in: C.D. Spielberger & M. Zuckermann (eds.), 1976, 287; see also J. Kuttikottayil, 2005, 134–142. Lazarus & Averill, preferring the word Anxiety as the language of educated laymen, end up at the long run with the word Fear, emphasizing the role of anticipation in the sense of the coalescence of present and future and not just in the sense of future expectancies, in the evolution of this emotional phenomenon (245–249). Cf. Lazarus & Averill, op. cit. See also R. Pekrun, “Expectancy-Value Theory of Anxiety: Overview and Implications“, in: D.G. Forgays, et al. (eds.), 1992, 23–41. 821 Cf. O. Pfister, 1975, 16–27. The author, tending more towards the psychoanalytic school of thought, is convinced that the major sources of this disposition are distortions of love relationships, guilt-feeling, fortified by such eerie tales and imaginations.

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anxiety) is, succinctly put, the inability to admit the existential Angst with its ontological character.822 However, rather than as inability, we would rather think that it is more of a refusal, a fore-closed mindset against what belongs to his/its nature. In his quest for immortality, man sees himself fighting against his mortal nature, desiring to perpetuate himself. In this quest anything that seems to jeopardise this desire is automatically an enemy. His power of imagination provides him an innumerable measure of these enemies against whom/which he must secure himself. This refusal drives the human to seek the security that eventually becomes an imprisonment. It is an imprisonment that plays out in the generation of images that often have no basis in reality, images that eventually turn around to haunt him.823 As if appreciating that part of the problem would be what constitutes the understanding of reality for the affected, O. Pfister goes on to note that this is a feature of primitive Angstmetaphysik.824 This is the world view, a pattern of thought in which primitive animism plays a decisive role. The one involved feels himself/ herself surrounded and threatened by uncanny and horrible figures that have become imbued with supernatural character and powers. He/she is absolutely convinced of their reality. This constitutes the birth of the spirit world. It is about the figures with which the primitive Angst-metaphysic sought/seeks to objectify and reify the perceived threats in the bid to evolve ways of confronting them. Noting its commonness, he writes: Primitive Angstmetaphysic can never be understood as purely a matter of individual psychology. Everyone is informed by the surrounding superstition. Folklores, popular custom generate the material out of which fear is born, and clearly affords in it the opportunity for the intellectualisation of these fears where the need lurks...825

822 Cf. P. Tillich, 2000, 38–45,64–70. The author had earlier seen in the fate of Socrates, from the early philosophers' point of view, a typical example of the paradox in the true courage to be (19). The pathological/neurotic is purposely italicized to indicate that those terms are not to be understood in the strict medical sense, even when they share some similarity – assuming as real what is non-existent; fearing what he should not fear. He defines neurosis as the way of avoiding non-being by avoiding being. 823 Cf. ibid., 61–62. We have cited an example of such problems in the evolution of magic and related practices. Confer section 5.2.2.1ff of my work. See also A.C. ­Anijielo, 1984, 32–47. 824 Cf. O. Pfister, 1975, 49–51; see also H. van der Loos, 1965, 339ff. 825 Cf. ibid., 51–52. Translation is mine. With an interesting example of a young man who learnt from childhood to fear a „Böhlimaa“, a frightful figure in the folklores of Switzerland that his mother had told him it lived in the basement of their house, he

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In the Igbo (African) settings, where the predominant orientation is governed by the culture of belief and its attendant passivity and supernaturalisation of almost every phenomena, as against the culture of inquiry and critical consciousness, primitive angstmetaphysic would be said to constitute the world view. Moreso the influence and role of folklores which did constitute veritable means of education in its predominantly oral tradition must not be overlooked. Little wonder spirit world issues are common features in these societies. Through the intellectualisation of the imageries, the way is opened for the objectification and reification/realisation of these fears. This realisation, that should rather be called a distortion of reality, relates no longer to something earthly or purely material, as the case may be. The imageries are projected into the forms of objects - ghosts, spectres, magical powers, mythical forces and their likes. O. Pfister therefore argues: The objects of fear, having been projected from within the subject into the outside world, appear as something given...They turn from being products of fear into becoming terrifying. This becomes highly important in the circumstance of the psychology of religion. It evidences that often, mere imaginations, having become soldered-up with fear in the course of its intellectualisation, assume evidence-character and become contents of experience. One feels oneself addressed, grappled, and thrown into fear by the very object of one’s fantasy, the construct of one’s own thinking in the bid to reify one’s fears.826

The consequence at this point is that the perceiver becomes so convinced that not even the least doubt is entertained over the facticity of the perceived and over being influenced by it. It becomes the personalized powers, the tortuous beings of one’s fears. It becomes identified with one unknown spirit being, one demon or the other.827 K. van der Toorn would establish in this perspective that, “...the notes how our fears are reified in curious external objects that are non-existent. The Igbo folklore has such images summarized in the term „ojuju“. 826 Cf. O. Pfister, 1975, 52–54; Translation is mine. The italics are as found in the original. See also H. van der Loos, 1965, 339; A.C. Anijielo, 1984, 102ff. Relatedly, C.G. Jung had, in his dream analysis, postulated the existence of psychic autonomous complexes that are strange to the ego. As a result of this strangeness they appear externalized and become projected into space. According to him, it is these unconscious, autonomous complexes that have come to be termed „spirits“. Cf. idem, “The Psychological Foundations of Belief in Spirits”, in: Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, vol. XXXI, part LXXIX, 1921 op. cit., 80–83. 827 Cf. H. van der Loos, 1965, 339; O. Böcher, 1970, 34–40. Interesting as Böcher's extra emphasis on the place of the sexual in the dream experience as accountable for the concretion of the uncanny imageries into demons may be, however, disagreeable. Cf. idem, 1970, 34–40.

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belief in demons springs from the common fear of unpredictable and uncontrollable adversity. Such popular belief cares little for consistency...”828 Following these findings, O. Pfister concludes that the constant traditional location of the spirits and demons in some form of spatial supernatural world is in reality a mistaken transference of the merely psychological into the metaphysical.829 This is a resilient feature of the primitive Angstmetaphysic, and as it were, primitive religions as well. It is plausible to consider it operational in the “principalities and powers” concept in our articulation of the Ephesian spirit world.830 We had seen that archai and exousiai of Eph were located by the author in the heavenly places, referring to the spatial in-between as the abode and operational base of these figures. In this sense it is related and applicable to the Igbo (African) spirit world (cf. Chapter 5 of our work on Igbo world view). Technically, primitive Angstmetaphysic is the unconscious transferred unto, and made operational in the conscious, a position that found very eloquent presentation in Sigmund Freud. “The spirits and the demons are nothing other than the projections of the emotional stirrings of the primitives. Subsequently the primitive personalizes his affects, populates the world with them, and discovers his inner mental processes once again.”831 The rediscovery of inner mental process, referred to here, is part of the attempts at intellectualization of fear in order to get along with it. In the circumstance of the primitive man’s angstmetaphysic, religion, in the forms of such apotropaic practices like rituals, offerings etc., as way of relating to these spiritual beings, constituted his means of getting along with his fears. Unfortunately, the aftertaste of such religious approach was a perpetuation of the associated fears rather than assuaging them. Thus far, we realize that the issue of spirits and associated fears are the issues of the objectification of internal strivings in the bid to intellectualize these

828 Cf. K. van der Toorn, “The Theology of Demons in Mesopotamia and Israel – Popular Belief and Scholarly Speculation“, in A. Lange, et al. (Hg.), 2003, 61–83(62). 829 Cf. O. Pfister, 1975, 54. 830 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 175. He refers to them as terms in Hellenism that articulate the sense of delivered-upness and helplessness in the face of the furious powers at play in the world. 831 Cf. S. Freud, Totem und Tabu. W. W. Bd. X, 113 as cited by O. Pfister, 1985, 54. This may be related to what O. Böcher refers to as the ambivalence of subjective feelings at the encounter of the Holy. Cf. idem, 1970, 20. However, over and above the general remark Freud made here about spirits, we call attention to the necessary differentiation we had made in our earlier analysis of the word “Spirit“ with regard to its sui generis character regarding the divine. (Cf. section 1.1).

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apprehensions. The intellectualization process objectifies the unobjectified and imbues them with forms. They assume the nature and name spirit, demons as the case may be, and are fitted-out with supernatural powers. They are handed-down from one generation to another. They increasingly assume monstrous dimensions and operational notoriety in the world view and thought pattern of the concerned. They become established and may no longer be easily thought as not being there. And as H. van der Loos did point out, Once belief in demons exists anywhere, it goes without saying that ultimately a doctrine will develop in which all kinds of details of these beings appear; theories arise about their origin, essence, form, rank, about where they live, about times at which they prefer to appear, about their knowledge and power.832

However, knowing them for what there are, as products of the process of the intellectualization of man’s fears that have become transferred into objective existence, this transference of the psychological into the metaphysical, opens the way to assuaging the problems associated with such apprehensions. Without the insight into this subtle, age-old transference of the psychological into the metaphysical, this transference of the product of the process of intellectualization of man’s fears that came to be reified into spirits and demons, a reification that is generously fed by our superstitious tendencies, it becomes difficult to attend to them. Some attention to the relationship between religion and fear, in our psycho-hermeneutical appraisal of Eph 3:10 in the context of the Igbo spirit world, would lead us further.

7.3.2 Religion and fear – towards a psychology of fear and religious dimensions The all-time classical articulation of the relationship assumed to foundationally exist between religion and fear is the controversial statement attributed to a certain Roman poet Statius (ca. 40–96)833 - “Primus in orbe deos fecit timor” - Fear first brought about the gods in the world. From the point of view of polytheism, the veracity of this statement seems hardly refutable. According to this point of view, man, from the earliest times, overwhelmed by the powers of nature he encountered (Naturerlebnis) in his being-in-the-world nature, and naturally 832 Cf. H. van der Loos, 1965, 341. 833 Cf. G. Lanczkowski, „Furcht I. Religionsgeschichtlich“, in: TRE 11 (1983), 755–756. O. Pfister attributes the same statement to a certain Petronius. Cf. idem, 1975, 120. For more on theories of Religion and its origins see D. L. Pals (ed.), Eight theories of Religion, 2006; P. Schebesta, Ursprung der Religion, 1960, etc.

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­oriented to seeking well-being (Heil), objectified and deified these powers. According to E.O. James, ..., it was by analogy with the prevailing conditions of mankind that the creation of the universe, or of that part of it which was the centre of interest and knowledge, was conceived in the Ancient Near East as a process of birth from the gods and goddesses primarily concerned with its generation.834

The relation of this view to the notion of man as homo religiosus – man’s apparently natural religious sensitivities/inclinations – seems obvious. The notion of man as homo religiosus, however, calls the popular saying from Statius to question. If man is by nature homo religiosus, the divine to whom this nature of his pulls him to appreciate must have been there. His fears may have then merely assisted the crystallization of this nature, and obviously the manifest proliferation of the gods in cultic relationships and practices. The very idea of divinity ­(divinities) stemming, therefore, from his experience of his limitedness as human in the face of these powers of nature and the uncertainties of his fate, climaxed from the mere acknowledgment of the relatively superhuman and advanced unto the absolutely superhuman. That the language of such expressions became and remained anthropomorphic, as in the primitive settings, would be obvious to understand. It is important, however, to appreciate at this point the dividing line between awe as fascinans propter tremendi and raw fear metus, conveying the sense of being delivered up. In the first sections of our work in which we treated the antecedents of the ‘Pauline’ spirit world from the History of Religions’ perspectives (1.2ff), we showed how, from the very beginnings of known history, through the various stages of receptions and cultural modifications, celestial bodies and extremely imposing natural phenomena were deified. Emergent mythological cosmogonies and eventual theologisation of myths served as an interpretation system in which the gods were fundamentally qualities and aspects of the world as variedly experienced by humans. It is evident, as B. Gladigow argues, that the ideas about the gods that the various mythologies present were but couched forms of different ideas about the world. They served in their various functional, time-space schemata, to present conceptions about one order of the world or the other. These reflected experiences about well-being or affliction, as well as the involvement of political innuendos, gave room for hierarchies, for the emergence of Zwischenwesen beings in-between that filled the gap and served communication

834 Cf. E O. James, 1967, 200.

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purposes.835 These beings did subsequently play a major role in the reification of the experiences of evil, as dualistic and ethical differentiations became part of religious developments as in the teachings of the Iranian Zarathustra. May we highlight once again the ANE people’s ingenious understanding that polarities constituted the essence of life, articulated in the expression - “system of negative things”, evidenced in the experiences of the unruly elements of disorder, catastrophic events, diseases and pestilence, sickness and death, etc. In the deification that formed the basis of their understanding of the world, these experiences were attributed to the gods as well. They were considered the proverbial ‘other side of the coin’, cosmic accidents, and part of cosmological order. They necessarily belonged to the ‘coin’ of life. In the face of the human inabilities at confronting and having these experiences in check, and in the absence of better alternatives, these were readily attributed to the gods. This view of the world and experience of it is eloquently presented in the popular words of Thales “everything is full of gods”. One readily sees how far-reaching issues of religious attribution have been in the history of human development. By this integration of evil (as experienced) into dominant theistic systems,836 the only alternative remained evolving some ways of relating to these gods. Religion in the form of apotropaic practices in order to mollify the deities/spirits constituted the natural response. As dualistic and ethical differentiations became part of religious developments as crystallized in the teachings of the Iranian Zarathustra (cf. 1.2.1), the ambivalence and apparent contradiction in the idea of the gods being responsible for all experiences became increasingly unsustainable. It was overtaken with the introduction and further development of the concept daimon, a concept that is replete with semantic versatility.837 Initially understood as a synonym of positive value for the Olympian gods (Il. 1.222, 6.115 etc.), it later came to serve as the embodiment of the system of negative things, serving to exonerate the gods as the harbinger of good. The positive experiences became the ambience of the 835 Cf. B. Gladigow, „Plenitudo deorum. Fülle der Götter und Ordnung der Welt“, in: A. Lange et al.(Hg.), 2003, 12–13. 836 This is typified in the document Atrahasis, the Old Babylonian composition on the meaning of life. Cf. K. van der Toorn “The Theology of the Demons in Mesopotamia and Israel. Popular Belief and Scholarly Speculation“, in: A. Lange et al. (Hg.), 2003, 61–83(81). 837 A summary of this versatility is afforded by O. Keel in his article „Schwache alttestamentliche Ansätzezur Konstruction einer stark dualitisch getönten Welt“, in: A. Langeet al. (Hg.), 2003, 210–233; see also H. van der Loos, 1965, 340ff.

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gods. The negative experiences were made the prerogatives and domain of the daimonion - demons.838 This development received radical formulation in post-exilic Judaism and related religious developments. In this connection, H.-J. Fabry establishes that, It is the undetermined fears that man had, faced with natural disasters, sickness and death, that led to the evolvement of images presented as individual persons. Occasionally, some of them took concrete forms as demons with names, a development out of which emerged an archetypal belief in demonic destructive spirits.839

In the face of the many dangers the ancients saw themselves facing, and against which they had little or no response to, the spiritualisation of these apparently superhuman experiences was the order of the day. Relationship to these potents, aimed at sauvifying these fears, is seen to account for the religious expressions of the time. O. Pfister concludes in this light, therefore, that the attempts at combating fear (Angstbekämpfung) is the most intensive factor around which the most primitive of religions revolve.840 Our earlier discussion of Igbo world view (5.0ff), religious as it was portrayed to be, evidences the truth of this position. It showed the place of the relationship to their world and its given as foundational to the Igbo religious expressions. Note is, however, to be taken to appreciate the understanding of the qualification “primitive“ as applied to Igbo traditional and related religions. It refers to such ways of understanding the world and relating to it, governed not by some systematic Weltanschauung or critical consciousness, but by the force of habit and the magical principles of similarity and contagion. All these are in-turn based on the idea of universal sympathy. Against the background of this magic-habit

838 Xenocrates is particularly fingered as responsible for these sharp separations. Cf. Section 1.2.2 of my work; see also J. ter Vrugt-Lentz „Geister (Dämonen). II. Vorhellenistisches Griechenland“, in: RAC 9 (1976), 598–615. See also O. Böcher, 1972,(1) 18–19. 839 Cf. H.-J. Fabry „‘Satan’ - Begriff und Wirklichkeit. Untersuchungen zur Dämonologie der alttestamentlichen Weisheitsliteratur“, in: A. Lange et. al.(Hg.), 2003, 269–291(269). Translation is mine; see also O. Böcher, 1970, 33. 840 Cf. O. Pfister, 1975, 119ff. Our understanding of the term “Primitive religion” is far from the devaluating judgement its application to the religions of ancient unlettered peoples often connote. It rather captures the understanding of religion that reminds one of the very origins of the phenomenon religion. Cf. W. Dupré, „Religionsethnologie“, in: RGG47 (2004), 305–307. See also G. Lanczkowski „Religionsgeschichte. IV. Lebende Religionen“, in: Sacramentum Mundi IV, 206–216.

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based world view that is intuitive and emotive, O. Oladipo makes this observation with regard to the African (Igbo) world view orientations: The predominant intellectual orientation in Africa today is not the culture of inquiry, but the culture of belief. The culture of belief is the antithesis of the seeking spirit which animates the culture of inquiry. It is a culture of almost passive observation of things and processes in nature and society, one in which certain ways of knowing and doing – for instance, the tendency to see things, events and processes as emanations from some supernatural sources and taken for granted.841

A fundamental characteristic of such primitive understandings that have been at the roots of such religious expressions that are found among the Igbo (Africans) is the belief in mystical forces (cf. 5.2.2.0). This refers to those imputations of supernatural powers and potents to objects that have no logical connections with the effects believed to be issuing from them. Trees, grooves, mountains and hills, rivers and seas and other phenomenal provisions and occurrences are imbued with supernatural powers and potents, and related to as such. Following these observations T.M. Ilesamni maintains that African worldview provides conducive environment for the manifestation of spiritual forces and powers. The African worldview is a human worldview conditioned by African experience in African environment... the spiritual forces and powers are of African blood in African experience, a natural and a condusive atmosphere for their existence and development... The African spiritual forces and powers need river-rine areas, hills, grooves, mysterious trees, shrines, peaceful abodes for operation. i.e. where they can have patronage..., communal support through homages, and in fact, receptive minds that allow them to penetrate into their systems.842

Seemingly purporting to be a championing of the course of the spiritual forces and powers, the positions expressed in this essay by Ilesanmi, especially in the cited lines are self-defeating. Not only are the so-called spirit phenomena 841 Cf. O. Oladipo, Knowledge and African Renaissance. West African Journal of Philosophical Studies, 1999; cited by E.M. Onwuama “The Epistemological Basis of the Belief in the Occult and Paranormal and the Implications of this Belief System in Nigeria.“, in: C.A. Ebelebe (ed.), 2012, 61–88(78). 842 Cf. T.M. Ilesanmi, “African Worldview as Conducive Environment for the Manifestation of Spiritual Forces and Powers“, in: C.A. Ebelebe (ed.), 2012, 17–25 (23,20). In a related development, E.M. Onwuama, investigating the epistemological basis of the spirit belief systems in Nigeria, and their implications, noted its immense prevalence and negative impacts. It is an issue perpetuated by public opinion, among others. Religion feeds and sustains it. Critical consciousness is the panacea. Cf. idem, in: C.A. Ebelebe (ed.), op. cit., 61–88.

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environmental issues, they are also psychological. A proper understanding of, and relationship to the environment for what it is – tree as tree, groove as groove etc., and not spirit beings nor their dwelling places –, and the mental presence that refuses such penetration into their systems, would contribute to the undoing of such beliefs. This is what we have referred to as critical consciousness. In this direction cognitive psychology would talk of the enhancement of competence, of the feeling of self-esteem and of self-reliance as veritable means of coping with fear.843 Such competence is attainable through works and efforts of enlightenment. Since our task is not merely about articulating these predicaments but more about contributing to the some positive change, we endeavour to establish the contents of these efforts. This is, on the one hand, through “psychoeducation” as an intrinsic aspect of anxiety/fear management in the approach of the CognitiveBehaviour Therapy,844 and on the other hand through the NT hermeneutics that understands NT perspectives as involving tacit attempts, within its (NT) circumstances, at dealing with the fear-concerns of its time and settings. With regard to the latter, G. Theißen, noting that the beginnings of early Christianity had to do with intensive confidence as well as with an explosion of fear (eschatological), argues that the writings of the early Christians attest to attempts at dealing with their fears. According to him, We find in the texts two answers: fear is overcome through repentance or through nearness to Christ – either through the belief that man can successfully change his behaviour or through the confidence that being near Christ, man’s suffering has value, and his hope is preserved.845

843 Cf. V. Günther & H. Hinterhuber, op. cit., in: H. von Stietencron (Hg.), 1991, 84. Reference is made once again to Lazarus’ and Folkman’s cognitive appraisal theory as coping-enhancing process. Cf. idem, 1987, 55–82. 844 Cf. D.A. Hope et al. (eds.), 2010, 53ff.; see also S.-Y. Tan, “Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy”, in: D.G. Benner & P. C. Hill (eds.), 1999, 215–218. Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy, understood as the involvement of the cognitive activities of the client in the bid to enhance therapeutic modification to the better, will be treated briefly later under one of its aspects – Cognitive Restructuring. 845 Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 172. Translation is mine. The author talks of the overcoming of fear through cognitive restructuring that enhances coping. It is brought about through interpretation of the situation, and appropriation of one's competence. He sees in the narratives about Jesus, especially in the passion stories, some form of “existential terror-management”, employed by the early Christians in dealing with their own fears and dreads. (172–176). See also T. Vogt, 1993.

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It is this foundation of the psychology of the early Christians, which has its core in the figure of Christ, in whom and through whom their experiences of reality were interpreted and managed, that constitute the bedrock of our psychohermeneutical appreciations.

7.4 Psychoeducation – towards Cognitive re-structuring and the psychology of the early Christians 7.4.1 Psychoeducation and Cognitive re-structuring846 Cognitive psychology’s appreciation of religion and religious experience represents the view that experiences/perceptions are dependent on the cognitive patterns inhering in the perceiver, patterns that are also in-turn dependent on cultural givens and socialization. Our earlier understanding of fear/anxiety and its relationship with religion in this regard show that in circumstances where the culture of belief holds sway, the patterns of cognition and interpretation are obviously religious. As a result, even the most natural of occurrences and experiences are imbued with religious interpretations. Ambiguous stimuli, phenomena of inconclusive explanations are most often made into gods, spirits, ghosts etc. (cf. 7.2.0 above). The awareness of the role of cognitive patterns in the generation of the affect of fear, as a consequence of such patterns of cognition, and the view that some re-adjustment of those patterns with the goal of influencing the courage to be is what our understanding of psychoeducation and cognitive re-structuring is about. As a term, psychoeducation is a therapeutic approach popularized by C.M. Anderson (1980) in the context of the treatment of schizophrenia.847 It refers generally to the attempts at facilitating some change/adjustments of the cognitive structures (cognitive restructuring) that are responsible for the diseased psychological situation of the patient. It proceeds through provision of knowledge about the dysfunctional beliefs or information, those factors of cognition that brought about the particular diseased situation. It includes the identification of the cognitive biases, 846 Cognitive restructuring is one of the major classifications or techniques of the Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy (CBT). Our attention is more on cognitive restructuring and its principles, especially regarding biblical approaches in this regard. Cf. S.-Y. Tan, “Cognitive-Behavior Therapy”, in: D.G. Benner & P. C. Hill, (eds.), 1999, 215–218; S.L. Jones, “Cognitive Restructuring“, in: op.cit. 222–223; J. Kuttikottayil, 2005. 258–261. 847 Cf. http//en. Wikipedia.org/wiki/psychoeducation; visited on 20.05.2013, 15.00 pm. Even though the issues of fear we are dealing with are not schizophrenic, we find the approaches of the therapeutic method, especially as it enhances behavioural improvement helpful to our attention to spirit world fears.

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the internal causal conditions that underlie particular perceptions and interpretations. Note is then taken of the concerned’s own strength, resources and coping skills. These are emphasized and re-enforced, leading to the re-structuring of the cognitive patterns, and culminating in enhanced management of the situation, in improved social competence. The theory is based on the view that with better knowledge, the concerned becomes more empowered to deal positively with the condition, this goal of the Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy (CBT).

7.4.2  Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy (CBT) The uniting position assumed by the cognitive school of psychology between the seemingly extreme approaches of the psychoanalytic and behavioural schools of psychology, constitute the foundations of CBT. The CBT is, therefore, an approach integrating the theories of the cognitive, psychoanalytic and behavioural schools of psychology. Realizing the role cognitive processes play in bringing about behaviour as affect etc., CBT focuses on identifying and working on the maladaptive cognitive processes that are responsible for negative cognitions and irrational/excessive behaviour. In our case it is the issue of irrational fear expressed in the apprehensions over the spirit world phenomenon. CBT then attempts the elicitation of therapeutic change through the incorporation of the concerned’s cognitive activities. The goal of the therapeutic process is the change of problem feelings through the modification of problem thinking (cognition/ perception) and problem behaviour.848 Eclectic as its approaches are, some of its basic tenets, especially those concerning our task of psycho-hermeneutics, include the following: (1) the human organism responds primarily to cognitive representations of their environment...; (2) most human learning is cognitively mediated; (3) thoughts, feelings, and behaviors are causally interrelated; (4) attitudes, expectancies, attributions and other cognitive activities are central to producing, predicting, and understanding psychopathological behavior and the effects of therapeutic interventions; ...(6) the task of the cognitive-behavioral therapist is to act as diagnostician, educator, and technical consultant who assesses maladaptive cognitive processes and works with the client to design learning experiences that may remediate these dysfunctional cognitions and the behavioral affective patterns with which they correlate.849

848 Cf. S.-Y. Tan, “Cognitive-Behavior Therapy”, in: D.G. Benner & P.C. Hill (eds.), 1999, 215–218. 849 Cf. P.C. Kendall & K.M. Bemis, Thought and action in psychotherapy: The ­cognitive-behavioral approaches; cited by S.-Y. Tan, op.cit. See also the cognitiveemotional theories of R.S. Lazarus & S. Folkman, in: idem, 1987, 85–101.

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In as much our approach is not directly a practical psychotherapeutic one, the plausibility of these principles to our hermeneutic endeavour is doubtless. An appropriate understanding of our text of consideration performs the therapeutic function to the maladaptive cognition and affective consequences in the spirit world concerns in the Igbo settings. It would enhance true faith, which in-turn excites and releases some personal competence in co-operation with trust in God’s competence.850 The basis of such faith is the renewed consciousness that God is greater than whatever threat or cause of fear that may be perceived, a consciousness that in-turn directs the thought and cognitive patterns of the concerned. Despite its eclectic character, CBT has different approaches classified into three major categories: a) cognitive restructuring involving cognitive therapy, rational-emotive therapy, and self-instructional training; b) coping skills therapy involving anxiety management training and stress-inoculation training; c) problem-solving therapies involving problem-solving therapy and personal science.851 The cognitive restructuring approach, which is our major concern, constitutes our next engagement.

7.4.2.1  Cognitive Restructuring As a technical term, cognitive restructuring is understood as the translation of Albert Ellis’ Rational-Emotive Therapy into a social learn framework, an exercise primarily undertaken by M.R. Goldfried and A.P. Goldfried.852 Observing the relationship between perception, cognition and physiological responses, more out of his disenchantment with the passivity required in classical psychoanalysis, A. Ellis argued that it is the judgment one makes of an external stimulus that determines one’s feelings towards it. This led him to the development of the Rational-Emotive Therapy (RET). It aims at changing irrational thoughts and beliefs in individuals, as therapeutic approach to the diseased psychological situation they bring about. His ABC theory of emotions asserts that all emotional responses are the result of cognitive process: A = Situational determinants – an active experience/event; B = Beliefs – the cognitive processes involving thinking, evaluation, self-talk, often based on innate or acquired tendencies; C = physiological

850 Cf. T. Vogt, 1993, 92–100. 851 Cf. S.L. Jones, “Cognitive Restructuring“, in: D.G. Benner & P.C. Hill (eds.), 1999, 222. 852 Cf. M.R. Goldfried & A.P. Goldfried, Cognitive Change Methods; in: F.H. Kanfer & A.P. Goldstein (eds.), Helping people change (2nd ed.). New York: Pergamon, 1980; cited by S.L. Jones, “Cognitive Restructuring“, in: D.G. Benner & P.C. Hill (eds.), 1999, 222–223.

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responses.853 The therapeutic approach involves the identification of the foundational errors in the B (reasoning and assumptions of the concerned), since it is the B that fills the gap between the stimulus and the reaction to it. It also involves encouraging the learning and application of more realistic possibilities for the perception and organisation of, as well as relation to reality. Following A.T. Beck’s and C.D. Clark’s cognitive schema theory which recognises that cognitive structures determine the screening, encoding, organising, storing and retrieval of information with regard to perception and relationship to the perceived, it is observed that maladaptive schemas bring about physical or psychological threat and exaggerated sense of vulnerability. Unrealistic goals and unreasonable attitudes compound the situation the more.854 Responsible for the formation of the cognitive schema are in-turn personal/societal norms, self-concept, and fundamental convictions about reality. These give rise to rules, in the sense of the apriori categories or processing resources Verarbeitungsvoreingenommenheiten which in-turn determine an individual’s or a society’s relation to occurrences, his/her (their) appraisal and explanation of, as well as reactions to, or conclusions from them.855 The interplay of these conclusions, which may be deductive – in terms of arising from the cognitive elements -, or inductive – in terms of influencing the already posited cognitive factors -, constitute a person’s or a society’s cognitive system. Often this system becomes automatic thought patterns that become readily and speedily employed, devoid of further reflection. In settings where the culture of belief is paramount, there is the general tendency that the cognitive system it fosters becomes closed and established. This spells disastrous consequences in the case of maladapted cognition. As articulated by R. Sachse & E. M. Musial:

853 Cf. A. Ellis, “The Basic Clinical Theory of Rational-Emotive Therapy“, in: A. Ellis & R. Grieger (eds.), 1977, 5–11; A.T. Beck, 1979, 200–202. 854 Cf. A.T. Beck, 1979, 21; see also M.W. Eysenck, 1992, 18–21. Important here also are the cognitive development theories especially of James Piaget to whom an understanding of schema as the smallest unit of organised information, internal representations of external reality is credited. Cf. V.C. Cook, “Cognitive Development”, in: D.G. Benner & P.C. Hill (eds.) 1999, 218–220. 855 Cf. R. Sachse & E.M. Musial, 1981, 20–44. On the influence of culture in these cognitive issues, cf. A.H. Bolynatz, “Culture and Cognition”, in: D.G. Benner & P.C. Hill (eds.), 1999, 305–307. See also the six basic tenets of CBT as summarised by P.C. Kebdall & K.M. Bemis, “Thought and action in psychotherapy“, cited by S.-Y. Tan, in: D.G. Benner & P.C Hill (eds.), 1999, 215.

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The phenomenon of self-fulfilling prophecy indicates the presence of a closed cognitive system. Through the self-confirming interaction of the deductive and inductive conclusions, self-concepts, rules etc., that were merely hypothesis, or that were barely taken-up from the experiences of others, are assumed as ‘empirically tested certainties’. They can become further and further distanced from reality.856

When this distance from reality constitutes the basis upon which the structures or process of cognition are built, the very lens through which reality is viewed, the result is obvious – the distorted view of reality that culminates in wrong interpretations and escalation of fear. Constitutive factors to such distorted thought patterns and consequences include random drawing of conclusions, selective abstractions and overgeneralizations.857 However, without meaning to classify some of the spirit world perceptions and the fear affect they bring about as schizophrenia, they are no doubts some form of diseased psychological situation. Cognitive restructuring, therefore, upon the argument that human beings control their destiny on the basis of beliefs or values, pays attention to these basic belief systems. It is rooted on the understanding of the whole range of cognitive therapy as embracing approaches that are targeted at remedying situations of psychological difficulties. The reduction or changing of the emotions in question is achievable through the correction of false views and convictions that bring about the exaggerated and inappropriate reactions. Assisting the management of the emotions of the concerned would be brought about through understanding the thought patterns that bring them about. Thus A.T. Becks conviction that: Psychological problems are not necessarily the product of mysterious, unfathomable powers. They can result from daily proceedings like deficient learning, wrong conclusions on the grounds of inadequate or false information and deficient differentiation between phantasy and reality. Thought patterns can also become unrealistic because they did proceed from misleading basic assumptions. Behaviour can become self-destructive because they are based on irrational attitudes.858

856 Cf. R. Sachse & E.M. Musial, 1981, 40. Translation is mine. B. Grom, classifying such phenomenon as magical optimism, argues that such magical thought patterns, instead of being a solution rather allude to unresolved problems. It is likened to merely postponing the evil day. Cf. B. Grom, 1992, 143–145. 857 Cf. A.T. Beck, 1979, 71, 78; see also R. Sachse & E.M. Musial, 1981, 41–43. 858 Cf. A.T. Beck, 1979, 21. Translation is mine. See also ibid., 179ff. Examples of such irrational and unrealistic attitudes include the client's presumption that his/her thoughts are correspondent to reality; the dichotomic thinking in “either...or”, that there are only two possibilities in every given circumstance.

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These observations, articulating as it were, our psychological perspective regarding the spirit world issues within the background world view of our NT letter of interest (Letter to the Ephesians), issues that have been shown to find replete resonance in the Igbo (African) world view, spell out once again the problem. Aware of the immense role of dysfunctional beliefs and information processing biases as fundamental to the emotion of fear, cognitive restructuring in order to bring about functional cognition becomes a necessity. Its principles include the following: identification of the automatic thoughts that readily come to bear in the experience of the concerned, and the emotions they call up. The thinking/logical error(s) inherent in, and characteristic of the automatic thought(s), and which in-turn influence(s) the application of such thoughts, is/are examined. These identified automatic thoughts are then challenged through asking disputing questions, this characteristic of the culture of inquiry. This leads to the generation of rational response. This is in the sense of summarizing axioms or statements that bring together the gains of the initial steps undertaken in the course of restructuring the cognitive pattern.859 These, in-turn, constitute the new B (cognition process in Ellis A. RET). Easily accessible in such summary form, these axioms involve a balancing act between new skills and familiar contexts of the client. They form the spring-board to some realistic thought and action when confronted with those fear-generating assumptions initially at work in the concerned. They build on the strengths and support that may have been available to the client, given his/her contexts, culture and identity. It is precisely this step – generating rational response –, referring to the allembracing/summarizing axioms that build on the available strengths of the client, that paves the way for the relationship of this psychological resource to the circumstances of our spirit world investigations. Such new skills draw upon, for e.g., the spiritual beliefs of the concerned, and at the same time challenge to reasonable goal and personal competence. This is the place of the basic axiom of religion: God and faith in him as a cognitive factor influencing the perception, appraisal and interpretation of an experience, producing positive emotions

859 Cf. D.A. Hope et al. 2010, 101–119; S.L. Jones, “Cognitive Restructuring”, in: D.G. Benner & P.C. Hill, (eds.) 1999, 222–223. For some more detailed analysis of the operation of these principles of cognitive restructuring, see also R. Sachse & E.M. Musial, 1981, 99–125. When the client is led to understand for instance that every experience is not exhausted in the automatic thought of “either...or“, that his/her thought can be different from reality, the way is open to working out of alternatives, for modifications and wider horizons.

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that enhance personal competence.860 This understanding and orientation that readily captures the phenomenon apocalypticism,861 this “mother of all Christian theology” (E. Käsemann), constituted the fundamental psychological resource at work in the psychology of the early Christians. This is against the backdrop of the uniqueness of Christian religion within the general understanding of religion as attempts at some understanding of the world in relation to a transcendent reality (cf. 7.2.2). Its kern is faith in Christ, as the centre of their value-system, one, in whom and through whom their experiences of reality were interpreted and managed. This faith is given expression with the technical term Christology, constituting a psychological factor evidently at work in the NT texts and settings. Christological expressions as the articulation of belief in Jesus Christ, emerged in response to the pressing questions and existential needs of the believers, thereby earmarking the soteriological implications of such expressions. This is most evident in Paul (and NT writings under his influence) whose Christology is more or less soteriology – the good news of the salvific work of God in Christ. Bringing this to a point, U. Schnelle notes: The saving and redeeming action of God in Jesus Christ is the basis of Pauline thought..., accounting for its consistent soteriological orientation. The salvation or redemption of the believers ensues in the participation in the redeeming action of God. The redemption ensues ‘in hope’ (Rom 8:24) and is based in the pro nobis of the love of God for humanity (Rom 8:31–39).862

7.5  Christology863 as a “psychological” factor – appropriating the power of God in Christ From the basic axiom of religion in its interpretation of reality as founded in God and faith in him, various developments of this understanding flourished.

860 Cf. R.S. Lazarus & S. Folkman, 1987, 55ff. 861 Cf. Section 3 (6.3.1a) of my work., especially the views of T. Olsson and W.A. Meeks, in: D. Hellholm, (ed.), 1983, 21–47; 687–705 respectively, on apocalypticism and its influence in Pauline Christianity. The role of the apocalyptic thought-pattern in the emergence of the Judaeo-Christian Messiah-theology cannot be over-emphasized. 862 Cf. U. Schnelle, 2007, 251. Translation is mine. See also W.A. Meeks, op.cit. in: D. Hellholm, (ed.), 1983, 701. Its cosmic dimensions have been highlighted in 2.2.1ff of my work. 863 A detailed discussion of Christology, this subject of various theological disciplines, is outside the scope of this work, and is not intended here. From NT perspectives, the very eloquent attempts in the researches on the Life of Jesus have revealed how

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Apocalypticism (Jewish-Hellenistic versions), noted above, is a strand of these developments. Psychologically, this basic axiom constituted as it were, the general rational response, the central cognitive factor influencing the perception, appraisal and interpretation of the experiences (especially dissonant ones) of its adherents. The extent to which one religion or the other may have produced positive emotions or enhanced personal competence in its given circumstances remains, however, contentious. It is dependent on the patterns of such religious expressions. It is sometimes, unfortunately, the case that religious expressions fall short of such goals, perpetuating dysfunctional cognition instead of assuaging them. Christianity, however, from the backgrounds of its Jewish foundations, did make enormous difference in this direction, this issue of the psychology of the early Christians, attested to in the NT perspectives. The quest to understand their (early Christians) experience and behaviour (psychology) is, therefore, within the establishment of religion as the basic context of their understanding and experience of, as well as relationship to reality. This is in the wider understanding (hermeneutic) of reality as more than objective, tangible facts. It includes natural, social facts, socially created and accepted facts within a particular institution, the world as conceived by the subject, in science or philosophy, the invisible reality as in myth, imaginary fictional world, emotional disposition and connected thoughts expressed in art works, etc.864 The endeavour, therefore, is more or less, about describing, understanding and explaining the basis of the religious experience and behaviour of the first Christians.865

enthralling the discussion has remained. With its kern being the confession „­ Jesus is the Christ“, Christology embraces the reflections on the significance of Jesus, of the Christ-event in the forms of proclamation, memory, narration, paraenesis, confession. The Easter experiences constitute the decisive impulse to this development. The early Christians appropriated earlier cultural models in their religious settings to effect this development in which a continuity of God's saving action is seen to be realized in Jesus Christ. It has been demonstrated that whereas Christology is pre-Pauline (e.g. Phil 2:6–11; 1 Cor 15:1–3), Paul brought its developments to the zenith. Cf. W. Bousset, 1967, 17–18; E. Schweizer, „Jesus Christus. I. Neues Testament“, TRE 16 (1987), 671–726; U. Luz, „Christologie im Neuen Testament“, in: EKL 1 (1986) 714–718; M. Karrer, „Christologie I. Urchristentum”, in: RGG4 2 (1999) 273–288; C.H. Talbert, 2011, 3–42; see also D. Zeller, Christus unter den Göttern. Zum antiken Umfeld des Christusglaubens,1993. 864 Cf. V. Vergote, op. cit., 12. 865 Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 15. The term “religious experience“ is used herein the wider sense of feelings, experiences and actions in relation to the supernatural, the

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The central point is the understanding of religion as a world-construct, in the sense of a lens through which the world is encountered and interpreted. It is an integration of man’s understanding of the world of his experiences, desires and conflicts from the point of view of the divine – God – as ultimate reality, in man’s bid to understand and give meaning to his being and aspirations. According to W. Löser, “Religions are social structures that enable their adherents some understanding of, and a relation to God or the absolute as reference point over and above the finiteness and inadequacy of the world.”866 It is a culturally determined and culture determining semiotic phenomenon aimed at enhancing life.867 Religious experience stems from the general possibility and fact of human experience. It is an experience made within the environment in which the conceptual systems and categories of interpretation are based on religious traditions. Such traditions while preceding the particular experiences at hand, also make the interpretations of these experiences possible. On the other hand too, these experiences and interpretations modify the already existing traditions and open new approaches. Such was the experience of the early Christians/Christianity. Born within the existent religious constructs/thought-patterns of Judaism (both in its traditional and Hellenistic versions), it sought to, and did interpret its new experiences – Jesus, his teachings, and their effects – in the Graeco-Roman world of the 1st Century AD and subsequently. New categories of interpretations emerged. New traditions evolved. Partly retaining their Jewish patrimonies, they did as well assume and re-interpret the categories of the new world they were encountering. The various stages of these developments include what has come to be regarded as the revitalization of the Jewish religion through Jesus. Others are the establishment of Jesus-tradition through transformations in the post-resurrection Christ beliefs, and then its period of becoming an autonomous world/system of signs, “a semiotic cathedral”.868

transcendent. It earmarks the holistic character of experience and behaviour. Cf. W. James, 2004, 39ff. 866 W. Löser, Phänomenologie und Theologie der Religionen. (Manuskript zu den Vorlesungen 2004/2005. Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Sankt Georgen, Frankfurt am Main), 1. Translation is mine. G. Theißen, sees religion as cultural system that aims at enhancing life through correspondence to an absolute reality. Cf. idem, 2007, 19. The difficulty of a technical definition of religion is readily acknowledged by scholars. 867 Cf. G. Theißen, 2000, 19–37. The special contents of religion as sign include mythos, ritual and ethics. Its functions are cognitive, emotional and pragmatic. 868 Cf. G. Theißen, 1999, 19ff; idem, 2000, (especially 225–368).

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Just as the origins and evolution of religion is located in man’s appreciation of his place in the universe and his response to it in reference to the divine, a response that is always anchored on a figure or the other, Christianity is a response to this appreciation in the light of Christ-event. It is the understanding of Jesus as the anointed of God, through and in whom God’s salvific will is fulfilled. The beginnings of this fulfillment are seen as evidenced in the “Reign/Kingdom of God“ message of Jesus, a message that defined both his person and his ministry. He not only proclaimed its coming, he demonstrated its salvific presence through his actions.869 It encompasses the christological integration of the various experiences of the early Christians. This integration that was given expression in the identity and consequences as “the new people of God”, earmarks the natural connectedness of Christology and ecclesiology. This connectedness is a special feature of Eph ecclesiological Christology (H. Merklein). Everything that was experienced became interpreted in the light of the image of Jesus Christ. The complexity of this image made it even more suitable for its integrative role, and constitutes the centrum of the psychology of the Christian religion.870 For U. Schnelle, The proclamation, the life and the fate of Jesus of Nazareth form the foundation of the new world of experience and thought of the first Christians. The emergence of Christology as conceptual and narrative development of the soteriological significance of Jesus of Nazareth as Messiah, Lord and Son of God, marks the first transformation... Jesus himself becomes object of faith and content of confession.871

The emphasis of this development lies on the soteriological significance of the Christ-event. Founded on the interpretation of the death, resurrection and exaltation of Jesus as the event, the action of God “for the sake of mankind”, this core of Christology, it also brings along with it the obligation to understand reality in the light of, and to lead a life in correspondence to this understanding. Theology appreciates this development as the transfer of lordship. It is seen as begun in the powerful call to repentance, to submit to the reign of God in the 869 Cf. F. Hahn, 2002 (1), 56–73; see also U. Schnelle, 2007, 66–125. 870 Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 32–36, 40, 326ff. The integration in question refers to the four factors of religion – experience, myth, rites and ethic – that came together in the person of Jesus, in what he taught, and what is told about him in NT writings, in the celebrations of the new community that began to exist therefrom, and in the ethics that was to govern this community. 871 Cf. U. Schnelle, 2007, 145–146. Translation is mine. See also J.C. Beker, 1980, 8. Gal 2:20; Phil 3:8 are typical examples of such christological integration/determination of the life and world of the early Christians.

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kingdom of God message of Jesus. It culminated in the resurrection of Jesus, this action of God that established the Lordship of Jesus Christ with anthropological and cosmological consequences (cosmic Christology). As articulated by B. Fraling, Easter became more and more recognised as the beginning of the new creation. The powers that stood against God were fundamentally overcome; a cosmic transfer of Lordship has happened. The “principalities and powers” have completely lost their claims over human beings. The kingdom of God has established itself in the Lordship of Jesus Christ, who became Lord at the resurrection... The history of humanity has reached a new point of culmination... Soteriology is without doubt at the beginning of a new anthropology.872

The basis of this new anthropology is “being in Christ”, (this special characteristic of Pauline thought) with all its societal and ethical consequences. M. Karrer sees this as the summary of christological developments from the early Christians, through to Paul and his circle of influence. Moving from his encounter of the risen Jesus, Paul took up the traditions of the early Christians and developed them further. The various facets of these developments, as seen in Corpus Paulinum, find a unity in the formula “in Christ”. This earmarks a life determined by the encounter with Christ, not only as an individual baptised but moreso as a community of believers in Christ, as Church. This establishes, once again, the ecclesiological and ethical implications of Christology.873 Relatedly, on what may be regarded as specifically Pauline in the christological developments, amidst the sea of views in this regard, C. Dietzfelbinger argues that it is the Pauline interpretation of the title “Son of God” as applied to Jesus. This is in the light of his being sent by the father to redeem the subjects of the Law, a development he traced to Paul’s contentions with the Torah.874 Crystallizing this position, against the background of the difficulty the early church had with accounting for the scandal of the death of the messiah in its 872 Cf. B. Fraling, „Aspekte ethischer Hermeneutik in der Schrift“, in: H. Rotter, (Hg.), 1984, 15–63(46–47). Translation is mine. In connection with the soteriological significance of christological developments, G. Theißen, analysing Paul's soteriology, sees two basic symbolic structures – sociomorphic interaction symbolism and physiomorphic transformation symbolism – as fundamental in Paul's teachings on salvation. Cf. idem, „Soteriologische Symbolik in den paulischen Schriften“, cited by J.C. Beker, 1980, 256–260. 873 Cf. M. Karrer, „Christologie. I. Urchristentum.“, in: RGG4 2 (1999), 273–280. 874 Cf. C. Dietzfelbinger, „Sohn und Gesetz. Überlegungen zur paulinischen Christologie“, in: C. Breytenbach&H. Paulsen (Hg.), 1991, 111–129. Gal 4: 4–7; Rom 8:3ff are given as the pillars of this position.

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Jewish background, J.C. Beker establishes the place of Paul in the christological developments. The death and resurrection of Christ in their apocalyptic setting constitute the coherent core of Paul’s thought... He is able to focus on a consistent core within the early church’s multiple traditions... He is able to infuse the tradition with a deeper meaning than it did previously possess. Paul identifies the specific core of the gospel amid the variety of theological traditions in the early church as “Jesus Christ and him crucified” (1 Cor 2:2) and interprets this specific core in a variety of contingent situations... The death and resurrection of Christ in their soteriological significance seem to constitute the dogmatic center and the abiding, timeless truth of Paul’s thought.875

From his Theory of Primitive Christian Religion, against the backdrop of religion as an objective sign system that attempts some interpretation of the world, G. Theißen articulates this christological hub of the psychology of early Christianity as such: ...the first Christians put Jesus himself at the centre of their religious sign world: in their hymns and prayers they enthroned him at the right hand of God and thus laid the foundation... from the theocentricity of Jesus to the christocentricity of the Christians, from the Jewish charismatic Jesus to his deification...876

This deification that expresses the new christocentricism establishes the realisation of God’s cosmic-redemptive plan in Christ’s death and resurrection. The immediate basis of such transformation was the Easter experiences (1 Cor 15: 3–8, 14ff; Rom 1:4; Phil 2: 6–11; Col 1:15–20; Eph 1:20–22) articulated as the exaltation of Jesus, and summarily expressed in the confessional words “Jesus the Christ”. The remote background remains the search for ultimate meaning - salvation/soteriology - in the face of the dissonant experiences of man’s creatureliness. The height of the dissonant experiences is death, mirrored in the apparent inadequacy of already given systems, an inadequacy the contention with the Torah represented. R. Bultmann noted in this regard: ...the Church... in the light of Easter faith understands Jesus’ earthly ministry anew, a power to determine the present is also attributed to the figure of Jesus. The future ruler

875 Cf. J.C. Beker, 1980, 202–208 (207–208). R. Bultmann, noting the difficulty inherent in attempts at delineating what may be said to be specifically pre-Pauline, Pauline or contemporary to Paul in such developments, rather advocated a corroborative attention to the various strands. Cf. idem, 2007, 64ff. 876 Cf. G. Theißen, 1999, 41.

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and bringer of salvation already exercises his royal sway in a certain manner now from heaven, into which he has been exalted.877

Its (Christology) foundations lay in the dynamism that inhered in Jewish monotheism, the dynamism with which it asserted itself over surrounding polytheism, and with which it interpreted the vagaries of its history in the expectation of a messianic future. The expectation of a messianic future, this summit of the apocalyptic world view and its hope of God fulfilling his promise,878 constitutes the fulcrum of this dynamism. This monotheistic dynamic was appropriated by the early Christians and seen as fulfilled in Jesus who became Christ. It thereby constituted the christological dynamic of the early Christians (1 Cor 8:6; Eph 4: 5–6). In U. Schnelle’s articulation, The development of early Christology became accomplished in continuity with the Jewish fundamental tenets that provided the important categories for understanding: God is one; he is the creator, the Lord and sustainer of the world. These traditions of ancient Judaism made it possible to hold unto monotheism and also to characterize Jesus of Nazareth as Cristo,j, ku,rioj and ui`o.j tou/ qeou/. It was not a far-fetched process for early Christianity to effect the transference of such titles of honour that are predominantly anchored in Jewish tradition unto Jesus.879

Prominent in this process was the christological reinterpretation of Scripture, anchored on the exegetical feature of apocalyptic, a hermeneutical monopoly Paul took much advantage of.880 LXX Ps 110:1 stands out pointedly. Sharing the basic axioms of Judaism – monotheism and covenantal nomism (Deut 4:35; 6:4; Ex 6:7; Deut 7:6ff) – early Christianity evolved a christocentric re-organisation of the images, narratives and motifs of Judaism881 in the belief in a redeemer, Jesus of Nazareth. In him, this one and only true God defines himself anew, becomes manifest, and is worshipped. Through him the covenantal relationship is extended to all peoples (Gal 3:28; Rom 3:29), this special mission 877 Cf. R. Bultmann, 2007, 47. Italics by the author. 878 Cf. J.C Beker, 1980, 135–158; see also T. Olsson, op.cit, in: D. Hellbolm (ed.), 1983, 21–47. 879 Cf. U. Schnelle, 2007, 155–172 (155); S. Vollenweider, 2002, 4–27. U. Schnelle sees the frequent occurrence of these titles in Pauline letters as consciously intended to communicate Paul’s basic theological convictions. Cf. idem, „Heilsgegenwart. Christologische Hoheitstitel bei Paulus“, in: U. Schnelle&T. Söding (Hg.), 2000, 187–193. 880 Cf. W.A. Meeks, op. cit., in: D. Hellholm, 1983, 697–698. 881 Cf. G. Theißen, 1999, 13–14, 290–291. The motifs in question include creation, wisdom, miracle, alienation and redemption motifs (as aspect of the apocalyptic hope), and the motif of faith.

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of Paul. The use of the titles of honour, and their application to Jesus, communicated and enhanced this extension. This is because they were expressive of imageries plausible to the cultural sensitivities in the Mediterranean milieu. From being titles they became predicated to Jesus – Jesus Christ, Lord Jesus, Jesus the Son of God. With these titles his unique nearness to God as his anointed, his unique grandeur and superiority as exalted one, over every other claims to same, were not only established (1 Cor 15:24ff; Phil 2: 6–11; Col 1:15–20; Eph 1:20–22). They defined as well his relationship to the believers – one who must be heeded. As son of God, his close affiliation to God, whereby he shares in his power and splendour, seated at God’s right hand, is presented. They constitute some metacommunicative signs that open out general basis for the understanding of reality between the addressees and the speaker.882 The dynamics of monotheism, the major aspects of which include the overcoming of cognitive dissonance, intensification of monotheism and the competitive outdoing of other numina and their political manifestations,883 were taken up into the christological dynamic of the early Christians. In the Christ who is both God and man, the secret longing of the religions in general - salvation, the overcoming of the divine alienation (deus absconditus phenomenon) - is realized.884 In his divinity he is above all authorities and human limitations. In his humanity he shares human fate and can readily intervene in human dissonant experiences (Jn 1:14; Phil 2:6ff; Heb 4:14–15). In him God is no longer distant. He is with us Immanuel (Is 7:14; Matt 1:23; Lk 1;35; Col 2:9). This constituted the vital force of the new faith, and its power of attraction.885 It provided plausible answers and 882 Cf. U. Schnelle, 2007, 164–165; F. Hahn, 2002 (1), 167–168. See also R. Bultmann, 2007, vol.1, 48–53; C. Dietzfelbinger, in: C. Breytenbach& H. Paulsen, (Hg.), 1991, 111–129. 883 Cf. G. Theißen, 1999, 43; see also idem, 2007, 331–332. Just as the fall of Jerusalem and the defeat of the Jews by their enemies became interpreted and transfigured into Yahweh’s protem victory in preparation for the final victory, in the same way, the defeat of the cross became the victory and exaltation of the crucified in his resurrection. 884 This is in line with the understanding of religion as relationship to the deity in man's bid to comprehend his being-in-the-world status. G. Theißen refers in this regard to the function of religion as “the promise of a gain in life” in the ultimate sense of well-being, salvation. Cf. G. Theißen, 1999, 7–12. However, note is taken of the unhealthy and destructive tendencies of religion especially at the points of some extremities. 885 Cf. ibid, 43–57. U. Luz sees the NT writings (especially the Gospels) in this light as the functionalisation of the Christusmythos to the establishment of orientation

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orientations to the needs of the time, anthropological, social, cosmic etc. It became the basic religious axiom of the early Christians, and as such their central cognitive factor, a power to determine the present (R. Bultmann), and define their being and value-system. The constant challenge remained that this basic religious axiom get beyond mere community confession to being internalised, and made part and parcel of both personal and all-embracing conviction. The task remained the integration of thought and life pattern, constituting the urgency to mission that people may know and be taken into this redemptive purpose of God. In psychological terms (CBT), the confessional words “Jesus (is) the Christ”, especially from the background of its apocalyptic import, became, for the early Christians, the earlier noted generated rational response, this axiomatic factor of cognitive restructuring (Phil 1:12a; 2:5; 3:8; Gal 2:20; Rom 12: 1–2). With it they encountered the world, attended to, and would attend to dysfunctional cognitions and beliefs in their circumstance. It differentiated them from non-believers. In this “being in Christ” christological stance, with the implied transfer of lordship, the sense of divine alienation, this by-product of Jewish strict monotheism that gave rise in Judaism to the development of mediator figures, became challenged or resolved, as the case may be. This is articulated in the transfer of Lordship theology. Through this generated rational response the age-old religious interpretation and ethereal translocation of Israel’s historical circumstances and dissonant experiences (Jewish apocalypticism), reflecting, as it were, the vagaries of conditio humana especially in the demonisation of incomprehensible situations, received hermeneutical adoption and adaptation in the early Christians’ circumstances.886 Faith in Jesus the Christ, which for Paul primarily means obedience (Rom 1:5; 16:26; 2 Cor 9:13), assured and challenged to a new courage to be. As an act of obedience demanding the acknowledgment of the crucified Jesus as Lord, it demands also man’s surrender of his previous understanding of himself, the reversal of the direction of his will. It realizes itself in concrete living, in knowing what one has to do or not do, both in general and particular circumstances. It and the organisation of life. Cf. Idem, „Der frühchristliche Christusmythos. Eine Auseinandersetzung mit Gerd Theißens Verständnis der urchristlichen Religion“, in: P. Lampe & H. Schwier (Hg.), 2009, 31–50(43–45). 886 S. Vollenweider attests to this unique feature of Israel's history, how it often had to deal with debilitating experiences of crisis through the evolution of interpretative patterns, a feature argueably manifest in christological developments. Cf. idem, 2002, 110–123. The early church's understanding of itself as “the new Israel“, and its extension to include the gentiles is a typical example. Rom 9:4ff; Col 1:19–22; Eph 2:12–19 may be seen as examples of such adaptation.

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constitutes an attitude through which the human entrusts himself to the creative power of God that has been made manifest in Christ, and lives from it.887 Thus Christology constituting the existential logic of the individual believer and the community of believers, demands a realisation in the positive and concrete Christian existence. The ethical contents of this response challenged to increased personal competence, issues that are summed up and articulated not only in the Christology-Ethics of Pauline theology, but also in the NT presentations of the Kingdom of God teachings and actions of Jesus.888 The fundamental axiom that God who is greater than every threat the human experiences, and who, instead of being absent, became radically and readily present, is experienced in Jesus the Christ. This axiomatic conviction governs the thought and cognitive processes of the believer(s). It leads to a new appraisal of the reality in general, and the situation of fear in particular, and brings about changed emotions and behaviour (Mk 4:35–41parr; Rom 8:18ff; Phil 4:13; 1 Jn 4:4). The plausibility of the theory that narratives about Jesus in the NT are some form of “existential-terror-management”889 at work in the early Christians is once again called to mind. Very plausibly applicable to the passion narratives as dealing with mortality awareness and related apprehensions, especially with the view of death as absolute annihilation, it is applicable also to the issues of fear as well. This is moreso because the most fundamental source of fear remains the estrangement summarized at man’s apprehensions about his finiteness, a circumstance that is naturally reprehensible to him. With the understanding of Jesus as the Christ, exalted in his resurrection over and above mortality, such and related dissonant experiences were interpreted anew by the early Christians, and handed-down. J.C. Beker notes the development of this understanding from the eschatological interpretation of the death of Jesus in the early Church to its apocalyptic interpretation by Paul as the defeat of the apocalyptic powers,

887 Cf. R. Bultmann, 2007, vol.1, II, 314–328; C. Dietzfelbinger, op. cit., 119; G. Sellin, 2009, 83–90. The understanding of faith as obedience is founded on its nature as first and foremost a gift or grace of God. 888 Cf. F. Hahn, 2002, 92–108; U. Schnelle, 2007, 94–104; K. Backhaus, „Evangelium als Lebensraum. Christologie und Ethik bei Paulus“, in: U. Schnelle & T. Söding (Hg.), 2000, 9–31. 889 The theory was originated by the anthropologist Ernest Becker. Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 175. See also T. Vogt, 1993. For more on the understanding of the NT writings, especially the Gospels, as innovative encounter of crisis-situations see U. ­Schnelle, 2007, 335–346; W. Popkes, 1996, 64–65.

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“...those ontological powers that determine the human situation... and that comprise the ‘field’ of death, sin, the law, and the flesh“.890 The nearness of God to the human in Christ, and the community of the believers with/in Christ (the central figure of their cognitive process) challenges to new appraisal of reality in general, and the fearsome experiences in particular. It challenges to the appropriation of one’s competence. Thus the need to assuage cognitive dissonances, a psychological process that sees the postulation of contra-intuitive ideas that excelled the dissonance in question, was writ large in the developments from historical Jesus to the Christology of the post-resurrection times.891 In what one may consider a rather radical articulation of this phenomenon, R. Bultmann notes: Jesus did reckon with the irruption of the Basileia; that did not happen. The primitive Christian community reckoned with the appearance of the Son of man; this did not come to pass. The perplexity that arose therefrom became an agent for the development of Christology, as well as the reason for the return to the apocalyptic understanding of time.892

However, over and against the general hermeneutics of suspicion that often tends towards writing-off apocalyptic, J.C. Becker893 rightly appreciates it as the product of deep existential concern, a theology of martyrdom. This is especially in the light of its importance as the spring-board of Pauline interpretation of the Christ-event. The various aspects of this interpretation of Christ-event, the Christology that spills over into the Pauline pneumatology, soteriology, anthropology, ethics, ecclesiology and eschatology, have a goal. It is the participation of the believers in the Christ-event, the new creation that “being in Christ” brings about and guarantees (2 Cor 5:17; 8:9; Rom 4:25; 8:29), in other words salvation. According to S. Vollenweider, 890 Cf. idem, 1980, 189–204; see also D.G. Reid, “Principalities and Powers“, in: G.F. Hawthorne & R.P. Martin (ed.), DPL, 746–752. 891 Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 331; W. Bousset, 1967, 17–18; see also K. Erlemann, 2011, 55–67. 892 Cf. R. Bultmann, Protokoll der Tagung „Alter Marburger“ v.21.-25.10.1957, 7; cited by U. Schnelle, 2007, 146. Translation is mine. The apocalyptic understanding of time is in the sense of temporal duality: “this age“ vs. “the age to come“, a separation that sees time climaxed to its “end“/cosmic transformation. Cf. W.A. Meeks, op. cit., in: D. Hellholm (ed.), 1983, 689. See also S. Vollenweider, 2002, 105–123. Among scholars there is the increasing understanding of “apocalyptic genre“ as crisis management literature. Cf. for example D.C. Sim & P. Allen (ed.), Ancient Jewish and Christian Texts as Crisis Management Literature. (Library of New Testament Studies, 2012). 893 Cf. J.C. Beker, 1980, 18–19, 135ff; see also Sellin, G., 2009, 256ff.

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The christological perspective that determines the gospel Paul preached drives his anthropological, cosmological, pneumatological, ecclesiological, ethical and eschatological reflection. In all, Pauline Christology characterizes itself through a combination of traditional as well as original profile. It is both binding force and the spring board combined...894

The integrative power of this internal connectivity is the Pneuma – the Lord who is the Spirit (2 Cor 3:17a), the Spirit that gives life (Rom 1: 3–4; 6:4: 8: 9–11), and whose activity is freedom, freedom that is grace and salvation (Gal 5:1ff; Rom 7:6). In the strength of the generated rational response – Christology (with its “en christo - being in Christ” implications)895 –, permeating every aspect of Pauline thought, Paul establishes a new cognition, asserting victory over all hindrances, cosmic or otherwise (Rom 8:37ff; 1 Cor 15:24ff). The cosmic Christology Paul had taught, and which was further hellenised (van Kooten) and radically interpreted by the author of Col (1:15ff). It was received and further re-interpreted by the author of Eph (Cf. sections 2 and 3 of our work), a reception and interpretation that became Eph ecclesiological christology (Eph 1:10,20–23; 3:10). A.T. Lincoln maintains in this connection, that: ...Ephesians stresses Christ’s exaltation and cosmic lordship... Building on the perspective of Colossians, the writer attempts to show his readers that, as Christian believers..., they are also those who need not feel insecure, unduly threatened or powerless. Instead, he asserts, they are actors in the cosmic drama with a significant part to play.896

In its cosmic christological perspective (avnakefalaiw,sasqai ta. pa,nta evn tw/| Cristw/| Eph 1:10, 23; 4:10, 15b) Eph not only appropriates Paul’s establishment of Christ’s victory over the cosmic powers, it goes steps further. Cast in its spatial world view, Christ’s victory and lordship over the cosmic powers and the sense of 894 Cf. S. Vollenweider, ibid., 1046. Translation is mine. See also U. Schnelle, 2007, 244–245; W. Popkes, 1996, 79. At the end of his critical observations to such general views about Pauline theology, F. Hahn's insistence on the fundamental place of the soteriology that is founded on christology as constituting the hub of Pauline theology seems to be saying the same thing. Cf. F. Hahn, 2002 (1), 180ff. 895 The expression “being in Christ” is rightly understood as a continuum of Pauline theology, the recurring decimal of his thought. It is the essential expression of his ecclesiology, as well as the meeting point of the vertical and horizontal dimensions of Pauline thought. Cf. U. Schnelle, 2007, 252ff. 896 Cf. A.T. Lincoln, 1993, 96; see also 129. Emphasis is the author's. It is this exaltation which is the resurrection that ensures the inseparable connection between heaven and earth (4: 8–10).

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imprisonment they unleash are in Eph no longer an eschatological event hoped for at the end of time. It is already being witnessed in Eph realized eschatology. The being and constitution of the Church, made up of Jews and Gentiles, is a concrete demonstration. This part the Christians have to play, as part of the generated response (CBT), brings along with it the charge to a new way of life, the challenge to some personal competence as universal church, as well as individual believer. This goal of cognitive restructuring, writ large in the paraenetic motivations and traditions of Pauline writings, is also received and further thought in Eph. It is the active dimension of the Christians’ participation in Christ. It is the expression of their (his/her) new being in Christ. The reception and further development of this very intrinsic part of Pauline thought in Eph, goes on to present the central factor of cognitive restructuring – Christology – in action.

7.5.1 Paraenetic point of view: Eph paraenesis – Christian identity in ethical implications The encompassing understanding of paraenesis as including, as well as getting beyond the narrow definitions the term “ethics” delivers has been eloquently pointed out by W. Popkes. His analysis of the words in this lexical field, especially with regard to the words paraclesis and paraenesis, is very informing. The issues of their appearances or not in the Bible and other ancient texts, and issues about the preference of the one or the other in the history of research are examined. The appropriateness of the term “paraclesis”, particularly in Pauline circles on account of its frequent appearances, is without doubt demonstrated. However, the history of scholarship shows that the term “paraenesis” has become more established, despite the conclusion that the two enjoy synonymous relationship.897 Including all that gets understood under the term “moral exhortation”, paraenesis/paraclesis is an element of communication that in principle includes ethical and psychological factors. The basis of such psychological features is found in the psychological motivations that apocalypticism give expression. In its temporal duality that separates ‘this evil age’ from ‘the age to come’, and in which 897 Cf. W. Popkes, 1996, 13–48, esp. 26–28. The author refers to the seeming absence of the term „paraenesis“ in NT as „industrial accident“, traceable, among other reasons, to the semitic thought pattern that was fundamental to the NT writings. It is a thought pattern in which an adequate vocabulary for the Greek concept „paraine,w“ was not immediately available. For J. Gnilka, parakalw/ has the status of a classical word in Pauline usage. For U. Schnelle, it simple captures the substance of Pauline approach in this regard. Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 195–196; U. Schnelle, 2007, 301. See also J. Thomas, „parakale,w( para,klhsij“, in EWNT III (2011), 54–64.

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time is climaxed to its end in cosmic transformation, apocalypticism urged to righteousness, purification and cleansing. Such are, in some sense, paraenetic orientations, in preparation for the awaited transformation.898 From a general NT perspective, NT paraenesis is understood as the endeavour in early Christianity to put into life-practice the experience of salvation that was founded in, and has been made in Jesus Christ. This experience was to be brought to bear in the course of Christian socialization. As a continuum, it was to make adaptations possible in their ever-changing circumstances. Rooted on, and giving orientation from the will of God and in his actions in the Christ-event, paraenesis establishes the inner relationship between belief and daily living.899 Very often, in this regard, the term Taufparänese is regarded as terminus technicus. As inclusive of, but not exclusively devoted to ethical dictates, its contents, however, feature what are apparently instructions about conduct. As psychological, it captures both the theological reflections undergirding the adaptations of principles from the surrounding Hellenistic and Jewish backgrounds, and above all, the defining way of life it became for the Christian addressees. The central factor is the motivation factor it constitutes to action. This hallmark of the paraenetics in Pauline writings, as it were, a theological appropriation of the essence of Greek philosophy,900 is thus expressed by R. Hoppe: Paraenesis understands itself as the expression of faith in Christ and as orientation in the Church’s life processes... The paraenesis directed to the internal life of the community does not therefore claim to regulate every individual situation, all courses of life, but serves a reminder to the already established fundamental option of lifestyle... Its function is the reassurance of identity and distinction from the non-Christians.901

As a distinctive characteristic of Pauline writings, in the so-called “IndicativeImperative” relationship in his letters,902 geared towards the formation and upbuilding of the community of believers in their new identity with/in Christ, 898 Cf. J.C.H. Lebram, “The Piety of Jewish Apocalyptists“, in: D. Hellholm (ed.), 1983, 171–210. 899 Cf. W. Popkes, 1996, 9, 51; see also R. Hoppe, 2010, 139–149. 900 U. Schnelle, following the understanding of philosophy as the science of life, sees Pauline paraclesis as comparable and related to the ethical living that constituted the essence of Greek philosophy. Cf. idem, 2007, 301; see also T. Söding, 1995, 282–284. 901 Cf. R. Hoppe, 2010, 145, 249. Translation is mine. 902 The problems about the narrowness or not in the Indicative-Imperative parameters in Pauline research are noted, but are outside our focus here. A summary of the paraenetic concerns of the authentic Pauline letters is presented by W. Popkes in: idem, 1996, 73–93; U. Schnelle, 2007, 297–302. Rom and 1Thess are presented as

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paraenetic motivations spell out the consequences of their conversion, this new relationship to God in and through Jesus Christ. This spells out too the christological foundation of Pauline paraenesis, as well as its soteriological and ­ecclesiological dimensions, the foundation of which is the sw/ma Cristou/ imagery.903 In the reception of Pauline theology that Eph has been demonstrated to be, Eph ecclesiological Christology904 aligns with such fundamental christological foundation. The parakalw/ ou=n clause (4:1), introducing Eph paraenetics, provides the transition to the second part of the letter. It features a lengthy ethical exhortation, which calls on the addressees, in the light of their new vocation as being in Christ, to conduct their lives in an appropriately distinctive fashion in the church and in the world. From the very beginnings of Eph, in its Eulogy Eph 1: 3–14, an appreciation of this vocation was already featured. G. Sellin, in line with his understanding of the intention/concerns of Eph as a call to ecclesial unity, sees the paraenesis of Eph as a literary means serving the pragmatic function of this unity concern.905 However, there are an array of views with regard to what actually constitutes the boundaries and extentions of the Eph paraenetics, generally regarded as an appropriation and further reception of especially the Col paraenetic traditions (Col. 3:5–4:1). While, for instance, for R. Hoppe Eph paraenetic runs from 4:17–5:20,906 G. Sellin, observing a circular construct in Eph paraenetic, places it from 4:1 to 6:9. This construct runs thus: A: 4: 1–16 (the unity in diversity) B: 4:17–24 (the old and the new man) C: 4:25–32 (exhortations in dual catalogue) D: 5: 1–2 (Principle: Imitatio Dei after the model of Christ) C: 5:3–14 (exhortations in dual catalogue) B: 5:14–20 (the foolish, old ways of life and the spirit-filled life of the new man) A: 5:21–6:9 (the family as nucleus and image of unity)907 Despite accommodating the views that the Eph paraenetics may be extended to 6:20, Sellin

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paradigmatic. The central theme is Love – Agape as the law of freedom; its dynamic principle is the Spirit – Pneuma. Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 122–123. Cf. W. Popkes, 1996, 45–48, 125–126; see also U. Schnelle, 2007, 294–296. Cf. H. Merklein, op. cit., in: K. Kertelge (Hg.), 1981, 25–63; see also M. Gese, 1997, 263–266; section 3.5 of our work. R. Hoppe, reconciling the various positions regarding the danger of emphasizing one (christology/ecclesiology) against the other, notes the influence of the cosmic body motif in the ecclesial terms that feature in the letter. Cf. idem, 2010, 211–229. Cf. G. Sellin, 2009, 192–197. Cf. R. Hoppe, 2010, 230–250. His position is aligned to those of H. Merklein, H. Hübner, etc. Cf. G. Sellin, 2009, -192–195; see also idem, 2008, 305. Cf. idem, 2008, 299, 472ff. May we note at this point that our immediate interest here is not in the individual

insists, however, that 6:10–20 is to be considered as peroratio.908 This possibility of adjustment of these seemingly set borders of Eph paraenetics has also been taken by some scholars. H.-J. Klauck, for instance, thinking along these lines of adjustments, maintained that the second major part of Eph, “reserved for the admonitions”, runs from 4:1 – 6:20, a position taken also by J. Gnilka, R. Schnackenburg, to mention but a few.909 Yoder Neufeld would clearly state that Eph. 6:10–20 is the final in a series of exhortations beginning in 4:1. It constitutes the climax of the paraenesis of the letter,... Verses 10–20 are thus a forceful concluding summation of the burden of the oration as a whole, as well as a final call to action in the light of the impending future.910

Without meaning to underrate the value of the rhetorical categorisations of NT writings in this seeming subsumation of peroratio, it has, however, been demonstrated that such categorisations are sometimes rather paradigmatic than ‘dogmatic’.911 Such flexibility would readily apply to Eph moreso on the grounds of its unique character as a “catholic” writing. In the light of our understanding of paraenesis as being more than just specific pragmatic ethical concretions, but moreso the psychological factors inherent in motivations in general admonitions, the place and inclusion of Eph 6:10–20, (specifically vs10–17), despite its formal rhetorical categorisation as peroratio, seem established. It may not be out of place to surmise that Sellin may have tacitly admitted this view in his reference to Eph 4: 1–6:9 as the paraenetic imperative! Moreso while referring to Eph 6:10–20 as peroratio, he does not mince words noting its quality as unique ending in the combination and furtherance of the recapitulatio and amplificatio.912 The importance of insight into the motivations

908 909

910 911 912

details of these paraenetic provisions (all the Eph commentaries have undertaken that) but in their understanding as psychological motivations and orientations. Cf. Ibid, 299, 472ff; see also Chap. 6.1.1 of our work. Cf. H.-J. Klauck, 1998, 239; J. Gnilka, 1972, 314; R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 160, 272; see also K.M. Fischer, 1973, 165ff; H. Hübner, 1997, 198–199; J. Becker & U. Luz, 1998, 175–176. See also section 3.3.2 of my work. W. Popkes, calling the paraenetic strands in Col & Eph “paraenesis of the heart“, includes Eph 6:10–17 in it. Cf. idem, 1996, 93ff. Cf. T.R. Yoder Neufeld, 1997, 110–111. Ibid.; see also L. Thuren, “The General New Testament Writings”, in: S.E. Porter (ed.), 1997, 587–607. R.R. Jeal, sees an extension of the paraenesis in the peroratio. Cf. idem, 2000, 197. Cf. G. Sellin,2008, 299, 472. The strong emotional appeal peroratio is meant to call up is seen as effected by the Eph author's use of Pauline peroratio style tou /(to.)

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in order to achieve a desired goal in actions is underlined by J. Gnilka when he notes that words of advice, of encouragement are more meaningful and effective if the addressees are given insight into the motivations of the actions required of them.913 Similarly, L. Thuren believes that, “The major task of a paraenetic text is motivation: to step-up the proper mindset of the addressees, to anchor it in their convictions... This leads in-turn to the desired conduct.”914 The pursuit of this task of motivation915 sees the author of Eph adopt a strategy of persuasion, an ethos of communication through the construction of a symbolic universe familiar to his audience. This construct, featuring, among others, the elements of Eph background world view (cosmic-apocalyptic terms), is set within the reminder of their vocation, their Christian status (4:1b). Capitalizing on this identity/status he beseeches them to live up to it. It is the responsibility that would correspond to their salvific status and the goal of oneness/unity of the church.916 Such motivation is meant to go on shaping both their perception of themselves and their role in world as well as their value-system. Having established the theological foundations of the concerns of the writing in the first part of the letter (Eph 1–3), Eph author gets down to the motivations to Christian existence in the world and in the church. These motivations, expressed initially in terms of values to be taken up, virtues to be cultivated – humility, gentleness and patience –, are

913 914 915

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loipou/ (loipo,n). Eph 6:10; 1 Thess 4:1;2 Cor 13:11; Gal 6:17; Phil 3:1; 4:8. J. Muddiman prefers an understanding of this section of Eph as allegorical paraenesis than as peroratio. Cf. idem, 1999, 282. Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 196. T. Söding notes this strategy of appealing to the insights of his audience so as to motivate to positive actions from conviction as characteristic of Pauline paraenesis. Cf. idem, 1995, 273. Cf. L. Thuren, Argument and Theology in 1 Peter. The Origins of Christian Paraenesis (1995), cited by W. Popkes, 1996, 48. See also J. Gnilka, 1971, 196; R.R. Jeal, 2000, 204. On the concept „Motivation“ in psychology as a collective term encompassing insight, capacity of abstraction, that activate orientation, as well as the various processes in the conduct of life, their interdependence and mutual influence, see E. Rheinberg, 1995, 12–14. J. Gnilka talks of the seven unity formula Einheitsformel and their historical background as well as theological necessity – the one God who is in and over all, and the anchor of the church's identity. Cf. idem, 1971, 200–204. R. Schnackenburg also notes the prominence given to „motivation“ (through these formulars) rather than imperatives at this very beginning of Eph paraenesis, and its importance in subsequent developments. Cf. idem, 1982, 162, 170–171.

all wrapped-up in the call to bear with one another in love evn avga,ph| (4: 1–2), to walk/live/conduct oneself in love peripatei/te evn avga,ph| (5:2).917 By centralizing the motivations in love, the author of Eph shows himself faithful to Pauline (and general NT) tradition in which the Law of Love avga,ph is the new interpretation of the Torah and of God’s revelation of himself in the Christevent. It constitutes as well the fundamental disposition and central orientation of believers (Matt 5–7; 22:34–40 parr; Jn 3:16; 13:1ff; 1 Cor 13:1ff; Phil 2: 1–4; Gal 5:14ff; Rom 12:1ff; Col 3:14 etc.).918 The prominence and centrality of love as motivation and orientation in Eph919 sets out from its protology (1:5). It runs through to its invitation to the addressees to express this love in good works as a participation in the salvific action of God (2:10), and as a demonstration of their being beloved children of God, after, and in the example of Christ (5: 1–2). This christologically rooted love motif, functioning as the fundamental principle of the various individual concrete ethical injunctions, constitutes the internal bond of Eph, and gets rounded-off in the imperative injunction evndunamou/sqe evn kuri,w| (6:10) and its subsequent illustrations (6:14–17). The passive tense of the imperative injunction – be (become) strengthened/ empowered (in the sense of “assume the strength“) – is noteworthy. It serves both semantic and psychological purposes. While charging to active human efforts, it indicates that this strength is not being presumed to be ascribeable to mere human efforts (2 Cor 4:7). The Lord is the source of this strength. It has been uniquely made manifest and given in the Christ-event.920 Moreso, its plural form (2nd person) is also important. It addresses the whole church, not particular individuals! Thus it aligns with 3:10 in the assignment given to the church to proclaim the multiple wisdom of God. Borrowing the above noted circular construction of Eph paraenetic (G. Sellin above), therefore, we may observe a concluding return in 6:14–17 to the motivations about the cultivation of virtues.921 They constitute

917 peripatei/nis identified as the summarizing articulation of Pauline ethical concerns. Its translation is correspondent to Hebrew halach. Cf J. Gnilka, 1980, 116–117. 918 A detailed discussion of the place of NT agape tradition, especially the Pauline dimension, is presented by T. Söding, Das Liebesgebot bei Paulus, 1995. He refers to the Law of Love as the central element of Pauline ethics (272). 919 It is argued that in no other Pauline writing of similar length is agape so frequently evidenced as in Eph. Cf. U. Schnelle, 2007, 528. 920 Cf. M. Barth, 1974 (II), 760–761. A participation of this trend of thought in the biblical divine warfare/warrior tradition is adduced. Cf. T.R. Yoder Neufeld, 1997. 921 We may borrow the terms „Virtue ethics“/„Einsichtsethik“ as articulating this motivation. Encompassing our entire lives, and being about setting personal and social

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dispositions to ethical actions in the language and understanding of the precarious circumstances within which the Christian existence has to be realized.922 The plausibility of our endeavour at psychological hermeneutics gets reflected here. Christology as the generated rational response in the bid to cognitive restructuring articulates and reflects the being in Christ of the believer as the disposition with, and from which the world is perceived and related to. In a related appreciation, R. Schnackenburg notes the enriching transposition of motivations employed by the Eph author in his paraclesis. This is directly effected through the christological motif articulated with the “evn kuri,w|” phrase.923 Yoder Neufeld notes the causal/instrumental character of evn here. „In Christ“ as the Pauline expression of the „mystical“ participation in the Christ-event is formulized and instrumentalised by Eph author. In this instrumentalisation space is enlivened and made eschatological.924 This enriching motif, an example of the effect of which is presented in its application to the commandment about parental obedience (6:1), is the extension of the underlining reign of Christ in the love of his that founds the paraenetic motivations (4:1;17; 5:8,19ff). Parents are no longer to be obeyed just for the “mundane” reason of the promise of long life and well-being. The “evn kuri,w|” is a much more appreciable motivation to parental obedience. The call to get strengthened in the Lord evndunamou/sqe evn kuri,w|, in the power of his strength, is the charge to appropriate this strength, to perceive oneself imbued with, and encompassed by it. It becomes then the motivation to competent action based on this source. The imperative induces to the christological response that is about the perception of, and relationship to the world and circumstances on the basis of the being in Christ existential status. Taking strength in the Lord is a prerequisite, a prerequisite which boils down to grace. This grace has already been given/received in Christ (Eph 1:3b, 6–9). Grace, however, requires human cooperation, hence the presented paraenesis as a necessary response to the grace given/received. It is in this understanding of paraenesis in the setting of the socalled Eph “spirit world” that the issues of its “exorcism” arise.

goals that we encourage ourselves to seek, in accordance with the type of people we should be, virtue ethics is said to be heuristic and teleological. Cf. D.J. Harrington & J.F. Keenan, 2010; U. Schnelle, 2007, 302; see also T. Söding, 1995, 273. 922 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 303–304; J. Becker & U. Luz, 1998, 177. 923 Cf. R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 265ff. 924 Cf. T.R. Yoder Neufeld, 1997, 114.

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7.5.2 The “Exorcism” of Eph925 - The fight in the armour of God (Eph 6:10–17) Exorcism926 is generally understood as embracing the ritual or act of driving out or warding- off evil and destructive spirits (demons) from persons, ­places, or things that are believed to be possessed or infested by them. Having as pre-requisite the belief in spirits and demons, a belief that is found among all cultures, but with different perceptual intensities, the practices of exorcism goes back to histories of all peoples and religions. Its foundation lies in man’s bid to come to some terms with his various experiences of evil, against the backdrop of the presuppositions of a dualistic world view. It is also reckoned by A. von Harnack to have immensely contributed to the successes of the early Christians in their missionary endeavours.927 The synoptics make vehement case of this exercise as being a major defining factor in the ministry of Jesus,928 and subsequently, those of his disciples (Mk 3:15; 6:6ff parr). T. Söding sees Lk 11:20 as the bottom-line in this setting. Observing that it is cast in the prophetic-charisma motif and in the context of the Basileia-proclamation, it marks out Jesus’ prophetic vocation. With the “finger of God” motif, the pericope places Jesus in the ranks of Moses 925 C.E. Arnold had written an interesting article with a similar caption, though with a clearly different goal. Cf. idem, “The 'Exorcism' of Ephesians 6:12 in recent Research: A critique of Wesley Carr's View of the Role of Evil Powers in First Century AD Belief “, in: JSNT 30 (1987) 71–87. 926 A detailed examination of this phenomenon, especially regarding the contentions for or against, is considered not directly within the scope of this work. However, fundamental references include: K. Thraede, „Exorzismus“, in: RAC 7 (1969), 44–117; O. Böcher, „Exorzismus I. Neues Testament“, in: TRE 10 (1993), 747–750. Informing also are other aspects of the same article: II. Liturgiegeschichtlich; III. PraktischTheologisch (750–756). See also J. Schneider, „evxorki,zw( evxorkisth,j“ in: ThWNT 5 (1954), 465ff. G. Parrinder, “Exorcism“, in: ERE 3 (2005), 225–233; see also R.H. Bell, 2007; A. Witmer, Jesus, the Galilean Exorcist. His Exorcism in Social and Political Contexts, 2012. JBTh 26 (2011) presents interesting articles in this regard. 927 Cf. A. von Harnack, Die Mission und Ausbreitung des Christentums in den ersten drei Jahrhunderten,1915, p. 141, cited by H. van der Loos, 1965, 356. 928 Exemplified in Mark’s gospel, the understanding of Jesus of Nazareth as a miracle worker through his ability to cast out demons, is presented a very special feature of his ministry. As a very important element of Markan Christology, the theological aims of Mark is to be borne in mind though – establishing Jesus as the Son of God (Mk 1:1). Little wonder the stories of Jesus having power over, and casting out demons begin the gospel (Mk 1:25, 34, 39), run through it (Mk 3:22; 5: 1–20; 7:26, 29; 9:38), and allusively round it off (Mk 16:9).

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and Aaron through whom God worked the wonder of the liberation of Israel. Admitting, however, the difficulty in determining with certainty whether the statement was apologetic, as the synoptic context suggest, or explicative, he underlines the influence of the Hellenistic-Palestinian cultural settings behind such understanding.929 In many related Christian settings, Eph, on account of its replete spirit-world lexical fields (Eph 1:21; 2:2; 3:10; 4:27; 6:10–17), has often been interpreted in this light. It has often been given a prominent place in this regard, and instrumentalised as advocating exorcism. Within such circles Eph 6:10–17, with its militant language and spirit-world parole, has often been made paradigmatic despite the very manifest absence of any element of conjuration or incantation (abracadabra!) in those verses. When because of the replete spirit world parole (despite the absence of any element of conjuration) most translations render this passage as “spiritual warfare”, the traditional understanding of exorcism (above) seems readily pre-programmed. The nuance made by G. Theißen in his understanding of exorcism as Kampfgeschehen, Kampfhandlungen in the sense of collision course, displays an interesting development. Understanding the popular phenomenon of “possession” as dissociative disorder, a typical characteristic of traumatic experiences that manifests as loss of the control of self, he notes that the affected interprets the experience as being driven by a strange force. Exorcisms as collision courses Kampfhandlungen purpose driving out a strange power that has occupied the self-centre of the affected in order to restore the lost control. Quickly observing that such phenomenon is a feature of cultures that lack scientific medical systems, he insists on medical attention to such ailments.930 For him, “Theologians, who ‘flirt’ with the 929 Cf. T. Söding, „Wenn ich mit dem Finger Gottes die Dämonen austreibe…“ (Lk 11:20). Die Exorzismen im Rahmen der Basileia-Verkündigung Jesu”, in: A. Lange, (Hg.), 2003, 519–549. Relatedly, G. Theißen makes a uniquely important contribution in this light in the context of the long drawn debate in NT biblical scholarship over the veracity or not of the stories of exorcism in the synoptic traditions. Admitting that many of the stories show evidences of mix-up with the typical motifs of the popular miracle narration models of the time, he establishes that what should matter are properly evidenced specific characteristics of the healing activities and exorcism of Jesus, not the historicity of every narration. Cf. idem, 2007, 240–241. 930 This position is but a reiteration of an official position of the Catholic Church as contained in a 1985 writing by the Congregation for the Faith to the Bishops on directives on the pastoral use of the Big Exorcism. The Congregation insists as prerequisite to exorcism, the exploitation of all medical and psychological possibilities to this regard. If the concerned or relations refuse medical attention, no exorcism

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occult and liturgically conjure the devil as if it were an objective reality comparable to God, are acting irresponsibly.”931 The isolated understanding of Eph 6:18a “pray in the Spirit at all times...”932 is readily pounced upon as a-beyond-reasonable-doubt justification of this instrumentalisation. Such understanding that is readily made the confirmed foundation of the “prayer warrior phenomenon” and the proliferation of self-appointed exorcists that arrogate the ministry of exorcism unto themselves, demonizing everything, often to enhance patronage, exhibits basic errors. The paraenetic setting of, and challenge in the passage are often blanked out. However, an integral understanding of vs 18–20 (paralleled to Col 4: 2–4), in which the notions of vigilance and persistence, particular and general intercessory requests (for “Paul”, for the entire Christians) must be noted, showcases the general understanding of prayer in all its aspects. It is the very breath of Christian existence as witness to the Goodnews (1 Cor 13:1ff). In the light of our understanding of the passage should be undertaken. An already begun medical attention must not be interrupted. It warns against test-exorcism. Cf. S. Lorger-Rauwolf, „Umgang mit dem Bösen”, in: http://www.weltanschuungsfragen.at/news/article/2005/12/22/a2419, downloaded on 27.11.2013. 931 Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 243; see also K. Rahner, „Besessenheit und Exorzismus”, in: Stimmen der Zeit194 (1976), 721–722. Establishing the socio-cultural circumstances that lead to such deep traumaticmanifestation (241–243), G. Theißen collaborates the findings of interdisciplinary studies on these phenomena. (Cf. for e.g., B. Grom, 1992, 117–132, 284–337). U. Niemann, a Jesuit psychotherapist sounded the same note, having established that what is popularly regarded as demonic possessions are psychosomatic symptoms of the dissociative ailments exhibited by people who are filled with fear/anxiety, and are tormented by such. Cf. idem, „Exorzismus oder/und Therapie? Psychiatrische und seelsorgliche Hilfen für von Dämon ‚besessene‘ Menschen“,in: Stimmen der Zeit 217 (1999), 781–784; idem, „Befreiung vom ­Bösen? Für einen zeitgemäßen Umgang mit ‚Besessenheit‘“, in: Stimmen der Zeit 223 (2005), 274–278. Most importantly, the article contains the 11-point Communique of an Interdisciplinary Congress on „Das Böse und die Befreiung vom Bösen” (Evil and Liberation from Evil) held in St Georgen Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule, Frankfurt, 2005. More to these in chapter 8 of our work. 932 “Persistence in prayer“ as a fundamental feature of early Christian thought and praxis (1 Thess 1:2; 5:17; 1 Cor 1:4; Phil 1:4; Col 4:2; Eph 5:20; Mk 13;37ff par; Lk 18:1; 21:36; 1Pet 4:7; 5:8; etc.) need not be over-emphasized. Its pneumatological foundation is presented in Rom 8, especially vs 15, 26b-27. H. Hübner, emphasizing the immense theological importance of this pneumatological dimension, sees this Eph articulation as supplying a supposed „pneumatic deficit“ in the Col presentation. Cf. idem, 1997, 270.

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(Eph 6:10–17) as the high-point of Eph paraenetics (despite its location in Eph peroratio), and in the light of our psycho-hermeneutical investigation we intend to question the plausibility of such understanding, hoping to call attention to the paraenetic demands of this passage. In line with its symbolic world construct familiar to its audience and through which it communicates, Eph expresses the sense of the utmost seriousness and urgency of its paraenetic motivations. This is cast in the tradition-steeped imagery of divine warfare and military metaphoric, demonstrating Eph author’s efficient use of the metaphoric in pursuit of the fortification of Christian identity awareness and orientation. True to its deutero-Pauline character, Eph use of this imagery may be understood as a unique attempt at dealing with the problems related to the Parusieverzögerung. It attempts keeping abreast with the sense of urgency that characterised Pauline message and paraenetics in the line with his eschatological perspectives. M. Shkul, in his interpretation of Eph from the point of view of social entrepreneurship, appreciates the language of Eph 6:10–20 as involving a discursive manoeuvring of a number of metaphors intended at reinforcing the communal values, the core elements of the social ideology of the addressees.933 Attention had been called to the paraenetic demands of apocalypticism. (cf. Section 3 - 6.3.1a of our work). Eph as deutero-Pauline letter shares in its unique way in Pauline apocalypticism. This is both in similarity of terms with Paul, and in the extensions and realizations the author allows himself. Eph features an interplay of words and imageries, drawing the recipients into the visually familiar while re-orientating towards the appropriation of the social reality in the making. In the Eph 6:10ff pericope, the doubled charge evndu,sasqe “put on” and avnala,bete “grasp” the armour of God th.n panopli,an tou/ qeou/ (vv11,13), buttressing the imperative injunction evndunamou/sqe evn kuri,w|,934 illustrate both the strength in question and the determination that it be put in use. Our paraenetic understanding of the “exorcism” of Eph would proceed from the examination of th.n panopli,an tou/ qeou mentioned in vv 11,13, and illustrated in vv 14–17. It will discuss the notion of our fight h`mi/n h` pa,lhv 12a, before getting to the catalogue of opponents to be fought v 12b, this zenith of Eph “spirit world” articulations. 933 Cf. M. Shkul, 2009, 11–44, 211–215; see also J. Muddiman, 1999, 282, 294. 934 A relationship is seen between the instruction to “put on“ here in 6:11 and the injunctions to remove the old man and put on the new man in 4:22–24 (Rom 13:14a; Gal 3:27). Interestingly, justice, holiness of truth –th/j avlhqei,aj (kai.avlhqei,aj in some versions) count also as virtues of the new creation. See also the evndu,sasqe in Col 3:12 and its illustration with virtues.

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7.5.2.1  th.n panopli,an tou/ qeou - The Panoply (Armour) of God The divine warfare/warrior tradition, the various strands of which are scattered here and there in the Bible (Ex 14:13–14; 15:3; 1 Sam 18:17; 25:28; Num 21:14; Is 11; 34; 42; 52; 63; Ez 21; 38; Hab 3; Ps 7; 13; 91; etc.), is seen to have influenced this Eph presentation. The origin of the thoughts that received such literary expression in mythologies is found in the „holy war“ views, featuring imageries in which gods go to war for their concerns and for the concerns of peoples under their patronage. It is within this view that the appellation “Yahweh, God of hosts” emerged. A. Oepke believes that the weapons perceived to be at the disposal of the gods had always to do with the meteorological givens of the people in question. Man-made arsenals, imagined in exaggerated forms, also get associated with the gods. It became completely ethicised among the Persians.935 Yoder ­Neufeld’s study of this tradition, argues that the various strands and innuendos of this tradition are collated in Is 59, which he referred to as sermonic poem. This was subsequently creatively modified and received in Wis 5, the most likely version that influenced its Pauline reception in 1 Thess 5:8, and further subsequent reception in Eph 6:10–17.936 It is important to note that at the very beginnings of Is 59, the issues at stake are the general characterisations of socio-ethical disintegration, vices, the reprimand of which had been the hallmark of prophetic vocations. The mythological language and the metaphors of their expression would not disillusion. The insertion of the divine warrior tradition in this pericope stands in the tradition of God as saviour of his people, as one who intervenes to redeem. Neufeld rightly observes with regard to the armour with which the divine warrior is equipped for his intervention, that what constitutes the elements of Yahweh’s armour, before they are experienced as such, ... are encountered as personifications of Yahweh’s initiatives toward his covenant people, as Yahweh’s messengers or surrogates. They are participants... in the social dynamics that are the subject of prophetic critique..., it is the intention of the author to relate the intervention of Yahweh to the exercise of justice and righteousness in human relationships.937

935 Cf. A. Oepke, „panopli,a“, in: ThWNT 5 (1954), 295–297; L.E. Toombs, “Wars, ideas of “, in: The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, (1962), vol.4, 796–801. 936 Cf. T.R. Yoder Neufeld, 1997, 11. 937 Cf. ibid., 30–32. See also K.M. Fischer, 1973, 166–167; M. Barth, 1974 II, 787ff. The emphasis on “social dynamics“ and “exercise“ is ours, serving to buttress the nature

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An important note sounded earlier by Neufeld in this regard is that the Is 59 version of the divine warrior/warfare tradition constituted a new landmark in the direction of apocalyptic. This is because of its cosmic and mythological use of the popular imagery that distanced it from concrete historical experience of the people and transposed it into the eschatological realm, a trend identified as continued in the Wisdom version of the divine warrior/warfare tradition. The Qumran versions of this tradition feature some radical interpretation of the apocalyptic developments.938 According to L.E. Toombs, the apocalyptic ideas of war feature the understanding that the present world order was under the control of the demonic powers who are steering it to its destruction. It signals the imminent end of this order, an end that will usher in an era of peace after a final great holy war.939 Constituting a major influence to subsequent generations in the sharpening of the existent dualism, the Qumran texts not only referred to an actual combat at “the end of time”, they propagated the active involvement of the faithful/people of God (as sons of light) in the eschatological battle between Good and Evil (Belial and the sons of darkness). In the emergent apocalypticism, the hypostatisation/personification of virtues or communal values (Ps 85:10) flourished. In the crisis or lawless circumstances that have made upholding these virtues impossible, they are painted in mythological colours depicting Yahweh’s response to redress the situation. Such mythological colouration in the fearsome images of cosmogonic warfare was meant to illustrate the enormity of the desolation as well as communicate the intense aspiration for redress. Above all, it marked a tacit appreciation of the sheer inadequacy of mere human efforts at effecting such redress. Further on the reappropriation of Is 59 in Wis 5 against the background of the special role of LXX in this regard, where „the mythological elements are generally muted in favor of abstraction and metaphor“, Neufeld observes that the intention of the authors at such transposition was to awaken to repentance and prod to knowledge.940

of the issues in question as values. Other personified values/attributes include truth, fidelity, uprightness, light, darkness etc. See also M. Shkul, 2009. 938 Cf. T.R. Yoder Neufeld, 1997, 16–17, 66–67; K.M. Fischer, 1973, 167–169. Though Fischer presents interesting Qumran texts that parallel the Eph presentation, he rejects a direct relationship between them. See also K.G. Kuhn, in: ThWNT 5 (1954), 297–300. 939 Cf. L.E. Toombs, “Wars, ideas of “, in The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, (1962), vol.4, 796–801. See also W.A. Meeks, op. cit., in: D. Hellholm, (ed.), 1983, 689. 940 Cf. T.R. Yoder Neufeld, 44, 73–89.

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Such intention corresponds to the very singular intention of Pauline apostolate – preaching the Good News of salvation in Christ and prompting to live consequence of this belief with utmost sense of urgency. This fundamental intention then undergirds Pauline appropriation of this tradition in the paraenetic pericope of 1 Thess 5: 1–11, especially vs 8, and then its subsequent modifications in Eph 6:10ff. Fundamentally ingenious in Paul’s appropriation of this divine warrior/warfare motif in 1 Thess 5:8, is its reinterpretation in the triad of cardinal virtues – faith, love and hope (1 Cor 13:13a). Faith and love constitute the breastplate, with the hope of salvation as helmet. The continued exercise of these virtues by believers and their influence in their lives, as Paul urged the believers, mark their participation in the divine warfare drama. The motivation towards this continuity had already been made in the captatio benevolentiae of the letter’s exordium: “...constantly remembering... your work of faith, and labour of love, and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Thess 1:3) This divine armour is both status and responsibility. Its tone of urgency is expressed by the context of expectancy and the call to sobriety. This position underlies our understanding of the Eph th.n panopli,an tou/ qeou/941 in their individual illustrations from v 14–17: “perizwsa,menoi th.n ovsfu.n u`mw/n evn avlhqei,a| - girded around your waist with/in truth, evndusa,menoi to.n qw,raka th/j dikaiosu,nhj - clothed with the breastplate of righteousness, u`podhsa,menoi tou.j po,daj evn e`toimasi,a| tou/ euvaggeli,ou th/j eivrh,nhj - readiness for the gospel of peace tied as shoes to the feet, to.n qureo.n th/j pi,stewj - the shield of faith, th.n perikefalai,an tou/ swthri,ou - the helmet of salvation, th.n ma,cairan tou/ pneu,matoj( o[ evstin r`h/ma qeou/ - the Word of God as the sword of the Spirit”. A. von Harnack appreciates the fact of the imposing military paraphernalia Eph presents, and their association with the gospel of peace as “lofty paradox”. An additional paradox would feature in the notion of “fight” contained in this Eph pericope. Such association, getting beside the expectation of the use of such arsenal in bloody combat, as would be typical of soldiers in such armour, points out the figurative import. A. Oepke directly calls it an allegory which, despite the sense of etherealisation with which it is delivered, should not be understood in the sense of superstitious accursedness. “Its intention is rather to

941 Cf. A. Oepke, „panopli,a“, in: ThWNT 5 (1954), 295–297, 300–315; H. Balz, „panopli,a“, in: EWNT III (2011) 22–23. The various explanations of the panoply in their individual details is a major part of most, if not, all the commentaries on Eph. See for instance J. Gnilka, 1971, 309–313; R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 283–287; M. Barth, 1974 (II), 766–777, 793–800; T.R. Yoder Neufeld 1997, 131–145.

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encourage the faithful to resist the onslaught of temptation and the disaster that accompanies it when it succeeds in its work.”942 In this light, J. Gnilka, noting other strands of Pauline reception of this tradition (Rom 6:13; 13:12; 2 Cor 6:7; highlights 2 Cor 10:4 (ta. ga.r o[pla th/j stratei,aj h`mw/n ouv sarkika. avlla. dunata. tw/| qew/| - the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh [human/earthly] but powerful in/through God”) as major influence to the Eph presentation. He noted that these military metaphors point out the threatened situation of the Christian as well as the necessity to go against such dangers. Most importantly, according to him, “The mythical idea of the armour of God, and the thoughts about the devout as the militant of his God are so related to each other in their religious history that the latter presents a moralising stint moralisierende Einengung of the former.”943 Pauline paraenetics, however, contains, but also gets beyond such mere moralising narrowness in the sense of mere ethical dictates. This is on the grounds of the theological footage, and the orientation of his paraenetic recommendations. Such strands of his reception of divine warfare tradition are also seen taken-up in Col, already noted as Vorlage to the Eph paraenetics. This comes to the fore, for instance, in the shared use of evndu,sasqe (Col 3:12; Eph 6:11,13), with the difference being that in Eph it is emphatically militarised. As it was, then, the Eph pericope represents a unique hermeneutical use of the various versions of the divine warrior/warfare tradition. It is plausible to assert the author’s awareness of the various receptions and modifications of this popular tradition. This must have encouraged the emergence of his version in line with his realized eschatology perspectives. It involves dialectic. This plays out in the approach to, and distance from the background mythological and apocalyptic traditions, through which he worked out the orientation to the recipients’ present circumstance.

942 Cf. A. Oepke, op. cit., 301. Translation is mine. J. Muddiman suggests the contents of these temptations in his analysis of meqodei,aj as including: threats to the breaking down of the unity between Jews and Gentiles in the church, potential political threats from the Roman state, moral decadence and corruption in the sense of lies, temptations of sex, alcohol, and violence. Cf. idem, 2001, 288. 943 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 305. Translation is mine. See also R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 287. A. Oepke's analysis of „o[pla“ in NT as figurative description of Paul as Militia Christi in appreciation of his labours in the mission, as well as in reference to the striving to ethical probity, shares similar understanding. Cf. idem, „o[pla“, in: ThWNT 5 (1954), 292–294.

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The elements of armour presented in the Eph panopli,an tou/ qeou/, therefore, stand to be evaluated in the light of their metaphorical and symbolic force as reappropriations of similar scriptural motifs. The gain of the imagery is the central point it helps to communicate, i.e., that the armour is godly, “powerful through/ in God”. The major interest is the hinted function they would serve. In the consciousness of their empowerment through/in God, what evndunamou/sqe evn kuri,w| spells out, there should be no limits to their possibilities in this contest. Against the backdrop of the Isaianic motifs as personifications of the virtues of social dynamics (Neufeld), the Eph panoply consisting of avlh,qeia, dikaiosu,nh, e`toimasi,a, eivrh,nh( pi,stij, swth,ria, pneu/ma, r`h/ma, constitute metaphorical reference to the objective values and virtues, the reality and the exercise of which are indispensable for the testimony to the salvation wrought by Christ. Though rightly arguing that this list of metaphorical weapons are more than a catalogue of virtues, M. Barth notes, however, that their appearance in this catalogue form denotes a social relationship. Terms such as ‘truth’, ‘righteousness’, ‘steadfastness’, ‘faith’, ‘peace’, ‘salvation’, ‘the Spirit’, and ‘the word of God’, occur when the ground and the effect of God’s attitude and action is described in relation to the people with whom he has made a covenant. All these terms denote a social relationship, i.e. the covenant which is at the same time personal, political, saving, and ethical... God’s covenant called for reciprocation...: the response of man manifested by an attitude taken and acts done in the ‘service of righteousness...’944

If there is any covenant, it is the new covenant in the blood of Christ (1 Cor 11:25; Mk 14:24parr). Its call for reciprocation is obvious. It is the reciprocation of witnessing to the Good News of salvation in the striving against the ways of the world that it involves. In this light Oepke’s total exclusion of trustworthiness and personal sincerity from the understanding of avlh,qeia in this circumstance proves unacceptable.945 Not only the paraenetic setting but also the concrete injunctions in Eph 4:25; 5:9 for instance, illustrate this. True, as he argued, that the divine reality that has now revealed itself in the Good News (Christ himself) is the objective truth within which the believers live, his recommendation that the believers make active use of the Good News as the objective truth cannot exclude such practical orientations.

944 Cf. M. Barth, 1974 (II), 796–797. 945 Cf. A. Oepke, op. cit., 307. J. Gnilka clearly understands avlh,qeia in its combination here with dikaiosu,nh as Treue und Rechtschaffenheit– faithfulness and probity, boiling down to proper/fair action. Cf. idem, 1971, 310. See also H. Hübner, 1997, 264–265. G. Sellin calls them “virtues of objectivity“. Cf. idem, 2009, 481.

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Just as the pair of virtues – truth and righteousness/integrity – constituted the unrelentingly consistent characteristic of the noble ways of the messianic King in the Isaianic motif, in the same way should it characterize the being and action of the believers as children of light (Eph 5:9). This becomes the foundation of the recommendation to put away falsehood, and speak the truth to their neighbours (4:25). It would not be much of a surprise that what is said of the Messiah (Is 11:5) is now made an assignment for the believers. It is a logical consequence of the believers’ being in Christ, this status that is also responsibility. Where truth and justice constitute the unrelenting way of life, (what e`toimasi,a “readiness/ preparedness” in relation to Ex 12:11 may also include), the reign of peace is assured (Ps 85:10ff). It is the peace that Christ himself is (Eph 2:14), the peace that is more than mere absence of war and the balance of power between opposing forces (GS, 78). The Isaianic background of the Eph presentation in the use of the terms feet, peace, and goodnews (Is 52:7 – Eph 6:15) captures the charge to constant and active commitment in witnessing to the peace the Good News brings. In the Eph context, this peace is already being experienced in the ecclesia as the one new being made up of Jews and Gentiles in Christ (Eph 2:13–22). The author of Eph enjoins its maintenance. The maintenance of this bond of peace in the unity of the Spirit, calls to mind the charge to humility, gentleness, patience and bearing with one another in love (Eph 4: 2–3). By remaining what it is, the ecclesia is the manifest sign and place of abolished hostilities, as well as the reign of peace through Christ. As such it accomplishes her given task of letting ai` avrcai. kai. ai` evxousi,ai evn toi/j evpourani,oij, these agents of disorder, know the manifold richness of the wisdom of God (Eph 3:10). This is her assignment. The gospel of peace, later referred to as the Word of God r`h/ma qeou/946 in the metaphor of the sword of the Spirit (6:17), is her instrument. This expression that stands in the biblical tradition (Gen 1:3a; Is 11:4; 49:2; Ez 21; Rom 1:16; Heb 4:12; Rev 1:16; etc.). It is reinterpreted in the paradox of the violence of peace, capturing the creative power of God’s word with which Chaos was overcome, and through which creation continues to be renewed. This is both in the sense of the Word of God as word (proclamation) and deed. As such, it is the church’s very existence and the believers’ way of life.

946 The relationship between lo,goj and r`h/ma as depicting action „wirkende Handlung“ is noted. G. Sellin, however, noting that the concept lo,goj as personified is a development in the later NT writings, highlights r`h/ma as the creative word of God that makes itself existent and real (Lk 3:2; Heb 1:3; 11:3), an understanding from which it became related to logos in Jn 1:1. Cf. idem, 2009, 483–484.

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Faith as most outstanding instrument is set in the imagery of shield qureo,j (vs 16). Its absolute importance, demonstrated by the function of shield in the battle field – protecting the combatant from the darts, arrows of the enemy – is underlined by the introduction evn pa/sin – “in all” in the sense of “above all”. This absolute importance plays out in the fact of faith as the revelation that enlightens the eyes of the heart, the acceptance of the Word of Truth, the Gospel of salvation that is the Christ-event. It is allowing oneself be enmeshed in the communion (community) with the Lord (1:15; Ps 91), in the power and action of God in Christ, demonstrated in his resurrection and exultation above all rule and authority, power and dominion and every other name that may be named, not only now but in eternity (Eph 1:13–21). Accepting this gift of salvation (Eph 1:3ff; 2:5,8) enables the being in Christ and membership of the body of Christ, the ecclesia. On the strength of this participation, the believers are called upon to take up the responsibility of living the life worthy of their call (4:1ff), as witnesses to the action of God in Christ. The enormity of the challenge the world poses to the realisation of true Christian living is depicted in the imagery of flaming/fiery arrows of the evil one (6:16; Ps 91:5). However, the imagery in which the shield does more than its usual function – it not only defends against the arrows but quenches their flames – does not undo, but rather emphasizes the reality of the challenge to active engagement already communicated with the injunction sth/nai – resist (6:11,13,14; 1 Pet 5:9). It rather strengthens the confidence in the source of this empowerment – God. In the setting of the faith-good work relationship, the importance of faith as the source and basis of Christian firmness against temptations and in good works marks its major difference from mere humanism or philanthropism. The resistance that is adjured implies undertaking countering the works of evil through doing good. The self-discipline mirrored in the image of the soldier amplifies the imagery. In this way it may be likened to di,wke de. dikaiosu,nhn euvse,beian pi,stin( avga,phn u`pomonh.n prau?paqi,an (go after justice, godliness, faith, love, endurance, gentleness 1 Tim 6:11), all in the setting of the encouragement to the fight of faith. With the helmet of salvation on the head, and the sword of the Spirit in the hand (6:17), enjoined to be taken up – de,xasqe -, the panoply is complete; the soldiers are fully equipped. One appreciates the influence of Is 59:17,21, 1 Thess 5:8. Its nearness to Ez 21 is particularly interesting. Eph, however, differs from 1 Thess in accordance with their different eschatological perspectives. Whereas in 1 Thess helmet is referred to as hope of salvation, Eph, true to its realised eschatological perspective, presents the salvation as already there. It is not in the sense of triumphalism though, but as a presence, an assurance that enables further and hearty engagement. The victory has been wrought by Christ; the believers have 375

only to be strengthened with this consciousness even as they still have to engage the present difficulties of Christian living.947 Fully equipped, the believer(s) is/are motivated to engage in the fight, the fight that is both values the believers stand for, and goals they pursue to achieve in the course of daily life. As articulated by Yoder Neufeld, The community of saints is clothed and armed with an impressive list of divine virtues, attributes, and covenant dynamics which render it capable of fighting the battle of and with the ‘gods’..., the fact that the armour is made up of largely ethically identifiable virtues ties the image closely to the performance of ‘good works’ (2:10)... The image of the warrior serves thus to recapitulate the paraenetic interest of the letter as a whole... Insofar as the saints perform this role not only in the heavenlies but on the earth, the Divine Warrior is here interpreted as democratized and functioning within the Alltag.948

That is the sense of the fight to which Eph calls the believers to.

7.5.2.2  h`mi/n h` pa,lh – the fight of ours Using the term h` pa,lh the author of Eph introduces a hapax legomenon, the understanding of which has often seemed to perpetuate the one-sided interpretation of this passage in apocalyptic tones.949 At the instance of such interpretations that often title it “spiritual warfare”, Eph 6:10–17 is made a paradigmatic passage for “spirit world” concerns, in terms of exorcism and related phenomena. The immediately following list of opponents against whom the fight is directed (– principalities and powers, rulers of this darkness, the spirits of evil in the heavenly places [Eph 6:12 and cognates in 3:10; 1;21], in conjunction with “the stratagems of the devil ta.j meqodei,aj tou/ diabo,lou” earlier referred to in v 11b –) is made the justification for such interpretations. R.H. Bell, represents a vivid example of such views in his understanding of „not against flesh and blood, but against rulers...“ as referring to “disembodied evil spirits”, and as attesting to their “personality” as Devil and Demons.950 Interesting as Bell’s positions are, one 947 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 313; R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 285–286; T.R. Yoder Neufeld, 1997, 141; J. Becker & U. Luz, 1998, 177. 948 Cf. T.R. Yoder Neufeld, 1997, 150–151; see also J. Becker & U. Luz, 1998, 177. The “Alltag” is emphasized in connection with th/| h`me,ra| th/| ponhra/| - the day of evil v13, which is often interpreted from the eschatological-apocalyptic points of view. The conflicts involved in Christian living in the world are a daily engagement. 949 Cf. H. Greeven, „pa,lh“, in: ThWNT 5 (1954), 717–718. 950 Cf. R.H. Bell, 2007, 341ff. C.E. Arnold, is another champion of similar point of view (Cf. idem, 1989; 1992, 148ff), though he states in the latter, that the issue at discuss is about Christian conduct and not about exorcism (154).

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cannot help noticing the contradictions in some of his arguments. For instance, he claims establishing the “personality“ of Devil and Demons on the one hand, but proudly “reduces Satan to a mythical figure“, on the other, while holding firmly to his ontological existence (343, 352). His appraisal of “the demonic“ and “demon” in H. Thielicke’s “The Reality of the Demonic” seems to feature a misunderstanding of the nuance at play. Returning to h`mi/n h` pa,lh before referring to the “all important” list that rearticulates our “spirit world” concerns, we note that pa,lh is generally understood as “struggle”, “wrestling”, in the sense of hand-to-hand contest.951 As such it differs from po,lemoj – battle, bloody war, often used in the scriptures with eschatological connotations.952 Understood as struggle, pa,lh, embodying athletic termini and military metaphor, is related to the Pauline avgw,n motif. V.C. Pfitzner demonstrating Pauline usage of this (avgw,n) metaphorical terminology, traceable to the influence of diatribe and Hellenistic Judaism, observes that Paul simply made a traditional use of the athletic image while filling it out with different meaning in pursuit of his goal of preaching the Good News of salvation in Jesus Christ.953 In the Pauline usage of the Agon motif, characterised by the combination of the athletic termini with military metaphors, his labours and intense efforts in the ministry of the Gospel as well as his moral struggles are expressed. His picture of the Christian life as a continuous striving against conditions opposing the proclamation of the gospel and realisation of Christian way of life are articulated through the agon motif (1 Thess 2:2ff; 1 Cor 9:24ff; Rom 6:12ff; 15:30; Gal 5:7; Phil 3:12–14; 4:3; Col 2:1; 1 Tim 6:11–12; etc.). In his picture of the Agon Paul emphasizes the motif of the goal for which the ‘athlete’ strives; in military picture, on the other hand, it is the thought of the enemy and the need to stand fast against his onslaughts which predominate. In the second case the stress is on defence, not on attack... here also the Agon is a struggle against opposition.954

This Pauline association of two metaphors is captured by the Eph pa,lh. 951 Cf. V.C. Pfitzner, 1967, 159; J. Muddiman, 2001, 288. M. Barth, standing on the understanding of pa,lh as athletic termini, sees palaistra (2Macc 4:14) as its cognate, meaning wrestling ground/school, and not a military barack or training school. Cf. idem, 1974 (II), 763. 952 Cf. O. Böcher, „po,lemoj“, in: EWNT III (2011), 306–308. Eph in its “realized eschatology“ perspective would not have used this word. E. Best, however, argues that in the course of time the term took up wider applications including battles and wars. Cf. idem, 1998, 593. 953 Cf. V.C. Pfitzner, 1967, 3–7, 157ff; see also J. Gnilka, 1980, 108–109; M. Brändl, 2006. 954 Cf. V.C. Pfitzner, 1967, 158.

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This is very clearly presented in 2 Cor 10: 3–5(4) especially in the use of the word strateuo,meqa and cognates. Here a relationship is established between it and peripate,w, this special Pauline term used in the sense of behaviour/conduct, and particularly referring to the Christian way of life. Relating strateuo,meqa to peripate,w marks the arduousness of the Christian way of life given the circumstances within which it has to be lived. “For though we living in the flesh (referring to human existence), we are not striving according to the flesh. For the weapons of our fight/warfare are not of the flesh (human/earthly), rather powerful in/before/through God for the destruction of strongholds kaqai,resin ovcurwma,twn” (2 Cor10: 3–4). The similarity of words and associations between this and the Eph presentation, and as such its founding influence on Eph 6:12, seem obvious. The combination with the more remote divine warrior/warfare tradition through the panopli,an tou/ qeou/ is as well established. stratei,a/strateu,esqai (a military term related to pa,lh in the sense of struggle, a parallelism that 1 Tim 1:18; 6:12; 2 Tim2: 3–5; 4:7 bring out clearly) is a metaphor of the life and work of the apostle Paul as campaigner for the gospel in his defence in this particular Corinthian circumstance. In line with the common participation of the believers in the Christ-event, this struggle/fight necessarily extends to the believers as well, as campaigners for the gospel. The strategic reworking of 2 Cor 10:4 in Eph6:12 evidences a relationship. Whereas Paul in 2 Cor talks of o[pla th/j stratei,aj h`mw/n ouv sarkika,, Eph talks of ouvk e;stin h`mi/n h` pa,lh pro.j ai-ma kai. sa,rka.955 The meeting point remains the same. It is the common “enemy” - opposition to the success of the gospel endeavours. The various terms and language appreciation of this enemy factor “eschatological antagonist” in Pauline thought feature the influence of Jewish apocalypticism.956 It is the believers’ struggle against pagan debauchery, delineation from the old way of life, to which the author calls, that becomes mythically inflated as fight against satanic powers,957 and pictured with the metaphor,

955 K.M. Fischer, attributes this syntagma that stands for mortals, earthly, this worldy, as used here, as related to the Qumran reference to Belial and his angels as the opponents against whom the battle of the sons of light is directed (1QM XIII, 11f). Cf. idem, 1973, 168. 956 D.E. Aune, to whom this term “eschatological antagonist“ is credited, notes the difficulty in the attempts at determining the extent to which Jewish apocalypticism influenced Pauline thought, as well as how much he may have modified it in the light of his faith in Christ. Cf. idem, “Apocalypticism“, in: DPL(1993), 25–35. See also chap. 2 of our work – Pauline cosmic theology. 957 Cf. J. Becker & U. Luz, 1998, 177.

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‘this darkness’. The community of believers as light, by virtue of their participation in the light of Christ, now has the possibility and the responsibility to outshine this darkness with its light. It is surprising that E. Best, while acknowledging Philo’s metaphorical use of the term pa,lh to depict the struggle against temptation, denies such possibility in Eph author’s use of the term.958 This is what the metaphor embedded in pa,lh is meant to communicate. As V.C. Pfitzner pointed out, ...its first characteristic feature is the stress on the resources, the armoury, which comes from the outside of man, from God... In this distinction lies the chief motive for the preference for the military image over against the athletic as an illustration of the Christian’s struggle against sin and the powers of sin... The internal conflict of the believer against sin (Rom 6:12–14) is part of the great cosmic struggle against Satan and the powers of darkness (Eph 6:12).959

The interplay of word and imagery that had featured in the change from darkness and light as the opposing circumstances of life to becoming the very being of the concerned (Eph 5:8 “you were darkness, now you are light”), illustrates further the influence of apocalypticism, its spatial dualism and language. V. 9 spells out the paraenetic implications of this being light – goodness, righteousness and truth –, issues that constitute the details of the armour of vv 14–17. Note is taken here of the relationship between the fruit of light/spirit (Eph 5:9; Gal 5:22ff) and weapons of light/righteousness (Rom 13:12; 6:13b) contrasted to the works of darkness/flesh, (Eph 5:11; Gal 5:19ff; Rom 13:12), instruments of wickedness (Rom. 6:13a). M. Barth, observing Paul’s acquaintance with such ideas and formulations in which virtues are equated with weapons, and the designation of such arms as “weapons of light/righteousness”, notes that Eph contains a catalogue of weapons which is but a catalogue of virtues. Distinguishing ‘worldly weapons’ serving ‘worldly behaviour’, the Eph weapons are useful for the good fight and the Spirit-directed conduct that describe the whole of Christian life as a military service or contest (strateuomai/ agonizomai).960 U. Luz states this very clearly. Appreciating the skilled use of Jewish (Qumran) apocalyptic traditions in use in Eph, he argues that the

958 Cf. E. Best, 2001, 593. 959 Cf. V.C. Pfitzner, 1967, 163; see also R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 355. Emphasizing the metaphor character of the presentation, J. Gnilka notes in this regard, as hubris, any mystical interpretation that may tend to give the idea that the human fighter uses the very armour of God. One rather thinks of God-given efficiency. Cf. idem, 1971, 305. 960 Cf. M. Barth, 1974, 789.

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author of Eph meant a metaphoric fight that is fought in the ethical planes.961 The exorcism ‘pa,lh’ is in the understanding of Christian life in general as battle, “Aushalten der Weltsituation” (H. Greeven), and not any magical abracadabra in the sense of having to engage the so-called spirit-world issues. For J. Gnilka, therefore, The world-rulers Kosmokratoren of wickedness must become defeated! In a fight that is to be fought with special weapon! On account of this also, every form of belief in spirits becomes an absurdity for the concretely addressed person in the sense that since Christ, there is no more enslavement by these powers for the believers. This fundamental meaning must strongly be held… The call to fight against the evil powers is a call to freedom.962

The enjoined strategy is resistance sth/nai pro.j/avntisth/nai (Eph 6:11, 13, 14; see also 1 Pet 5: 8–9), which in connection with a[panta katergasa,menoi - having done everything, neither refers to redundance or ritual. It is a withstanding that is active, as related to di,wke de. dikaiosu,nhn of 1 Tim 6:11. This is in the sense of concerted involvement, not just mere activism. It is an activeness that involves undertakings, the Christian paraenetic way of life that opposes the worldly way of life. An example had already been given in Eph 4:25ff where the believers are invited to put away falsehood, speak the truth to our neighbours, resist the devil by not letting the sun set on one’s anger etc. The highest point of pa,lh as Christian paraenetic is peripatei/te evn avga,ph| (5:1; 4:2) in imitation of God’s love for us his children, an imitation that is a call to discipleship. It is a call to Christian responsibility in the world, a responsibility the coming together of Jews and Gentiles in the Church (2:11–22) had already demonstrated. Through this reality of the church, the principalities and powers are being told of the manifold wisdom of God (3:10).

7.5.2.3  The enemies to be fought vv11b-12 After enjoining being “strengthened in the Lord” at the beginnings of this apex of Eph paraenetics (6:10ff), and in the circumstances of fighting to which the addressees have been attuned, the Eph author names the enemies to be fought. “Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities ta.j avrca,j( the powers ta.j evxousi,aj, the world rulers of this darkness tou.j kosmokra,toraj tou/ sko,touj tou,tou, against the spirit-forces of wickedness ta. pneumatika. th/j ponhri,aj in the heavenly places evn toi/j evpourani,oij.” In this rhetorical resumé 961 Cf. J. Becker & U. Luz, 1998, 177. 962 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 308.

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(peroratio) that Eph 6:10ff is appreciated to be, its recapitulatio and amplificatio963 features are clearly spelt out in this list of enemies against whom the believers are called upon to fight. It is laced with allusions. ta.j avrca,j( ta.j evxousi,aj are clearly allusions to the pa,shj avrch/j kai. evxousi,aj, tai/j avrcai/j kai. tai/j evxousi,aij in Eph 1:21; 3:10 respectively, this capital point of our “spirit world” considerations. evn toi/j evpourani,oij appears here as it featured earlier in 3:10. In our earlier analysis of these terms (6.3.1ff), we did appreciate them as emerging from Paul’s unique share in the traditional beliefs about the spirit world, beliefs that in-turn go back to the ancient attempts at cosmological speculations. The Hellenistic syncreticism that generated the mythologisation of the elements stoicheia and the planetary systems made spirit beings of them.964 Through its links with astrology, it became the proverbial minced meat for magicians and magical practices. Affording a reification of man’s ancient fears of the uncomprehended or the incomprehensible in his world as given, on the one hand, it enflamed these fears, on the other. The planetary systems and the cosmic forces experienced in them became “powers”, “cosmic powers” indeed! In this corrupted turn of physics into “metaphysics”, the now spiritualized elements went on to become personalised as spirit-powers, recipients of religious worship. In the understanding of man as microcosmos, religious relationship became a relationship between the cosmos as macrocosmos and man as microcosmos, a being made from the same elements that constitute the cosmos. The reception of the mythologised stoicheia in Judaism became expressed in its angelology and demonology, flourishing in its apocalypticism and its extra-ordinary concerns with angelic speculations. It is in the circumstances of Jewish apocalypticism that such traditional terms that became spirit world articulations like a;ggeloj, daimo,nion, dia,boloj, satana/j and pneu/ma emerged. W.A. Meeks observed that Paul, in his innovative theological orientation, emerged with a metaphoric complex that appreciated, by way of denigration, these traditional imageries and beliefs, skewed and reshaped them into the kerygma of the crucified and resurrected Son of God, Jesus Christ.965 In the cluster of terms Paul is observed to have used in articulating these spirit world 963 While recapitulatio makes a summary of the essential points to aid memory, amplificatio, true to the name, seeks some the emotional awakening of the audience to the seriousness of the issues at stake. Cf. G. Sellin, 2009, 472. 964 Eloquent accounts of these developments have been made by G. Delling, ThWNT 7 (1964), 670–687; E. Lohse, 1977, 146–150. See also section 2.2.1 of our work. Delling notes the embarrassing inexplicability of how the physical elements swung into being understood as personal, spiritual beings. 965 Cf. W.A. Meeks, op. cit., in: D. Hellholm, (ed.) 1983, 687–705.

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concerns, the deliberately abstract and impersonal, but sometimes personified terminology – archai and exousiai - is observed to be the most preferred.966 C. Gunton rightly noted the subtlety in this choice of terminology. According to him, Paul uses this subtle language to express metaphorically moral realities that otherwise would defy expressions.967 The moral realities in question are the problems associated with the experience of evil. The response to these problems had boiled down to the mythological materials embracing the consequences of the fallen angels’ myths and the Hellenistic cosmo-astral power configurations. Eph reception of this metaphor (cf. 6.3.1b of our work) evidences an extension, the logic of which is based on the consequences of the transformation of a semantic field to the level of a modus loquendi. H.-J. Klauck explains that such transformations feature fields of imageries that capture both the paradigmatic metaphoric contents in the original cultural system, and provide for expansions.968 In Eph circumstance, the author of Eph is able to christianize the mythological materials at his disposal, and give them historical reformulation sharpened by its spatial cosmological articulations and apocalyptic foundations. Space has become horror vacui. The deliberately abstract and impersonal, but sometimes personifying Pauline terminology – archai and exousiai – became directly hypostatized. They received ontological interpretation. Eph shares, in this way, in the psychology of the Jewish apocalyptic in its ontologisation of power appreciations. Those power conceptions expressed by the terms “principalities and powers” now contained a mixture of personal, concrete and spatial categories, getting beyond the metaphorical personifications and abstractions Paul made of them. Eph perceived them as superhuman hypostases, personal and hostile spirit beings, responsible for evil experiences. The featuring of such appellation as kosmokra,toraj (world rulers), is not some form of hierarchical organisation. Eph apparent disinterest at such detailed hierarchical stratifications of the spirit world terms has already been observed in 1:21 panto.j ovno,matoj ovnomazome,nou. The appellation serves some accentuating effect in the ampflicatio that ta. pneumatika. th/j ponhri,aj evn toi/j evpourani,oij gives a summary presentation. The hellenistic-astrological backgrounds of this summary expression, as well as their associations with the Jewish apocalyptic

966 Cf. C. Forbes, “Paul’s Principalities and Powers: Demythologising Apocalyptic?”, in: JSNT 82 (2001), 61–63. 967 Cf. C. Gunton, “Christus Victor revisited. A Study in Metaphor and the Transformation of Meaning“, in: JTS 36 (1985) 129–145 (135). 968 Cf. H.-J. Klauck, 1978, 141.

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scenery are established.969 ‘This darkness’, and ‘evil’ here, as the qualifications of the world-rulers and spirits-forces in question, are reminiscent of apocalyptic categorisations and valuations. Recalling Eph 2:1ff, where the issues of the ­‘before and now’ of the addressees are articulated, helps an understanding of his “spirit world” articulations at this end stage of the letter. evn toi/j evpourani,oij and tou/ ave,roj (2:2) are readily associated in line with the ancient world view Weltbild that moulds the theology of Eph. It is the understanding of the universe that conceives the space between the skies and the earth as inhabited by spirits, demons as the case may be. They are conceived as negatively influencing the human regions from these aerial horizons. Over and against the general tendency at understanding pneumatiko,j – pneumatika,, as substantive, i.e. in terms of spirit beings, J. Kremer calls attention to the adjectival character of the word in use. pneumatika, would then rightly read “spirit forces”, thereby bringing out the etherealisation that had taken place. It is about forces, supernatural/superhuman in nature, but which have been made spirits, and not about beings that are spirits per se.970 Their being termed spirits emerged from their intangible and superhuman nature, all in the bid to evolve some form of comprehension of them. Relatedly, A. Krezter calls attention to the ethical-moral connection that originally inhered in the word ponhri,a, meaning wickedness, maliciousness, meanness. Articulating the despicable attitudes as in the genus of the catalogue of vices (Rom 1:29, 1 Cor 5:8ff; Mk 7:22; Lk 11:39), the issues of human responsibility are emphasized, before the transference to the ponhro.j dai,mwn/pneu/ma.971 This is over and against the common tendency that sees it interpreted as personification of evil. In this light, the translation of “ta. pneumatika. th/j ponhri,aj” as “the spirit forces of wickedness” by T.K. Abbott972 becomes more agreeable despite its equivocal connotations. 969 Cf. Test.Sol.8a,18a; E. Lohse, 1977, 147; J. Gnilka, 1971, 306; F.W. Danker, 2000, 561; W.A. Meeks, op.cit, in: D. Hellholm, 1983, 689; L.E. Toombs, “Wars, ideas of “, in The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible, (1962), vol.4, 796–801. R. Schwindt, 2002, 369–376. E. Best notes the difficulty inherent in determining which predates which with regard to the featuring of kosmocratoras in Eph and in Test.Sol. Whatever the case may be, the texts are agreed on the astro-magical traditions. Cf. idem, 1998, 593–595. 970 Cf. J. Kremer, „pneumatiko,j( pneumatikw/j”, in: EWNT III (2011), 291–293. See also, T.K. Abbott, 1956, 182–183. 971 Cf. A. Kretzer, „ponhri,a“, „ponhro,j”, in: EWNT III (2011), 320–324. He argues that Eph 6:12 characterisation - “böse Geister des himmlischen Bereiches” serves to underline the enormous danger of these despicable attitudes. 972 Cf. T.K. Abbott, 1956, 182–183.

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Whatever the case may be, there is no gainsaying that for the author of Eph and his audience, these power/force articulations, developed within the world view in which the spatial realms of the universe was perceived to be populated by spirit beings, represented a personification of these spirit beings. The experience of evil in the fate of mankind is given explanation by these constellations, and articulated as agents under the auspices of the devil diabolos, this traditional Inbegriff des Bösen incarnation of evil.973 For the author of Eph and his audience, the devil and the powers and authorities associated with it are personal beings. It is the external centre of evil, in who rests the responsibility for whatever experience of evil on earth, in the fate of mankind and the universe. It is, however, interesting that Eph, despite its appreciation of the supernaturality of the phenomenon in question, and perhaps on account of it, does not suggest a confrontation with it on this human personal basis. The human is incapable of such. Such is possible in the level of spirits. Christ has done this on that level for the believers, achieving their subjugation under him, and being established as the Lord. However, their influences keeps being felt in the human realms, the realisation of which Eph articulates with the term ta.j meqodei,aj the stratagems of the devil. By stepping over to the stratagems, Eph opened the field for some form of demythologisation. This is in the sense of existential interpretation and not in the sense of any attempt at trivializing the harmfulness of evil.974 Eph adequately

973 A discussion of the phenomenon Devil is not intended. Attention is, however, drawn to diabolos being LXX’s translation of the hebrew satanas, a word that moved from being the expression of the fact of adversary, hostility, ill-will, to becoming the personification, the embodiment of what came to be thought of as the transcendent principle of evil, of antagonism to both God and man. The origin of the concept in the dualistic world view, in the age-long experience of good and evil, in their various cognates, is established. It features in the NT as perpetual patrimony from Judaism's version of these dualistic appreciations, despite the absence of clearly established metaphysical dualism in the bible. Cf. O. Böcher, „dia,boloj“, in: EWNT I (2011), 714–716; idem, „satanas“, EWNT III (2011), 558–559; M. Stubhann, „Böse/ Bosheit“, in: HNB (2008), 109–110; F.V. Reiterer, „Satan“, in: HNB (2008), 657— 658; see also H.-J. Fabry, „‘Satan‘ - Begriff und Wirklichkeit. Untersuchungen zur Dämonologie der alttestamentlichen Weisheitsliteratur“, in: A. Lange et. al.(Hg.), 2003, 261–291. 974 H. Hübner, calling attention to this danger, the very fact of which he says gives evil its power, differentiates a`marti,a as human transcendent power of sin (Rom 3:9) from paraba,seij, paraptw,mata as transgression, deviation from a set boundary. According to him, it is this human transcendent category that the author of Eph

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responds to this through its paraenetics, the high points of which Eph 6:10–17 represents, and which has constituted the realisation of the christological response in our psychological hermeneutics. Strengthened in the Lord evndunamou/ sqe evn kuri,w|, the strengthening that the investiture with God’s panoply illustrates, believers are called upon to do the fight of resisting the devil’s stratagems. The association of the meqodei,aj of the devil (Eph 6:11b) with Eph 2: 1–3, where the issue of “the rulers of the powers of the air at work in the sons of disobedience” is featured, reveals a pointed reference to trespasses and sins, wrong ways of life,975 despite the replete language of etherealisation. A further hint is given with the expression evskotwme,noi th/| dianoi,a| o;ntej( darkened in the basic thought patterns (Eph 4:18). Related to the illustrations of the Corinthian “strongholds” to be destroyed (2 Cor 4b-5), would it not boil down to idealogies logismoi,, what W. Wink rightly captured as including everything within the categories of Zeitgeist, customs, public opinion, peer pressure, institutional expectations, mob psychology, jingoistic patriotism and negative vibes. As mentalities, ideologies, influences, they are necessarily not “flesh and blood”, not human. Eph responds to their non-physical quality by means of its unique etherealisation in correspondence with its world view, and becomes understood in terms of spirit world. The realistic nature of the paraenetic import and implications of both settings (2 Cor 10: 3–5; Eph 6:12ff) as Paul’s and Eph image of the Christian warfare with its characteristics should therefore, not be overseen. O. Böcher argues, in this light, that by means of the spiritual heights of the Christian paraenetic in the emergent christological orientations, NT texts registered forms of protest against the ancient homoeopathic magic of its environment.976 Antidemonic practices like exorcism are overcome through christological ethics as seen in those New Testament passages in which love is promoted as surpassing exorcism.

gives the name diabolos, the devil and his powers and authorities. Cf. idem, 1997, 267–270; 975 The atmospheric metaphoric in use here, attempts the appreciation of the enigmatic phenomenon, evil, in the forms of its influence in the predominant mentalities/ idealogies that play out in the wrong ways of life. Cf. W. Wink, 1984, 84; J. Gnilka, 1971, 114–116; R. Schnackenburg, 1982, 90–92; H. Hübner, 1997, 157, 267–270; J. Muddiman, 2001, 288–289. 976 Cf. O. Böcher, 1972(1), 70; idem, 1972(2), 156, 162; see also R. Pesch, 1972, 44.

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These are to be understood as protests against practices of exorcism... (1 Cor 12:30ff; 13: 1–14:1). Where love is not practised, casting out of demons offer no help (Mt 7:22ff).977

Eph pa,lh and its paraenetic panoply of virtues, beginning with the emphasis on bearing with one another in love (Eph 4:2), call attention to this even with some increased note of urgency. Remaining in Eph world view, the exalted Christ has defeated the power constellations. Participating in his victory, depicted with the armour of the divine warrior believers have been charged to put on, Christians have become enabled to confront these powers of darkness. The consciousness of participating in God’s victory over the demonic, the victory wrought through Jesus Christ, would show the ancient demonology and related practices as undone. The absurdity of such demonic notions and fears in the NT dispensation is demonstrated in traditions of Jesus’ relationship to, and table-fellowship with those regarded as ‘unclean’. We note with O. Böcher, as a very unfortunate development, the fact that full consequences of this positively powered Christology is not often adequately appreciated and capitalized upon in church’s teachings and praxis. Our inter-disciplinary psychological-hermeneutic endeavour calls attention to this absurdity as shown in our attention to the psychology of fear. Even when credit is given to the Enlightenment for the overcoming of the ancient demonology that had blossomed in the middle(dark) ages, and dominated subsequent generations, and not to the fact that Christian views asserted itself,978 our psychological-hermeneutic endeavour is rather an insistence on the merits of an interdisciplinary approach. The freedom of thought and the emancipation – sapere aude - that the Enlightenment brought about, and which characterized the movement, led to such developments to which psychology and other literary and natural sciences owe their emergence and successful contributions to human progress. Such progress applies also to religion, theology and related issues, founding and justifying the inter-disciplinary orientations in such matters. Such inter-­disciplinary orientations overcome the impasse of the Enlightenment, as witnessed, for instance, in its radical dismissal of evil as nothingness. This 977 Cf. O. Böcher, 1972(2), 170. The eschatological, referred to here, is the awaited disempowerment of the devil and his demons at the end of time. This Jewish eschatological hope constitutes, among others, the background upon which the kingdom of God message of Jesus is built, and which his teachings and actions have inaugurated. 978 Ibid., 74; see also O. Pfister, 1985, 424–429; H. van der Loos, 1965, 342, 352–353. On general notes on Enlightenment, see E. Hegel, “Enlightenment“, in: NCE 5 (2003), 254–259; M. Schmidt, „Aufklärung II. Theologisch“, in: TRE 4 (1979 ), 594–608. (I. Kant, in his understanding of Enlightenment as the emergence of man out of his selfimposed/culpable immaturity (1784), is considered of its greatest determinants.)

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orientation appreciates the problem of evil not merely in the sense of mystery (mysterium iniquitas). It emphasizes also the individual responsibility of every person to strive towards limiting its occurrence in his/her circles to the barest minimum, as a co-operation with the creative will of God. While acknowledging the role of the Enlightenment, this orientation appeals to faith, and challenges to practice. Above all it encourages its penetration into the Igbo (African) culture of belief in order to uphold the culture of inquiry – critical consciousness. It hopes to enhance accessibility to the advantages accruable from it for the betterment of life, this very goal of evangelisation (Jn 10:10; Lk 1:79). This task of application to the Igbo (African) context is the focus of the next chapter.

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Section Four: Reading Eph 3:10 In Igbo Context – Contentions And Propopsals

Chapter Eight: Eph 3:10 in Igbo context 8.1 The Bible in Igbo (African) Context: a historical and critical appraisal From the basic Christian (catholic) understanding of the Bible as the Word of God in human presentation (DV 9,11,24, CCC. 101–141),979 an understanding that developed from the criteria and process of canonisation,980 the Bible is seen as primarily concerned with the history of salvation Heilsgeschichte. Its subject matter is the acts of God for human salvation. These actions that became manifest in his encounter with the people of Israel, in the various stages of their history, are seen as definitively realized in God’s revelation of himself in the person 979 This position of the Second Vatican Council remains an adoption and adaptation of the traditional teachings of the Church. Determining to Vat.II formulations are the Pp Leo XIII Providentissimus Deus (1893), known as the first Bible Encyclical in modern times, then Spiritus Paraclitus (1920) from Pp Benedict XV. The theological depth of the understanding of the Bible as the Word of God, as „the human witness of divine revelation“ enables it get beyond being viewed merely as religious or historical book; it enables the Bible to possess a freedom and authority which exegesis, as basis of Christian theological science, seeks to promote and enhance. It strengthens the confidence in the Bible and enables a new understanding which, getting beyond confessional differences, endeavours to give new orientation to church's faith and mission. Cf. H. Karpp, „Bibel IV“, in: TRE 6 (1980), 50–93(88–89); J. Schröter, „Wie theologisch ist die Bibelwissenschaft? Reflexionen über den Beitrag der Exegese zur Theologie“, in: JBTh 25 (2010), 85–104; M. Theobald, „Exegese als theologische Basiswissenschaft. Erwägungen zum interdisziplinären Selbstverständnis neutestamentlicher Exegese“, in: JBTh 25 (2010), 105–139. 980 The issue of canonisation and inspiration are outside the scope of this work. We note, however, the import of the understanding of the word „Canon“ as standard, as normative, as very determining to the place of the Scriptures in the life and teaching of the church. Understood as the Canon of Truth, the Canon of the Faith, the Scriptures became for the Christians the norm of the faith and life of the Church, of the believers. For more on Canon and related issues confer G. Schenk, „bi,bloj, on“, in: ThWNT 1 (1933) 613–628; the articles „Bibel I-V“, in TRE 6 (1980), 1–109; „Schrift, Heilige, I-VI“, in: TRE 30 (1999), 402ff. Particular note is taken of the observation that the NT canon is not the work of a synod or of several theologians but a development that grew out of the lively use of various individual writings in the various early Christian communities, and became determined by the church. This position already addresses the controversies over Tradition and Scripture. Cf. W. Schneemelcher, „Bibel III“, in: TRE 6 (1980), 22–48.

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and work of Jesus Christ. The church sees its vocation in the missionary commission to continue this work till the end of time (Mt 28:19parr., AG 2,9). While the former – God’s encounter with the people of Israel – is termed Old Testament, the latter – attestations of God’s revelation of himself in Jesus Christ – is given the name New Testament. The relationship between them is underlined by the understanding that the Old Testament is to be read and interpreted from the point of view of God’s revelation of himself in his Son, Jesus Christ (2 Cor 3: 7–18; Lk 24:25–27,44–48; Heb 1:1ff; 1 Pet 1:12). From the inherited and strongly-held authority of the Holy Scriptures of Judaism, the authority it took-on through the above mentioned criteria and process of canonisation, the early Christians shared a fundamental understanding of the Scriptures as not only being the book of Law, a witness to past events, but also as source of pre-announcement of salvific events. As articulated by H. Karpp, The real story of the Bible in the church begins with the development of the second Christian canon. The way it got on with the Old Testament ‘Scripture’ constitutes her antecedents. In the making of the canon, the church confessed her belief in the special authority of particular writings, which, understood as united, make the reception of divine revelation possible. As such, they are to determine all Christian thought and action. The duty to carefully preserve these canonical writings, to spread them and enhance their effectivity emerged therefrom.981

From this basic understanding of the authority of the Bible (Word of God) as normative, a position that underlined missionary endeavours of the early Christians, the Bible became the rule of life for subsequent generations of believers. It was to determine the church’s preaching, ethical instructions and cult in service of the faith. As long as this one principle of the Scripture as the unchangeable Word of God inhered, and on the strength of its understood divine origin, its unity with the teachings of the church was assumed as obvious. It had the function of vouching for the truth of the church’s faith, for the configuration of her ethical life and the determination of Christian piety. However, the difficulties of how to get on with the Bible, regarding the issues of literacy and otherwise, the various senses in the interpretations and use of the Bible, apparent conflict with natural knowledge, etc., became a perennial problem It led sometimes to misuse or outright abuse.982 As long as traditionalism held sway, this hallmark of the Middle Ages, the impact of the Bible stood

981 Cf. H. Karpp, „Bibel IV“, in: TRE 6 (1980), 50–93(50). Translation is mine. Italics are as in the original. 982 Cf. ibid., 53–59.

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firm (DS 685). With the arrival of the Neuzeit, a period in which the relationship between the religious and civil powers was to be redefined, the singular authority the Bible held, especially in connection with the church’s interpretations, began to lose influence. Ushered in and fanned by the crisis of the Reformation and consequent counter-reformation, this period, generally captured with the term Enlightenment, urged the scientific and critical study of the Bible.983 Constituting the task of exegesis, the emergent confessional differences, however, did not fail to leave its clues on the Bible and its interpretations. This remains an unfortunate legacy Christianity struggles to get along with even in the course of its missionary activities. The history of the encounter between the Igbo and the Bible,984 just like the wider dimensions of such encounters between the Bible and the rest of the African peoples south of the Sahara, is a patrimony of the missionary activities in this part of the world. Christian missionary activities in Igboland, the discussion of which have led to the production of many historical works,985 began with the 983 Attention is drawn to the different theological directions that existed from the very beginnings of Christianity with regard to the proper interpretation of the Bible. Whereas the Alexandrian school, thought to have existed from the 1st centuries AD, tilted towards the so-called Allegorical interpretation, the Anthiocian school (3 AD) advocated literal (grammatical and historical) interpretation. It is remarkable that since the 2nd half of the 18th century AD, in connection with the development of historical sciences (“scientific theology” inclusive), literal interpretations (with Origen counting as one of its most important advocates) have taken upper hand. Cf. G.G. Spet, Die Hermeneutik und ihre Probleme: (Moskau 1918). München: Verlag Alber 1993, 48ff. See also H. Karpp, op. cit., 61; J. Ukpong, “Developments in Biblical Interpretation in Africa: Historical and Hermeneutical Directions“, in: G.O. West & M.W. Dube (eds.), 2000, 11–28. 984 G.O. West, referring to this encounter as „transaction“, earmarks the accompanying colonial political and economic interests. He rightly calls attention to the necessary difference between Christianity and the Bible with regard to their receptions among Africans, despite their interconnectedness. Cf. idem, “Mapping African Biblical Interpretation“, in: idem & W.D. Musa, (eds.), 2001, 29–53. 985 Some of the very important documents in this regard include: F.K. Ekechi, Missionary Enterprise and Rivalry in Igboland, 1857–1914 (1972); E. Ilogu, Christianity and Igbo Culture (1974); C.A. Obi, A Hundred Years of the Catholic Church in Eastern Nigeria 1885–1985 (1985); E. Isichei, A History of Christianity in Africa: From Antiquity to the Present (1995); O. Onwubiko, African Thought, Religion and Culture, (1991); O.U. Kalu, The Embattled Gods: Christianization of Igboland, 1841–1991 (2003); J. Baur, Christus kommt nach Africa. 2000 Jahre Christentum auf dem Schwarzen Kontinent (2006); and a host of others. It is to be noted that

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arrival of the Church Missionary Society (CMS) in 1857, at the coastal town of Onitsha, a burgeoning and growing commercial centre along the river Niger. This liaison between commerce, politics and religion, embodied in the role of the British Royal Niger Company (a union of British traders with British government’s patronage) and its co-operation with the missionaries, was decisive in the history of this encounter. The Lower Niger Mission, an experiment of the CMS missionary strategy of indigenous missionisation, was led by an ex-slave of Yoruba descent, Samuel Ajayi Crowther, who later became the first African Anglican Bishop (1864). It was also partly in response to the request made by the association of ex-slaves of Igbo extraction that were resettled in Sierra Leone, with a certain Mr Simon Jonas, an ex-slave and catechist, being a member of the missionary team.986 His arrival at the now mission land no doubt boosted the moral of the other missionaries as well as enhanced the encounter between the Igbo and the new religion. Upon the testimony of these ex-slaves and missionaries, together with the commercial encounter with British merchants, the experience of ‘white man’s’ way of life (including his religion) as ‘superior’ was beginning to gain ground after the initial suspicions, conflicts, contempts and derision.987 the emphasis of most of these records border on the historical, socio-cultural, geographical, political, and economic dimensions. The roles of slave trade and colonialisation are prominently high-lighted. Biblical or hermeneutical issues are often absent, though implied. 986 Cf. A.O. Nkwoka, “The Role of the Bible in the Igbo Christianity of Nigeria“, in: G.O. West & M.W. Dube (eds.), 2001, 326–335. M.V.A. Chukwujekwu, however, refers to a certain John Christopher Taylor as the first indigenous Igbo Anglican Missionary. Cf. idem, 2009, 293ff. 987 A typical example of such liaison, conflicts and effects was the “historic“ invasion and destruction of the shrine of the Chukwu Oracle in Arochukwu by the British forces between 1901 and 1902. The Ibini Ukpabi of Arochukwu was a „powerful“ god whose renown reverberated in the whole of Igboland. Referred to as Chukwu – High God – it claimed superiority over all the other gods and deities of the traditional Igbo religion. Under its name and influence, its agents perpetrated a reign of terror in the whole region. Through an organised syndicate of secret services, its agents controlled every aspect of life in the traditional Igbo society, ranging from religion, commerce and relationship with the Europeans, both during the era of slave trade and after. The successful invasion that stopped their heinous practices as well as broke the monopoly they enjoyed, also opened out the Igbo hinterland to European contact and influence, trade and christianisation. The enormity of the awe such a conquering force left among the natives would speak for itself. It ushered in the beginnings of conflicts with various traditional institutions. It is also argued

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The missionary strategy of buying back slaves, identifying with the rejected, the marginalised and the social outcasts in the traditional Igbo society, and above all, the introduction of Christian villages that eventually metamorphosed to mission schools, were very decisive to the new religion winning the hearts and sympathy of the indigenes. The indigenous religion - Igbo traditional religion – constituted the people’s world view and their ways of getting along with life circumstances (See Chap. 5 of our work). Like most traditional religions, it had its chains of taboos and laws. Despite what in many cases is considered their “predominantly“ good intentions, and in the light of its various ways of maintaining order in the traditional society, a number of them were really life-stifling. These chains of laws and taboos often generated circumstances and classes of burdened unfortunates to whom Christianity would become a welcome relief, on the one hand, and a privileged few, who naturally fought for the maintenance of the status quo, on the other. Some of the former included the heinous osu caste system, a class of “untouchables“ as a result of their parents or themselves having been dedicated to one deity Arusi or the other. There were also cases of twins and their mothers abandoned in evil forests (ajo ofia) because such births were considered abominations. There were elderly women ostracized from the community on the accusation of witchcraft, some victims of the terrible widowhood practices, as well as those suffering from sicknesses considered incurable and infectious, etc.988 A

that the tremendous attraction to the “white man's” religion, on the part of the natives, had more to do with the utilitarian motives of accessing the secrets of white man's power than with the thirst for the Christian message. Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1991, 63–66; J. Baur, 2006, 179; M.V.A. Chukwujekwu, 2009, 297–299. John Baur tells of a similar military invasion among the Igbo west of the Niger at the behest of the missionaries. Under the pretences of stopping human sacrifices and slavery, the true reason for the invasion was to forcefully break the resistance of the indigenes to the missionaries and their message. Cf. idem, 2006, 176–177; see also C. Achebe, 2010, 497–499. 988 Cf. E. Isichei, “Ibo and Christian Beliefs: Some Aspects of a Theological Encounter“, AfricAff 68 (1969), cited by M.V.A. Chukwujekwu, 2009, 294. J.S. Mbiti attests to the practice of assigning deserted places and forests to the spirits as abode in other ­African settings. Cf. idem, „Afrikanisches Verständnis der Geister...“, in: G. Rosenkranz, et al. (Hg.), 1967, 134–135. Attention is drawn to the intensive patriarchal structure of the Igbo traditional society. The general understanding of women left much to be desired. With little or no rights to self-determination, they often bore the brunt of the taboos. The Masquerade-phenomenon is a typical case. What was essentially meant to be a form of “law enforcement agency“, and/recreation (entertainments)

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related situation is recounted by Chinua Achebe, in the Arrow of God. He told of Ezeulu, the Chief Priest of Ulu, who arbitrarily refused to order the beginning of the harvest of new yams in accordance with the traditions of Umuaro. Not even the raging hunger and the economic threats to the livelihood of the people could bring him to change his apparently selfish decision. This chief Priest’s chosen but unfortunate way of avenging his wrath over his people’s inability to identify with him during his unjust imprisonment by the colonial masters was cashed upon by the new religion (Christianity) which declared harvest. As the feared curse from the deity Ulu did not come upon those who heeded the “white man’s religion’s” declaration of harvest, the end of Ulu and adherence to it was sealed.989 The God of the new religion showed himself “superior”. The consequence was obvious. The earlier noted missionary strategy of introduction of Christian villages that metamorphosed into mission schools, this special strategy of the French Catholic missionaries, the Spiritans, was a major and unique factor of success of Christian missions in Igboland. Whereas the CMS, following their principle of evangelizing the natives in their local language, seemingly paid less attention to mission schools, and taught in Igbo. They did not meet much success given the natural but paradoxical penchant and admiration for the “strange“ and “unusual” among the Igbo east of the lower Niger. This became different with the arrival of the French Catholic missionaries at Onitsha in 1885 under the leadership of Fr. Lutz. He and his team were assisted by the Anglican Bishop Samuel Ajayi Crowther. This was a rare and unprecedented example of co-operation in evangelisation that eschewed the rivalries among the colonial authorities. Fr. Lutz and his team began setting-up the Onitsha Catholic mission under the aegis of the Gabon Vicariate. Propelled by the successes of the “village de liberté” experiments in the French-speaking West African territories, they replicated the Christian villages in the Onitsha mission. From being places of rehabilitation for the new converts from the recovered marginalised of the traditional society, they readily became doctrinal schools, where the new converts began to be taught the ways of the new religion. This new exposure to the “strange”, typified in the contact with foreigners and their language, as well as with the caritative (medical) was abused into being an instrument of oppression especially against women. Cf. A. Onyeneke, “The Future of the Masquerade in Igbo Society”, in Synod Acta: Second Synod of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu (2001), 2002, 125–131. 989 Cf. Chinua Achebe, 2010, 486–499. This narration typifies the fate of the deities of Igbo traditional religion at the arrival of Christianity especially in the face of the clashes of interests and responses to the needs of the people. Moreover, it is interesting to note how every aspect of life, even agriculture in this case, was religionised!

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work of the catholic missionaries, appealed to the above noted Igbo penchant for the „unusual“. The catholic missions/schools took advantage of this quest for knowledge. It earned her more attraction among the native populace than the CMS.990 Co-operating with the colonial authorities and their need for local personnel through whom they would enhance their political and economic agenda, these schools flourished in all fronts. They served both as agents of evangelization as well as means of accessing the new social power being established by the colonial administration.991 As agents of evangelization, both in the CMS and Catholic mission circumstances, the mission schools provided the fertile ground and direct contact points between Igbo culture (especially the traditional religion) and Christianity. They became as well the springboard for missionary activities of the later. The very establishment, survival and eventual flourishing of these Christian villages (turned to mission schools) in the evil forests, spoke for the „superior power“ at work in the establishments. The evil forests were perceived in Igbo culture as the abode of deadly spirits. (We have already noted the believed abundance and operations of such spirits in 5.2ff) Turned into the dwelling places of the above mentioned 990 The case of Chief Onyeama of Eke in the Enugu regions of Igboland stands out as a classical example. Having made contact with “the ways of the white man“ through the white-man trained artisans he had hired from Onitsha for the building of his house, he insistently refused the CMS entering his kingdom following their vernacular evangelization policy. He repeatedly sent for the foreign language speaking catholic missionaries, and readily welcomed them in 1914. Cf. Synod Acta: Second Synod of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu (2001), 2002, 53; see also J. Baur, 2006, 178ff. It is interesting to note that while many chiefs like Onyeama went out of their ways to ensure the establishment of missions and encouraged their wards to patronize them, most of them held to the traditional religion. 991 Fr. Leon Lejeune went down in history as the founder of the use of schools for evangelization, the educational policy in the Roman Catholic Mission in Eastern Nigeria that put 40% of education in Nigeria under their influence by 1960. However, an indefatigable Irish priest, Fr. (later Bishop) Joseph Shanahan, “Apostle of Eastern Nigeria“, carried this mission to its utmost bounds, giving it depth and consistency. Cf., CBCN, “The Catholic Church in Nigeria: A Brief History“, in http://cbcn.org/ aspscripts/page1.ASP; see also M.O. Bassey, “Missionary Rivalry and Education Expansion in Southern Nigeria, 1885–1932”, JNE 60 (1991) 36–46, cited by M.V.A. Chukwujekwu, 2009, 296, 298; see also J. Baur, 2006, 178–182. The appearance of the English-speaking Fr (later Bishop) Shanahan on the scene must have been a strategic resolution of the problems of colonial rivalry. For it would have been difficult to explain the apparently paradoxical predominance of English language in a mission territory pioneered by French-speaking missionaries in a British colonial territory.

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rejected and marginalized in the traditional Igbo society, the evil forests constituted the first pieces of land given to the unrequested and suspect white visitors. The hidden agenda and belief was that the deadly spirits would destructively deal with the white man and his intentions. As the reverse became the case, the white man and his religion earned the awe and admiration of the natives, an awe-filled admiration that is vividly evidenced in the expression Bekee992 wu agbara – the white man is a spirit/deity (awe-inspiring)! Such experiences overwhelmingly aided the missionaries’ access into the hearts of the natives. Many became won over to Christianity. As the primary centre of Christian life and instructions, the Christian villages turned to mission schools helped in producing the earliest instruments (human and material) that facilitated missionary work in Igboland.993 It was in those settings that Igbo contact with the Bible, this principal document of Christian belief and instructions, took place. There is no doubt that the various biblical traditions of the various missionary groups were influential in such exposures. While the sola scriptura doctrine governed the CMS outlook, the relationship between Scripture and Tradition determined the Catholic dimensions. Unlike the indigenous religion with its oral and symbolic traditions, Christianity was encountered as a “religion of the Book”. This Book was the Bible. Encounter with the Bible at such beginnings consisted in portions being read out and interpreted to the hearing of the almost 99.9% non-literate assembly. As such it remained for the assembly, a “closed Book“, accessible to the very few “initiated“. The biblical traditions that accompanied the cultural biases994 of the missionaries were one issue, what the hearers under992 The Igbo word “Bekee“ is traceable to a certain William Bafour Baikie, a Royal Navy medical practitioner who became a missionary in Igboland. Cf. O.U. Kalu, 2003, 81–82. Perhaps the efficacy of his medical know-how and practice among the natives, in the face of their limitations in this regard, played immense role in the emergence of this modus loquendi. It eventually became a general articulation of the natives’ respectful appreciation of the manifestly “superior“ prowess of the European in many aspects of life. 993 Apart from the numerous lay personnel that were enormously instrumental to the spread of Christianity in Igboland as catechists and school teachers, it is on record that the first Igbo Anglican Priest, G. N. Anyaegbunam, was ordained in 1897. The first Igbo (west of the Niger) Roman Catholic Priest, Paul Emechata (SMA), was ordained much later in 1921. In Igboland east of the Niger, John Cross Anyaogu was ordained in 1930. 994 The popular sense of „cultural superiority“ among the Europeans, this legacy that the monstrous events of the slave trade perpetuated, saw the Africans and their

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stood was another. The qualities of the almost always impromptu translations or interpretations of chosen biblical texts, either by the foreign or indigenous missionaries, can only be imagined. The proverbial saying that “in a country of the blind, a one-eyed man becomes king“ is readily applicable here. G. LeMarquand offers an apt appreciation of the circumstance. The missionary who came with the Bible also came as an interpreter of the Bible. The missionary’s reading of the text was filtered through cultural lenses which were not always congenial to African traditional life. There was much in traditional African culture which came as a shock to western missionary... Missionary intentions no doubt varied, but the overall impression left by the visitors was that Africa had been weighed in the western balance and found wanting: only by becoming less African could one become more Christian.995

To this is added the obvious fact that the European missionaries and their indigenous colleagues, despite the Enlightenment or post-Enlightenment backgrounds of the former, were no doubt, neither theology experts nor exegetes. Irrespective of their honest and zealous devotedness to their mission, that much was left to the creativity and phantasy of the missionary with little or no openness to the gains of theological enlightenment996 was obvious. A conflict was unconsciously

ways of life generally regarded as barbaric, demonic as the case may be. This no doubt affected the relations between the missionaries and the evangelized. Bishop Shanahan is singled out in this regard for his lucid appreciation of Igbo culture, a missionary tactic that endeared him to the hearts of the Igbo Catholics. Cf. J. Baur, 2006, 179–182. That theological and biblical interpretations are culturally, historically and socially conditioned, has been repeatedly pointed out. Cf. R. Schreiter, Constructing Local Theologies (1985). The task remains, however, achieving some enabling academic distance between the text and the context, this veritable tool of hermeneutics. 995 Cf. G. LeMarquand, “New Testament Exegesis in (Modern) Africa“, in: G.O. West & M.W. Dube (ed.), 2000, 72–102 (74–75). 996 The gains of theological enlightenment is summarily noted by E. Hegel as the advancement of positive theology through theological research, a development that helped in no little way in combatting superstition and abuses of religious customs. On the ground of the fundamentals of its thought pattern, namely, anthropocentricism, “demythologisation“ of the universe through critical, empirical encounter of things, the enlightenment afforded scientific explanations. Rational ways of dealing with the issues of human physical and psychological sufferings, among others, through medication and therapy were evolved, and continued to be developed. The so-called “attack“ of evil spirits was no longer to be reckoned with. The activities of exorcists are suspected as pre-scientific, syncretistic and perhaps deceptive, and

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being fore-programmed, one that would eventually blossom when translations of the Bible into native languages, and increased literacy began to be the case.997 The pioneer efforts and successes of the CMS in Igboland in this regard, following their missionary policy of evangelisation through vernacular and indigenous missionaries cannot be over-emphasized. It saw to the very first translations of the Bible into Igbo language. After the first attempts at the translation of some portions of the NT in 1893 by the combined efforts of an Igbo school teacher, Isaac Mba, and a protestant missionary, Rev. Henry Dobinson, Archdeacon T. J. Dennis and a translation committee, among whom numbered T.D. Anyaegbunam, an Igbo catechist, came up with the NT version of the Union Igbo Bible (1909), and a translation of the entire Bible in 1913.998 A.O. Nkwoka (op.cit.) presents us with a list of other popular Igbo translations of the Bible to his knowledge. However, his claim that Archdeacon Dennis’ translation is the first “and to date (2000), the only standard Igbo Bible“ may be considered too far-reaching, when one realizes that the Catholic Igbo Bible, a work that involved many biblical scholars and catholic theology students, was published in 1999. Be that as it may, the epochal nature of this achievement by Archdeacon Dennis and team, in those relatively early times, remains monumental in the history of Christianity in Igboland, even as it did not find corresponding reverberation among the general Igbo populace. Apart from the difficulties of bulkiness and availability, the issues of the politics of Igbo dialects saw the in-the-text-predominant-Owerri-dialect unaccepted by the Onitsha regions. Moreover, the seething

fundamentally not in line with churches teaching. Cf. E. Hegel, “Enlightenment“, in: NCE 5 (2003), 254–259; H. Wrogemann, 2012, 17–23, 62–63. 997 This is one of the most important contributory factors to the emergence of the socalled African Independent/Instituted Churches. A number of them are reactionary developments to the apparent abuse, and seeming non-consideration of the African socio-cultural circumstances. Cf. D. Barret, Schism and Renewal in Africa (1968), cited by J.S. Mbiti, 1987, 35ff; N.I. Ndiokwere, 1995; see also N.W. Ndung'u, “The Role of the Bible in the Rise of African Instituted Churches...“, in: West & Dube (eds.), 2000, 236–247. 998 Cf. F.K. Ekechi, “The Missionary Career of Venerable T. J. Dennis“, cited by M.V.A. Chukwujekwu, 2009, 305; A.O. Nkwoka, op. cit., in: West & Dube (ed.), 2000, 326. Catholic productions at this time included Grammaire Ibo by Fr. Aime Ganot (1899), English, Igbo and French Dictionary by the Holy Ghost Fathers (1904), Dictionnaire Ibo-Français by Fr Zappa (1904). Cf. E.E. Okafor, “Francophone Catholic Achievements in Igboland, 1883–1905“, in: HistAfrica 32 (2005), cited by M.V.A. Chukwujekwu, 2009, 305.

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rivalry between Protestants and Catholics did not help the Catholics’ formal acceptance of the text.999 As A.O. Nkwoka observed, The role of the Bible in the Igbo Church would have been more amazing, had it not been for the religious colonization of the Bible by the missionaries... The Anglican Church encouraged the study of the Bible, but the mission-trained ministers had absolute control over the Scriptures and their interpretations were final. In the Roman Catholic Church, things were much worse with the Bible. Only Reverend Fathers could read and interpret the Bible, which was available in Latin among the priests. So the Protestant Igbo read the Bible with intimidated interpretation and the Roman Catholic Igbo had little or no access at all.1000

Despite the historical veracity of this outlook, the very fact that those Igbo converts could be taught the Bible and the tenets of the faith in their mother-tongue (initially through interpreters), and that some eventually could read it in Igbo language, was directly comparable to the Pentecost experience in Acts 2: 6–11. They could hear the great deeds of God in their own mother-tongue! The experience could only be overwhelming. At the basis of such teachings was the understanding of the Bible as “the Word of God“, implying, as adequately appreciated by H. Karpp above, “the authoritative human witness of divine revelation“, this understanding that goes beyond considering it merely as a religious or historical literature. This Igbo understanding of the Bible in the circumstance of Christian instructions – Catechism – is pointedly articulated, as well as determined by the response to the question on what the Bible is about in the Igbo version of the popular “Penny Catechism“:1001 „O bu okwu nke Chukwu di n ’Akwukwo di aso, nke e delu sitena nkuzi nke Mmuo Nso. Ya ka a kpolu Bible - It is the Word of God that is contained in the Sacred Book, written under the instruction of the Holy Spirit. That is the Bible.“1002

999 Cf. J. Baur, 2006, 178. One remembers, at this point, one of the catalogue of sins taught the Roman Catholics then – „Ije uka ma o bu akwukwo na aburo nke Katholik“ - attending Christian assembly or school that is not catholic! On the politics of Igbo dialects, there is a subtle rivalry among the various regions of Igboland – Asaba, Enugu, Onitsha, Owerri – over which dialect would be adopted as central. A solution in recent times has led to the evolution of “central Igbo“, comparable to „Hochdeutsch“ in the German-speaking world. 1000 Cf. A.O. Nkwoka, op. cit., in West & Dube (eds.), 2000, 327–328. 1001 The “Catechism of Christian Doctrine“ popularly known as „Penny“ Catechism because the original version only cost a penny, is a question and answer format catechism that was standard catechetical text in Great Britain in the 20th century. Published in Igbo as Katechism Nke Nzuko it has remained to date an unsurpassed determining factor to doctrine and faith among Roman Catholics in Igboland. 1002 Cf. Katechism nke Nzuko qtn 13; the underlined words are for the sake of emphasis.

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This Roman Catholic articulation is collaborated in Igbo Anglican Church setting where the Bible is simply referred to as Bible Nso/Akwukwo Nso – The Holy Bible or The Sacred Book. Collaborating the inter-denominational stance of this understanding of the Bible, J.S. Ukpong, in the report on the field work on appreciations of the Bible in Port-Harcourt Metropolis, notes the naive and dogmatic approach to the Bible in the research population. That the Bible is divinely inspired literally means for the concerned that they are God’s own words directly communicated (dictated) by him to humanity.1003 The dangers of such fundamentalistic attitude to the ­Bible with regard to its “God-authorship“ are immense. This is summarized in the ­naive and “dogmatic” approach to the Bible. It is not only interpreted literally, it is taken as imbued with magical powers. It is revered as such. It gets sometimes to the point of serving as replacement for the charms and amulets of the traditional Igbo (African) religion(s). O. Fuchs rightly noted that such surface (mis) understanding of the expression – “God authored the Bible“ - has often served the legitimization of misuse and/or outright abuse of biblical texts. This is especially in cases where its ethical standards are obviously “behind the norms of civilisation“. He came up with criteria against such abuse of the Bible. This is the task of scientific-exegetical hermeneutics, “always seeking to discover the kern of the divine in man in order to make it useful for human life.“1004 The implications of such fundamentalistic appreciations of biblical authorship were enormous and far-reaching especially in the context of Igbo world view. This is on account of its demonstrated immense religiosity, a religiosity that determines the Igbo (African) understanding of themselves and their world (see 5.1.2ff of our work). Central and uppermost in this connection to the Bible was the link and allusion it made to the abiding Igbo religious convictions about the Supreme Being Chukwu, this fundamental factor in Igbo (African) world view. Chukwu is the almighty creator, controller and sustainer of the universe (see 5.1.2.2.1 of our work). Principally, the Deus otiosus feeling that accompanied 1003 Cf. J.S. Ukpong, “Popular Readings of the Bible in Africa and Implications for Academic Readings: Report of Field Research carried out on Oral Interpretation of the Bible in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Nigeria under the auspices of the Bible in Africa Project, 1991–94“, in G.O. West & M.W. Dube (eds.), 2000, 583–594. The findings of this research are very useful for our work. This is not only because of its scientific quality, a part of the Igbo have their traditional home in the Port-Harcourt areas of Rivers State, Nigeria. 1004 Cf. O. Fuchs, „Kriterien gegen den Mißbrauch der Bibel“, in: JBTh 12 (1998), 243– 274. Our attempts at psychological hermeneutics (cf. 7.0ff) built on this necessity.

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the traditional understanding of God1005 was positively challenged. The thought would be: Chukwu, the incomprehensible transcendent yet immanent, whom we seek to reach through and in the deities and spirits, and whose words are communicated to us through their priests, diviners and mediums, now speaks to us through this new (print) medium - Bible. We not only hear, we also read his words! The experience, featuring the coming together of the oral, symbolic traditions with the new print tradition could only be overwhelming. The essence of religion as an attempt at bridging or overcoming this feeling of God-distance, by forging one form of relationship or the other to him, became more realized for the Igbo converts in the understanding of the Bible as “the Word of God“. In such traditional setting in which the epistemic outlook is largely “emotive“ and “active“ rather than “cerebral“ and “abstractive“, this hallmark of critical enquiry as against the culture of belief,1006 the authority of such word was in no doubt. The Bible as written word built upon, and indeed took over the immense authority spoken word already had in the Igbo (African) oral tradition. J.S. Mbiti appreciates promptly the immense power of the written word in the circumstances of the African oral tradition.1007 His remarks in this regard, pertaining to the contact with, and use of the Bible in general African settings, also applies to the Igbo circumstance. He notes that given the earlier low level of literacy among the peoples (where it existed at all, which initially was not the case),

1005 Cf. E. Ikenga Metuh, 1991, 69. It is interesting to note the various African traditional myths that have sought to capture the origin and cause of „God's withdrawal from human affairs“. More interesting, however, is that in African traditions there is no myth that proposes the restoration of the primordial nearness and harmony between God and man. The sense of deliveredupness was the fate of mankind. J.S. Mbiti maintains that this was a predisposition to the immense resonance the gospel message of Christus Victor found/finds among Africans. Cf. idem, „Afrikanische Beiträge zur Christologie“, in: G.F. Vicedom et al. (Hg.), 1968, 72–85; see also A.T. Sanon, „Die traditionelle afrikanische Religion und ihre Spiritualität“, in: Cikala M., V. (ed.), 1986, 11–32 (15). 1006 Cf. E.M. Onwuama, “The Epistemological Basis of the Belief in the Occult and Paranormal, and the Implications of this Belief in Nigeria“, in: C.A. Ebelebe, (ed.), 2012, 61–88 (77–78). The author, establishing that people's predominant process of knowledge acquisition constitute their epistemic outlook, addresses the intuitive and magic-religious attitudes of Nigerian (Africans). He believes that the inherent culture of belief it perpetuates accounts for Africa's backwardness regarding critical consciousness. On the role of the epistemological framework in Biblical Hermeneutics, see D. Patte’s article in the biblical theology series Semeia 73 (1996), 263–276. 1007 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1987, 31ff.

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it was often the case that the first literary contacts had to do with publication of the Bible or parts of it in the mother-tongue of the concerned African people. As such the Bible became the only book people read in their mother-tongue. Such contacts with written knowledge, different from the usual/traditional orally transmitted knowledge exercises somewhat magical influence and attraction on the concerned. Hearing/reading the Bible in the languages of theirs gives the bible a living form. It becomes a living book. Hearing/reading God’s great acts told in their own mother-tongue became a re-living of the Pentecost experience (Acts 2: 6–11). The experience can only be overwhelming. We must note, however, that in the enthusiasm over this development, the critical question over the quality of the translations was not raised. Issues about what was read, interpreted or really understood were not considered. One needs perhaps to have in mind the biblical account of the encounter between Philip and the Ethiopian pilgrim reading Isaiah (Acts 8:30ff) to appreciate the problem. A fundamentalistic relationship to the Bible began to develop. “Is it in the Bible?“ or “It is written in the Bible...“, with little or no consideration of exegetically responsible interpretation, became the summarizing attitude that demonstrated the absolute authority of the Bible among them. In such circumstances the epilogue to the Book of Revelation about “removing or adding to what is written in this Book“ (Rev 22:18–19) is understood as a definite seal applying to the whole of the Bible. Interestingly too, such “seal” of the authority of the Bible and its words seemed not to apply to the often clearly selective hearing of its message in practical living. In the circumstance of such enthusiasm, this encounter with the written word in the setting of the Igbo (African) world view(s) created among the Igbo (Africans) a unique appreciation of their world view. Enormously close-relationship between the Igbo (African) world-view(s) and the background world view of the biblical texts began to be observed. J.S. Mbiti gives eloquent expression to this observed relationship. Yes, the people hear the story of God’s salvation, love and grace, uncovered, in their own language, the language with which they understand their whole being, in the language of their childhood and of their growth, the language of their dreams and expectations, their fears and hopes.1008

Going on further, Mbiti makes a contribution that would be built upon in a critical look at such relationship to the Bible. But they also hear other things in the Bible. Africans hear and see a confirmation of their cultural, societal and religious life in the life and stories of the Jewish people, as

1008 Cf. ibid., 34. Translation is mine.

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they are presented and firmly held on the pages of the Bible. Particularly interesting are the stories in the book of Genesis... the Wisdom traditions,... and also the parables of Jesus in the gospels. In these and many other accounts, the African Christians see and hear descriptions that correspond to their own traditional life. The Bible immediately becomes a mirror, a picture that not only reflects, but also firmly presents their own very experiences, considerations, religious views and practices... They perceive themselves belonging to the world of the Bible. They see their present-day world mirrored in these great pictures. The world of the Bible is not one of the past two or three thousand years; they discover that it is for them a world of yesterday and today... It is a living portrait of their culture and experiences, their history and geography, their fears and hopes, their spiritual longings.1009

This presentation that captures the popular African biblical scenery is particularly true also of the Igbo context. However, particular note must be taken of the expression that Africans see a confirmation of their world view in the Bible. This is the crux of the matter, and the difficult inheritance in biblical encounter in Igbo (African) context. By seeing a confirmation of their world view in the biblical passages, Mbiti argues that the people feel the Bible has taken them seriously. They in-turn take the Bible also seriously as justifications of their practices and beliefs.1010 There is no doubt that in such “seeing“, the minds and eyes became often closed to circumstances of such biblical articulations, as well as to the radical and critical confrontations biblical passages should be to the many worrisome provisions of the traditional Igbo (African) world views. Some critical biblical reviews of the provisions of the African traditional religion(s), especially regarding women, are championed today in Africa by African women biblical scholars. The criticism is that, often, given the traditional patriarchal background, many male counterparts have assigned an almost exclusively positive role to African traditions, a criticism that is very apt. A difference has to be made between “historical“ continuity and hermeneutical discontinuity. A number of the ways with which the ancient traditional provisions got along with the world and sustained the society have to be interpreted anew in order to adjust to, and accommodate the realities of today’s world. Through such interpretations the honest intentions

1009 Cf. ibid., 34. Translation and italics are mine. R. Horton had earlier argued that the faith convictions and practices of the so-called world religions become accepted where they coincidentally correspond to the answers traditional cosmologies of the other had provided over issues unattended to by the non-missionary factors of the modern situations. Cf. idem, African Conversion, in: Africa XLI, 2 (1979) 104, cited by E.E. Uzukwu, „Der spirituelle Gehalt der Igbo-Gebete“, in: V. Cikala M., (ed.), 1986, 71–92. 1010 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1987, 46. Translation is mine.

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and the wisdom of the traditional points of view become differentiated from the wrongs of inadequate praxis.1011 Seemingly caught up in similar enthusiasm, Mbiti attempts excusing such “seen confirmations“.1012 The attempts are unsatisfactory because such selective seeing of confirmations often distorts the very heart of the gospel message and the African witness, as exemplified in the oppressive situations women encounter. In addition, the missionaries through whom these initial contacts with the Bible were begun did not bring along critical reflections in the true academic sense of the world. What often featured was the general condemnation of the traditional religion as things belonging to “the devil and his kingdom of darkness“. Some pockets of indigenous critical stances that were made, got the blanket discredit in the form of the rebuke of “lack of faith“; and they were nipped at the board to avoid the “spread of such poison“ in the young communities under formation.1013 Thus was born not only the tendency to, but the fact of „Bible fetishism“, and it has continued being handed down. This is the regrettable legacy that still plagues the Igbo (African) society up till date, what

1011 The masquerades, for example, served among others as the conscience of the society, arbitrated in disputes, and as law enforcement agents in the absence of police, courts of law etc. Aren't such services overtaken by the provisions in current socio-political circumstances? Begetting multiple children may have been justified on the grounds of mortality rates given the inadequate health system. It served also to provide work-force in the circumstance where farming was life's mainstay. New and improved health systems, diversified economic outlooks, the need for, and absolute necessity for education and its financing demand a re-thinking of the traditional positions. The issues of women emancipation speak for itself. The “Evil Forest“ ajo ofia phenomena may have unknowingly served environmental/eco-system issues by ensuring the preservation of species etc. 1012 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1987, 46–49. Despite the acknowledged positive developments, we think that the claim that the Gospel is so integrated in the African culture and world view, as Mbiti also readily claimed, is an optimism too early. In as much as we acknowledge positive developments in this regard, we must note that there is still immense room for such wished integration. 1013 The story is told of an elderly man who asked a missionary, on hearing the Genesis creation story that Adam and Eve ate a forbidden fruit, whether the fruit was to be found in Igboland. As the missionary replied to the negative instead of appreciating the metaphor of the story, the elderly man dismissed the assembly saying, “since the fruit does not grow in our land, we cannot have eaten it. So we have no share in whatever consequence brought by eating it.“

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is generally articulated as “popular“ or “ordinary“, i.e. pre-critical readings of the Bible.1014 In a setting, therefore, where despite risen and rising literacy levels (albeit with very minimal Bible literacy) and increasing urbanisation, the strong influence of oral and symbolic traditions holds sway. Thus the power of oral theology, in the sense of the use made of the Bible by popular and street preachers can only be confirmed. This is a veritable feature of the Igbo settings. In such settings, it is believed that to be a living theology, a basis in the Bible has to be found.1015 The Bible is seen, not only as a religious book; it is regarded as having significant spiritual and magical power, the power originating from its author – God. J.S. Ukpong articulates these basic attitudes to the Bible among African (Igbo) popular readers: That the Bible is divinely inspired is taken to imply that it has magical dimensions. The Bible is used to ward off evil spirits, witchcraft and sorcery, it is placed under the pillow at night to ensure God’s protection, it is put in handbags and cars when travelling to ensure a safe journey, it is used in swearing to bring God’s wrath upon culprits... The reverence accorded the Bible as God’s word means... too that the historical veracity of its content is not questioned as such questioning would detract from its reverence... They are interested neither in the literal analysis of biblical texts nor in the history behind the text. They are interested in the theological message in the text and how that message might be useful to their lives.1016

1014 On the various meanings and dimensions of what may be understood under the terms “popular“, “ordinary“, critical/pre-critical readings, see West & Dube (ed.), Semeia 73 (1996), 7–17. 1015 J.S. Mbiti sees this as the foundation upon which African theology is developing. Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1987, 50–53. J.S. Pobee collaborating this opinion, maintains that biblical theology is not an autonomous but an integral part of African theology. Cf. J.S. Pobee, “Bible Study in Africa: A Passover of Language“, in: West & Dube (ed.) Semeia 73 (1996), 161–179. There is no doubting the place of the Bible in authentic theological development. It must, however, be realized that authentic biblical basis for “a living theology“ is more than merely finding biblical words or texts that correspond to a particular/arbitrary direction or the other, a praxis or another. The importance of responsible exegesis that affords sound hermeneutics cannot be over-emphasized. Cf. O. Fuchs, „Kriterien gegen den Mißbrauch der Bibel“, in: JBTh 12 (1997), 243–274. For details to the issues of Biblical Theology confer JBTh 25 (2010). 1016 Cf. J.S. Ukpong, op. cit, 587–588; italics is our, intended to question the understanding of theology in such expression. It is obvious that the use of the term here is the popular/arbitrary notion that is miles away from the understanding of theology as scientific. See also J.S. Pobee, op. cit., in: Semeia 73 (1996), 161; D.T. Adamo, Reading and Interpreting the Bible in African Indigenous Churches, cited by J. van der

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It must be noted that “the usefulness to their lives“ referred to here bordered mainly on issues of individual benefits with little or no reference to commitments to societal transformation. On a similar note, J. van der Watt, rightly observes that ...In Africa the Bible and its interpretation largely belong to the community of believers. The Bible serves for them as foundational religious document. They expect it to have relevant and existential appeal to their lives. African Christianity remains faithful to the basic convictions of the New Testament and tries to solve the problems of the day from within this basic framework...1017

A critical question, however, is what to be understood as the theological message (J.S. Ukpong) of the text! Would it not rather be a pastoral message, emphasizing thereby the determination of an interpretation by a particular pastoral opinion and/or socio-political/cultural circumstances dictating the interpretation? K. Berger has critically referred to this as “hermeneutic of the hour“, and rightly called it a secularised form of religious individualism.1018 It becomes a “theology of survival“, concerned with (mis)using the Bible to surmount personal difficul-

Watt, in: idem et al. (ed.), 2008, 240; J.S. Mbiti, 1987, 46. Is the current practice of having the Bible or other holy books in the hand during swearing-in ceremonies or before witnessing in courts of law, not a pointer to such generally shared tendencies? 1017 J. van der Watt, op. cit., in: idem et al. (eds.), 2008, 240; see also G.O. West, “Mapping African Biblical Interpretations“, in: idem & Dube (eds.), 2000, 29–53. The New Testament conviction in question borders on the consciousness (sometimes overbearing) of being surrounded by invisible reality/realities – a host of negative supernatural powers perceived to be real and potent, under whose whims and influences the human life plays out. It is the spirituality that makes belief in wonder and miracles its integral parts. Our discussions of the Pauline spirit world terminologies and Antecedents, Ephesian and Igbo world views in this light (chapters 1, 4 & 5 of our work) showed the background of this understanding as being mainly a form of Weltbewältigung, man's attempt to grapple with his appreciation of the phenomena of forces and experiences of evil that confronts him in his world as given. 1018 Cf. K. Berger, 1999, 207. O. Fuchs recognizes some positive relevance of such. He calls it “optional hermeneutics“, insisting, however, that the Sinnstrukturen of the text be discovered and appreciated. Such respectful approach, while opening out new horizons of understanding, discovers the limitations and directions the text’s structures of meaning dictated through its semantic field. Among such options are options to repentance, to justice and to grace. Cf. O. Fuchs, „Kriterien gegen den Mißbrauch der Bibel“, in: JBTh 12 (1998), 263–269. The importance of these options for the challenge to the commitment to societal transformation that the Bible contains is often missed in the fundamentalistic orientations in “ordinary“ readings.

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ties of daily living. This has been the bane of such African (as well as European-American) theological outlooks in which the Bible is misused or outrightly abused, often expected, and made to serve a particular theological outlook. In such circumstances, pastoral opinion, often devoid of some critical academic distance, forms biblical interpretation. The biblical-theological opinions that justified such issues like slave trade, colonialism, apartheid etc. are unfortunate examples. On the African perspective, the need-driven and consume-solutionoriented approaches, that do not often seek to understand the text merely for its own sake, or out of some intellectual curiosity, is often the case. It is apparently often more interested on the readers than on the text, a predilection that blurs the needed academic distance for proper exegesis and hermeneutics. An authentic “reading with“, this interface between critical and ordinary readings, is the task of proper hermeneutics. This is our undertaking. It is a facilitation that features a combination of intellectual curiosity, i.e., understanding of the text for its own sake, even as it gives attention to the context.1019 The so-called “ordinary“ reading, this biblical encounter in the setting of „theology of survival“, is what has often come to be regarded as “African way of reading the Bible“. It is many a time dictated by the sometimes uncritically celebrated view that African world view(s) is/are closely related to the world view at the background of biblical texts or the Bible in general. Such assertion, true as it has been shown to be, has led to Africans, more often than not, just seeing confirmations of their world view(s) in the Bible! J.S. Pobee would even go as far as stating that “...for many Africans, church persons and theologians alike, there is no conflict between biblical and traditional African religious beliefs, particularly in the existence of a spirit world, including evil spirits.”1020 Is this position really tenable? We consider it despicable, noting that it does a disservice to the issue at stake. From the logical point of view, that a person or group of persons see/sees no conflict between beliefs does not automatically mean there is none. There are

1019 Cf. G. LeMarquand, “New Testament Exegesis in (Modern) African“, in: G.O. West, & M.W. Dube (eds.), 2000, 72–102 (93,95); see also D. Patte, “Biblical Scholars at the Interface between Critical and Ordinary Readings: A Response“, in: Semeia 73 (1996), 263–276. 1020 Cf. J.S. Pobee, in: Semeia 73 (1996), 166. Italics is ours. J.S. Ukpong, seemingly supportive of this position, criticizes the so-called western exegetical methodologies that, in his view, do not reflect the concerns of African people regarding the popular acceptance of the miraculous and the supernatural. J.S. Ukpong, 1994, 19–20, cited by G. LeMarquand, “New Testament Exegesis in (Modern) Africa“, in: G.O. West & M.W. Dube (eds.), 2000, 72–102(94).

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indeed conflicts! Pobee himself witnesses to it without acknowledging such. He notes, while advocating cultural hermeneutics, that certain aspects of African culture have been used as instruments of domination and legitimatization of the oppression of the less privileged in the traditional society.1021 If we just have to celebrate the basic similarities between the biblical and African world views and remain there, what about the aspects of the Bible that challenge the practices in such world view? Jesus’ teachings on the new law (Matt 5:17ff par) are vivid examples with regard to the call to repentance, to the new justice and to grace. An apparent inconsistency in Pobee’s position is evidenced the more when, on the one hand, he argues that theological and biblical reflection “should start from certain social relations and realities”, and turns around, on the other hand, to cajole the critical academic distance that guarantees such hermeneutical endeavours as “the tinge of agnosticism so characteristic of Northern scientific method“.1022 If biblical reflections start from certain social relations and realities, as he rightly opined, the apparent conflict between biblical provisions, in the sense of the criticism they were and are to the societies in context, and African traditional religious beliefs and practices, would be obvious despite the relationships. We may, however, observe that the apparently overwhelming concern about the issues of liberation in the socio-political circumstances (colonialism, apartheid etc.) of such articulations as Pobee’s, may have been responsible for such wrongly generalized positions. The gains of such critical distance that has observed the difference between “popular“ and “academic“ reading, even as it insists on an interface between the two, informs our examination of reading Eph 3:10 in Igbo context. It is our conviction that such critical academic distance is exigent. This is in the sense of responsible exegetical hermeneutics. It has a special advantage of the ones involved in the exercise being also members of the community of readers. Such exercise by the involved offers veritable assistance towards realizing the objective of theology in general, and African theology in particular. J.S. Pobee rightly understood this objective as “...the attempts of Africans to make sense of the Word of God in their varied contexts and situations.”1023 1021 Cf. J.S. Pobee, op. cit., in: Semeia 73 (1996), 167. 1022 Cf. ibid, 165–166. 1023 Cf. J.S. Pobee, op. cit, in: Semeia 73 (1996), 164. O. Fuchs challenges in this light to the hermeneutical “option to repentence“, “to justice“, in the sense of the challenge the claims of faith in Jesus brings with it regarding societal transformation. According to him, without the readiness to repentance that bears fruit in re-thinking and action in the direction of the love of God and neighbour, as Jesus taught, one is

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8.1.1 Reading Eph 3:10 in Igbo context – The understanding of „Principalities and Powers“ in Igbo context 8.1.1.1  Recapitulating Eph Principalities and Authorities/Powers The reading of Eph 3:10 in Igbo context further exposes the parallelism between Igbo (African) world view and the world view at the background of Eph. In our earlier examination of the Eph world view (Chap. 4), we articulated, among others, the place of spirit world concerns in this world view. Noting that it was a unique participation in the background world view of the NT with regard to spirit world concerns,1024 it was obvious these concerns formed the background of the original audience of the Letter. Such spirit world concerns saw “Ephesus“ of the time, in the general sense of the Asia Minor territories, a metropolis and stronghold of magic and related practices. The goal of such practices remained the attempt at the manipulation of the spirits in the interest of the concerned individual(s). Though the recipients had become Christians, and were being encouraged to be, there is no gainsaying they had their share of the influences of such circumstance (Acts 19:8ff). It was exigent, therefore, for the author to address these concerns of his audience. In the thought pattern of what has come to be understood as biblical theological attention to the problem of evil, to belief in demons, the author uses imageries familiar to his audience. The doubled-

bound to read the Bible wrongly, as defense and justification of one's or a collective status quo. Cf. O. Fuchs, op. cit, in: JBTh 12 (1998), 264. 1024 We reiterate that the NT world view built upon the inherited results of the various stages of the attempts in the OT at grappling with the issues of human experience, especially the experiences of the negatively overwhelming, „the undesirable“, that eventually came to be termed evil. Becoming ontologised as the Evil One/Devil, it was made responsible for every experience of the undesired, moral, physical etc. In the contention with the emergent dualism, NT theology presents in Jesus Christ God's lasting response to this ensued great divide. He becomes the one through whom, and in whom these negative experiences are overcome in God (1 Cor 15:28; Rev 21:5). Cf. U. Schnelle, 2007, 16; G. Theißen, 2007, 292–305, 331. See also O. Keel, „Schwache alttestamentliche Ansätze zur Konstruktion einer stark dualistisch getönten Welt“, in: A. Lange et al. (Hg.), 2003, 211–233. G.J. Riley, notes the strong influence of these traditions in the ministry of Jesus in NT where the activity of demons was more about causing infirmities, disabilities and insanity. Cf. idem, “Demons“, in: K. van der Toorn et al. (Hg.), DDD. 1999, 235–240; idem, “Devil“, in: DDD. 1999, 244–249; see also G. Bodendorfer, „Teufel. II. Biblisch-theologisch“, in: LThK3 9 (2000), 1360–1363; K. Kertelge, „Teufel. 3. Neues Testament“, in: LThK3 9 (2000), 1363–1365.

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concept – Principalities and Authorities(Powers), summing up these imageries, characterizes the impalpability of the phenomenon of evil and its powerful operations. The author of Eph engages in a tacit hermeneutics that showed an understanding of such imageries and language as attempts to address the factual experiences of evil in the light of the meaning and understanding of salvation in Jesus Christ (1 Jn 3:8b).1025 The Eph author did this especially from the point of view of fostering peace and unity in the community of believers (2:14–17). The association of the issues of unity with the spirit world concerns was borne out of the basic traditional understanding that all undesirable experiences (in this case, disunity as a visible re-manifestation of the primeval chaos) are traceable to, and are perpetuated by malevolent spirits. According to the chthonic stratifications inherent in the world view(s) in question, these malevolent spirits inhabited the aerial regions of the cosmos – the heavenly places evn toi/j evpourani,oij in the dictum of Eph, thereby perpetuating the separation between God and man.1026 This location indicated and expressed both their perceived other-worldliness as well as their oppressive influences on human beings. This expression was rather an articulation of the human sense of deliveredupness in the face of the incomprehensible givens of 1025 Cf. E.S.P. Thompson, „Die Dämonen in der Biblischen Theologie“, in: G. Rosenkranz et al.(Hg.), 1967, 148–163(158). See also G. Bodendorfer & K. Kertelge, op. cit. in: LThK3 9 (2000), 1360–1365. A summary of what is meant by biblical theological attention to the problem of evil as culminating in the cross of Christ, inheres in the understanding that it is neither about absolutising, trivialising nor giving-up in the face of the incomprehensiveness of the problem of evil. It is also not about the illusion that one can finally overcome evil through some martial act that will bring about a perfect society. It is rather in the orientation to an active life that strives to overcome evil with good in union with Christ. Cf. J. Frey & G. OberhänslWindmer, „Der Diskurs um ‚das Böse‘ und der Beitrag biblisch-theologischer Perspektiven. Zur Einführung in die Thematik“, in: idem et al. (Hg.), Das Böse: JBTh 26 (2011), VII–XXVI. K. Berger has used the expression rabulistisches Ausschlachten to underline the hermeneutic endeavours by the early Christian writers in their use of OT Scriptures to present their message. Cf. idem, 1999, 5, 120–135; see also O. Wischmeyer, 2004, 7–10, 25–25. Seeing such in Eph would therefore not be a misrepresentation. 1026 G.J. Riley, associates the origin of this aerial location with the spirits of the wicked giants, the offsprings of the fallen angels and women. Becoming neither angelic nor human, after their destructions by God through the great flood, they became trapped in the regions of the air, haunting the humans therefrom. Cf. idem, op.cit. in: K. van der Toorn et al. (Hg.), DDD (1999), 238–239. See also R. Schwindt, Das Weltbild des Epheserbriefes, 2002.

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his world, factual experiences of the problem of evil, as it were. Eliciting various responses, these incomprehensible givens became “cosmic powers“, demonised verteufelt as it were. Man struggled to get along with them through etherealisation and corresponding religious approaches.1027 Eph proffers its own response through its theological orientations. These are the (cosmic) Christology and ecclesiology it propagates. This features in the identification between Christ (through whom the cosmic All is reconciled by God Eph1:10) and the Church, the visible expression of this fullness (Eph1:23; 3:10). Identifying these malevolent spirits articulated in Eph in the all-encompassing terms as Principalities and Powers/Authorities1028 the Christology of Eph shows them overcome by Christ (1:19–21). This victory, however, was to play out in Eph ecclesiology, the church as body of Christ, the reconciled assembly made-up of Jews and Gentiles (2:11–22), this mirror of cosmic reconciliation. Upon this, the author makes an anamnesis of Paul as one commissioned to announce the realization of the mystery of Christ. This mystery, namely, the cosmic reconciliation that the inclusion of Gentiles as co-heirs of the promises of salvation in Christ (3: 1–9) reflects, has been revealed to the holy apostles and prophets. Thus the revelation schema that has evolved, involved the principalities and powers/authorities as well. The realization of the eternal will of God, avpokata,stasij pa,ntwn the mystery of restoration/reconciliation, this defeat of chaos, of the principalities and powers/authorities as perpetuators of division and divisiveness, is the mission of the church (3:10). The church fulfills this mission through her very being as the peace-fostering unified and unifying assembly of the reconciled. She is the living reflection of reconciliation. The paraenetics section of Eph, beginning in 4:1ff, culminates in the charge evndunamou/sqe evn kuri,w| to be strengthened in the Lord in order to fight the principalities and their cohorts (6:10ff). It establishes the practical/ethical measures that are more than a catalogue of virtues. Adopting them ensures and fosters the

1027 G.J. Riley, in his analysis of the word “Demon“, did establish that among the ancients, what came to be spirits, gods, demons, were initially often personifications of dire situations, to whom powers became ascribed during dangerous times, situations and places. These include the night, midday heat, wind-storm, desert, infant mortality, famine, diseases etc. There are also the issues of anthropomorphisms and thieromorphisms. Cf. idem, “Demons“, in: K. van der Toorn et al. (Hg.), DDD, 1999, 235–240. 1028 Our study of these terms showed them as linked to the mythologisation of the elements of the cosmos stoicheia tou cosmou and subsequent mixture of related ideas in the course of its various receptions.

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continued peace, unity of the believers. Through it, believers as church witness to the wisdom of God. Our psycho-hermeneutical investigation reveals this hermeneutical strategy of Eph. Responding to the spirit world concerns of his audience in the Verteufelung that the terms Principalities and Authorities/Powers and cognates give expression, Eph calls to the Christian consciousness that bears out in socio-ethical action as the means of response to the experience of evil (4: 1–6:10–17). The union in, and with Christ, engendering corresponding social responsibilities in positive action as ways of living, guarantees essential steps to undoing the fears (1 Jn 4:18) which constitute the breeding ground of the spirit world concerns.1029 That reflects the participation in the final undoing of the principalities and authorities/powers, this unique prerogative of God. Thus the reading/study of Eph 3:10 provided a rounding out of the Letter to the Ephesians.

8.1.1.2 “Principalities and Authorities/Powers” in Igbo Context - a critical review towards cognitive restructuring The reading of Eph 3:10 in the Igbo context, what falls into the category of “ordinary“ reading, is also filtered in its own through the lenses of the cultural context. Two major factors are determinant here. The first and most basic is the spirit world issues in Igbo (African) world view, the preoccupation with which has stood out as a hallmark of the Igbo (African) traditional religion. The second is the understanding of the Bible and its (mis)use that such background world view and contact with the Bible, as demonstrated above, has brought about and engenders. The two factors, however, exercise common influence. In our examination of the Igbo (religious) world view, we established the preponderance of spirit world concerns (cf. 5.2ff). This is borne out of the belief that the world has two dimensions, the material/visible on the one side, and the immaterial/invisible on the other. The two do not however constitute a dualism. Rather they are in constant contact, with the invisible perceived as exerting enormous influence on the goings-on in the visible. It is this perceived invisible world that is the spirit world, made of the benevolent spirits and the malevolent spirits. In this categorisation that is borne out of the experiences of good and evil, well-being, misfortune and afflictions,1030 one readily sees that it is about

1029 Cf. K. van der Toorn, op. cit. in: A. Lange et al. (Hg.), 2003, 61–83; B.J. Claret, „Teufel. III. Theologie- u. dogmengeschichtlich, & VI. Systematisch-theologisch”, in: LThK3 9 (2000), 1365–1368. See also 7.2 & 7.3 of our work. 1030 Some comparisons could be drawn in this case with the understanding, among the ancient Greeks, of euvdaimoni,a (prosperity, good fortune, happiness), understood as

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the appreciations of the problem of evil even when a classically formulated theodicy may not have been the case. It is in these experiences of misfortune and afflictions, directly attributed to what has been categorized as malevolent spirits, that the preoccupation with the spirit world concerns in Igbo traditional and Christian contexts plays out. Principally constituted by the uncomprehended cosmic forces, whose enormity, power and operation are superhuman, and therefore beyond understanding and control, these were deified in Igbo traditional religion.1031 Their very capriciousness and enigmatic, superhuman nature, and the experiences of their violence demonised them all the more. In the polytheism of Igbo traditional religion, the enigma of the ambivalence of the gods was accommodated (cf. 5.2ff). Christian demonology that posited the understanding of “the devil“ as Inbegriff des Bösen evil incarnate, the leader, epitome and source of all evil experiences readily found resonance among the Igbo Christians. That became Ekwensu. It gave both concrete and mental forms to the Principalities and authorities (and cognates) in the Igbo Christian epistemic categories. All that were/are dreaded, the experiences of evil as it were, found articulation in this category. To these personified cosmic forces, now malevolent spirits, are added the spirits/ghosts of the deceased who had led wicked/bad lives, those who have died “bad death“ as a result of unknown sickness, suicide or “untimely“ death. According to the Igbo tradition, such deceased, do not receive proper burial, when they are buried at all.1032 And having not received proper burial, they are not entitled to admittance in the restful land of the dead, this abode of the ancestors, the dependent on the activities of benevolent spirits, and kakodaimoni,a (ill-fortune), brought about by some dark but legitimate power. Cf. G.J. Riley, op. cit., in DDD (1999), 236. 1031 Cf. E. Ikenga-Metuh, 1986, 138; C.O. Ukeh, 2007, 258, 271ff. G.J. Riley, has given account of such related pattern of thoughts among the peoples of ANE and NT circumstances. Cf. G.J. Riley, op. cit, 235–240. 1032 Achebe gives an example with Unoka, the loafer father of Okonkwo the chief protagonist of book Things Fall Apart. Unoka, afflicted with swollen stomach and limbs, what was considered an abomination to the earth goddess, was carried to the evil forest and left there to die. The idea was that if he were buried in the bowels of the earth like every other, he would pollute the earth with the abominable infection. Okonkwo too, despite his greatness, had to “be buried like a dog“, having killed himself. Cf. C. Achebe, 2010, 15, 145. When one considers, in the first instance, that the so-called abomination is the terminal stages of cancer of the liver, one may appreciate the consternation that was behind such ways of dealing with the victims of such sickness.

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living-dead. The believed reward to the living-dead in the forms of re-incarnation and/or appearances in the forms of masquerades cannot be their lot. With such stamp of unfulfillment, they are perceived to have been banished to the intermediate space between the land of the living and the land of dead. Their homeless and restless spirits are believed to wander about and become vengeful, wreaking havoc upon the living. Any experience of misfortune or afflictions in the immediate surroundings would be readily attributed to these unrestful spirits1033 that become understood as agents of the devil. Relationship to these spirits in the traditional religion took the forms of sacrifices, rituals of expulsion/”exorcism”, involving sometimes the exhumation and burning of the exhumed remains. These were meant to bring some respite, mental and otherwise, to assuage the sense of deliveredupness in those experiences. They were understood as ways of mollifying the malevolent spirits and keeping them off one’s paths. Such sacrifices and rituals are, however, no guarantee for complete safety from these afflictions or misfortune.1034 Salvation was steadily sought through such measures. It was never guaranteed. This understanding that underlines the capriciousness of the spirits in Igbo world view, is given expression by the Igbo when reference is made to the gods/spirits as “ogbu onye mgbe ndu na-agu ya“ - they (the gods/spirits) “kill“ when their help is most desired! This remark simply expresses the realization that the gods/spirits act according to their whims, and not necessarily as desired by the suppliant(s). It invites the suppliant(s) to be open to such experience.1035 In

1033 It is quite interesting to note the relationship between this Igbo understanding and Riley's account of the spirits of the wicked giants (offsprings of the fallen angels and human women), perceived to have been trapped in the regions of the air. Cf. G.J. Riley, “Demons“, in: DDD (1999), 239. 1034 A vivid example is the ogbanje “repeaters“ belief among the Igbo. Capturing the experience of high infant mortality rate in the Igbo traditional society, what recent studies have shown to be issues of sickle cell anaemia (cf. 5.2.1.2), such deaths were, naturally, emotional horror to the bereaved. It is clear that no amount of rituals would resolve the existent biological incompatibility. Yet in the understanding of the time such religious responses were undertaken to give respite. That they were no sure guarantee against reoccurrence was the experience as such births and deaths continued. This may have partly provided a justification for polygamy. The women concerned often bore the brunt. They became either “demonised“ and/or sent back to their parents as unfit for marriage. 1035 This prompts the general advice: “onye ya na ndi mmuo na-eriko nri na-eji ogonogo ngaji“ - he/she who dines with the gods should do so with a long spoon (to facilitate escape should the need arise). One can never be quite sure of the gods/spirits. Related to this is the submission “omebere ma chi ekweghi, onye uta atana ya“ - do

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the category of the dreaded also, but in their own hierarchy, were the human associates believed to have accessed and harnessed these influences for good or evil. These include the priests/priestesses of the deities, medicine men/women dibia, magicians, sorcerers, witches and wizards (see 5.2.2.1 of our work). The morbid sense of insecurity and the fears that governed the ways of life in such settings can only be obvious. It remains an insistent influence even in our Christian settings. In traditional Igbo (African) world view, everything that is experienced is believed to have supernatural causation (attribution theory), and must also be attended to supernaturally. Unfortunately, this thought-pattern is still very present among many Africans, Christians and otherwise. Natural causes of or explanations for afflictions, misfortunes or related occurrences were, and are hardly accepted. Expertise, even in such entertainment events like acrobatics, circuses etc., is almost always not believed to be free from behind-the-scene magical empowerment. Every other experience of misfortune and affliction including illness, childlessness, material poverty, accidents and “untimely“ death etc., was, and is made the responsibility of the devil and these readily available malevolent spirits. The persons believed to be in union with them, having harnessed the know-how over their powers, share this responsibility also. This is the ever vibrant phenomena of magic, witchcraft, curses etc., still strongly influential in Igbo (African) societies. J.S. Mbiti refers in this regard to the so-called mystical power in the words of the parents, the aged, the medicine-man/-woman, ill-willed neighbours etc., believed among Africans to be extremely potent, and which bring about blessings or curses, fortune or misfortune, as the case may be.1036 Such beliefs have become so imprinted in the consciousness of Africans that their factual reality is taken as obvious. In such settings where the culture of belief instead of the culture of critical consciousness holds sway, one may not wonder at the profligate abundance of such thought patterns. Critical consciousness in practice would prompt a thought like: if fortune/ misfortune depended merely on wishes to that effect, and not in action or not blame someone who, despite his aspirations to succeed, experiences his god (destiny) obstructing his way. The “unconscious“ admission that not reaching one's desire is part of human life, and the understanding that seeks to resolve such in the gods/spirits would be interesting theological perspectives. 1036 Cf. J.S Mbiti, 1982, 197–198. There are, in this relation, for instance, personal experiences where people who have some terminal infections like HIV believe they got infected through a curse, words of threat or an evil “finger“ pointed at them by one enemy or the other. The issues of personal (mis)conduct or less carefulness are often rejected.

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inaction, why would one who may have been wished fortune through the socalled “extremely potent words“ ever encounter misfortune or affliction despite playing to the rules? Is it not more of a matter of belief, a psychological disposition! At the root of such dominant attributive thought-pattern is the extremely etched indisposition to accept the place of chance-occurrence. This is in line with the general human quest to have as much control as possible, if not absolute control, over the important life-events, to give total explanations to or be able to forecast all his/her experiences. This quest often influences or even determines religious orientations. In such frame of mind, it is wrongly thought that giving room to chance-occurrence, accepting that one does not have everything under one’s control, is a declaration of failure. It is wrongly thought that if an event is accepted as chance-occurrence or as also dependent on situational factors instead of being claimed to be result of personal/team efforts, that such would lead to loss of face, undermine the urge to hard work and encourage relapsing to the dictates of fatalism. The quest to achieve control of, and ability to forecast events by all means, this “age-old temptation“ to be like God, is the matrix for magic and related issues. It includes also the almost inexorable readiness to shift responsibilities for failure or misfortune to others, to steadily hold others responsible for one’s misfortune. Would not these be part of the reasons why the issues of magic, sorcery and witchcraft thrive almost unabatedly? The document, Meeting the African Religions, acknowledging these orientations, notes that “religion and magic are the two activities which express the spiritual life of the African peoples.“1037 The differentiating nuance that sees religion as involving an attitude of submission to, and confidence on the good will of the transcendent, come what may, and magic as involving some form of technical attitude aimed at gaining mastery over the mysterious/transcendent, is not a feature of African traditional religions. The two rather go together, giving rise to control-motivated religiosity. The consequences of such control illusion are summarized in the gullibilities that get exploited in charlatanry. To this effect, tradi1037 Cf. Vatican Secretariat for Non-Christians, Meeting the African Religions. Rome: Libreria Editrice Ancora, 1969, 87. See also 5.4 & 5.5 of our work. Attention is, however, drawn to the controversies around the qualifications of an approach or the other as magic or not. They often depended on the norms of the established religion, or on the favour of the legitimising authority. A popular example is Josephus Flavius' account of a certain Jewish trickster, Eleazer, and his “exorcism“ before Vespasian and his sons. Cf. M. Ebner, 2012, 109–111. The honesty of intention and means may, however, be used as differentiating standards even when such measures are often subjective, and may not readily be within immediate human discernment.

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tional religion busied itself with seeking and enhancing well-being, understood as freedom from these afflictions, at all costs, through forms of relationship or manipulation, as the case may be. This freedom was sought not only through observing the customs and morals, avoiding breaking the taboos of the land Nso ani. Most importantly also it was sought through paying tributes in the form of sacrifices to the gods and spirits in the forms of food and drink, libations and various forms of materials.1038 To these were added the making, keeping and wearing of charms and amulets. They were conceived as protective measures against the ill-will of the malevolent spirits and their human agents – Principalities and authorities/powers and cognates. Christianity was taken-up upon this background. No wonder its persistent influence among Christians. The role these perceptions have played in the (mis) understanding and abuse of sacraments and sacramentals as merely Christian replacements to these traditional units has been a difficult task in communicating the church’s teaching in her Sacramental theology. Such tendency is, however, acknowledged as not being peculiar to Igbo (African) Christians. The ends of religion, in Igbo traditional Igbo religion, were both physical and spiritual well-being in the here and now. This is the expectation with which Christianity is approached, leading to an (mis)understanding of faith in Christ as Allheilmittel, as practical and demonstrable cure for all problems. Health, prosperity, marital fruitfulness and longevity, peace and freedom from these afflictions believed to be brought about by the ever capricious gods and malevolent spirits constitute the evidences of this well-being. That meant salvation from the traditional religions’ point of view. The quest for this salvation, entailing coming to terms with these uncomprehended and capricious forces, whose immediate ubiquity was helplessly assumed and believed in, is comparable to the task of Sisyphus. The capricious nature of these forces, evidenced in the constant experiences of these afflictions made the quest for salvation – freedom from afflictions and misfortune – seemingly endless. The traditional world view and its grossly limited/inadequate solutions to these problems, either in the sense of direct physical and medical interventions or in the sense of alternative thought-patterns, made the situation more precarious and exasperating. The Deus otiosus/absconditus feeling was the experience. The ardent quest for salvation dictated the tune of living. As Mbiti did articulate,

1038 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, „Afrikanisches Verständnis der Geister im Lichte des Neuen Testaments“, in: G. Rosenkranz et al. (Hg.), 1967, 130–147; F.A. Arinze, 1970, 46–47; C.O. Ukeh, 2007, 268ff; see also G. Parrinder, 2000 (1951), 77–79, 94–95.

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The Africans know too well that there are many forces and powers that operate in the world. They may really exist or are merely available in people’s imaginations. They are, however, invisible powers, spirits which through magical practices and witchcraft cause fear, anxiety, sickness and death. They manifest the power of evil. In their traditional thinking the Africans always find an explanation for misfortune and tragedies of fate as effects of evil. They usually make witchcraft or magical practices responsible for such. They take particular measures to protect themselves from such; they try to drive out the spirits or to keep them at a distance; they employ magic in order to succeed in life, or to cure sickness and to counteract malady and sufferings as much as possible.1039

It is all these afflictions, made more enormous by the understanding that they are brought about by the malevolent spirits and their human collaborators, that are understood in the Igbo settings as principalities and authorities/powers under the auspices of “the devil/satan“ Ekwensu. The incessant quest to have the situations under control, and the often apparent inadequacies of the readily available provisions for getting along with this conditio humana, make these afflictions more enigmatic and consequently exasperating. In such helplessness, anxiety and fear fill the air. Igbo (Africans) are very traditional people, often holding fast to the handed-down world views despite contacts with technological developments, and exposure to scientific explanations. The manifest persistence of the belief that there are supernatural causations to whatever unwholesome experience that life affords, evidences that the authority of the traditional world view still holds sway. Not only is such assumed, supernatural solutions are sought by hook and crook, showing how deep-seated religious attribution of afflictions and disabilities lie in Igbo world view. Among the Igbo (Africans), natural and organic explanations of sickness, childlessness, accidents or disabilities etc., are fundamentally unsatisfactory. In a

1039 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, „Afrikanische Beiträge zur Christologie“, in: G.F. Vicedom et al. (Hg.), 1968, 70–85 (Translation and italics are mine); see also idem, 1987, 34, 62–65; J.S. Ukpong, “Popular Readings of the Bible in Africa...“ in: West & Dube (ed.), 2000, 590; A.I. Umoren, 2008, 41–47. The italics emphasize my interest in the sceptical distance it expresses. It is regrettable that such critical stance is not often built upon. Such would have helped the critical consciousness necessary for doing biblical theology of demons, in understanding the place of demons and contexts of the gospel miracle stories and their proper appropriation in African settings. Special note is however to be taken that the issue in question is about “the manifestations of the power of evil“! Moreso Mbiti engages in self-contradiction when he would later declare that the idea of ”„faith-warfare“ with the spirit world was totally unknown in traditional African religions. Upon what basis then were such traditional rituals based? Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1987, 104.

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setting where, for instance, in marriage, begetting children, counting as the very reason for marriage, is considered one of the greatest signs of man-/womanhood, sign of being at peace with the gods, biological explanations for childlessness sound cynical. It is basically understood as the activity of a witch somewhere in the neighbourhood, or a curse from the spirit world. The explanations of such natural occurrences like thunder and lightning as electro-magnetic phenomena are considered ridiculous. Yet people enjoy electricity, play radios and watch televisions, use telephones and computers etc., without worry about which “spirits” may be at work in such transmissions. The explanation that thunder or lightning run their natural courses, and may blindly strike a tree, a house, a human being or any object that happens to be on their paths at a particular moment or the other, is unacceptable. They are undoubtedly perceived as the judgment of the gods or the handiwork of “the devil“, these unpredictable malevolent spirits and agents against whom one has always to undertake every measure to protect oneself. The reason is not far-fetched. Where religion is a major source of meaning, and self-concept is dependent on religious sources, perceived inefficacy of secular efforts becomes a fertile ground for religious attributions.1040 The sense of a magical dimension to everything that had afforded explanations and ways of getting along with life from the primordial times has remained overbearing till date. Inadequate infrastructure, especially in medical and health systems, this manifest failure of the economic and sociopolitical management in our settings, keeps perpetuating this attitude. One may even talk of neo-ignorance and consequent syncreticism. In the abiding sense of insecurity and the fears with which people live, the principalities and authorities are readily at work. In such settings like the Igbo traditional societies where achievement was revered, individual or community progress is readily attributed to the use of an effective magic or the favour of a powerful, benevolent spirit or the other. It is the proverbial “having one’s palm-kernel cracked by a benevolent spirit.“ Mishap or the failure to attain an expected goal is perceived as an obvious sign of the operation of malevolent spirits or their human ill-willed agents – magicians and witches, etc. We note that the belief in supernatural causation is not just the problem. It is rather the incapacitation to critical and positive self-assertion and actions against the prevailing negative situation that such

1040 Cf. B. Spilka et al. “A General Attribution Theory for the Psychology of Religion“, in: idem & D.N. McIntosh, 1997, 162–163; see also B. Grom, 1992, 133–144.

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mentality fosters.1041 Recourse is readily made to fate even in cases that the least personal responsibility would have taken care of. Such translocation of issues of personal responsibility to the spheres of the mythological Vergeistigungen has been the bane of Igbo (African) societies. Such frame of mind makes the environment an El Dorado for charlatanry, for ancient and modern diviners and their trade. This is evidenced in the ever-increasing multiplication of the so-called New Religious Movements, given to the exploitation of the people’s control-motivated religiosity in the circumstances of deficient learning and consequent wrong conclusions.1042 That those dysfunctional beliefs constitute fertile breeding ground for spirit world belief and fears has been noted (cf. 7.4.2.1). When in such contentions the critical question is asked whether magic works or not, one hears people like A. Shorter state: “be prepared to encounter irrefutable evidence that magic works, and that the events anticipated in the symbolic rite really come about.“1043 He is, however, quick to note the place and role of chance occurrence and sociopsychological factors in such manifestations. This is what we have referred to as attempts at Angstbekämpfung. It features the transference of the psycho-physical into the metaphysical. Psycho-education, in the circumstance of the psychology of fear, to bare them for what they are in order to facilitate cognitive restructuring, was proposed (cf. 7.4.0ff). It is precisely calling attention to the place of the psychological in such manifestations that constitutes our psycho-hermeneutical

1041 Achebe made a critical reference to this when he narrated Unoka's visit to the priestess Chika. Convinced of the supernatural reasons for his poor harvests, Unoka wished to inquire what the gods wanted of him by giving him poor harvests despite the sacrifices he used to make to them. The priestess knew him to be a lazy man. She reprimanded him to take to working hard and better his lot, and cease blaming the gods wrongly. Cf. C. Achebe, 2010, 14–15. 1042 A vivid example is found in a 2009 research sponsored by UNICEF under the guidance of Dr Simon Ering of the University of Calabar (Nigeria). The data showed that 60–68% of the accusation of witchcraft came from pastors of the ever teeming New Religious Movements. Cf. J.O. Charles, “Witchcraft Beliefs and Practices: Socio-Anthropological Discourse on Man, Religion, Church and Society“, in: C.A. Ebelebe (ed.), 2011, 27–60(53). 1043 A. Shorter, 1974, 131; see also P. Ebigbo, “Psychological Explanation of Occult Phenomena“, in: C.A. Ebelebe, (ed.), 2011, 89–112. B. Grom explains the operations at work in such occurrences as involving psycho-technics that foster symbolic experiences. The possibility of such technics inheres in the control-motivated religiosity that causal attribution enhances, and the illusion of absolute control it fosters. Cf. B. Grom, 1992, 252–258, 133–144.

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endeavour. Playing out in the understanding of Principalities and Authorities in Igbo setting, with a critical view of such understandings, especially with the example of the issues of demonization, we now buttress what we consider the gains of our psycho-hermeneutic approach. The place of the socio-psychological in such occurrences is underlined by U. Poplutz when she alleges the “alleviating“ function served by the demonization of strange and contingent existential experiences in settings where such world views hold sway. According to her, Through the demonization of that which harms, threatens or frightens, it is brought into some human accessibility. When a negative experience of reality is called „demon“, it renders that which is vaguely unsettling graspable, and opens it up for some concrete strategy of control that is acceptable to the society…1044

Apt as this elucidation may be, an objection, however, borders on the content of the concreteness of the strategy in question, as well as on what may be meant by acceptable. When the former has to be magic, sorcery, or “exorcism“, as Poplutz does indicate, the question remains whether such razzle-dazzle would not amount to merely translocating issues that need critical attention and active response unto the realms of myths? Is it not much likely or even obvious that such short-circuit-operation would not truly be of help in the long run? In such translocations that demonizes contingent existential experiences inheres the danger that the experiences lose their very contingency. They assume necessity; they become absolutised. Here lies the crux of the matter! Having become absolutised, the sense of deliveredupness and attendant lability is perpetuated. What often plays out in such encounter is rather the subtle confirmation and reinforcement of the patient’s views, his/her fears as the case may be, by the very person that was supposed to offer help. A critical approach as occurs in therapeutic procedures/counselling would excite the generation of some rational response in, and by the patient (cf. 7.4.2.1). The same applies to the notion of acceptability here. Does the society accept it because there is no known alternative or is it accepted because it is the solution to the problem? Here lies the difference between Poplutz’s views above, and the related but different position by G. Theißen in his argument about the functions of Satan as a religious symbolic. Theißen argues that altogether, religious symbolic gives expression to the contestations with the foundations or conditions of existence. Religious symbolic is 1044 Cf. U. Poplutz, „Dämonen – Besessenheit – Austreibungsrituale“, in: R. Zimmermann & D. Dormeyer, (Hg.), 2013, 95–107 (100).

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dialogue with transcendence.1045 Although magic and the likes may be regarded as forms of religious symbolic, it is evident they are no longer dialogue but conclusions. That is the point of difference. Particular rituals are carried out with meticulously detailed observations and conduct, the failure of which negative or even detrimental consequencies are believed to be the case. Particular results are almost unfailingly expected. This is not the case with religious symbolic as dialogue. As long as a symbolic is a dialogue, a contestation, there is chance and challenge to critical self-participation. It is open to further developments, to new points of view/solutions, as the case may be. This goes steps further than the socalled “alleviation“ through the demonisation of strange contingent experiences as in magic, sorcery and “exorcism” as strategy of control acceptable to society (U. Poplutz). In a related development, regarding the contentions between “exorcism“ and therapy, and by extension to the fact of such Vergeistigungen, U. Niemann noted that the true standard in such circumstance should be complete and lasting cure. This refers to the evidenced conclusive overcoming of the labile mentality and associated dependencies that the client had earlier presented. Such recovery becomes manifest in the re-facilitated ability to mastery of life in normal living. This is based on the understanding that such demonisation has often to do with being tormented by excessive anxiety or fear, this dissociative psychosomatic ailment.1046 K. Rahner had earlier given a theological prod to this development that shows the utmost importance of interdisciplinary approach to such. After comparing the pros and cons of the conservatives’ and progressives’ positions in this regard, against the backdrop of the issues surrounding the instructions on exorcism in Rituale Romanum,1047 he submits: 1045 Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 301; see also B.J. Claret, „Teufel. IV. Systematisch-theologisch“, in: LThK3 9 (2000), 1366–1368. 1046 Cf. U. Niemann, „Exorzismus oder/und Therapie? Psychiatrische und seelsorgliche Hilfen für von Dämonen ‚besessene‘ Menschen“, in: Stimmen der Zeit 217 (1999), 783–784. The author, a Jesuit psychotherapist, advocating the interdisciplinary attention to such developments, on the grounds of their psychosomatic foundations, understands the mastery of life as characterized by finding joy in living and working, in trust and hope. See also G. Theißen, 2007, 240–243. B.J. Claret encourages caution in the theological interpretation of the phenomenon of possession on account of the implications of such in the open question regarding the “personality“ of evil. Cf. idem, „Besessenheit. VI. Systematisch-theologisch“, in: LThK3 2 (1994), 315–316. 1047 Rituale Romanum (1614) refers to the post-Tridentine official Roman Catholic Book of Rituals. Its chapter on exorcism and related issues of possession have had

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Similar to how we, as orthodox believers, have got along without the belief in witches, so also one can get along in praxis without the belief in possession. Even if one should consider accepting the possibility of the influence of such evil principalities and powers, would such influence not really be what has been empirically presented in what we plainly call ailment? Under this condition, such can definitely be combatted with material means irdischen Mitteln.1048

The illustration of the ailment-nature of what used to be commonly understood as “demonic possession“ has been the result of interdisciplinary studies. Such ailments include epilepsy, schizophrenia and delusions, obsessive-compulsive neuroses, dissociative disorder, etc. Giving an example with schizophrenia and accompanying delusions, a Jesuit religion psychologist Bernhard Grom, attests to schizophrenia being a dissociative disorder of self-awareness. The five fundamental dimensions of the self include: 1) self-vitality – the feeling of being alive; 2) self-activity – the ability to concentrated, self-initiated and fluent thinking, speech and action; 3) self-consistency – the certainty over oneself as a coherent whole despite contrasting aspirations; 4) self-demarcation – the ability to distinguish oneself from others, and from strange influences; 5) self-identity – perceiving the continuity of oneself irrespective of the changes in the course of life history.1049 Grom goes on to explain that the experience of disorder in one or a combination of these dimensions triggers off enormous fears about self-disintegration in

special attention in modern times following the tragic death of Anneliese Michel in Klingenberg, Germany, on 1st July 1976, in the course of an exorcism, what Karl Rahner in the cited article called „die Affäre des Exorzismus in Klingenberg“. Bringing up an avalanche of protests that led to critical reviews and studies of the whole issue of possession in general, and the ritual for exorcism in particular, the reviews came up with the suggestion “Liturgy for the Deliverance from Evil“. For more details cf. M. Probst & K. Richter, 2002; see also Lorger-Rauwolf, S., „Weltanschauungsfragen: Umgang mit dem Bösen“, in: http://www.weltanschauungsfragen. at/news/articles/2005/12/22/a2419, downloaded on 27.11.2013; see also M. Hauke, “The Theological Battle over the Rite of Exorcism, ‘Cinderella’ of the New Rituale Romanum”, in: Antiphon 10.1 (2006), 32–69; in http://www.liturgysociety.org/ JOURNAL/Volume10/10_1/hauke10.1.pdf; downloaded on 15.01.2014, 11.15am. 1048 Cf. K. Rahner, „Besessenheit und Exorzismus“, in: Stimmen der Zeit 194 (1976), 721–722(722). Translation is mine. Italics are as in the original. See also B.J. Claret, „Besessenheit. VII. Psychologisch-therapeutisch: 3. Folgerung”, in: LThK3 2 (1994), 316–317. 1049 Cf. B. Grom, 1992, 284–288; 289–290; B.J. Claret, „Besessenheit. VII. Psychologisch-therapeutisch: 3. Folgerung”, in: LThK3 2 (1994), 316–317.

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the concerned. The irony of the situation is that it is the very effort of the concerned to defend himself/herself, through exciting his/her usual defense mechanisms that become the characteristic of the schizophrenic ailment. The delusional ideas of schizophrenics, whether they are of secular or religious contents, may be understood as attempts, as radical psychotic form of defence by the concerned, to contain the threatening disorderings of self-consciousness, this very characteristic of the schizophrenic ailment. This is through interpretation or through overcompensation… In schizophrenic syndrome, the concerned experiences one or many of these self-dimensions as having been so disturbed that his/her experience becomes dominated by the fear of the threatening destruction, disintegration and fragmentation. This can lead to such immediate reactions like stupor, seizure of speech, motoric excitation and turbidity. It can also lead to cognitive and affective attempts at coping, in the forms of hallucinations.1050

This underlines the real need for therapeutic attention. In the bid to understand what he/she is experiencing, to resist the threatening disintegration of self and to make it bearable, the patient sinks into interpretation or over-compensation as the case may be, one of which is that commonly referred to as demonic possession. Upon this analysis, and with a psychological/parapsychological explanatory dislodging of the so-called traditional criteria for establishing demonic possession,1051 Bernhard Grom declares: 1050 Cf. B. Grom, op. cit, 286–287. Translation is mine. Grom establishes from this analysis, that Besessenheitswahn the idea of being possessed by demon or devil, the feeling that one is experiencing some strange influence, or the hallucination that one is being monitored, belong to this category (290–291). See also H. Pompey & B.J. Claret, „Besessenheit. VII. Psychologisch-therapeutisch“, in: LThK3 2(1994), 316–317. These authors share the view that the various factors that may lead to such disorder include psychodynamic factors i.e. instincts and conflict of motives with their circumstantial qualifications, congenital dispositions etc. Misdirected religious socialization, massively obstructed individuation process, damages in early childhood especially in the areas of psycho-sexual development are emphasized in the presentations of such hallucinatory manifestations. This latter is important because it explains the aversion against religious objects/subjects, what eventually strengthens, in religious circles, the confirmation that the concerned is possessed by demon(s). G. Theißen, sharing the same view, emphasizes the cultural conditionality of such interpretations. Insisting that possession is a dissociative disorder that is evident in traumatic situations and chaotic social circumstances, he underlines, and rightly too, the role played by inadequate scientific medical systems in the perpetuation of belief in possession in certain cultural settings. Cf. idem, 2007, 242–243. 1051 Cf. B. Grom, 1992, 336. The Joint Commission of interdisciplinary experts set-up by the German Bishops' Conference in 1979 to study the phenomenon of „Demonic

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The demonological self-interpretation „I am possessed“ can be understood, in the cases of schizophrenia, epilepsy, obsessive-compulsive neuroses, anorexia and multiple personalities, as the attempt to describe and explain uncontrollable impulses that are felt as dreadful and vicious disruption of self-activity Ich-Aktivität, as heteronomy Fremdbestimmung. Psychodynamically, this is rather a massive dissociative form of self-defense against fear. The overwhelming impulses that push forward, against which the other forms of defense mechanisms have proved ineffective, release punitive guiltreproach in the super-ego. Often in the form of hallucinated vituperations, from the devil, they become eventually denied by the ego. Schismatised and dissociated as such, they become experienced by the affected as autonomous, strange power that have taken possession of him/her, and become interpreted as demonic, an externalisation and selfanchoritism ‘Ich-Anachorese’.1052

Possession“ was a pacesetter in such debunking as is evidenced in the four-point Communique the group submitted to the Bishops’ Conference in 1984. Cf. M. Probst & K. Richter, 2002, 59–62. M. Hauke disagreeing with this position, makes a case for the traditional position of the church as presented in the 1614 Rituale Romanum. However, interesting as his position is, we note the apparent exclusion and non-acceptance on his part, the insistence of the church on the collaboration between modern medicine and pastoral attention in this regard. Moreso his insistence on the so-called “diagnostic exorcism” seem not only willkürlich, he seems to orientate towards fundamentalism. Cf. idem, “The Theological Battle over the Rite of Exorcism, ‘Cinderella’ of the New Rituale Romanum”, in: Antiphon 10.1 (2006), 32–69, in http://www.liturgysociety/JOURNAL/Volume10/10_/hauke10.1.pdf, downloaded on 15.01.2014. See also Kirschläger, W., „Exorzismus. II. Biblisch”; & L. Scheffczyk, „Exorzismus. III. Systematisch-theologisch”, in: LThK3 (1995), 3, 1126–1127. 1052 Cf. B. Grom, 1992, 334; see also 289. Translation is mine. The author further noted that such interpretations that can personally issue from the affected or from the influences of his/her environment's belief in demons, may also serve the purposes of seeking recognition and attracting attention, odd as it may seem. Such practices as in the traditional process of exorcism, in which the affected is asked the name(s), purpose and number of the demon(s), exemplify such influence and suggest corresponding answers from the patient. Grom is convinced that even those who believe in the possibility of demonic possession cannot present any concretely sure symptom that will prove a sure demonological attribution in a particular concrete case. Discrediting such claims that the popular criteria for determining demonic possessions are biblical, he argues that such is a misinterpretation of the intentions of NT biblical passages in such regards. He, however, reiterates the importance of collaborations between pastoral and medical attentions. This assists overcoming the larger problem of anti-psychological theologism and anti-religious reductionism. Cf. ibid., 335–337, 367–373. See also M. Probst & K. Richter, 2002, 55–59.

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Relatedly, G. Parrinder, analysing the issues of witchcraft and accusations in this regard, asserts that, ...confessions of witchcraft..., have their origin in the dreams of the accused. So many of these supposed witches are elderly women, mothers-in-law, grandmothers, or childless women, whose natural desires can no longer find an outlet, and compensate for that by the hatred that is suppressed in consciousness, but which appears in dreams.1053

Concerning claims to divination in such matters, or diviners claim concerning access to special revelations, Parrinder established that, “beyond the superstitious, there is a fund of knowledge of character and of gossip that enables (the diviner) to draw correct conclusions.“1054 It sounds disparaging that despite these critical positions that should aid psycho-education and cognitive re-structuring (Cf. 7.4.0ff), J.S. Mbiti would insist that for Africans, the devil is not just an academic problem but a reality of life, showing its power through such experiences like undesired spirit-possession, sickness, insanity, conflicts, dissonance and homicide etc.1055 This apparently popular conviction is also collaborated by J.S. Pobee when he notes that in African societies ...The intersection of the sacred and the secular unleashes power in the world, some of which is capricious, some benign. Religion then becomes part of the process of harnessing power to one’s advantage and salvation. Salvation becomes deliverance from cosmic powers. Unlike Western societies, no effort is made to explain away cosmic powers; African exegetes take seriously the reality of cosmic powers, treating them as some kind of organized disobedience to the will of God, which affect the course of human history.1056

1053 Cf. G. Parrinder, 2002 (1951), 195; A. Shorter, in his own part, insists that such provides vent for interpersonal hostility, envy, repressed anger, stress, frustration and anxiety. Cf. idem, 1974, 140. See also J.O. Charles, op.cit, in: C.A. Ebelebe (ed.), 2011, 27–60. 5.2.2.2 of our work for our critical appraisal of magic in Igbo perspective. 1054 Cf. G. Parrinder, African Traditional Religion, 1962, 104, cited by A.I. Umoren, 2008, 47. The Vatican Secretariat for Non-Christians in its document Meeting the African Religions made similar observations to this regard. It notes that such claims from diviners emerge from a combination of factors: observations, intuition, mental suggestion, telepathy and occasionally fraud. Cf. op. cit. 91–93. In combination with psycho-technics that elicit the occurrence of symbolic actions, the circumstances of the claims of effectivity gets clearer. Cf. B. Grom, 1992, 252–258. 1055 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, op. cit., in: G.F. Vicedom et al. (Hg.), 1968, 77. That this is Mbiti's persistent position across the times is shown in his much later work, Bibel und Theologie im afrikanischen Christentum (1987). Italics in the quotation is ours, occasioned by an intended subsequent criticism of this assertion (8.3ff). 1056 Cf. J.S. Pobee, op. cit, in: Semeia 73 (1996), 172. Italics are mine.

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It would have been very important to know from the author why “no effort is made to explain away the cosmic forces“. Could it be as a result of intellectual incapacity or rather unwillingness? Is it not rather imputed and feigned contentment with the status quo as a result of the „relevance“ such ignorance afforded/ affords those who “manage“ such “cosmic powers”? By means of such obscurities, these “managers of the cosmic“ pretend to afford pseudo-explanations of the experiences of difficulty encountered by the clients. They turn around again to profile themselves as having the answer, proffering pseudo-solutions that eventually boil-down to their personal aggrandizement, on the one hand, and lability of the client, on the other hand. Though the pictures these views present are truly representative of the traditional Igbo (African) societies and the influences that issue therefrom upon present circumstances in Igbo societies to this regard, we disagree with Pobee’s position here. Beginning with the so-called “exegetes“, we consider the use of the term “African exegetes“ as not only over-generalised, but also a gross misrepresentation. It is rare that a truly responsible exegetical endeavour would regard the cosmic forces as “powers“ in the magical sense of the expression. The concepts “force“, “power“ are expressions of human experience of them as superhuman. Evidences of the mythologisation of the elements of the cosmos that gave rise to such conceptions abound (cf. 6.3.1ff of our work).1057 It can only be within the setting of such mythologisation that they would be perceived, as Pobee does, as “kind of organised disobedience to the will of God.“ As such, they are part of the chaos symbolic. Exegetical-hermeneutical relationship to myths is about discovering the truth their manner of expression, their dramatology intends to convey, and not about a verbatim understanding. However, when J.S. Pobee points out some biblical passages in this regard (Ps 91: 9–13; Rom 8:31–39; Eph 6:17; Col 2:20) that he calls the favourites of especially African Instituted Churches, one perceives who may have been borne in mind with the term “African exegetes“.1058 Moreso a religion that is just about “harnessing power to one’s 1057 Among others, an example of a succinct presentation of these developments is made by E. Lohse in his commentary on Colossians and Philemon. Cf. idem, 1977, 146–152. N.A. Dahl noted also, with regard to the terminologies found in Eph, that sometimes cosmological terminologies are given soteriological-ecclesiological applications. Cf. idem, 2000, 356. We argue that such terms like Principalities, authorities, rulers of the air etc., are examples of such. On the meaning and task of exegesis in this regard see K. Berger, 1999, 113–118. 1058 J.S. Mbiti gives a vivid example of such “exegetical“ undertakings. Interestingly too, it is with Eph 6:11–18! Maintaining too that it is one of the most frequent passages

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advantage“, as Pobee posited, loses the very point of the innermost meaning of religion as relationship to, and not manipulation of the transcendent. It becomes irreligion, playing out in superstition, magic and the likes.1059 In these settings of capriciousness and ardent longing for a sure anchor of salvation, the Gospel message about Jesus as the victorious one over evil, the greatest of which is thought to be death, as one who drove out evil spirits and healed sickness, found ready ears. While many Igbo (African) traditional myths told of the beginnings of the loss of the primeval harmony between the mortals and the divine, the flight of the gods, the origins of death and afflictions, none ­offered substantial and living hope of the restoration of this primeval harmony or defeat of death and afflictions. Life was more or less about “groping“ along in the susceptibilities of the pawn-like relationship to the gods/spirits. It often entailed some form of try-your-luck patronage of the specialists in the traditional religions with the claims of the ability to tame the gods/spirits. As J.S. Mbiti noted above, this yearning for well-being that the African traditional world view(s) ­occasioned but left unsatisfied, made the African settings literally receptive of the message of Christus Victor. He is the saviour whose salvific actions are ­believed to assure security from these afflictions, and to restore the lost primeval harmony. Note is to be taken that the message of security from these afflictions is often understood to be in the here and now! Such dispositions also explain the undiluted literal reception of the miracle and exorcism stories of Jesus in the Gospels among the Igbo (Africans). The exegetical differentiations between historicity and narration, such ficta facta, facta ficta controversies, have no place in such reception.1060 This is more or less to be in the African Christian settings, against the background of the understanding of faith as demonstrative instrument of war against “the devil“, the issues of Vergeistigung are evident. He himself talks about the overstretching of the understanding of faith in health/medical issues, with Christian faith (mis)understood as literal correspondence of practical life experience to the words of the Bible. It is regrettable that in such “exegetical“ endeavour as his here, the background of such imageries Eph used (cf. 7.5.2 of our work) was not taken into consideration. Such may have informed some wider horizon to the interpretation, the strategy of plausibilities (M. Ebner, 2013). Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1987, 86, 98–109. 1059 Cf. J. Ratzinger, 1996, 24. See also B. Grom, 1992, 136–144; see also CCC. 2111–2119. 1060 M. Ebner notes the difficulty that such differentiations present even among biblical scholars. Arguing that it boils down to ranks of interpretations which only the recipients may decide, a decision that is often a matter of faith and not automatically matter of objectivity, he insists, however, that exegesis has a task in such circumstance. It does the faith a service by analysing and reconstructing the situations of

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expected given that religion, under the influence of the African traditional religion, is understood, as J.S. Pobee noted above, “as part of the process of harnessing power to one’s advantage and salvation, and salvation becomes deliverance from cosmic powers.“ It is precisely against this background that principalities and authorities/powers are understood in Igbo (African) settings. It becomes, in Igbo settings, a term that captures all that was undesired, feared and dreaded as the work of “the devil“. It is in this light that Eph 3:10, collaborated with other occurrences of the concepts in the letter (especially Eph 1:21 and 6:12) are read and understood in Igbo (African) settings. At the background of such readings is the “popular power/magic christology“. The Eph ecclesiological responsibility in which it is now the mission of the church to reveal the manifold wisdom of God to the principalities and authorities Eph 3:10 (cf. 6.2.4; 6.3.3) is shielded out. And when in these occurrences the principalities and authorities/powers in Eph are located “in the heavenly places“, “in the air“, popular reading sees nothing more than a confirmation of traditional cosmology that had assigned the undetermined spatial horizons to the spirits. Indeed the Bible is read and used in this setting as spiritual weapon in place of, or at the same level with the charms and amulets of the traditional religion. Thus J.S. Ukpong notes, The ordinary people read the bible in existential terms... Among the major motives for reading the bible as indicated by the respondents, seeking spiritual support comes first. Such support is sought against evil forces and enemies... The bible is believed to provide a spiritual resource for combatting spiritual forces. Since these forces are spiritual, only spiritual forces can overcome them.1061

While the spiritual resource in question refers mainly to the appropriation of the prayer traditions of the Bible1062 and the magic-related power attributed to the Bible as symbol of its author, God, the spiritual forces are, as noted above, what get to be understood as principalities and authorities/powers. The remarks of Mbiti on Africans in general, in this regard, are also very true of the Igbo: “The the decisions through the criteria of plausibilities. We see this as the place of the interface between so-called “ordinary“ and “academic“ readings. Cf. idem, op. cit, in: P. von Gemünden et al. (Hg.), 2013, 477–498. 1061 Cf. J.S. Ukpong, “Popular Readings of the Bible in Africa...“, in: G.O. West & M.W. Dube (eds.), 2000, 590. 1062 Attention is drawn to the close relationship between the prayer traditions of the Bible, especially the psalms, and the prayer traditions of the Igbo (African) traditional religion(s). Cf. E.E. Uzukwu, „Der spirituelle Gehalt der Igbo-Gebete“, in: V. Cikala M. (ed.), 1986, 71–92; J. S. Mbiti, 1987, 59–64, 98–108.

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greatest desire of the African peoples consists in recognising and experiencing Jesus Christ as the Victor over the principalities and powers, against which Africa has no message of liberation from.“1063 Mbiti buttresses his “diagnosis“ of the so-called “greatest desire of Africans“ by citing the special interest Africans have on such gospel pericopes like the temptation of Jesus and how he defeated the devil “through the power of the Holy Spirit“ (Mk 1:12–13; Mt 4: 1–11). It is not only interesting to note, among others, the place of an ontological understanding of “the devil“ that underlies such interpretation. The figurative role of “the devil“ in the pericope was absolutely unconsidered. It is also remarkable that no hermeneutic thought seems to be spared over the challenges inherent in the pericope, as imbedded topos of the “challenges of the proselyte“ that form-criticism of the pericope shows.1064 Such challenges include the challenge to keeping focused on one’s life-goal in relationship to the will of God, the challenges about true meaning of religion as a waiting on God. There are also issues about self-gratification and materialism, the danger of inordinate quest for demonstrative proof of faith in the quest for miracles, for political power etc. Neither the location of Jesus in the Moses-Prophetic traditions undertaken in the pericope nor the motifs of thieromorphism and desert are thought of. Note is also taken of the expressions desire, recognising and experiencing. These are clear expressions of the so-called “popular powerchristology“1065 that emphasizes and seeks a Deus ex machina magical appropriation of the “power“ of Christ. It is worrisome that such “popular Christology” gives little or no emphasis on the challenges and commitments inherent in the “conditions of discipleship“ (Mk 8:34–38parr), the provisions of the New Law (Mt 5:21ff) as an indispensable and integral aspect of the Christ-event. The eschatological import and significance 1063 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, „Afrikanische Beiträge zu Christologie“, in G.F. Vicedom et al. (Hg.), 1968, 77. Translation is mine. 1064 Cf. K. Berger, 2011, 22–25. U. Luz relates the form to the topos of the temptation of important religious figures like Buddha, Zarathustra, Heracles. Observing the mythological presentation in which the personification of the devil is included, he notes that the message of such mythical manner of presentation serves to show that is not just about man's daily experience. It is fundamentally about the reign of God, the expression of the hope and confidence God offers humankind in the example of his Son. Cf. U. Luz, EKK Bd 1/1, 5. Aufl (2002), 218–231. 1065 A.I. Umoren has undertaken a study of such “popular power christology“ in the Nigeria Christian setting. Arguing that its popularity has much to do with the difficulties of life in the Nigeria-African settings, he attributes this popularity to the New Religious Movements and their orientations. Cf. idem, 2008.

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of the message of Jesus is lost in these Deus ex machina orientations. That the gospel accounts did recognise the danger of such outlook, as seen in the unique Johanine conclusion of the Bread multiplication pericope (Jn 6:15) in the context of the Christology of the fourth gospel, is hardly brought into consideration. The Johanine Jesus would not allow his mission to be reduced to mere provision of bread! He had always insisted on calling his hearers to consciousness of their social responsibilities to effect positive changes of the status quo – the coming of the kingdom of God.1066 The demons would surely have no dwelling place where the kingdom of God and its new principles and structures have taken position. Would this not have a lot to do with tackling ethical and socio-political issues for what they are, instead of merely translocating them unto mythological realms (1 Cor 13)? It is definitely not enough that recognising and experiencing Jesus as the victor over principalities and authorities/powers just remains the greatest desire (Mbiti). It should rather be the greatest challenge, opening the eyes to our responsibilities, and strengthening our readiness to combat evil and contributively participate in its defeat, in union with Christ. This is the crux of our Christian vocation, the participation in the victory of Christ. On the level of mere desire, the outlook is that it is going to be accomplished without personal commitments. It is the desire for the wonder working Jesus, such expectations that undergird and play out in the ordinary/popular readings of Eph 3:10 and other occurrences of principalities and powers (1:21; 6:12) in Igbo (African) settings. They have enormous implications for the texts and readers, the examinations of which we now address.

8.2 Implications of the reading of Eph 3:10 in Igbo context – towards an interface of “ordinary” and “academic” readings The central implication of the “ordinary“ reading of Eph 3:10 in Igbo context, as presented above, is manifestly the concentration on the double-concept “principalities and authorities/powers“, and always read in association with the other cognates of the terms as presented in Eph 1:21; 6:12. Against the background of the experiences of evil and its interpretations that the terms are perceived as articulating, the confirmation of their world view (Mbiti) is seen. Understood as embracing and giving expression to all that is feared, dreaded, it becomes the inclusive concept for “the old hostile enemy“. In the quest for relief and wellbeing, this understanding is quickly related to the popular power-christology that 1066 Cf. M. Ebner, 2012, 116; see also idem, op. cit., in: P. von Gemünden et al.(Hg.), 2013, 477–498.

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is borne out of the immediate (mis)interpretations of the Christologies of the synoptic traditions.1067 In such overhasty relation and underlying expectations, the general biblical theological import of the demons as presented in the Bible, and the particular ecclesiological implications of the Eph Christology in this regard, are overseen. In reading that all principalities and authorities, powers and dominions and every other name that can be named in this world or in the world to come have been laid under Christ’s feet by God (Eph 1:21–22a), it is not read that it is in relation to the church (1:22b), what was already alluded to as the spiritual blessing in Christ (1:3bff). From this take-off point, the ecclesiological responsibility – now making known (through the church) the manifold wisdom of God to principalities and authorities (3:10) – is not read and taken to heart. This has enormous consequences for the understanding of the last occurrence of our inclusive concept in 6:12ff, what our examination of the terms in the light of the understanding of demons in biblical theology endeavours to engage.

8.2.1 Principalities and Authorities/Powers in the light of the demons in biblical theology1068 Our analysis of the concepts “Principalities and authorities/powers“ has shown from the outset of our studies that they have origins in cosmological settings. They have been shown to be terminus technicus for the elements of the world, for the heavenly bodies, perceived from the most ancient of times as cosmic powers. 1067 The heart of these (mis)interpretations lies in the inability to recognise that the historicity of the narrations of the healing activities of Jesus and exorcisms associated with him as presented in the synoptics had become mixed up with the popular styles of such stories as was common in the typical motifs of the time. Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 240–241; R. Schnackenburg, „Das Problem des Bösen in der Bibel“, cited by D. Sattler, „Per Du mit dem Teufel? Formen der Kommunikation mit dem Bösen im Exorzismus”, in: JBTh 26 (2011), 345–368 (364). 1068 A detailed study of the meaning of biblical theology is outside the scope of this work. But suffice it to note that under the general understanding of theology as “scientific“ reflection about God, as the science of faith, biblical theology is understood as such reflections from the point of view of biblical traditions. It undertakes bringing religious thoughts of the Scripture into some clearer focus, systematizing the various strands of thought by means of the instruments of exegesis, in order to aid their understanding. The experiences of evil constitute one of such themes that run through the Bible. “Demons in biblical theology“ is, therefore, the reflective focusing of the various strands of thoughts on this theme in the Bible, understood as the various approaches at dealing with the experiences of evil, the diabolic-demonic.

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This is fundamentally as a result of human experiences of their enormous powers. Human attempts at understanding the world, often bound up with the human nature as homo religiosus saw the various initial models of the cosmos being religious. Through the myths with which the ancients strove to appreciate their world and evolve understandings and explanations of the world as given and experienced, nature, its forces and the celestial bodies received mythologisations. They became religious issues, as our study of the perspectives of the history of religions showed (Cf. Chap. 1). Cosmological articulations, therefore, either as theogony or cosmogony, or even as philosophy (as in the very decisive roles played in this regard by Hellenism, especially Plato and his circle of influence),1069 become, a form of theology or the other. This is in the sense that it almost always presented understandings of the world from creator – creature point of view, and from the perspectives of relationships between them. A central issue was always the experience of the world from the point of view of benevolence or malevolence, desirable and undesired. The axiologies – good and bad/evil – are recurring decimals. In the course of time and expressions these axiologies assumed ontologisations. The quest to give meaning to the world as experienced, especially in the face of apparently seeming preponderance of the sense of deliveredupness and attendant insecurity, saw such cosmo-theological articulations always in connection with the search for deliverance, for salvation. Cosmological terminologies, therefore, became taken up into, and applied to soteriology (N. Dahl). Such terms that include gods, the cosmos itself, and its elements stoicheia tou kosmou, daimon – daimonion etc. became variously received and filled with meanings. From the biblical point of view, we encounter, in this regard, in the OT and its theological perspectives, parallel developments as well as receptions and adaptations of influences from its cultural ambience. The various stages of the cultivation of the belief in, and worship of Yahweh as the one and only God – from polytheism to monotheism, and then monolatry - feature lasting influences of the PersianHellenistic dualism (Is 45:5, 7). An important feature of these developments became the emergence of Jewish demonology in its attempts to give meaning to the world, to offer explanations especially to the problem of evil. From the pre-exilic understanding of the 1069 D. Dormeyer gives a cursory summary of the cosmo-theological/philosophical foundations in the introduction of his article „Weltbild, Wunder und Geschichtsschreibung mit Vorzeichen und Machttaten Gottes/von Gottheiten“, in: R. Zimmermann & D. Dormeyer (Hg.), 2013, 69–78. R. Schwindt, Weltbild des Epheserbriefes (2002), gave detailed presentation of these perspectives.

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experience of evil as an integral part of the cosmos, as the ambivalence or “the dark side of Yahweh“ (1 Sam 16:14; 2 Sam 24:1ff; Ex 12:23; etc.), the understanding within which Satan was a member of Yahweh’s heavenly court (Job 1:6ff), the post-exilic belief in the reality of demons and evil spirits evolved. The issues about their origin, in the face of a theism that asserted Yahweh’s utmost transcendence, a theism that necessarily has to exonerate him from any responsibility about the experience of evil, brought about such apocryphal accounts and speculations the most notorious of which is about the fall of the angels (1 En 6–9; Gen 6: 1–4; etc.), in their various versions.1070 Would it, therefore, not be within the attempts at giving meaning to man’s experience of the world, particularly in the dimension of the problem of evil, that the emergence of belief in the reality of the demons, evil spirits, that eventually came under the leadership of “the devil“ is to be located? H.-J. Fabry reiterates that, It is the undetermined fears that man had, faced with natural disasters, sickness and death, which led to the evolvement of imageries presented as individual persons. Occasionally, some of them took concrete forms as demons with names, a development out of which emerged an archetypal belief in demonic destructive spirits...1071

1070 E.S.P. Thompson affords a succinct and interesting summary of some of these apocryphal presentations and associated speculations. Cf. idem, op. cit., in: G. Rosenkranz, et al. 1967, 148–163. It is worth noting that with the fallen angels (“the sons of God“) and the products of their encounter with the daughters of men, the giants that have become the evil spirits, having taken possession of the earth, foundations have been laid for such apocalyptic references like “the ruler/prince of this world“, “the prince of this darkness“, “rulers of the air“ etc., both in their political undertones and in NT theology. 1071 Cf. H.-J. Fabry, op. cit, in: A. Lange et al. (Hg.), 2003, 269–291(269). Translation is mine. See also B. Bodendorfer, „Teufel. II. Biblisch-theologisch“, in: LThK3 9 (2000), 1360–1363; O. Böcher, 1970, 30. A typical example regarding the activity/functionto-person evolution is the popular biblical nomenclature Beelzebub. From the Mesopotamian bel dabadai – public prosecutor, accuser, it became in ancient Hebrew language Ba’al-Zebûb – Lord of flies (a corruption and mockery of zabal ba’al ‘araes – “Baal is the Lord of the earth“, this name of the Cannanites’ highest God, or the God of the Philistine city Ekron (2 Kgs 1:2ff). Under Jewish monotheism and apocalypticism it became Beelzebub “the prince of demons“, the characterisation under which NT (Mk 3:32) received and transmitted it. G. Theißen makes bold, in this perspective, to declare that “Satan“ is one of the greatest symbolic serving to give expression to the problem of evil from the social, personal and spiritual points of view. Cf. idem, 2007, 292–305.

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He demonstrates the evolution of the term “Satan“ from being the description of activities (obstruction, antagonism, disorganisation, accusation, etc.) to becoming a functionary, and therefrom to a proper name, and person. It is, perhaps, important at this juncture to address the difficulties that arise when the term person is used in reference to the demonic, the demons, the devil, as the case may be, as seen in the above reference. The inability to make the sharp differentiations in this regard leads to a lot of misunderstandings when reference is made to “the devil“. Noting the limitation of language with which the reference to “the devil“ Teufel is imbued, the final Communique of the Interdisciplinary Congress on „Das Böse und die Befreiung vom Bösen“ (Frankfurt/St. Georgen, Oct. 2004) made a submission in this regard. ...The reference to the devil or to the personality of the evil/devil is the attempt to say more than just nothing about the terrible reality of abysmal evil das Abgrundböse. When, with regard to evil and in the lack of a better concept, the concept of person is used, it is at most an analogous statement in the sense of the classical doctrine of analogy. That means: through this statement, the dissimilarity is greater than the similarity. As a result, it would amount to a misunderstanding to equiperate the personality of the evil/devil with human personality. The reference to the devil is a category of understanding, some assistance to interpretation that can help in the understanding of the origin, the essence and the overcoming of evil...1072

In pursuit of the biblical perspectives on the phenomenon of belief in demons and evil spirits, especially as handed down from the Jewish perspectives, E.S.P. Thompson maintains that the spirit world issues in the patterns of thought with which they are expressed in the Bible, both as cosmic powers and as evil spirits, are attempts at finding explanations for the experiences of the problem of evil. Above all, the frequently accompanying relation to a messianic figure that brings their subversive activities to an end, this special Jewish feature, may be regarded as various stages of the developments of what came to constitute 1072 Cf. U. Niemann, „Befreiung vom Bösen? Für einen zeitgemäßen Umgang mit ‚Besessenheit‘“, in: Stimmen der Zeit 223 (2005), 274–278 (276). Translation is mine. The complete text of the 11point Communique as well as the interdisciplinary participants that undersigned the Communique is contained in the article. From this point of view the position of the CCC. 2851 in its elucidation of the last petition of “the Lord's Prayer“, “But deliver us from evil“, becomes problematic. “In this petition, evil is not an abstraction, but refers to a person, Satan, the Evil One, the angel who opposes God. The devil (dia-bolos) is the one who ‘throws himself across’ God's plan and his work of salvation accomplished in Christ.“ Cf. D. Sattler, op. cit, in: JBTh 26 (2011), 345–368. See also B.J. Claret, „Teufel. III. Theologie-dogmengeschichtlich“, in: LThK39 (2000), 1365–1366.

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biblical theological considerations about demons/devil.1073 The understanding of NT theology as a witnessing to the lasting meaning God gives to the world in Jesus Christ1074 becomes clearer in this context of the demons in biblical theology. This witnessing is articulated in NT christological perspectives. God shows his sovereignty in his creative and salvific actions. They present the narrative developments of the various appreciations of the position and meaning of Jesus of Nazareth in God’s salvific purpose, as especially expressed in the course and message of the kingdom of God (Lk 10:18; 11:20). Following this position, having traced the developments of demonology in Judaism in the face of the universality of the belief in demons and evil spirits, and how it influenced the NT presentations in this regard, Thompson argues: Evil was more than just a mere aberration within individual human beings. It was universal and superhuman in its essence. No mere individualistic explanation can adequately account for its perpetuity and reign in human life. It is within and outside of man. It is likely that it is this aspect, and not the existence and moods of individual evil spirits that were the foremost interest. It is, therefore, no surprise that the belief in demons and evil spirits is connected with the messianic and eschatological expectations, and that the driving out of demons should be attributed to Jesus...1075

Jesus Christ as Sinnstiftung Gottes (U. Schnelle) to the world, is God’s lasting response to the age-old problem of evil. The concerns about the belief in demons and evil spirits, as varied as their articulations in the Bible may be, are really not about their existence but about what they help express. It is remarkable that at no point in the NT, for instance, is the interest concentrated on the demons and evil spirits just for their own sake. It is always in connection with the christological

1073 Cf. E.S. Prince Thompson, op. cit, in: G. Rosenkranz et al. (Hg.), 1967, 148–163. See also G.J. Riley, “Devil“, in: K. van der Toorn et al. (Hg.), DDD. 1999, 244–249. 1074 Cf. U. Schnelle, 2007, 16ff; see also M. Ebner, op. cit., in: P. von Gemündenet al. (Hg.), 2013, 477–498; K. Kertelge, „Teufel. II. Biblisch-theologisch, 3. Neues Testament“, in: LThK3 9(2000), 1363–1365. 1075 Cf. E.S. Prince Thompson, op. cit. in: G. Rosenkranz et al. (Hg.), 1967, 148–163(158). Translation is mine. See also B.J. Claret, „Teufel. Theologie- u. dogmengeschichtlich; IV. Systematisch-theologisch“, in: LThK3, 9 (2000), 1365–1368. J. Frey & G. Oberhänsl-Windmer, see this established in the criterion of the cross and resurrection of Christ. This central message of NT witness demonstrates God's loving solidarity to mankind, and at the same time invites to commitment to Christ in a way of life that orientates to recognising and doing the will of God inspite of our inadequacies, and the impalpability of evil. Cf. idem, op. cit., in: idem et al. (Hg.), Das Böse. JBTh 26 (2011), VII–XXVI (XIX–XX).

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perspectives (1 Jn 3:8) and the challenges issuing from such perspectives. U. Niemann will add in this direction, that: ...the healing and liberation of people who feel that they are under the sway of the devil has nothing to do with the claims of right or wrong in difficult faith issues around it. Rather, catamnestic investigations should be undertaken to see what counsellors or therapists would do for such people who are rather being tormented by their fears.1076

This understanding occasions the resume by Thompson regarding the demons in biblical theology. The allusion to demons and evil spirits should lead to a new presentation of our today’s view of the problem of evil and to our precise understanding of the salvation in Jesus Christ. There is no doubt that for the Jews then, evil in its dimensions was something cosmic. The whole life and work of Jesus became understood from this perspective... What does the crystallisation of Jesus’s victory of the demons mean for the task of modern missionaries? Should we promote the belief in evil spirits? Or how can we get over it if we would not encourage it?1077

The style and message of Eph, as we have observed, reveal not only the undertaking of this hermeneutic task in its circumstance. It also takes the task to another level. It challenges to its been also read in this light in order to go on with undertaking this assignment – a “hermeneutic“ of the problem of evil, as it were, and precisely in line with the understanding of the salvation in Jesus Christ. Understanding evil as the alienation of the world from God, the tearing apart of the cosmos (chaos motif), what is characterised as sin, the principalities and authorities/powers and cognates, are used as concepts that give this alienation expression. Understood in this light as “religious symbolic“, Eph establishes through its christological perspective, its understanding of salvation in Jesus Christ, a dialogue with transcendence in this regard. It is the exaltation and enthronement of Christ by God at the highest place of authority – at the right hand of God in the heavens – (1:20). From this supreme position of power every other claimers to power, these spirit world concerns - pa,shj avrch/j kai. evxousi,aj kai. duna,mewj kai. kurio,thtoj kai. panto.j ovno,matoj ovnomazome,nou( ouv mo,non evn tw/| aivw/ni tou,tw| avlla. kai. evn tw/| me,llonti - are put under his feet (1:21–22a). The alienation is overcome by God in Christ. The dialogue continues in the 1076 Cf. U. Niemann, „Exorzismus oder/und Therapie? Psychiatrische und seelsorgliche Hilfen für von Dämonen ‚besessene‘ Menschen“, in: Stimmen der Zeit 217 (1999), 784. Translation is mine. 1077 Cf. E.S.P. Thompson, op. cit, in: G. Rosenkranzet al. (Hg.), 1967, 158–159. Translation is mine.

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christological perspective being bound up with the ecclesiological. This is the ecclesia evn Cristw/|, the spiritual blessing God has given believers in Christ in the heavens (1:3; 2:6), in whose authority as head the church as his body also shares (1:22b-23). The meaning of this christological-ecclesiology is that the Christian, who has Christ as his Lord, has been endowed with the fundamental possibility of being freed from the slavery to these “cosmic powers“.1078 The church as peaceful unity of Jews and Gentiles in Christ (2:11–22) reflects the defeat dealt to this alienation. This Eph reflection of cosmic unity is the realization of the eternal will of God – avnakefalaiw,sasqai ta. pa,nta. Through this form of being, the church demonstrates, makes this known to the Principalities and Authorities/Powers (3:10), these agents of cosmic disunity/ alienation (in the Eph background world view that had perceived them as located in the aerial horizons and as perpetuating therefrom, divine-human alienation). The paraenetics of Eph as means of fostering the peaceful unity of the church, culminating in 6:10–17, demonstrates Eph way of “fighting“ the principalities, the practical ways of contributing to overcoming the evil of alienation. Through this web of thought, Eph, through its Christology and ecclesiology arrives at its “exorcism“ (6:10–17; cf. 7.5.2), making it its response to the challenge of evil, and a paradigm for believers. Thus the dialogue with transcendence over the fundamental conditions of existence (G. Theißen) continues. The inability of popular reading to observe this ring of thought leads to the (mis)understanding of the challenges of Eph “exorcism“ in the terms of “popular exorcism“. This “popular exorcism“ expends its energy in “casting out demons and the devil“, as the case may be. It “fights“ the principalities and authorities/powers (and their cognate terms), albeit without the recommended panoply of God (6:14–17). How would a fight be done with an opponent that is not rightly understood, and without the recommended arsenal fare? A re-thinking of the “popular exorcism“ in Igbo settings in the light of our Eph “exorcism“, and against the backdrop of the demons in biblical theology, is a necessity.

8.2.2 “Popular exorcism” vs Eph “exorcism” (6:14–17) in Igbo context in the light of demons in biblical theology We have noted above, through the various stages of the developments that came into forming the biblical teachings (OT & NT) about demons and evil spirits, that the underlying interest has been about grappling with the undesired, uncomprehended, superhuman experiences that came to be termed evil. The various stages 1078 Cf. J. Gnilka, 1971, 95, 308; R. Schwindt, 2002, 375.

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of the evolution of demonology culminated in the generation of the idea of “the devil/satan“ as evil incarnate Inbegriff des Bösen, as the leader of the innumerable other demons and evil spirits. Biblical theology, however, calling attention to the differentiation between the experience of the power of evil and its ontologisation, understands demons in biblical theology as the various ways man attempts grappling with the ambivalence of human existence, with the problem of evil.1079 The ontologisation was a process of rationalisation that aimed at making the ambivalence somewhat humanly palpable in order to afford some coping strategy. Biblical theology establishes also the abiding challenge to hermeneutics of the problem of evil, and of our precise understanding of the salvation in Jesus Christ. These various understandings of evil as malum metaphysicum, malum physicum, malum morale, prompted various ways of getting along with it, the most “popular” of which is exorcism. Traditionally and popularly understood as the art/ ritual of driving away devil/demons, the immediate underlying thought is that the devil/demons are responsible for the human experiences of evil that manifest especially in the forms of possession or in their effects as sickness, afflictions, misfortunes etc. Well-being is believed to be guaranteed with the expulsion of the devil/demons of causation. Attention is, however, drawn to the very important place of the malum morale, the human dimension of the manifestations of evil. This is related to the enigma of the power of sin a`marti,a, the human transcendent power of evil, the influences and effects of which manifests in personal transgressions, as well as in structures of sin, as unjust socio-political and economic structures, intrigues and corruption, wars and all forms of wickedness. Even when such experiences often lead to the question about the very origin of evil, there seems little or no way out of the idea of „possession“ in terms of negative influence that our humanness is exposed to, and above all, what is made of this influence. As a result, L.-J. Suenens, noting the complexity of the phenomenon under discuss, insists that, “Deliverance is essentially and primarily deliverance from the sin in us that makes us slaves and reduces our freedom. This chain, that is sin, plays itself out in man in all levels: intellect, will, action and emotion.“1080 Though it must be 1079 Cf. E.S.P. Thompson, op. cit, in: G. Rosenkranz et al. (Hg.), 1967, 148–163; see also H. van der Loos, 1965; G.J. Riley, “Demon“, “Devil“, in: K. van der Toorn et al. (eds.), DDD, 1999, 234–240, 244–249; J. Frey & G. Oberhänsli-Widmer et al. (Hg.), Das Böse. JBTh 26, 2011. 1080 Cf. L-J. Suenens, 1983, 41–48 (41). See also the Communique of the Interdisciplinary Workshop on „Das Böse und die Befreiung vom Bösen” held in St Georgen Philosophisch-Theologische Hochschule Frankfurt, in October 2004, as presented

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acknowledged that not all facts of the phenomenon of evil and its experience are man-made, man is, however, always brought in connection with it, as one who has the experiences and appreciations of it. The gospel of salvation, featuring Jesus’ encounter with this phenomenon, was always in the context of the dawning of the kingdom of God. Such experiences of exorcism in the ministry of Jesus, in which not only the supposed demon(s) of causation is/are seen to have been addressed, feature also the challenge to a change of the socio-ethical circumstances of the concerned.1081 Even when Mk 5: 1–20 remains a classical example, Jesus’ call to repentance and to turn to God bring out the dimensions that align with the understanding of demons in biblical theology as attempts at dealing with the problem of evil. The emphasis remains that the power of evil is broken in the Christ-event (Lk 10:18; 4:18–21). To build on this foundation of the ‘dawned’ kingdom of God, is the participation to which the believers are called. Eph in its paraenetics that we have shown as culminating in 6:10–17 moves in similar direction. While appreciating the evil and spirit world concerns of its audience, it is very interesting to note that there is no element of conjuration (in the traditional sense of exorcism) in the letter, despite its magic-inundated background. Its “exorcism“, as we have pointed out in 7.5.2 & 7.5.2.1, consist in the call to fight palai,w (h` pa,lh) the principalities and authorities/powers with the panoply of God, having been strengthened in the Lord. The Panoply was shown to be imbedded in the tradition of the metaphor of the virtues of social dynamics and relationships (Yoder Neufeld). The continued cultivation and exercise of these virtues, the adoption of the principles of the Basileia tou theou, as consequence of their belief and participation in Christ, marks the believers’ participation in the eschatological defeat of evil. Such ways of living to which Eph paraenetics motivates, confronts the fears, this breeding ground for spirit world beliefs and practices.

by U. Niemann, op. cit. 2005, 276ff. Note is taken to observe that the use of the concept “Deliverance/Liberation” – Befreiung, and not exorcism! M. Hauke finds such expressions a watering down of what exorcism should be about, insisting on the adjuration or imprecative understanding. Cf. idem, “The Theological Battle over the Rite of Exorcism, ‘Cinderella’ of the New Rituale Romanum”, in: Antiphon 10.1 (2006), 32–69; in http://www.liturgysociety.org/JOURNAL/Volume10/10_1/ hauke10.1.pdf; 1081 Cf. M. Ebner, op. cit., in: P. von Gemünden et al. (Hg.), 2013, 477–498; C. Strecker, „Jesus und die Besessenen. Zum Umgang mit Alterität im Neuen Testament am Beispiel der Exorzismen Jesu“, in: W. Stegemann et al. (Hg.), 2002, 53–63.

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Igbo reading of, and understanding of principalities and authorities/powers and other cognates of the spirit world as evil spirits, demons, and their human agents, has been shown to be also against the backdrop of the experiences of the ambivalence of human existence, of evil. Such experiences were given religious attention in accordance with the provisions of Igbo (African) traditional (religious) world view. Patronage of benevolent spirits/gods through sacrifices to ensure their benevolence was the practice. Sacrifices were also made to the malevolent spirits to ensconce their attention and safeguard oneself from the misfortunes and havoc they and their ill-willed human agents are believed to bring upon people. Rituals of expulsion of, and dissociation of oneself/wards from the perceived malevolent spirits were performed, when despite all attempts and undertakings to be free from their malevolence, such experiences of afflictions and misfortunes were made. Those constituted the phenomenon of “exorcism“ in Igbo traditional religion and world view. That afflictions and misfortunes in the forms of sickness, death, poor harvest, natural disaster etc. kept occurring meant that such practices to rid oneself of them remained a continuum in the life of the Igbo. We note at this juncture how wrong E.S.P Thompson was in part of his assessment of the problem of evil and the spirit world concerns in African settings. Understanding the African (Igbo) belief that misfortunes are signs of the anger of the gods and spirits over one offence or the other, and also the actions of ill-willed medicine men/women, he wrongly claimed to know that when required rituals and sacrifices are performed, that all became well again. On this ground he concludes that evil was fundamentally no problem in such settings.1082 It would have been desirable if such a “mechanism of restoration“, as he called it, worked as simply as he presented. The continued experience of afflictions and misfortunes despite sacrifices of expiation, and the belief that certain offences followed generations after generations, show that merely offering sacrifices was no magic wand that solved all the problems. Misfortunes and afflictions were still experienced despite the supposedly regularized relationships. The quest for well-being was continual. Upon encountering Christianity, and in the formal overcoming of the polytheism of Igbo traditional religion, the absolutely undesired but age-old problematic accompaniment of uncompromising monotheism – how to account for evil and its experiences – was also a feature of this encounter. The demonisation of the responses the traditional religion had for such experiences, in the relationship with the gods and spirits, accentuated the problematic among Igbo 1082 Cf. E.S.P. Thompson, op. cit, in: G. Rosenkranz et al. (Hg.), 1967, 160.

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(African) Christians. On the basis of the practices of “exorcism“ in the traditional religion, the traditional Christian demonology and practice of exorcism, in the light of the Christus Victor message, found rapid resonance among the Igbo (African) Christians. In the seeing-of-confirmations-of-their-world-view (Mbiti) attitude, with regard to their encounter with, and consequent (mis)use of the Bible, a perception of the devil in concrete personal category became impressed in the understanding. J.S. Mbiti gives this understanding succinct articulation. The Christian message proclaims Jesus as the one who triumphed over the powers of the devil, of the spirits, of sickness, of hate, of fear, and even against death. In all these areas he emerged victorious. He is the winner, and therefore, the hope, the example, the overcomer... The greatest desire of the African peoples consists in recognising and experiencing Jesus Christ as the victor over the principalities and powers, against which Africa has no message of liberation from. Upon this reason they show special interest on the temptation of Jesus and on his victory over the devil through the power of the Holy Spirit. They know that the devil is not merely an academic problem, but a reality in life, that manifests its power through undesired spirit possession, sickness, mental illness, dissonance, dissension, murder, etc.1083

This presentation is, without equivocation, very representative of Igbo (African) perspectives in this regard. These perspectives perpetuate practices that get to be understood as “exorcisms“. A critical examination of this position questions the contents of this Igbo (African) understanding. It also asks how valid such practices and claims of exorcisms may be, as way of dealing with the issues this understanding raise.

8.2.2.1  The devil “not merely an academic problem”? - Towards “Cognitive Restructuring” The very view that the devil is “not merely an academic problem“, presents the common mentality of ban on further thinking Denkverbot with which this issue is encountered in the Igbo (Africa) settings. This mentality is fed by the abiding culture of belief as against the culture of critical consciousness that is much needed in such settings. Unfortunately, the encounter with the Bible that fanned 1083 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, „Afrikanische Beiträge zur Christologie“, in: G.F. Vicedom et al. (Hg.), 1968, 72–85(77). Translation is mine. Italics are as in the original. We reiterate once again that despite the date of this publication (1968), the perception it expressed is still very current. In his later work Bibel und Theologie im Afrikanischen Christentum (1987) Mbiti represents the same view in several pages. See for instance pages 62–64, 98–102 etc.; see also H. Wrogemann, 2012.

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the attitude of merely seeing the confirmation of their world view in the Bible reinforced the culture of belief. This culture rests on the seeming surrender to, or contentment with the etherealized explanations Vergeistigungen that had satisfied many puzzles of nature and human experiences in the pre-scientific environments. Would such still be truly tenable given the experiences to the contrary? A typical example is the understanding of sickness in the Igbo (African) settings. Almost every sickness is given supernatural/spiritual interpretation. It becomes worse when no curative measures seem immediately available. The role of poverty in such circumstances, and lack of proper health/medicare-system, as in making healthcare affordable, cannot be over-emphasized. When eventually conventional medicine or traditional treatment devoid of hocus pocus effects an understanding of the ailment or cure, as the case may be, thought is often no longer given to the earlier wrong supernatural/spiritual diagnosis. Invitation to such critical contestation with the earlier held false opinion is often unattendedly smiled away as unnecessary and overtaken. Is this perhaps a rather quiet acceptance of the wrongness of the earlier understanding? Critical confrontation or contestation of such beliefs on the ground of the current experience of convalescence would be a good beginning. The experiences in Igbo (African) settings showing that these view of things that have become institutionalized through the centuries still colour the subconscious corporate and individual attitude of many Igbo (African) peoples become perplexing the more. One can read behind Mbiti’s articulation of the African (Igbo) mentality that the devil “is not merely an academic problem“ a hidden appreciation of the fact that, nevertheless, some gains have been made through such reflections in some other parts of the world. This is evidenced in his later work – Bibel und Theologie im afrikanischen Christentum (1987). On the issue at stake, in this later work, he notes, though with some negative undertone, that the churches in the northern hemisphere (Europe-North America) have, through their exposure to technology and natural sciences, taken care of the “unseen and spiritual realities“ unsichtbare und geistige Wirklichkeiten which the African Christians still confront daily, and the evidence of the reality of which they (Africans) read in the Bible.1084 1084 Cf. J.S. Mbiti, 1987, 64. Emphasis is mine. J.S. Pobee shares the same view when he talks of “western societies having explained away cosmic powers“, and notes that such is not the case in Africa. Cf. idem, “Bible Study in Africa: A Passover of Language“, in: Semeia 73 (1996), 161–179. We have attended to the untenability of these points of view in our critical review of the understanding of principalities and powers in Igbo (African) context (cf. 8.1.2 of my work).

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Is Mbiti not in some way suggesting that access to such technological and medical know-how would also bring about the taking care of such unseen and spiritual realities in African settings? Is he not suggesting that the Africans still read them in the Bible because of lack of such means of attending to the problems that are at the disposal of the northern hemisphere churches? The Bibles read in Africa and in the so-called northern hemisphere are basically the same. Such orientations of the so-called churches in the northern hemisphere did begin, and have been continued through „academic“ reflections, part of what the age of the Enlightenment stood for, and bequeathed as patrimony. K. Rahner’s theological prod1085 in the recent past, with which he challenged to, and inspired new theological reflections in this direction after the unfortunate event of Anneliese Michel’s death (+1976), is very appropriate to our Igbo (African) circumstance. This earmarks the place of, and the need for further critical reflections over the untenable mentality of seeming Denkverbot over the understanding of the devil as articulated above by Mbiti. This would definitely help a much needed rethink that will aid the rooting of the gospel and fruits of evangelisation in Igbo (African) settings. There is no ban on theological reflections on the reality of evil as well as on the phenomenon of evil that has assumed, or has become imbued with ontologisation. From the Catholic point of view, there is no “dogma“ on belief in “the devil“. Even dogmas are further thought to enhance further development and understanding. It is evident, from our perspective, that such Denkverbot mentality has not helped faith in Christian message. Having been handled as Tabuthema it may rather have further endangered, and still endangers the faith. Much is expended in supposed confrontation with “the devil“ and the demons in the Igbo (African) settings, in the common practices that have the looks of exorcism. Such practices feed on the patrimony of our control-motivated traditional religiosity. They also feed the fears, and on the ignorance of the people in the forms of psychological reinforcement they become. Furthered reflections over the traditional thought on “the devil“ in Christian (Catholic) theology, both from biblical, systematic

1085 Cf. Karl Rahner had noted that in the same way orthodox believers have got along without the belief in witches, so also can one get al.ong in praxis without belief in possession. He struck the point that what is commonly understood as “possession“ is sickness. And, therefore, it can be attended to through material medication. Cf. idem, „Besessenheit und Exorzismus“, in: Stimmen der Zeit 194 (1976), 721–722; see also M. Probst & K. Richter, 2002, 55. Interdisciplinary investigations along this line, as shown above, share similar positions.

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and practical theology points of view, as shown above, have shown how unwholesome, if not outrightly wrong, such fundamentalistic attitude is. The issue of the personification and objectification of evil is considered as one of the major issues in such theological reflections (Cf. 8.2.1). In such furthered interdisciplinary reflections, it is noted that speaking of the devil in the category of person is an evidence of the limitations of human language in general, and of theological expressions in particular, in its attempts at giving expression to the enigma of evil. Such expression in the person-category was shown to be a category of understanding. As assistance to interpretation, it does not in any way have the intention of trivializing the enigmatic character of evil. Rather keeping it in consciousness by means of such analogy-like personal expression, by referring to the experience of the abysmal evil das Abgrundböse as the devil, Satan, Belial (Destructivity- in the sense of symbol of annihilation) etc., the ...goal of theological reflection and language must be a pastorally responsible way of addressing evil, so that by means of its metaphorical strength the evil that is encountered by every human being in its individual, personal and subjective, as well as in its transindividual, trans-personal and objective form, may become identified...1086

Identified as such, pastorally responsible ways of response that are beyond antireligious reductionism and anti-psychological theologism1087 are pursued. Such interdisciplinary approach to the complexities of the issues at stake cannot be over-emphasized. This earmarks the importance of the psycho-hermeneutical approach that is being undertaken.

1086 Cf. The Communique of the Interdisciplinary Congress on „Das Böse und die Befreiung vom Bösen“ (Frankfurt 2004), cited by U. Niemann „Befreiung vom Bösen? Für einen zeitgemäßen Umgang mit ‚Besessenheit‘“, in: Stimmen der Zeit 223 (2005), 274–278 (276). Translation is mine. See also M. Probst & K. Richter, 2002, 10–11; B.J. Claret, „Teufel. III. Theologie- u. dogmengeschichtlich“, in: LThK3 9 (2000), 1365–1366. It is remarkable that the Catholic Church in Germany has been a trail-blazer in these reflections, more or less as a result of the 1976 so-called „Affäre des Exorzismus in Klingenberg“ (Karl Rahner). Cf. Probst & Richter (2002). 1087 Cf. B. Grom, 1992, 370–373. The author uses these terms to address the hermeneutics of suspicion that often accompanies the uninformed view that the subjects in question are mutually exclusive. They are rather complementary to one another. See also H. Pompey & B.J. Claret, „Besessenheit. VII. Psychologisch-therapeutisch“, in: LThK3 2 (1994), 316–317; B.J. Claret, „Teufel. III. Theologie-u. dogmengeschichtlich“, in: LThK39 (2000), 1365–1366; C. Strecker, „Jesus und die Besessenen. Zum Umgang mit Alterität im Neuen Testament am Beispiel der Exorzismen Jesu“, in: W. Stegemann et al. (Hg.), 2002, 53–63.

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Would it not be the bid to such pastorally responsible response that has played out in theological contestations over the personality of the devil that gets expressed in such carefully chosen words that refer to the devil as Unperson nonperson (J. Ratzinger, 1973)? Moreover, in his preface to L.-J. Suenen’s book Erneuerung und die Mächte der Finsternis (1983), J. Ratzinger refers, in this direction also, to the theology of the devil and the world of the demons as the reality of the demonic Realität des Dämonischen. Is the nuance not being made here in the differentiation between the fact of the demonic as appreciation of experiences of evil, on the one hand, and its personification as the devil, on the other? In this connection, K. Lehmann, understanding personality in its full sense as “union with God“, the very foundation of being and pure intelligence, argues that “the devil and the demons having refused in their freedom to surrender to the final personal consummation, cannot be called persons in the modern sense of the word.“1088 B.J. Claret underlines these nuances with the expression – “the diabolic-demonic“. Insisting, on the one hand, on its reality and on its importance in the drama of salvation, and on the other hand, on its superhuman nature, he follows W. Kasper to establish that theological reflections on the phenomenon of evil are fundamentally dependent on the power inhering in the handed-down symbols and categories, which while giving hope, assist the understanding of reality.1089 A veritable influence of such furthered reflections may be seen as having tacitly played out in the revised edition of the 1614 ritual for exorcism published in January 1999 (De Exorcismo et supplicationibus quibusdam) despite the pro and contra theological criticisms that have attended its issuance. Prominent is the criticism from the “theological block“ of the German-speaking world. The criticism is based on the seeming non-influence of their suggested “Liturgy for the Deliverance from Evil” in place of the traditionally conceived exorcism following the results of studies advocating appropriate contemporarisation of the

1088 Cf. K. Lehmann, „Der Teufel – ein personales Wesen?“, in: idem & W. Kasper, (Hg.), Teufel – Dämonen – Besessenheit (1978), cited by D. Sattler, op.cit, in: JBTh 26 (2011) 345–368(363). For K. Berger, in his commentary on the Temptation pericope, the devil is fast wie eine Person almost like a person. Cf. idem, 2011, 24. Emphasis is mine. 1089 Cf. B.J. Claret, „Besessenheit. VI. Systematisch-theologisch“, in: LThK3 2 (1994), 315–316; see also idem, „Teufel. III. Theologie- u. Dogmengeschichtlich“, in: LThK3 9 (2000), 1365–1366.

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traditional views.1090 However, the adjustments in the new edition are remarkable. Most important among them is the recommended preference for the deprecative formula of prayer in which God is directly addressed in prayer to free the concerned from evil,1091 despite the retention of the theologically controversial imprecative formula in the customary prayer of exorcism where the devil is commanded and addressed as “you“ – “I adjure/command you...“. Objecting to the juxtaposition of the deprecative and imprecative forms of prayer, D. Sattler notes that it is suggestive of an awkward impression that the communication with God lies on the same level with communication with “the evil“. She makes a plea for the deprecative form only.1092 G. Theißen expresses his objections more directly. Theologians who “flirt“ with the occult, and liturgically adjure the devil as if he were an objective reality comparable to God, are acting irresponsibly. It is something else to speak in the third person in reference to the devil and the power of evil. Even here, care must be taken to clarify the symbolic character of such address.1093

The major issue remains, however, that one sees in the “Praenotanda“ of the 1999 edition, is the insistence on the stringent conditions to be observed before the ritual is to be celebrated (the document insists that it is liturgical celebration). Strongly aware of the reality of false appraisements (premeditated or otherwise), the church instructs strict collaboration between modern medicine, psychology, psychiatry and theology. It is not left to the spontaneous intuition of any individual, priest or lay person, but to the special and specific instruction and

1090 Cf. M. Probst & K. Richter, 2002, 59–74; the “Praenotanda“ to the suggested “Liturgy for the Deliverance from Evil“ is also found here. It is very interesting that the CCC directs the understanding of “exorcism“ as prayer in the name of Christ that a person/object be protected against the power of the evil one. CCC. 1673. 1091 Cf. M. Probst & K. Richter, 2002, 86, particularly instruction #28 on the use of the “Major Exorcism“. See also pp. 102–105; CCC. 1673. Cf. D. Sattler, op.cit. 366–367. 1092 D. Sattler, „Per Du mit dem Teufel? Formen der Kommunikation mit dem Bösen im Exorzismus“, in: JBTh 26 (2011), 345–368(366–367). In the English Abstract of the article, one notices the unique insistence at translating „Das Böse“ as “the evil“, instead of the usual English form “Evil“. Whereas the former is a determination in neutral form, the latter is undetermined, and thereby inflectable to personification. But rendered as “the evil“, there seems to be no room for personification. 1093 Cf. G. Theißen, 2007, 243. Translation is mine. This followed from his understanding of “Satan“ and its function as religious symbolic.

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supervision of the diocesan Bishop/Local Ordinary with due collaboration with experts.1094 It is very evident that Igbo (African) conceptions about the devil as evidenced in Mbiti’s words are devoid of the considerations of such very important nuances between the diabolic-demonic as experiences of evil and its power, and its identification as “person“. Is it not the case that an unvoiced dualism lurks within such strongly hypostasized understanding of the devil as is the case in Igbo (African) settings? This would be the very opposite of what the Christian message is about. Such position cannot but be but an undermining of the Christian faith to which attention has to be called! Understanding the place of the personal pattern of thought and expression in the theological reference to the devil becomes, therefore, exigent. As D. Sattler notes, The use of the personal thought-pattern in the explanation of the origin of evil is, nevertheless, as defense against monistic and dualistic tendencies in the interpretation of the origin of evil. It serves to keep the memory of this fundamental orientation in theological thought.1095

We have earlier called attention to the fundamentalistic notion that underlie the interpretation of the temptation pericope against the backdrop of the purported special interest of Africans on it, as a support to the “popular power christology“ (cf.8.2.1). What, in Mbiti’s articulation, is regarded as “the reality of the devil in life“ is evidently the undeniable reality of the power of evil. His illustrating this reality with the examples of “undesired spirit possession, sickness, insanity, dissonance, dispute, murder etc.“ is, ironically, a tacit agreement that the issues at stake are the manifestations of the undeniable reality of the power of evil. Why then the leap again to the devil when the issues at stake address the manifestations of the power of evil? Are not the traditional etherealisations Vergeistigungen with which puzzles were addressed in the pre-scientific times coming to play again? If the experience of the power of evil is ontologised into the devil, when “effect“ becomes “being“, with no consciousness of the metaphoric at play, would it not be a persistence in the misinterpretation that makes an activity, a functionary, into a person? A person would obviously differ from his/her work. This difference needs to be made. 1094 Cf. M. Probst & K. Richter, 2002, 78–89. 1095 D. Sattler, op.cit, 364. Translation is mine. See also B.J. Claret, „Teufel. III. Theologie- u. dogmengeschichtlich“, IV. Systematisch-theologisch“, in: LThK3 9 (2000), 1365–1368.

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In this direction, C. Strecker calls attention to the problem of the poverty of language experienced in the English word “reality“. Whereas the German word „Wirk-lichkeit“ connotes the fact of directly lived experience lebendiges Wirken und Werk, in the sense of the phenomenal world, „Realität“ (from „res -rei“ thing/object) refers to an object in itself, irrespective and fully independent of its experience in the phenomenal given. It is in the sense of trans-phenomenal.1096 Would it not be the often non-reflected equiperation of the two concepts, Wirklichkeit and Realität, in the English word “reality“ that accentuates the difficulties in the issues of the “reality of the devil“ in the concrete personal category? Would this not be the very dualism the Christian message surpasses? The nature of evil remains enigmatic, no doubt. Would not the attempts to pin it down to a hypostatisation as the devil be more of a religious symbolic?1097 It must be noted that as symbolic, neither its existence is denied nor atrociousness trivialized. Care must be taken not to imagine by such that one is now at home with its enigmatic character? That would be lethal. In the reality of the devil that Mbiti (representative for Igbo [African] thoughts in this direction) sees as sickness, mental illness, dispute, dissonance, murder, social and moral upheaval etc. is it not rather the „Wirk“-lichkeit, the experience of the power of evil, that are being expressed? Taking the case of sickness for instance, it is the experience in the Igbo (African) settings that a sickness or the other is considered as reality of the devil when no means of taking care of it is readily known. As soon as adequate knowledge of the etiology of the sickness and ways to get about it are known, the devil attribution recedes to the background or disappears as the case may be. If sickness is made a reality of the devil in the concrete personal category, and it eventually gets cured, would it not mean that the devil is no more? It boils down here principally to the issues of health/medicare-care system. Good health/medicare system becomes, as such, a form of “exorcism”. The same is applicable to the very challenging issues of dissociative disorder, schizophrenia, 1096 Cf. C. Strecker, „Die Wirklichkeit der Dämonen. Böse Geister im Altertum und in den Exorzismen Jesu“, in: JBTh 26 (2011), 117–150 (136–137). 1097 G. Theißen, arguing in this direction that religious symbolic is generally a contestation with the fundamentals of existence, a dialogue with transcendence, is of the opinion that satan as a religious symbolic is one of the greatest symbols of evil. It is above all, an alarm signal, calling attention to the unpleasantness of the world, warning against the dangers of religion, of power, and keeping alive the awareness of the destructive impulses within man. Cf. idem, 2007, 301–303; B.J. Claret, „Teufel. IV. Systematisch-theologisch“, in LThK3 9 (2000), 1366–1368.

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mental illness Geisteskrankheit etc. that commonly get interpreted as demonic possessions, and gets readily attended to with the claim and practice of “exorcism“. Our attention to the issues (cf. 8.2.1) reiterates the ailment-nature of such developments, and the place of intensive collaboration of the pastoral with psychotherapeutic facilities. The inadequacy of such psychiatric health-facilities, and the lack of pecuniary wherewithal with which to access the services of the few available, exacerbates the problem. In keeping with the motto – when the needed is not available, the available becomes the needed – a quick turn is made to the readily available “healers“ and “exorcists“. A psycho-religious vicious circle emerges and gets re-inforced. This is the circumstance of the common control-motivated traditional religiosity and its accompanying causal attribution. In such circumstances, as B. Grom noted, where, and in which every effort is made to achieve external and internal control of events in life, in the forms of expectations of help and coping in material, social and mental distress, different forms of magical and non-magical control offers emerge.1098 The so-called psycho-technics that foster symbolic experience gets deployed. They include: a) religious convictions (this time, it is belief in demonic possession); b) these convictions in-turn constitute non-cognitive motives that become intensively harped on; c) by being often intensively spoken on, emotional expectations get built-up, the atmosphere gets charged, and d) symbolic experiences get enhanced.1099 Part of the symbolic experiences include the concerned’s self-interpretation as being “possessed“ by demon(s). Psychological investigations show that such interpretations are often externally induced as a result of misdirected religious socialization and massive obstruction of the process of individuation in the circumstances of the concerned. Within such circumstances the question put by the authority figure (“exorcist“) to the concerned about the name(s) of the demon(s), their abode and operation, elicit reinforcement and corresponding response (Mk 5:9?). These often eventually get “celebrated“ by those involved as a proof of demonic possession, perhaps ignorant of their contribution in inducing such. Grom submits in this regard, This psychological interpretation can satisfactorily explain precisely investigated experiences of possession. Even though it cannot prove that a demonic influence would not be possible, such influence would be as much acceptable as would be in the case of murder

1098 Cf. B. Grom, 1992, 133–144. 1099 Cf. ibid., 252–258; see also H. Pompey & B.J. Claret, „Besessenheit. VII. Psychologisch-therapeutisch“, in: LThK3 2 (1994), 316–317.

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during robbery or in the case of amok phenomenon. Such cases are spoken of as “devilish“, a valuation of their destructiveness.1100

The sustaining background for such technics is the control-motivated religiosity inhering from the traditional religion and its participatory magic orientations, and the illusion of control it fosters. In the case of the dissociative disorder that gets interpreted as demonic possession and attended to as such, would the symbolic experience that manifests, for instance, the self-interpretation as being possessed by demon that is induced from psycho-social environment, not be in the regions of delusion? Once again, Grom maintains that such “exorcism“, which purportedly helps “the possessed“, is only the proverbial procrastination of the evil day, particularly because it does not attend to the disorder at stake. Rather, he argues that, ...there is the danger that the demonological interpretation in general, and the exorcism in particular, reinforces the tendency to dissociation (personification) and to magical counter-measures. Such weakens the readiness to understand the situation as sickness. It does not encourage accepting the urgently needed neurological and psychotherapeutic assistance... More often than not, it propagates and perpetuates the fear of demons that is contradictory to biblical confidence on a victory over the power of evil, and activates the latent fears of disintegration in labile human beings.1101

This is the psycho-religious vicious circle that plays out in Igbo (African) settings steeped in belief in demons. Awareness of the contribution of the socio-psychological environment in such inducements through the intensive collaboration 1100 Cf. B. Grom, 1992, 335. Translation is mine. The Communique „Das Böse und die Befreiung vom Bösen“ of the 2004 Interdisciplinary Workshop in Frankfurt/ St. Georgen argued in the same line. Following the findings of the human sciences that what is interpreted in certain religious circles as possession are but symptoms of sickness, special personality constellations. The communique establishes that, although theologically the possibilty of possession cannot be fore-closed (sententia certa), moral certainty for such in a concrete case (CIC 1172 §2) is difficult. “There are no theological criteria for possession.“ Cf. U. Niemann, „Befreiung vom Bösen? Für einen zeitgemäßen Umgang mit ‚Besessenheit‘“, in: Stimmen der Zeit 223 (2005), 274–278 (277). 1101 Cf. ibid., 337. See also H. Pompey & B.J. Claret, „Besessenheit. VII. Psychologischtherapeutisch“, in: LThK3 2 (1994), 316–317). C. Strecker proffers, in this light, the understanding of “possession“ as performance, conspicuous unfamiliar behaviour, presenting the paradoxical character of the phenomenon, while eliciting interaction. Cf. idem, „Jesus und die Besessenen. Zum Umgang mit Alterität im Neuen Testament am Beispiel der Exorzismen Jesu“, in: W. Stegemann, et al. (Hg.), 2002, 53–63 (58).

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between the pastoral and the psychotherapeutic offers, is an exigent step to lasting solutions. It is particularly to avoid such vicious circle of reinforcement and deterioration of the situation of the affected that sees the church specifically insist, in her instructions on exorcism (in the 1999 Edition, especially instructions #13–17), on the strict collaboration between the pastoral and psychological/psychiatric attentions. It also insists on utmost discretion. Instructions #18 and #33 of the 1999 Edition eschews all forms of publicity and warns against theatrical performance. When these instructions are considered against the backdrop of the Hollywood-style performances of such practices that look like exorcism in the Igbo (African) settings, one cannot help questioning the orthodoxy and purity of intentions of such. It often amounts to circus, the entertainment of the vacillating crowd with magic packaged as religion. The mass-media is inundated with advertisements of “exorcism“ for “sale“. Documentaries and publications that do the “dirty“ job of psychological reinforcement of the latent fears in the immensely religious populace are the order of the day. “Exorcism“ sells! Are people being helped or are they rather being made more sick in order to be exploited under the guise of being “exorcised“? This is a clear instance of religion that sickens, made worse by its quiet way of worming into, and occupying the very fabrics of the society. A self-critical Scott Moreau, himself involved in the USA version of the spiritual warfare saga, writes on the craze of the so-called spiritual warfare in the media: “As surprising as this sounds, the feeling I sometimes have in reading the literature is that for the authors it is easier (and more fun) to expel a demon than to walk through the realities of broken, shattered lives built on foundations of relational disfunctionality.“1102 Would that not be a clear pointer to the abiding place of intensive collaboration between the pastoral and the psychotherapeutic? At the background of such orientations is not only traditional religious world view in which religion was supposed to afford solution to everything. To this is added a near-hubristic understanding of self as priest or pastor against the background of such offices in Igbo traditional religion. A priest/priestess in Igbo traditional religion was almost always a “medicine man/woman“, an understanding that makes him/her a jack of a trade, supposedly bestowed with immense knowledge and potency. Looked upon as such by the populace, many priests and pastors endeavour to “live up“ to such expectations, even in this age of specializations, and despite a different Christian (Catholic) theology of priesthood. They 1102 Cf. Scott Moreau, cited by H. Wrogemann, 2012, 316–317.

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assume the role of super heroes, as in Rambo films, proffering immediate solutions and firing the interest of their clients in quick pseudo-solutions to difficult problems. Through the externalisation of conflicts that are actually happening within, the responsibility for such is shifted from the self unto others. ‘The devil’, the demons and the human beings in their collaboration are given the guilt. Fear and distrust are fomented. It is obvious that in such presumptions, that there is often no form of collaboration between the pastoral and the psychiatricmedical. Where mediocrity and quackery stop, fear-motivation finishes up. It is certain that a pastoral that builds on fear-motivation is not only a contradiction in terms; it is betrayal of its raison d’être. Unfortunately, it is often applauded and sought by the masses. From the perspective of the Catholic church, the unavailability of the 1999 Edition of the “Major Exorcism“ document in common language, often expressed by some as criticism, may likely be a measure against abuse and proliferation. However, on the other hand, the perpetuation of the status quo that the non-availability or ignorance of the instructions has enhanced, is problematic as well. The challenge to intensive pastoral attention to the matter at stake from the side of some of the ecclesiastical hierarchy is being reiterated. The attitude of “let the sleeping dog lie“, in the sense of – who wants to trouble himself with such prickly subject?, should not be the rule. Surely a repeat of the unfortunate tragedy as in the case of Anneliese Michel is not being awaited. The silence and the proliferation it tacitly encourages may be suspected to be an unwholesome strategy against the menace of the New Religious Movements and so-called Pentecostal churches in the apparent rat-race for securing membership in the various denominations. Such presentations, the popular „casting and binding“ performances, are their trademark. The thought seems to be: “Since ‘exorcism’ sells, and the people want it, let them have it! If you cannot beat them, join them!“ On the Catholic perspective, an unwholesome understanding of the sacrament of ordination, as necessarily including and directly authorising the ministry of exorcism also fires such aberrations. A re-think in this direction, in the light of the Decrees On Life and Ministry of Priests (Presbyterorum ordinis), as well as On Priestly training (Optatam Totius), needs to be done. The role of the church in engaging the critical examination of the surrounding phenomena cannot be overemphasized. The task of the catholic hierarchies in enhancing adherence to the instructions about Exorcism in the 1999 Edition, when it has to be, is exigent. This is especially regarding the collaboration between the pastoral and the psychological-psychiatric facilities in accordance with the instructions of the church in this direction. In this light, the CCC denounces such muddling-up that confuses illness (psychological) with demonic possession, insisting that the differences be 455

adequately ascertained (#1673). Accordingly, it considers as gravely against the virtue of religion, “All practices of magic or sorcery, by which one attempts to tame occult powers, so as to place them at one’s service and have supernatural power over others – even if this were for the sake of restoring their health –…” (CCC. #2117). Pastoral discernment to correct and purify the religious sense that belies such popular piety cannot be over-emphasised (CCC. #1676). Ethnological perspectives also establish that “possession“ and exorcism-related practices are principally also cathartic practices for the stress reduction. They can serve also as strategies for obtaining attention and affectation, as means of attaining new social positions and power, as well as of riding oneself of the load of guilt by transferring such to a demonic subject.1103 These perspectives are demonstrably true in the Igbo (African) settings, especially from point of view of the enormous popularity and material wealth that accrue from being branded a healer. There is the suspicion that the rat-race to belong to such, the quest for such power and relevance play no little role in the proliferation of such tendencies. H. Wrogemann tells of an interesting encounter with a Tanzanian Lutheran Pastor Mastai who permitted being observed in his alleged “exorcism“ ministrations. Not only were most of his clients women, his response to the question regarding why it was mainly women is more interesting. He was convinced that women, given the patriarchal nature of the society, were more prone to demonic possession because of the enormous stress they take-up in the course of maintaining the household. Allegedly, stress weakens their resistance against the demons. The demons then find them easy prey and possess them.1104 What an aber1103 Cf. C. Strecker, „Die Wirklichkeit der Dämonen. Böse Geister im Altertum und in den Exorzismen Jesu“ in: JBTh26 (2011) 117–150(144). See also idem, „Jesus und die Besessenen. Zum Umgang mit Alterität im Neuen Testament am Beispiel der Exorzismen Jesu“, in: W. Stegemann et al. (Hg.), 2002, 53–63; G. Theißen, 2007, 242–243; J.O. Charles, “Witchcraft Beliefs and Practices...“, in: C.A. Ebelebe, (ed.), 2011, 27–60. 1104 Cf. H. Wrogemann, 2012, 17–19. A more interesting aspect of the encounter is the pastor’s experience in Germany on an exchange programme. After experiencing the liturgical celebrations/services as the case may be, as well as the professional organisation of social amenities – hospitals, social stations, counselling offices and activities, Pastor Mastai reproached his hosts, accusing them of no longer believing what the Bible says: “It is written in my Bible, that Jesus drove away evil spirits, he healed, he did wonders, Jesus helps! But the people in this country do not believe it anymore... You believe in science, but no longer in the Bible. You have exchanged the truth of the Bible with technic, and that is syncretistic.“ Cf. ibid, 22–23. Translation is mine. See also M. Hailer, 2008, 9–12.

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ration! His clients believe him, and he administers prayer sessions that allegedly drive the demons away. Similar understandings and practices are encountered in Igbo settings as well. The alleged immediate respite does neither the society nor the faith any good at the long-run. It not only reinforces peoples’ irrational fears, it increases lability and dependence, widens and perpetuates the psycho-religious vicious circle. It is, above all, a distortion of the gospel message that not only undermines the faith but also effects no positive change in the society. In the Igbo (African) settings, the population of Christians is evidently on the increase. Churches are filled to the brim. So-called “Crusades” and Christian gatherings à la Hollywood entertainment galore is in vogue. Exorcism-like performances are the order of the day. Religion is everywhere in the air with no corresponding positive response in the societal indicators. Instead, general corruption, social chaos and poverty are the order of the day. Religion has become not only one of the quickest means of social ascent; it is almost living up the Marxian criticism as “opium of the masses“. As “wonders and miracles“ are marketed around, the greater number of the people, the “buyers“ of these “wonders and miracles“ are eroding in penury, while religious leaders and politicians are competing for private jets and the best of cars in their fleets. Something must be wrong! Either that these proliferated exorcism-like practices in the Igbo (African) settings are false in themselves, or the devil and demons in our settings have become resistant varieties. To this effect, C. Strecker, with reference to the exorcisms as presented in the Jesus-tradition, against the backdrop of the discourses on the demons in biblical theology, suggests an understanding of such as transformative performances. This is in the sense that such actions of Jesus are dramatic presentation of change, both in the persons concerned, as well as in the surroundings. This is against the background of the kingdom of God message. According to him, Per definitionem, essence and success of the exorcisms depend substantially on such transformations of character/behaviour. Also in the New Testament, possession ends when the corresponding performance enduringly stops... The proclamation of the dawning of the Basileia, targeting implicitly the transformation of the being... becomes here transformation, to experiential and tangible transformation of reality... Thus understood as transformances, exorcisms become, as it were, the incarnation of the kingdom of God... As transformances, exorcisms are, at the same time, image and archetype for the proclamation of the advent of the kingdom of God, of the transformation of cosmic order.1105

1105 Cf. C. Strecker, „Jesus und die Besessenen. Zum Umgang mit Alterität im Neuen Testament am Beispiel der Exorzismen Jesu“, in: W. Stegemann et al. (Hg.), 2002,

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The transformation of the cosmic order plays out both in the transformation of self and in the transformation of the social structure. This is because, as social performance, possession is substantially an event of interaction, demonstrated by social integrative moments that constitute essential parts of the genre with which the Jesus’ exorcism tradition is presented (Mk 5:19; Mt 9:22; Lk 8:2; etc.). It is exactly this challenge to the transformative power of the kingdom of God, the (cognitive) restructuring of the self and social structures, that Eph envisions in its “exorcism“. It is uniquely impressive, we note once again, that despite its spirit world parole, Eph has no place for any conjuration or incantation. It rather invites, through its paraenetics, to commitment to Christian living that effects societal changes that heals dysfunctional relationships. It invites that it, as well as other parts of the Bible be read as motives to societal transformation, from the perspectives of socio-ethical commitment, and not just for personal benefits/ protection. Returning to Mbiti’s representations once again, the greatest desire of African should not be just a dream-like and an unparticipating desiring to experience and recognise Jesus Christ as Victor over principalities and powers. It should rather consist in recognising and experiencing the challenges of the kingdom of God message, this centrepiece of the person and activities of Jesus Christ the victor over principalities and powers. Should Igbo (African) Christians brace-up to these challenges Eph presents in its “exorcism”, a bracing-up that begins with addressing the Denkverbot mentality over such themes like the demonic, a discovery will be made of how much response Igbo, Africans, in union with Christ, can make to the problem of evil in our settings. Having understood that the etherealisations Vergeistigungen that had served pseudo-explanations of the puzzles of life in the pre-scientific times can no longer be tenable in these times, such reflections becomes a participation in the culture of critical consciousness, the positive results of which cannot be over-emphasized. Such responses, through enhanced understanding especially of self-responsibility, will correspondingly meet the manifestations of the power of evil, be it in the forms of sickness, so-called demonic possession that has been explained above as symptoms of personality disorder; be it in the forms of the disfunctionality in social relationships that lead to accusations and counter-accusations of magic and witchcraft; be it in the forms of social upheaval that bring about trauma, stress, corruption and greed in the body-polity, dissatisfactions that lead to violent exchanges etc.

53–63(62); see also idem., „Die Wirklichkeit der Dämonen. Böse Geister im Altertum und in den Exorzismen Jesu”, in: JBTh 26 (2011) 117–150 (148–149).

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8.2.3 Eph “exorcism” as commitment to societal transformation – towards conclusion Our understanding of exorcism in Eph context as Kampfgeschehen (G. Theißen) hinges on the featuring of the word fight h` pa,lh 6:12 (7.5.2.2). However, differing from the general reading of this word that sees it in immediate connection with traditional understanding of exorcism as adjurative, we proposed its understand in the context of the recommended armour for the fight, namely the armour of God (7.5.2) th.n panopli,an tou/ qeou/. Our exegetical analysis of this word (7.5.2.2) in its location in the closing stages of the Eph paraenetics (6:10–17) showed the rhetoric strategy of amplificatio at work in that end phase peroratio of the letter. Such intentionally tersely worded summary of the important points of address is intended to imprint the major concerns of the address into the audience.1106 We noted the role played by the isolated understanding of vs 18a – the invitation to pray at all times – in the justification of the instrumentalisation of the passage in the foundation of the “prayer warrior phenomenon“ and the proliferation of the practices that look like exorcism. Our analysis showed that the author of Eph was making an efficient use of the genre of the divine-warfare/warrior metaphoric, targeted at piloting the on-going community building. This had become the need of the moment in the wake of the trends of developments, theological and social, which the Christian community was facing in the time. The injunction to pray at all times must be understood both in the sense of prayer being a fundamental means of relationship to God, as well as in this particular Eph context of steadfastness avgrupne,w and perseverance proskarte,rhsij (6:18). This corresponds to the art of the fight as sth/nai pro.j ta.j meqodei,aj tou/ diabo,lou – resisting the machinations of the devil (6:11)! Would an allusion to the temptation pericope (Mt 4: 1–11; Mk 1:12) not be likely, this paradigmatic presentation of all resistance of the machinations of the diabolic? And when such relationship is held as probably, the topos of the challenges of the proselyte (K. Berger), or that of the temptations of leading religious figures (U. Luz), the invitation the pericope is regarding being resolved in the will of God, applies to the challenges of the message of the kingdom of God. Prayer in this light becomes the request for empowerment from God to live up to the challenges of the

1106 G. Sellin, had remarked that paraenetic commands great accent in Eph, noting its interesting relationship to 1 Thess. Cf. idem, 2009, 281–198. See also 7.5.1 of our work.

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Christian call in the face of the opposing ways the world constitutes. It becomes an expression of reliance on him, apart from whom the believer can do nothing. The divine warfare genre, especially from the point of view of the individual elements of the armour, inhered in the personification of factors of social dynamics. Marking Yahweh’s intervention in the life of his people, such intervention was at the same time an invitation to Israel as people of God, to repentance, to emulation and cultivation of these ideals of social relationship.1107 This tradition, received by Paul in his understanding of Christian life as call to change peripatei/v, as the fight of faith – the lived consequence of belief in Christ, constitutes the pillars of Pauline paraenetics – Faith, Hope and Love (1 Thess 1:3; 5:8; 1 Cor 13:13) – with love standing out as unrivalled zenith.1108 In the exordium of 1 Thess, Paul, with the rhetorical strategy captatio benevolentiae, articulates them as work of faith, labour of love and steadfastness of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ (1:3). And in 5:8 he refers to faith and love as shield, hope as the helmet of salvation. It is against this backdrop that the divine warrior tradition that has being transformed into paraenetics by Paul is uniquely received by Eph and spelt out in its th.n panopli,an tou/ qeou/, this high point of Eph paraenetics. Other strands of Pauline reception of this tradition that are understood as influential to Eph version include Rom 6:13; 2 Cor 10:4. A strong connecting point is that it always involved the call to vigilance, to responsibility and sobriety. In the Eph reception in its paraenetics, one could say that the panoply already began in the injunction to bear with one another in love (4:2b), crescending in peripatei/te evn avga,ph| (Eph 5:2), and got rounded-off in the ‘above all’ of faith (6:16 ) and in hope as the helmet of salvation (6:17). A repeat of our analysis of the individual elements of the recommended armour of God with which the billed fight against the principalities and powers and cognates is to be undertaken, is not intended. However, it remains important to be aware of the appropriate weapons, having attempted, at some length, some understanding of the opponents against whom the fight is being undertaken. The precise listing out of the weapon is to avoid believers beating the air in the name of fighting (1 Cor 9:26–27). For the outcome of a fight with “wrong“ opponents, 1107 Cf. T.R. Yoder Neufeld, 1997, 30–32; K.M. Fischer, 1973, 166–167; M. Barth 1974 II, 784ff; M. Shkul, 2009. 1108 While for J. Gnilka, peripatei/n is the summarizing articulation of Pauline paraenesis, T. Söding refers to the Law of Love as the central element of Pauline ethics. Cf. J. Gnilka, 1980, 116–117; T. Söding, Das Liebesgebot bei Paulus, 1995. See also 7.5.1 of my work.

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and without the recommended weaponry can only be negatively lethal to Christians. Would it be why Eph not only announced the fight and opponents, and also the specific weapons with which it would be done? These elements of the Eph panoply of God include – avlh,qeia kai. dikaiosu,nh, e`toimasi,a, eivrh,nh, pi,stij( perikefalai,a, r`h/ma qeou/, proseuch, kai. de,hsij. In the expansion that is seen to have happened, we witness an interplay of the purely social (ethical values) with the religious. This indicates that the issue here is more than ordinary catalogue of virtues as in ordinary social system. Its foundation and bearing is different, this theological basis that evndunamou/sqe evn kuri,w| and evndu,sasqe th.n panopli,an tou/ qeou/ (6:10,11a) express. As virtues found in any other social system, the believers are encouraged to pursue them, to cultivate them. It is the appreciation of the uphill task such challenge is, in the face of the circumstance within which the Christians have to endeavour to bear this witness of life, that Eph expresses with pa,lh. This is in the sense of “struggle“, “wrestling“, in the metaphoric sense of agon, as V.C. Pfitzner1109 elaborately noted. This fight expressed in the metaphoric of pa,lh is, therefore, a fight to be done in the ethical planes.1110 Little wonder the constant emphasis on resistance sth/nai (Eph 6:11,13,14; 1 Pet 5: 8–9). The connection with the Lord, with God, becomes not only a higher motivation, but also an awareness that it is the Lord’s, in the sense of the strength not being from the believers (2 Cor 4:7; Phil 4:13 etc.). In the understanding of Eph paraenetics as the literary means, the pragmatic logic with which the intention of enhancing the unity of the church is served and fostered,1111 it becomes clear what the author expressed using the cosmic symbolic language – principalities and authorities/powers in the heavenly places. These terms imbedded in the cosmology at the background of Eph, and presenting a link with the chaos motif, captures the inclusion of all that enhance alienation between God and man, alienation that Christ has overcome by being enthroned at God’s right hand, above them all. Having become a fulfillment of the eternal will of God in the unity of all, a unity the church made up of Jews and Gentiles portrays, the Eph pa,lh charges the Christians to appropriate this possibility of defeat realized by God in Christ for the church. This captures both the attempts at resisting temptations to sin, these factors of personal and societal disunity. Attention is called to this by Eph when it refers to the opponents to be fought as ta.j meqodei,aj tou/ diabo,lou. Attention is also

1109 Cf. V.C. Pfitzner, 1967. 1110 Cf. J. Becker & U. Luz, 1998, 177. 1111 Cf. G. Sellin, 2009, 195–197.

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called to Eph use of the term diabolos, recalling the ontologisation of the action of confusion, obstruction, antagonism into a person. Moreso, Eph does not talk of a contact with diabolos. Rather the reference is to the meqodei,aj! Is not this once again the nuance between the reality of the demonic and the expression of the demonic in personal categories? Be that as it may, the central concern of Eph is to invite and re-awaken Christians to their responsibility to appropriate the victory of Christ over evil, the challenges to which the kingdom of God message brings to the fore. From the social point of view, as our hermeneutic endeavours attempted to show, the decisive cultivation of the ethical values truth and justice, for instance, is a milestone in this victory. A society that is built on it, a society that endeavours not to be parsimonious with such virtues, is already doing the fight with the principalities and authorities with immense success. The social indicators of such society manifest such successful “exorcism“. Justice brings peace; truth makes for understanding and togetherness. Where deception, lies, injustice and exploitation of the less privileged, in the larger society or in the churches, both in individuals and in the corporate bodies, are the order of the day, “exorcism“ as adjuration of the devil would rather be a mockery of the message of Christ and the mission of the church. It becomes a form of etherealization that does not really address the problem. Where the structures of sin are not confronted, the fabrics of the society are eaten up by the cankerworms of corruption. It is the inequalities and social tensions such situations bring about that constitute breeding grounds for the perpetuation of spirit world concerns and fears associated with them. The Igbo settings may buttress the point. Our churches are filled up. Devil and demons keep being “cast out” and “bound”. Yet our social indicators keep getting worse. Do they not indicate we seem to be doing a fight but without the recommended weapon? Bad governance, by both Christians and Muslims, general lack of political will among the populace, poverty, unemployment, lack of very basic social infrastructures, threats to basic conditions of life associated with safe neighbourhood, ineffective education system, lack of decent health-care facility, all these factors bring about dysfunctional relationships, and constitute breeding grounds for the perpetuation of the belief in demons and associated fears in Igbo settings. These are manifestations of the problem of evil, the hermeneutics of which biblical theology of demons challenges us to undertake in the light of our understanding of salvation in Christ.1112 The charlatanry enhanced by the usually proffered

1112 Cf. E.S. Prince Thompson, op. cit, in: G. Rosenkranzet al. (Hg.), 1967, 148–163; J. Frey & G. Oberhänsli-Widmer, op. cit, in: JBTh 26 (2011), VII–XX.

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false religious pseudo-solutions make the situations worse. Is it not pastorally irresponsible to subject people to so-called “spiritual help” (practices that look like exorcism) when what the situation actually needs is fundamental examination of, as well as intervention in the social causes, addressing the dysfunctional relationships that have brought such sicknesses and symptoms to manifestation? Is it not a true Christian responsibility that people be directed to recognize the truth of the reality of the issues at stake instead of the delusions of etherealization, the demonisation of ambiguous situations? Faith in Christ – the shield of faith (6:16), which Eph makes one of the chief elements of its panoply – rightly understood, is both the confident consciousness of being enmeshed in, being taken up into the power of a transcendent whose good will is not in doubt, as well as the challenge to positive response to this transcendent. Such positive response in responsible human action is, above all, based on the action of God as the self-revealing truth, this truth that the good news is. This understanding that resonates in the Greek word pistis-pisteuein is captured thus by Paul Tillich: Faith is the state of being grasped by the power of being-itself... It is the state of being grasped by the power of being which transcends everything that is and in which everything that is participates. He who is grasped by this power is able to affirm himself because he knows that he is affirmed by the power of being itself.1113

Regretting the loss of this in-depth meaning of faith, Tillich maintains that this true meaning of faith enables the courage to be as an expression of faith. What faith means must be understood through the courage to be, a courage that accepts the “in spite of “, and out of which the “in spite of “ of courage is born.1114 Such faith would have no place for the fear of whatever form of principalities and authorities/powers, whatever one may choose to understand with the terms. Such faith expresses itself in love, this panacea of fear. It forms one of the central theologumena of Eph in general, and its paraenetics in particular (Eph 4:2; 5:2). It is the imitatio Christi, the manifest testimony of being in Christ, of faith in him. This fact that the church (the union in Christ of Jews and Gentiles) mani­ fests, becomes its means of proclaiming to the principalities and authorities/ powers the manifold wisdom of God (3:10), the reflection of the reconciliation of all in God through Christ. It is the invitation extended to all believers in Christ.

1113 Cf. P. Tillich, 2000, 172–173; see also K.-W. Thyssen, 2012, 114–115; H. Hübner, 1997, 266. 1114 Cf. P. Tillich, 2000, 172.

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However, the experience of the persistence of evil despite the individual and corporate endeavours of Christians to its undoing, belongs to the enigmatic character of evil. Biblical theology of demons, the contribution to which Eph has been shown be in its own way, calls attention to the human responsibilities in the perpetuation, and as well as undoing of evil. It recognizes, above all, the mysterious nature of evil, that not all evil is ascribable to man. This is the area of salvation from evil that God has for creation in Christ. For it is only through the salvific action of God that evil is finally defeated. Such understanding takes care of the illusion that an evil-free world can be brought about by any kind of marshal act, even as we see in Jesus and his teachings and kingdom of God way of life, the defeat of evil to which we are called to participate in. The cross of Christ is the criterion of this victory. In his cross wisdom and foolishness get defined anew (1 Cor 1:18–25), the manifold wisdom of God the church is called to witness. Remaining in union with Christ, in whom we have been given all heavenly blessings, and in the freedom he has wrought for us, we persevere in the orientation in love to active life to overcome evil with good in accordance with the will of God. Each, conscious of his/her being “possessed”, in the sense of self-susceptibility to, and entanglement in evil, perseveres in the prayer “Deliver us Lord from every evil!”

8.4  General evaluation and conclusion 8.4.1 Introduction Motivated by the challenges posed to the gospel message permeating Christian living in Igbo society as a result of the enormous influence of spirit world concerns in daily living and faith praxis, we have attempted in this work to make an examination of this phenomenon. It is about the life-stifling fears spirit world issues bring up, as well as the dangers inherent in popular piety and praxis from the understanding that undergirds such. Our attempts were anchored on the examination of the double-concepts “Principalities and Authorities/Powers” in Eph 3:10 – “i[na gnwrisqh/| nu/n tai/j avrcai/j kai. tai/j evxousi,aij evn toi/j evpourani,oij dia. th/j evkklhsi,aj h` polupoi,kiloj sofi,a tou/ qeou/ - … so that through the church the wisdom of God in its rich variety might now be made known to the rulers and authorities in the heavenly places” (NRSV), while having an eye on other occurrences of the double-concepts in Eph 1:21; 6:12. Our investigations are anchored on these double-concepts against the backdrop of their being the summary cluster of terms for the constituent elements of the spirit world – angels, demons, Satan, devil etc. The prominent place of Eph 464

in these articulations as well as the role it is made to play in addressing spirit world issues in Christian settings in general, and in Igbo (African) settings in particular, prompted the choice of this letter for our investigations. In all the occurrences of the terms Eph 3:10 stands out as most determining on account of its exhaustive hermeneutical content – the “mission theology” it propagates, this mission that hinges on the ecclesiology-christology of Eph. The principalities and authorities/powers themselves are included in the scheme of revelation, and most importantly, through the church!

8.4.2  Eph and Psychological hermeneutics The quest to decipher the import and meaning of the central concepts of consideration, in order to access the hermeneutical vantages of the message of salvation and engage the challenge unto responsible praxis called for the tools of exegesis.1115 We understood theological hermeneutics, in this regard, as correlation of meaning and truth. While meaning issued from historical points of view, truth crystallizes as the message being communicated despite times and circumstances. Our examinations of the Eph double-concepts showed their roots in Pauline (cosmic) theology (chap. 2), this great apostle mentor of the author of Eph, whose person and authority he assumes through the literary means of pseudepigraphy (chap. 3), to address his Eph audience in their spirit world concern and circumstances (chap. 4). The debates in NT Scholarship over the reality or not of spirit world belief in Pauline thought, to what extent it featured or not in his thought, received affirmative answer in the acknowledgment of the important role played by Jewish apocalypticism in Pauline thought. Within the perspectives of Jewish apocalypticism in which the dualistic conflicts between good and evil remained a central theme, the angels and demons, Satan and other characterizations of the spirit world had dominant roles. The treatment of the Pauline antecedents to the spirit world terminologies and concerns (chap. 1) that Jewish apocalypticism intensified with its angels-demons speculations, boiled down to being understood in biblical theology as the apprehensive appreciations of the fundamental

1115 E. Drewermann understands exegesis in this light as integration, calling attention to its key role in uniting the contemporary man’s self-understanding that is torn apart between psychoneurotic and psychosomatic construction of symbols. The psychological approach in this direction seeks to overcome the fears through the power of a healing confidence, that which is commonly referred to as faith. Cf. idem, Bd. II, 1991, 784–785.

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conditions of human existence. In the bid to Weltbewältigung, all that was experienced as superhumanly negative and incomprehensible (nature and its forces), undesired and harmful, came under these terms. These established the cosmic/ cosmological background of the terms principalities and authorities and powers. In their elastic capacity, the terms principalities and authorities could, and did accommodate religious as well as socio-political experiences. Particularly, the factor of experience and its role in such appreciations informed the place of psychological perspectives in our hermeneutical endeavour. Psychological perspectives in biblical hermeneutics inhere in the fact that the roots of theological reflections are in the experiences that are had. These experiences then mature into articulations, interpretations and re-interpretations. Biblical texts show inference from, and refer to the phenomena of experience. As such their interpretations would appreciate them as expressions of human experience and behaviour, even as the note is sounded that their being enmeshed in religious milieu be respected. Such is vividly evident in Jewish apocalypticism in general, and especially from the points of view of its angel-demon speculations and their influence in Pauline thought. The hub of this influence was the messianic hope, which in turn became the point through which Pauline and NT spirit world concerns made their difference. Pauline interest in the spirit world concerns of his world that were expressed with such terms as angels, Satan, Belial, demons etc., was not for their own sake but for the sake of the theological orientation he pursued therefrom. The hub of Pauline and NT theological orientations is identified in Christology, the articulation of their faith and interpretations of the salvific events in Christ. The avalanche of experiences, their historical, cultural as well as individual contingencies became summarized in the one Jesus the Christ, and in faith in him. Christology became the central factor of the early Christians’ experience and interpretation of the world (Rom 8:38–39), and therefrom a psychological factor (chap. 7). Our understanding of Christology as psychological factor took bearing from the understanding of religion as cognitive process. It is about world-construct, man’s appreciation of the world, his place in it, and his response to the divine. This interpretation that has been summarized in Christ, this central figure of the early Christians’ cognitive process as well as the central axiom, challenges both to new appraisal of reality in general, the fearsome experiences in particular, and the appropriation of one’s competence (Phil 4:13). S. Vollenweider articulates this all-rounder status of Pauline Christology thus: The christological perspective that determines the gospel Paul preached drives his anthropological, cosmological, ecclesiological, ethical and eschatological reflection. In all

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Pauline Christology characterizes itself through a combination of traditional as well as original profile. It is both binding force and the spring board combined…1116

The “elasticity” of the Pauline Christology became fully exploited in the reception of Pauline theology that Eph became. This is especially evident against its background world view and the quest for salvation that marked it out as the metropolis of magic and mantic. It became a re-interpretation of Paul in the new historical circumstance of the Hellenistic world (chap. 4). In its realism, Eph responds to the cosmic magic of the Hellenistic world, through which cosmic harmony and control over destiny was sought by means of mantic and astrology, this bitterest of disillusions (F. Cumont). This it does through its cosmic Christology. Eph appreciates the spirit world concerns of his audience, appreciations that the double-concepts “principalities and authorities in the heavenly places” give eloquent expression. He shares in their symbolic world-construct in which these agents of disharmony were located in the aerial regions – heavenly places –; but it introduces into the scenery a new and Supreme Lord, namely, the Christ, whom God has exalted at his own right hand, above u`pera,nw every other power-usurper, whatever name it may be given (Eph 1:20–22a). Christ is God’s response to the experience of disharmony, in the fulfillment of his eternal will avnakefalaiw,sasqai ta. pa,nta evn tw/| Cristw/| (Eph 1:10). Unlike the Pauline cosmic Christology that is awaiting a fulfillment in its eschatology, Eph goes the unique step of realized eschatology in which believers are already sharing in being in the heavenly places with Christ. This is the spiritual blessing God has given believers in Christ (1:3). As such Eph cosmic Christology readily announces a cosmic ecclesiology (1:22b-23) that plays out in the unity of Jews and Gentiles in the one church. Its very reality and the paraenetic consequences (Eph 4–6) become the mission of the church – making known to the principalities and authorities that it is over with them, that their domination is over, that God has assumed control. Psychological hermeneutics (chap. 7) sees a psychological process being pursued and established in the complex weave of thought Eph displays. This is the process of cognitive re-structuring. It involves the identification of dysfunctional beliefs and cognitive biases, providing knowledge about them, aiding the generation of rational response through emphasizing and re-enforcing the strengths of the concerned, and thereby leading to enhanced management of the situation in improved social competence – Cognitive Behavioural Therapy

1116 Cf. S. Vollenweider, 2002, 104; see also F. Hahn, 2002, 180ff; U. Schnelle, 2007, 251.

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(CBT). In Eph circumstance, his audience’s perception of their world was based on particular cognitive structures with their attributions. The magic, mantic and astrology inherent in these cognitive structures, the fears and insecurity they bred and nourished, were sickening and life-stifling. With its cosmic Christology – cosmic ecclesiology Eph introduces cognitive re-structuring, to facilitate adjustment/change of the diseased psychological situation. The cosmos is no longer under the control of the principalities and authorities in the heavenly places. They are now subjected under a new and superior Lord, the Christ, a subjection that his resurrection and exaltation at the right hand of God clearly manifests. By virtue of faith in him, believers share in his authority because what God has done in him is done with a view on the believers. The being and constitution of the church is a concrete demonstration of this victory. It charges to a new way of life, to some personal competence as universal church and as individual believer. This goal of cognitive re-structuring became writ large in the paraenetic motivations of Eph. It is Christology-ecclesiology in action, what we termed the “exorcism” of Eph.

8.4.3  Challenges of Eph psychological hermeneutics in Igbo setting With the close relationship Igbo cosmology has with Eph cosmology, especially regarding the spirit world concerns inherent in them, our interpretation of Eph 3:10 was readily addressing this concern in Igbo setting. Eph principalities and authorities/powers are understood in “ordinary” reading in Igbo setting as giving expression and some “concrete” form to all that was dreaded. These include the cosmic forces that have become deified and perceived as malevolent because of the experience of them as violent. Others are the restless spirits/ghosts of the dead that are believed to have one score or the other to settle with the living. There are also the phenomenon of “medicine” men/women, witches and sorcerers. They all are perceived as being responsible, in one way or the other, for the experiences of affliction or misfortune. One needed to guard oneself from them by all means. Psychological hermeneutics as an exegetical approach purposes not only assisting the crystallization of the underlying issues that are given expression through such categorisations, but more so suggesting some Kurskorrektur, what we articulated as cognitive restructuring. Underlying these views are the dysfunctional cognitive categories inherent in, and inherited from the traditional religion with its control-motivated religiosity and the attendant illusions of control it fosters. The purpose of religion, given this background, was securing wellbeing and freedom from afflictions and misfortunes. The constant experience 468

of these, coupled with the inadequacy of means to the alternative rather re-enforced belief in demons and devils and their agents. Our Eph interpretation challenges the above understanding of religion and the “popular power Christology” it fosters through its cosmic Christology. The cognitive re-structuring that inheres in Eph cosmic Christology and ecclesiology demands faith in Christ as one who is above the principalities and authorities/ powers. Such faith that enables the consciousness of sharing in the authority of Christ enhances perception of the world without the irrational fear of afflictions and misfortunes believed to be brought about by the devil, his principalities and powers. It necessarily leads to a change in the wrong understanding of religion as efforts to harness power for one’s benefits (J.S. Pobee). For true religion is confident relationship to the transcendent who encounters the believer with good-will, come what may! This is the meaning of faith Paul Tillich had articulated as the state of being grasped by the power of being-itself. It bridges the sense of alienation, this foundation of the belief in the existence of intermediate demonic spirit beings and human agents, by accepting that in spite of it the power of being is present. “Faith accepts ‘in spite of ’; and out of the ‘in spite of ’ of faith the ‘in spite of ’ of courage is born…He who is grasped by this power is able to affirm himself because he knows he is affirmed by the power of being-itself.”1117 This Christology-ecclesiology, constituting, as the generated rational response (7.4.2.1), the existential logic of the individual believer and the community of believers, opens the way not only to understanding, but also to pursuing the realization of the mission of the church – to proclaim to the principalities and authorities/powers the manifold wisdom of God. This is established in the paraenetic motivations of Eph centralized in love evn avga,ph| (Eph1:4; 4:2; 5:2), and established in Eph “exorcism” with the panoply of God (6:10ff). Understanding the social challenges that inhere in these virtues presented in divine warfare metaphoric, and endeavouring to live up them as a way of bearing witness to Christ the Lord, heals the dysfunctional relationships that is the breeding ground for the demonic-diabolic. It becomes a participation in the lordship and victory of Christ over the principalities and authorities/powers, a participation that is far beyond the delusive abracadabra of charlatanry and mere ethical optimism. Improved knowledge of the demonic-diabolic that gets beyond the often immediate Vergeistigung etherealization of the experience of the problem of evil, is an important step in the mission of the church. The humble awareness of one’s own susceptibility to involvement in this superhuman experience is inclusive. 1117 Cf. P. Tillich, 2000, 172–173; see also R. Bultmann, 2007, vol.1, II, 314–328.

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8.4.4 Conclusion There is no doubt that all said and done, the problem of evil, within which ambience the central concepts of our investigation – Principalities and Authorities/ Powers – are located, remains enigmatic. Our interest has been to contribute to the ongoing discussions about the spirit world phenomena in Igbo (African) settings and the hindrances their popular understandings and practices related to them constitute to the gospel message taking root and bearing expected fruit in church and society. With the ever increasing demonization of the environment and almost every aspect of life in Igbo (African) settings, the apparent absence of such attitudes in the more developed parts of the world, often give the impression that the demons, their principalities and authorities have all relocated to Africa. Is it not more about particular world view(s) and the perception of the world it/they foster(s)? World view(s) cannot be changed all of a sudden. Its horizons are, however, supposed to be open to change. The gradual process towards is begins with education, with critical consciousness that enables continued dialogue with, and contestations with the fundamental conditions of existence. Biblical theology sees the place of demons in biblical accounts as attempts at grappling with the experience of evil, attempts that invite every generation to engage the reality of this experience as we bear witness to our understanding of the meaning of the salvation wrought us in Jesus Christ. This work, which is a tip of the iceberg in this theological task, is intended to be a humble contribution in these directions, in the urgently needed critical engagement of our world view. This is to enable it open out the more to the life-giving gospel of Christ. Our psycho-hermeneutical approach cannot claim to have said it all. It may be compared to the raft in Buddha’s popular parable of the raft. One makes use of it to get over the great expanse of water on one’s way to the safety of the other shore, leaves it behind and continues one’s journey. The final answer to the questions about evil is our eschatological hope. It is the promise of salvation in God through faith in Jesus Christ. It is the faith that delivers from imprisonment to irrational fears while enabling to love in the sense of ethical responsibility.

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Bibliography Abbreviations The abbreviations of sources and literature follow the system of Siegfried M. Schwertner, Internationales Abkürzungsverzeichnis für Theologie und Grenzgebiete. Zeitschriften, Serien, Lexika, Quellenwerke mit bibliographischen Angaben/International glossary of abbreviations for theology and related subjects. Periodicals, series, encyclopaedias, sources with bibliographical notes, Berlin-New York: Walter de Gruyter ²1992. Biblical books are abbreviated according to the system of The Holy Bible. The Revised Standard Version, ibid. XXXI.

Further abbreviations ANE – Ancient Near East BTS – Bigard Theological Studies. Enugu, Nigeria: Bigard Memorial Seminary. DDD – Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (2nd Extensively Revised Edition), G. van der Toom et al. (eds.), Grand Rapids, MI, Wm. B. Eerdmans, 1999. DPL – Dictionary of Paul and His Letters, G. F. Hawthorne et al. (eds.), Downers Grove, IL, InterVarsity Press, 1993. LBH –  Lexikon der Bibelhermeneutik, O. Wischmeyer (Hg.), Berlin: de Gruyter, 2013. NJBC – New Jerome Bible Commentary, R. E. Brown et al. (eds.), Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall 1990.

1.1  Biblical Sources Aland, B., Aland, K., et al. (Hg.), Das Neue Testament, Griechisch und Deutsch, Nestle-Aland27.Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2007. Bible Works LLC,Bible Works 7 (2006). Deissler A., et al. (Hg.), Neue Jerusalemer Bibel. Einheitsübersetzung mit dem Kommentar der Jerusalemer Bibel. 2. Auflage der Sonderausgabe. Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Herder, 2007. Colacrai A., Lacomara A., McGarry C., (eds.); The African Bible. The New Testament – Standard Edition. Nairobi: Paulines Publications Africa, 1995. Elliger, K., & Rudolph, W., (Hg.), Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia (Editio Quarta emendate opera H.P. Rütgers). Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1980. 471

1.2 Documents Catechism of the Catholic Church (CCC), Libreria Editrice Vatican, 1993. Documents of the Second Vatican Council - (Flannery, A., ed., Vatican Council II. The Conciliar and Post Conciliar Documents. Revised Edition. Dublin: Dominican Publ., 1988): Dei Verbum – Dogmatic Constitution on the Word of God, Nov. 1965. Lumen Gentium – Dogmatic Constitution on the Church, Nov. 1964. Optatam Totius – Decree on the Training of Priests, Oct. 1965. Presbyterorum Ordinis – Decree on the Ministry and Life of Priests, Dec. 1965. Sacrosanctum Concilium – The Constitution on the Sacred Liturgy. Dec. 1963. Ad Gentes Divinitus – Decree on the Church’s Missionary Activity. Dec. 1965. Ecclesia in Africa – Post Synodal Exhortation, Sept. 1995. Vatican Secretariate for Non-Christians, Meeting the African Religions. Rome: Libreria Editrice Ancora, 1969.

1.3 Commentaries Abbott, T.K., The Epistle to the Ephesians and to the Colossians (ICC). Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1956. Barth, M., Ephesians (The Anchor Bible). Vol. 1 & 2. New York: Doubleday Publishing Group, 1974. Becker, J., & Luz, U., Die Briefe an die Galater, Epheser und Kolosser. (NTD Teilband 8/1). 18. Auflage. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998. Berger, K., Kommentar zum Neuen Testament. 1. Aufl. Gütersloh: Güterloher Verlagshaus, 2011. Best, E., A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on Ephesians (ICC). Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2001. Caird, G. B., Paul’s Letters from Prison (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon) in the Revised Standard Version. Introduction and Commentary. London: Oxford University Press, 1976. Conzelmann, H., Der Brief an die Epheser (Neues Göttinger Bibelwerk). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1976 Eckey, W., Der Galaterbrief: Ein Kommentar. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchner Verlag, 2010. 472

Fitzmeyer, J.A., Romans. A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary. 1st ed. New York: Doubleday Publications, 1993. Gnilka, J., Der Epheserbrief (HThKNT) Freiburg: Herder, 1971. Gnilka, J., Der Kolosserbrief (HThKNT) Freiburg: Herder, 1980. Hoehner, H.W., Ephesians: An Exegetical Commentary. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 2003. Hoppe, R., Epheserbrief/Kolosserbrief. Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1987. Hübner, H., An Philemon. An die Kolosser. An die Epheser (HNT 12). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck 1997. Johnston, G., „Ephesians, Letter to the“, in: The Interpreters Dictionary of the Bible, vol. 2. 1962, 108–114. Lincoln, A.T., & Wedderburn, A.J.M., The Theology of the Later Pauline Letters. Cambridge: University Press, 1993. –, Ephesians (World Biblical Commentary 42). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1990. Lohse, E., Die Briefe an die Kolosser und an Philemon (KEK) 2. Aufl. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1977. Lohse, E., Der Brief an die Römer (KEK) 15. Aufl. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2003. Luz, U., Das Evangelium nach Matthäus (EKK 1/1). 5. vollig neubearb. Aufl. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlagshaus, 2002. Martyn, J.L., Galatians: A New Translation with Introduction and Commentary (AncB 33A). New York: Doubleday, 1997. Mitton, C.L., Epistle to the Ephesians. London: Marshall, Morgan & Scott, 1951. Muddiman, J., The Epistle to the Ephesians (Black’s New Testament Commentaries). London: Continuum 2006. Müller, P., (Hg.) Kolosser-Studien. Biblisch-Theologische Studien 103. Göttingen: Neukirchener Verlag, 2009. Pesch, R., Römerbrief. 2. Aufl. Würzburg: Echter Verlag, 1987. Pfammatter, J., Epheserbrief, Kolosserbrief. Die Neue Echter Bibel. Würzburg: Echter Verlag, 1987. Pokorný, P., Der Brief des Paulus an die Epheser. Leipzig, Evangelische Verlagsanstalt, 1992. 473

Schlier, H., Der Brief an die Epheser. Ein Kommentar. 6. Auflage. Düsseldorf: Patmos-Verlag, 1968. Schnackenburg, R., Der Brief an die Epheser. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchner Verlag, 1982. Schrage, W., Der erste Brief an die Korinther (EKK 7,1). Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchner Verlag, 1991. –, Der erste Brief an die Korinther (EKK 7,4). Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchner Verlag, 2001. Sellin, G., Der Brief an die Epheser (KEK 8). 9. Aufl. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007. Stuhlmacher, P., Der Brief an die Römer (NTD 6). 15. Auflage. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998. Theobald, M., Mit den Augen des Herzens sehen. Der Epheserbrief als Leitfaden für Spiritualität und Kirche. Würzburg: Echter Verlag, 2000. Wilckens, U., Der Brief an die Römer (EKK 6/2). Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchner Verlag, 1980.

1.4­  Exegetical/Theological Works and Articles: Arnold, C.E., “The ‘Exorcism’ of Ephesians 6.12 in recent research: A critique of Wesley Carr’s view of the role of Evil Powers in First Century AD Belief ”, in: JSNT 30 (1987) 71–87. –, Ephesians: Power and Magic. The Concept of Power in Ephesians in Light of its Historical Setting (MSSNTS 63). Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press, 1989. –, Powers of Darkness: Principalities and Powers in Paul’s Letters. Illinois: InterVarsity, 1992. –, “Ephesians, Letter to the”, in: DPL (1993), 247. Barton, J., The Nature of Biblical Criticism. Louisville, KE: John Knox Press, 2007. Baum, A.D., Pseudepigraphie und literarische Fälschung im frühen Christentum: mit ausgewählten Quellentexten samt deutscher Übersetzung. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001. Baumgarten, J., Paulus und die Apokalyptik. Die Auslegung apokalyptischer Überlieferungen in den echten Paulusbriefen. Neukirchen: Neukirchener Verlag, 1975. Baur, F.C., Paulus, der Apostel Jesu Christi – sein Leben und Wirken, seine Briefe und seine Lehre. 2. Aufl., Leipzig: Fue’s Verlag, 1867. 474

Bautch, K. C., “Heavenly Beings Brought Low: A Study of Angels and the Netherworld“, in: Reiterer, F.V. et al. (eds.), Angels. The Concept of Celestial Beings – Origins, Development and Reception. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2007, 459–475. Beare, F.W. & Wedel, T.O., “The Epistle to the Ephesians”, in: Harmon, N.B. (ed.), The Interpreter’s Bible, vol. X. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1953, 597–749. Bell, R.H., Deliver Us from Evil. Interpreting the Redemption from the Power of Satan in New Testament Theology. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007. Bendik, I., Paulus in neuer Sicht? Eine kritische Einführung in die „New Perspective on Paul“. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 2010. Benoit, P., “Pauline Angelology and Demonology”, in: Religious Studies Bulletin, 3.1 (1983) 1–18. Berger, K. & Colpe, C., Religionsgeschichtliches Textbuch zum Neuen Testament. Bd 1. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1987. Berger, K., „Kirche”, in: TRE 18 (2000), 198–218. Bernstein, B., „Aspects of Language and Learning in the Genesis of the Social Process”, in: Hymes, D., (ed.), Language in Culture and Society. London: Mouton, 1964, 251–263. Bertram, G., „u[ywma“ im Neuen Testament“, in: ThWNT 7 (1964), 612f. Best, E., “Recipients and Title of the Letter to the Ephesians: Why and When the Designation ‘Ephesians’“, in: ANRW II 25.4 (1987), 3247–3279. Bienert, C.D., Jeska, J., Witulski, T., (Hg.); Paulus und die antike Welt. Beiträge zur zeit- und religionsgeschichtlichen Erforschung des paulinischen Christentums. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008. Boas, F., “Linguistics and Ethnology 1”, in: Hymes, D. (ed.), Language in Culture and Society. London: Mouton, 1964, 15–26. Böcher, O., Das Neue Testament und die dämonischen Mächte. Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1972. Böcher, O., „po,lemoj“, in: EWNT III (2011), 306–308. Bodendorfer, B., „Teufel. II. Biblisch-theologisch“, in: LThK3 9 (2000), 1360–1363. Bousset, W., Die Religion des Judentums im neutestamentlichen Zeitalter. Berlin: Reuther & Reichard, 1903. Broer, I., „evxousi,a”, in: EWNT II (2011), 23–31. Broer, I., Einleitung in das Neue Testament. Bd I & II. Würzburg: Echter Verlag, 2006. 475

Brox, N. Falsche Verfasserangaben. Zur Erklärung der frühchristlichen Pseudepigraphie. Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1975. Bultmann, R., „New Testament and Mythology“, in: Bartsch, H.W., (ed.), Kerygma and Myth: A Theological Debate. New York: Harper and Row Publ., 1961, 1–44. –, Jesus Christus und die Mythologie: Das Neue Testament im Licht der Bibelkritik. Hamburg: Furche Verlag, 1964. –, Theology of the New Testament. 2 Vol. Translated by Kendrick Grobel. Waco, TX: Baylor University Press, 2007. –, „gnwri,zw”, in: ThWNT 1 (1933), 718–719. Cahill, P.J., Book Reviews in: Religious Studies Bulletin 1 (1983), 42. Caird, G.B., Principalities and Powers: A Study in Pauline Theology. London: Oxford University Press, 1956. Carr, W., Angels and Principalities: The Background, Meaning and Development of the Pauline Phrase hai archai kai hai exousiai. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1981. Charlesworth, J.H., „Pseudepigraphen des Alten Testamentes“, in: TRE 27 (1997), 639–645. Coenen, L., „evkklhsi,a” in: ThBNT II (2000), 1136–1150. Conzelmann, H., Grundriß der Theologie des Neuen Testamentes: Einführung in die evangelische Theologie Bd. 2; 3. Aufl. München: Chr. Kaiser, 1976. Cullmann, O., Christus und die Zeit – die urchristliche Zeit- und Geschichtsauffassung. Zürich: Evangelischer Verlag, 1946. Dahl, N. A., Studies in Ephesians: Introductory Questions, Texts- and Editioncritical Issues, Interpretations of Texts and Themes. D. Hellholm et al. (eds.); Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2000. Danker, F.W., (ed.), A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and other Early Christian Literature. 3rd Edition. Chicago: University Press, 2000. Delling, G., „avrch,”, in: ThWNT 1 (1933), 477–483. –, „stoicei/on”, in: ThWNT 7 (1964), 670–687. Dibelius, M., Die Geisterwelt im Glauben des Paulus. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1909. Dochhorn, J., “The Motif of the Angels’ Fall in Early Judaism”, in: Reiterer, F.V., et al. (eds.), Angels. The Concept of Celestial Beings: Origins, Development and Reception. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2007, 477–495. 476

Dodson, J.R., The Powers of Personification. Rhetorical Purpose in the Book of Wisdom and the Letter to the Romans. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2008. Dormeyer, D., „Interkulturelle Exegese. Der pragmalinguistische ‚Kommentar für die Praxis‘ für Lateinamerika und Europa“, in: P. Pokorný & J. Roskovec, (eds.), Philosophical Hermeneutics und Exegese (WUNT 153). Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002, 270–298. Dormeyer, D., „Weltbild, Wunder und Geschichtsschreibung mit Vorzeichen und Machttaten Gottes/von Gottheiten“, in Zimmermann, R. & Dormeyer, D., (Hg.), Kompendium der frühchristlichen Wundererzählungen. Bd. 1. Die Wunder Jesus. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlaghaus, 2013, 69–78. Ebner, M., „Die Exorzismen Jesu als Testfall für die historische Rückfrage. Die Herausforderung des linguistic turn als Chance für die exegetische Wissenschaft“; in: von Gemünden, Petra, et al. (Hg.), Jesus – Gestalt und Gestaltungen. Rezeptionen des Galiläers in Wissenschaft, Kirche und Gesellschaft; Festschrift für Gerd Theißen zum 70. Geburtstag.  Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. 2013, 477–498. –, Jesus von Nazareth. Was wir von ihm wissen können. 2. Aufl. Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2012. Egger, W., Methodenlehre zum Neuen Testament. Einführung in linguistische und historisch-kritische Methoden. Freiburg: Herder, 1987. Everling, O., Die paulinische Angelologie und Dämonologie: Ein biblisch-theologischer Versuch. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1888. Fabry, H.-J., „Satan” – Begriff und Wirklichkeit. Untersuchungen zur Dämonologie der alttestamentlichen Weisheitsliteratur, in: Lange, A., et al. (eds.), The Demonology of Israelite-Jewish and Early Christian Literature in Context of their Environment. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003, 261–291. Faust, E., Pax Christi et Pax Caesaris – religionsgeschichtliche, traditionsgeschichtliche und sozialgeschichtliche Studien zum Epheserbrief. Freiburg: Universitätsverlag, 1993. Fischer, K.M., Tendenz und Absicht des Epheserbriefes. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1973. Fitzmyer, J.A., “Romans, Epistle to the”, in: NCE 12 (2003), 340–344. Foerster, W., „av,h,r“, in: ThWNT 1 (1933), 165. –, „evxousi,a”, in: ThWNT 2 (1935), 559–571. Forbes, C., “Paul’s Principalities and Powers: Demythologising Apocalyptic?“; in: JSNT 2001 (82), 61–88. 477

–, “Pauline Demonology and/or Cosmology? Principalities, Powers and the Elements of the World in their Hellenistic Context”; in: JSNT 2002 (85), 51–73. Foster, R.L., “Reoriented to the Cosmos: Cosmology and Theology in Ephesians through Philemon”, in Pennington, J.T. & McDonough, S.M., (eds.), Cosmology and New Testament. London: T & T Clark, 2008, 107–124. Fraling, B., „Aspekte ethischer Hermeneutik in der Schrift“, in: Rotter, H., (Hg.), Heilsgeschichte und ethische Normen. Freiburg: Herder, 1984, 15–63. Frey, J., & Breytenbach, C., (Hg.), Aufgabe und Durchführung einer Theologie des Neuen Testamentes. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007. Gale, H.M., The Use of Analogy in the Letters of Paul. Louisville, KE: Westminister Press, 1964. Gräbe, P.J., The Power of God in Paul’s Letters. 2nd Edition. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008 Gese, M., Das Vermächtnis des Apostels. Die Rezeption der paulinischen Theologie im Epheserbrief. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1997. Gerlitz, P., „Pseudonymität. I. Religionsgeschichtlich”, in: TRE (1997) 27, 660–662. Gnilka, J., „Paränetische Traditionen im Epheserbrief ”, in: Descamps, A., & Halleux, A. de, (eds.), Mélanges bibliques. Gembloux: Duculot, 1970, 379–410. –, „Zum Gottesgedanken in der Jesusüberlieferung“, in: idem & Klauck, H.-J., (Hg.), Monotheismus und Christologie. Zur Gottesfrage im hellenistischen Judentum und im Urchristentum. Freiburg: Herder, 1992, 144–162. Goetzmann, J., „sofi,a III“ in: ThBNT II (2000), 1881–1883. Greeven, H., „pa,lh“, in: ThWNT 5 (1954), 717–718. Gunkel, J.F.H., The Influence of the Holy Spirit: the Popular View of the Apostolic Age and the Teaching of the Apostle Paul. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1979. Gunton C., “Christus Victor revisited. A Study in Metaphor and the Transformation of Meaning”, in: JTS 36 (1985) 129–145. Hahn, F., Frühjüdische und urchristliche Apokalyptik. Eine Einführung. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1998. Hahn, F., Theologie des Neuen Testamentes. Bd. 1–2. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002. Hailer, M., Götzen, Mächte und Gewalten. Biblisch-theologische Schwerpunkte Bd. 33. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2008. Hardin, J.K., Galatians and the Imperial Cult. A Critical Analysis of the FirstCentury Social Context of Paul’s Letter. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2008. 478

Hauck F., „katabolh,“, in: ThWNT 3 (1938), 623/21–22. Harris, W.H., The Descent of Christ: Ephesians 4: 7–11 and the Traditional Hebrew Imagery. Leiden: Brill, 1996. Holtz, T., Geschichte und Theologie des Urchristentums. Gesammelte Aufsätze. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1991. –, „Mythos IV. Neutestamentlich,“ in: TRE 23 (2000), 644–650. Hoppe, R., „Überlegungen zur Theologie des Neuen Testamentes aus katholischer Sicht“, in Frey, J., & Breytenbach, C., (Hg.), Aufgabe und Durchführung einer Theologie des Neuen Testamentes. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2007, 55– 71. –, Apostel – Gemeinde – Kirche. Beiträge zu Paulus und den Spuren seiner Verkündigung. Stuttgart: Verlag Katholisches Bibelwerk, 2010. Hübner, H., „Was ist existentiale Interpretation?, in: idem, Biblische Theologie als Hermeneutik. Gesammelte Aufsätze. (Hg. v. Labahn, A., & Labahn, M.). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1995, 229–251. Jeal, R.R., Integrating Theology and Ethics in Ephesians: The Ethos of Communication. (Studies in Bible and Early Christianity, 43). NewYork, NY, MellenPress, 2000. Johnson, E.E., Preface; in: Johnson, E.E., & Hays, D.M., (eds.); Pauline Theology Vol. IV – Looking back, pressing on. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1997. Kahl, W., “Intercultural Hermeneutics – Contextual Exegesis. A Model for 21stCentury Exegesis”, in: International Review of Mission, vol. LXXXIX/354 (2000), 421–433. –, „Zur Interpretation des Neuen Testamentes im sozio-kulturellen Kontext Westafrikas“, in: ZNT 5 (3. Jg. 2000), 27–35. Karrer, M., „Christologie I. Urchristentum”, in: RGG4 2 (1999), 273–288. Käsemann, E., “Ephesians and Acts”, in: Keck, L.E. & Martyn, J.L., (eds.), Studies in Luke-Acts. FS P. Schubert, London, 1966, 288–297. –, Paulinische Perspektiven. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1972. Keel, O., „Schwache altestamentliche Ansätze zur Konstruktion einer stark dualistisch getönten Welt”, in: Lange, A., et al. (eds.), The Demonology of Israelite-Jewish and Early Christian Literature in Context of their Environment. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003, 210–233. Kertelge, K., „Teufel. II. Biblisch-theologisch, 3. Neues Testament“, in: LThK3 9 (2000), 1363–1365. 479

Kirschläger, W., „Exorzismus. II. Biblisch”, in: LThK3 3 (1995), 1126–1127. Klauck, H.-J., Allegorie und Allegorese in synoptischen Gleichnistexten. Münster: Aschendorff, 1978. –, Alte Welt und neuer Glaube. Beiträge zur Religionsgeschichte, Forschungsgeschichte und Theologie des Neuen Testamentes. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1994. –, Die religiöse Umwelt des Urchristentums 1. Stadt- und Hausreligion, Mysterienkulte, Volksglaube. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1995. –, Die antike Briefliteratur und das Neue Testament: Ein Lehr- und Arbeitsbuch. Paderborn: Schöningh, 1998. Knoch, O., „gnwri,zw”, in: EWNT I (2011), 616–617. Köckert, M., “Divine Messengers and Mysterious Men in the Patriarchal Narratives of the Book of Genesis”, in: Reiterer, F.V., et al. (eds.), Angels. The Concept of Celestial Beings – Origins, Development and Reception. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2007, 51–78. Kobelski, P.J., “The Letter to the Ephesians”, in: NJBC, 883–890. Krämer, H., „musth,rion”, in: EWNT II (2011), 1098–1105. Kretzer, A., „ponhri,a“, „ponhro,j”, in: EWNT III (2011), 320–324. Kurze, G., Der Engels- und Teufelsglaube des Apostels Paulus. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herdersche Verlagshandlung, 1915. Lindemann, A., Die Aufhebung der Zeit. Geschichtverständnis und Eschatologie im Epheserbrief (StUNT 12). Gütersloh, 1975. –, Paulus im ältesten Christentum: Das Bild des Apostels und die Rezeption der paulinischen Theologie in der frühchristlichen Literatur bis Marcion. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1979. Lincoln, A.T, “Stand, therefore,…” Eph 6:10–20 as Peroratio, Biblical Interpretation 3, 1995. Lincoln, A.T., & Wedderburn, A.J.M., The Theology of the Later Pauline Letters. Cambridge: University Press, 1993. Lips, H. v., „Weisheit/Weisheitsliteratur IV. Neues Testament“, in: TRE 35 (2003), 508–515. Lüdemann, G., „Die ‚Religionsgeschichtliche Schule‘ und die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft”, in: idem., (Hg.), Die „religionsgeschichtliche Schule“: Facetten eines theologischen Umbruchs. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1996, 9–22. 480

Mach, M., Entwicklungsstadien des jüdischen Engelsglaubens in vorrabbinischer Zeit. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1992. Macgregor, G.H.C., “Principalities and Powers: the Cosmic Background of St. Paul’s Thought”, in: NTS 2 (1955), 17–28. Madubuko J., “Religiöse Kulte in den Städten der paulinischen Mission (in der Darstellung der Apostelgeschichte)“, Unpublished NT Seminar Paper, UniBonn, June 2010. Maly, E., & Horgan, M.P., “Epistle to the Ephesians”, in: NCE 5 (2003), 270–272. Martin, R.P., Carmen Christi. Philippians ii.5–11 in recent interpretation and in the setting of early Christian worship. Cambridge: University Press, 1967. Martin, T.W., „Investigating the Pauline Letter Body: Issues, Methods, and Approaches”, in: Porter, S.E. & Adams, S.A. (eds.), Paul and the Ancient Letter Form. Leiden: Brill, 2010, 185–212. Mayer, A.C., Sprache der Einheit im Epheserbrief und in der Ökumene. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002. Manson, W., “Principalities and Powers: The Spiritual Background of the Works of Jesus in the Synoptic Gospels.” in: Bulletin of the Studiorum Novi Testamenti Societas, iii, 1952/3, pg 7–17. Re-issued in Great Britain: Cambridge University Press, 1963. McNamara M., & Lella, A.D., “Daniel, Book of ”, in: NCE 4 (2003), 509–513. Meade, D.G., Pseudonymity and Canon. An Investigation into the Relationship of Authorship and Authority in Jewish and earliest Christian Tradition. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 1986.  Meyer, R.-P., Kirche und Mission in Epheserbrief. Stuttgart: Kath. Bibelwerk, 1977. Merkel, H., „Der Epheserbrief in der neueren exegetischen Diskussion”, in: ANRW II 25.4 (1987) 3156–3246. Merklein, H., „Paulinische Theologie in der Rezeption des Kolosser- und Epheserbriefes“, in: Kertelge, K., (Hg.), Paulus in den Neutestamentlichen Spätschriften. Zur Paulusrezeption im Neuen Testament. Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Herder, 1981, 25–69. –, „avnakefalaio,w“,EWNT I (2011), 197–199. –, Das kirchliche Amt nach dem Epheserbrief. München: München: Kösel, 1973(1). –, Christus und die Kirche. Die theologische Grundstruktur des Epheserbriefes nach Eph 2,11–18. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1973(2). 481

Mussner, F., Christus, das All und die Kirche. Studien zur Theologie des Epheserbriefes. Trier: Paulus Verlag, 1968. Mußner, F., „Epheserbrief ” in: TRE 9 (1993), 743–753. O’Brien, P.T., “Principalities and Powers: Opponents of the Church“, in: Carson, D.A., (ed.), Biblical Interpretation and the Church: Text and Context. Exeter: Paternoster Press, 1984, 110–150. –, “Letters, Letter Forms”, in: DPL (1983), 550–553. Oepke, A., „evn” in: ThWNT 2 (1935), 537–538 –, & Kuhn, K.G., „panopli,a“, in: ThWNT 5 (1954), 295–315. –, „o[pla“, in: ThWNT 5 (1954), 292–294. Pesch, R., Der Besessene von Gerasa. Entstehung und Überlieferung einer Wundergeschichte  Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1972. Pfitzner, V.C., Paul and the Agon Motif. Traditional Athletic Imagery in the Pauline Literature. Leiden: Brill, 1967. Plümacher, E., „stoicei/on“ in: EWNT III (2011), 664–666. Pokorný, P., „Pseudepigraphie. I. Altes und Neues Testament”, in: TRE 27 (1997), 645–655 Popkes, W., Paränese und Neues Testament. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1996. Porter, S.E., “The Theoretical Justification for the Application of Rhetorical Categories to Pauline Epistolary Literature”, in: idem & Olbricht, T., (eds.), Rhetoric and the New Testament – Essays from the 1992 Heidelberg Conference. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1993, 100–122. Reid, D. G., „Principalities and Powers“, in: DPL (1983),746–752. Rudolph, K., „Weisheit/Weisheitsliteratur I. Religionsgeschichtlich”, in: TRE 35 (2003), 478–486. Sand, A., „Überlieferung und Sammlung der Paulusbriefe“, in: Kertelge, K. (Hg.), Paulus in den Neutestamentlichen Spätschriften. Zur Paulusrezeption im Neuen Testament. Freiburg im Breisgau: Verlag Herder, 1981, 11–24. Sanders, J., The New Testament Christological Hymns: their historical-religious background. Cambridge: University Press, 1971. Scheffczyk, L., „Anakephalaiosis” in: LThK3 1 (1993), 572–573. Schnelle, U., Paulus. Leben und Denken. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2003.

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–, Einleitung in das Neue Testament. 5. Auflage. Stuttgart: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2005. –, Theologie des Neuen Testamentes. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2007 –, (ed.) The Letter to the Romans. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 2009. –, & Söding, T. (Hg.), Paulinische Christologie. Exegetische Beiträge. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2000. Schreiber, S., „Briefliteratur im Neuen Testament“, in: Ebner, M., & Schreiber, S. (Hg.), Einleitung in das Neue Testament. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 2008, 250–264. Schwindt, R., Das Weltbild des Epheserbriefes: eine religionsgeschichtlich-exegetische Studie. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002. Sellin, G., Studien zu Paulus und zum Epheserbrief (FRLANT 229). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009. Söding, T., Wege der Schriftauslegung: Methodenlehre zum Neuen Testament. Freiburg: Herder, 1998. Speyer, W., „Pseudepigraphie. I. Terminologie”, in: LThK3 8 (1999), 706–707. Stauffer, E., „i[na”, in: THWNT 3 (1938), 324–330. Stolz, F., „Geist. I. Religionswissenschaftlich“ in: RGG4 3 (2000), 555–558. Schenk, W., „Hermeneutik. III. Neues Testament”, in: TRE 15 (1986) 144–150. Schmidt, K.L., „evkklhsi,a”, in: ThWNT 3 (1938), 502–239. Schmidt, W.H., in: „Geist. I. Altes Testament“, in: TRE 12 (1993), 170–173. Schnabel. E.J., “Wisdom”, in: DPL, 967–972. Schöpflin, K., “YHWH’s Agents of Doom – The Punishing Function of Angels in Post-Exilic Writings of the Old Testament”, in: Reiterer, F.V., et al. (eds.), Angels. The Concept of Celestial Beings: Origins, Development and Reception. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2007, 125–137. Schröter J., „Wie theologisch ist die Bibelwissenschaft? Reflexionen über den Beitrag der Exegese zur Theologie“, in: JBTh 25 (2010), 85–104. Schunack, G., „Hermeneutik. III. Neues Testament“, in: RGG4 3 (2000), 1651– 1652. Schweizer, E., „sw/ma”, in: ThWNT 7 (1964), 1035–1036. –, „Jesus Christus. I. Neues Testament“, in: TRE 16 (1993) 671–726.

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Shkul, M., Reading Ephesians: Exploring Social Enterpreneurship in the Text. New York: T & T Clark, 2009. Sellin, G., „Epheserbrief “ in: RGG4 2 (1999), 1344–1347. –, „Weltbild. V. Neues Testament und Urchristentum“, in: RGG4 8 (2005), 1416–1419. Seeseman, H., „poi,kiloj“, „polupoi,kiloj”, in: ThWNT 6 (1959), 483–484. Skehan, P.W., “Septuagint“, in: NCE 12 (2003), 920–924. Söding T., „Hermeneutik. II. Biblische Hermeneutik“, in: LThk3 5 (1996), 3–6. –, Das Liebesgebot bei Paulus. Die Mahnung zur Agape im Rahmen der Paulinischen Ethik. Münster: Aschendorff, 1995. Starnitzke, D., Die Struktur des paulinischen Denkens im Römerbrief. Eine linguistisch-logische Untersuchung. Stuttgart: Verlag W. Kohlhammer, 2004. Stamm, R.T., & Blackwelder, O.F., The Epistle to the Galatians, in: Harmon, N.B., (ed.), The Interpreter’s Bible, vol X. Nashville, TN: Abingdon Press, 1953. Strecker, C., „Jesus und die Besessenen. Zum Umgang mit Alterität im Neuen Testament am Beispiel der Exorzismen Jesu“, in: Stegemann, W., et al. (Hg.), Jesus in neuen Kontexten. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer Verlag, 2002, 53–63. –, „Die Wirklichkeit der Dämonen. Böse Geister im Altertum und in den Exorzismen Jesu“, in: JBTh 26 (2011) 117–150. Stewart, J.S., “On Neglected Emphasis in New Testament Theology”, in: SJT 4.3 (1951), 292–301. Theißen, G., „Methodenkonkurrenz und hermeneutischer Konflikt. Pluralismus in Exegese und Lektüre der Bibel“, in: Mehlhausen, J. (Hg.) Pluralität und Identität. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1995. Theobald, M., Studien zum Römerbrief. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2001. –, „Der Epheserbrief “, „Der Kolosserbrief “, in: Ebner, M., & Schreiber, S., (Hg.), Einleitung in das Neue Testament. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 2008, 408–424. –, „Exegese als theologische Basiswissenschaft. Erwägungen zum interdisziplinären Selbstverständnis neutestamentlicher Exegese“, in: JBTh 25 (2010), 105–139. Thomas, J., „parakale,w( para,klhsij“, in: EWNT III (2011), 54–64. Thompson E.S.P., „Die Dämonen in der biblischen Theologie“, in: Rosenkranz, G. (Hg.), Theologische Stimmen aus Asien, Afrika, und Lateinamerika. Beiträge zur biblischen Theologie. Bd. II; München: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1967, 148–163. 484

Thuren, L., „The General New Testament Writings“, in: Porter, S.E., (ed.), Handbook of Classical Rhetoric in the Hellenistic Period (300 B.C. - A.D. 400). Leiden: Brill, 1997, 587–607. Traub, H., „ouvrano,j”, in: ThWNT 5 (1954), 496–543. Trebilco, P., The Early Christians in Ephesus from Paul to Ignatius. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2004. Umoren, A.I., Paul and Power Christology – Exegesis and Theology of Romans 1: 3–4 in Relation to Popular Power Christology in an African Context. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2008. van der Loos, H., The Miracles of Jesus. Leiden: Brill, 1965. van Kooten, G.H., Cosmic Christology in Paul and the Pauline School. Colossians and Ephesians in the Context of Graeco-Roman Cosmology, with a New Synopsis of the Greek Texts. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003. von der Osten-Sacken, P., Römer 8 als Beispiel der paulinischen Soteriologie. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1975. Vouga, F., „Der Brief als Form der apostolischen Autorität”, in: Berger, K., et al. (Hg.), Studien und Texte zur Formgeschichte. Tübingen: A. Francke Verlag, 1992, 7–58. Wagner, H., „Geister. I. Religionswissenschaftlich“, in: LThK3 4 (1995), 379–380. Weder, H., Neutestamentliche Hermeneutik. Zürich: Theologischer Verlag, 1986. –, „Biblische Theologie. Konturen und Anforderungen aus hermeneutischer Perspektive“, in: JBTh 25, 2010, 19–40. Weima, J.A.D., “Letters, Greco-Roman“, in: Craig, A.E., & Porter, S.E., (eds.), Dictionary of New Testament Backgrounds. Leicester: InterVarsity, 2000, 642–643. Weiß, K., „avrch,”, in: EWNT I (2011), 390–392; White, J., “Paul‘s Cosmology: The Witness of Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Galatians”, in Pennington, J.T., & McDonough, S.M., (eds.), Cosmology and New Testament Theology. London: T & T Clark, 2008, 90–106. Wilckens, U., & Fohrer, G., „sofi,a ktl)“, in: ThWNT 7 (1964), 465–514. Williams, G., The Spirit World in the Letters of Paul the Apostle: A Critical Examination of the Role of Spiritual Beings in the Authentic Pauline Epistles (FRLANT 231). Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2001. Wischmeyer, O., „Engel“ III. NT in: RGG4 2 (1999), 1280–1281. 485

–, Hermeneutik des Neuen Testamentes. Ein Lehrbuch. Tübingen: Francke, 2004. –, „Kosmos und Kosmologie bei Paulus“, in: Gemeindhardt, P., & Zgoll A., (Hg.), Weltkonstruktionen. Religiöse Weltdeutung zwischen Chaos und Kosmos vom Alten Orient bis zum Islam. Tübingen, Mohr Siebeck, 2010, 87–107. –, „Hermeneutik. II. Neutestamentlich”, in: LBH, 246–248. –, (Hg.), Paulus: Leben – Umwelt – Briefe. 2. Aufl. Tübingen: Francke, 2012. Wolter, M., „Pseudonymität. II. Kirchengeschichtlich”, in: TRE (1997), Bd. 27, 662–670. Wieland, G., „Hermeneutik I. Begriff u. Geschichte“, in: LThk3 5 (1996), 1–3. Yates, R., „Principalities and Powers in Ephesians”, in: New Blackfriars 58 (1977), 516–521. Yoder Neufeld, T.R., „Put on the Armour of God“. The Divine Warrior from Isaiah to Ephesians. Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1997.

1.5  Psychological – Exegetical Works Batson, C.D., „An Agenda Item for Psychology of Religion: Getting Respect”, in: Spilka, B., & McIntosh, D.N., (eds.), The Psychology of Religion: Theoritical Approaches. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1997, 3–10. Beck, A.T., Wahrnehmung der Wirklichkeit und Neurose. Kognitive Psychotherapie emotionaler Störung (Aus dem Amerikanischen übersetzt). München: J. Pfeiffer, 1979. Belzen, J.A., „The Varieties of Psychology of Religion: by way of introduction”, in: idem, (ed.), Hermeneutical Approaches in Psychology of Religion. International Series in the Psychology of Religion (ISPR) 6. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1997, 7–10. –, “Cultural Psychology of Religion. Synchronic and Diachronic.“, in: op. cit., 109–127. Berger, K., Historische Psychologie des Neuen Testaments. Stuttgart: Katholisches Bibelwerk, 1991. –, Identity and Experience in the New Testament (translated by Charles Muenchow). Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 2003. Callan,T., Psychological Perspectives on the Life of Paul: An Application of the Methodology of Gerd Theissen. New York: The Edwin Mellen Press, 1990. Carver, C.S., & Scheier, M.F., „Confidence, Doubt, and Coping with Anxiety“, in: Forgays, D.G., Sosnowski, T., & Wrzesniewski, K., (eds.), Anxiety – Recent Developments in Cognitive, Psychophysiological, and Health Research. Florence, KE: Taylor & Francis Group, 1992, 13–22. 486

Cervone, D. & Pervin, L.A., Personality: Theory and Research. 10th edition. Hoboken, NJ: John Wiley & Sons Inc., 2008. Cosgrove, M.P., “Psychology, Presuppositions of,“, in: Benner, D.G., & Hill, P.C., Baker (eds.) Encyclopedia of Psychology & Counseling. 2nd Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999, 959–961. Dozier R., Angst – Zerstörungstrieb und schöpferische Kraft. München-Wien: Europa Verlag, 1998. Drewermann, E., Tiefenpsychologie und Exegeses. Bd. I - Traum, Mythos, Märchen, Sage und Legende; Bd. II – Wunder, Vision, Weissagung, Apokalypse, Geschichte, Gleichnis. 1. Auflage der Sonderausgabe. Olten und Freiburg im Breisgau: Walter-Verlag, 1991. Ellis, A., “The Basic Clinical Theory of Rational-Emotive Therapy“, in: Ellis, A., & Grieger, R., (eds.), Handbook of Rational-Emotive Therapy. New York: Springer, 1977, 5–11. Epstein, S., “The Nature of Anxiety with Emphasis Upon its Relationship to Expectancy“, in: Spielberger, C. D., (eds.), Anxiety: Current Trends in Theory and Research. New York: Academic Press, 1972, 291–337. Eysenck, M.W., Anxiety: The Cognitive Perspective. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1992. –, & Keane, M.T., Cognitive Psychology: A Student’s Handbook. 6th ed. New York: Psychology Press, 2010. Fletcher, M.S., “The Psychology of the New Testament”, in: Wayne, G.R., et al. (eds.), Psychological Insight into the Bible. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Eerdmans, 2007, 11–17. Gray, J.A., The Psychology of Fear and Stress. London: Weldenfeld and Nicolson, 1971. Grom, B., Religionspsychologie. München: Kösel – Göttingen; Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1992. Günther, V., & Hinterhuber, H., „Die Psychologie der Angst und die Religion“, in: von Stietencron, H., (Hg.), Angst und Religion. Düsseldorf: Patmos Verlag, 1991, 79–101. Hill, P.C., “Attribution Theory”, in: Benner, D.G. & Hill, P.C., (eds.), Encyclopedia of Psychology & Counseling. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999, 109–111. Hoheisel, K., „Religionspsychologie“, in: TRE 29 (1998 ), 1–7. 487

Hope, D.A., Heimberg, R.G., Turk, C.L., Managing Social Anxiety: A Cognitive-Behavioural Therapy: A Therapist’s Guide. 2nd edition. New York: ­Oxford Press, 2010. Hymes, D., (ed.), Language in Culture and Society. London: Mouton, 1964. James, W., Varieties of Religious Experience. A Study of Human Nature. New York: Barnes & Nobles, 2004. Jones, S.L., “Psychology and Religion“, in: Benner, D.G., & Hill, P.C. (eds.), Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology & Counseling. 2nd edition. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Baker Books, 1999, 961–965. –, „Cognitive Restructuring“, in: Benner, D.G., & Hill, P.C., (eds.), Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology & Counseling. 2nd edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999, 222–223. Jung, C.G., “The Psychological Foundations of Belief in Spirits“, in: Proceedings of the Society for Psychical Research, vol. XXXI, part LXXIX, 1921, 75–93. Koch, C., “Cognitive psychology”, in Benner, D. G., & Hill, P.C., (eds.) Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology & Counseling. 2nd Edition. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999, 221–222. Kutikottayil, J., Confronting Fear in Faith. A Psycho-Pastoral Approach to the Problem of Fear in the Christian Life of the Khasi-Jaintias. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2005. Lampe, P., „Psychologische Einsichten Quintilians in der Institutio Oratoria”, in: Theißen, G., & von Gemünden, P., (Hg.), Erkennen und Erleben. Beiträge zur psychologischen Erforschung des frühen Christentums. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2007, 209–230. Lazarus, R.S., & Folkman, S., Stress, Appraisal and Coping. 3rd ed. New York: Springer, 1987. –, & Averill, J.R., “Emotion and Cognition: with Special Reference to Anxiety“, in: Spielberger, C.D., (ed.), Anxiety: Current Trends in Theory and Research. New York: Academic Press, 1972, 242–279. Leimgruber, U., „Auf Teufel komm raus?!“ Die katholische Lehre vom Exorzismus in liturgischer und psychologischer Perspektive“ in: Schwöbel, C., (Hg.), Gott – Götter – Götzen. XIV. Europäischer Kongress für Theologie (11.–15. Sept. 2011). Leipzig: Evangelische Verlaganstalt, 2013, 850–865. Leiner, M., Psychologie und Exegese. Grundfragen einer textpsychologischen Exegese des Neuen Testaments. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 1995. –, „Dem Evangelium die Seele wiedergeben? Grundsätzliche Fragen einer ­Psychologie des Urchristentums“; in Theißen, G. & von Gemünden, P., (Hg.), 488

Erkennen und Erleben. Beiträge zur psychologischen Erforschung des frühen Christentums. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2007, 29–54. McCauley, R., “The Cognitive Foundations of Religion and Science“, in: Zeller, D., (Hg.), Religion im Wandel der Kosmologien. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1999, 55–69. McIntosh, D.N., “Religion-as-Schema, with implications for the relation between Religion and Coping”, in: Spilka, B., & McIntosh, D.N., (eds.), The Psychology of Religion: Theoretical Approaches. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1997, 171–183. McReynolds, W.T., “Anxiety as Fear: A Behavioural Approach to One Emotion“, in: Spielberger, C.D. & Zuckermann, M., (eds.), Emotions and Anxiety. New Concepts, Methods, and Applications. Hillsdale, NJ, 1976. Mitternacht, D., “Theissen’s Integration of Psychology and New Testament Studies: Learning Theory, Psychodynamics, and Cognitive Psychology “, in: Ellens, J.H., (ed.), Psychology and Bible. A New Way to Read the Bible. Vol. 1. Westpoint, Connecticut: Praeger, 2004, 101–119. Niemann, U., „Exorzismus oder/und Therapie? Psychiatrische und seelsorgliche Hilfen für von Dämonen ‚besessene‘ Menschen“, in: Stimmen der Zeit 217 (1999), 781–784. –, „Befreiung vom Bösen? Für einen zeitgemäßen Umgang mit ‚Besessenheit‘“, in: Stimmen der Zeit 223 (2005), 274–278. Pekrun, R., “Expectancy-Value Theory of Anxiety: Overview and Implications“, in: D.G. Forgays, et al. (eds.), Anxiety – Recent Developments in Cognitive, Psychophysiological, and Health Research. Florence, KE: Taylor & Francis Group, 1992, 23–41. Peter, T., Von der Angst zu Gehen und vom Gehen in der Angst. Angsterfahrung als Herausforderung an theologisches Denken, Reden und Handeln. Wien, Berlin: LIT Verlag, 2006. Pfister, O., Das Christentum und die Angst. 2. Aufl. Olten: Walter, 1975. Pompey, H. & Claret, B.J., „Besessenheit. VII. Psychologisch-therapeutisch“, in: LThK3 2 (1994), 316–317. Popp-Baier, U., “Psychology of Religion as Hermeneutical Cultural Analysis – Some Reflections with Reference to Clifford Geertz“, in: Belzen, J.A. (ed.), Hermeneutical Approaches in Psychology of Religion. International Series in the Psychology of Religion (ISPR) 6. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1997, 195–212. Proudfoot, W., and Shaver, P.R., “Attribution Theory and the Psychology of Religion”, in Spilka, B. & McIntosh, D. N., (eds.), The Psychology of Religion: Theoritical Approaches. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1997, 139–152. 489

Rebell, W., „Psychologische Bibelauslegung – Möglichkeiten und Grenzen“; in: Bibel und Kirche 44 (1989), 111–117. Rheinberg, F., Motivation. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1995. Roitto, R., Behaving as a Christian. A Cognitive Perspective on Identity and Behavior Norms in Ephesians. Warsaw, Indiana: Eisenbrauns, 2011. Rollins, W.G. & Kille, D.A., (eds.) Psychological Insight into the Bible: Text and Readings. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerdmanns, 2007. Sachse, R. & Musial, E.M., Kognitionsanalyse und kognitive Therapie. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1981. Schnurr, G., „Furcht III. Theologiegeschichtlich und pastoralanthropologisch“, in: TRE 11 (1993), 759–767. Spilka, B., Shaver, P.R., Kirkpatrick, L.A., “A General Attribution Theory for the Psychology of Religion”, in: Spilka, B. & McIntosh, D.N., (eds.), The Psychology of Religion: Theoretical Approaches. Boulder, Colorado: Westview Press, 1997, 153–170. Tan, S.-Y., “Cognitive-Behaviour Therapy“, in: Benner, D.G. & Hill, P.C. (eds.), Baker Encyclopedia of Psychology & Counseling. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999, 215–218. Theißen, G., Psychologische Aspekte paulinischer Theologie. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck und Ruprecht, 1983. –, Psychological Aspects of Pauline Theology (trs. by John P. Galvin). Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1987. –, Erleben und Verhalten der ersten Christen: Eine Psychologie des Urchristentums. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2007. –, „Kausalattribution und Theodizee. Ein Beitrag zur kognitiven Analyse urchristlichen Glaubens.“, in: Idem & von Gemünden, P., (Hg.), Erkennen und Erleben. Beiträge zur psychologischen Erforschung des frühen Christentums. Gütersloh: Gütersloher Verlagshaus, 2007, 183–196. Tremlin, T., Minds and Gods. The Cognitive Foundations of Religion. Oxford: University Press, 2006. Vergote, A., “Cause and Meaning, Explanation and Interpretation in the Psychology of Religion”, in: Belzen, J.A. (ed.), Hermeneutical Approaches in Psychology of Religion. International Series in the Psychology of Religion (ISPR) 6. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 1997, 11–34. Vogt, T., Angst und Identität im Markusevangelium. Ein textpsychologischer und sozialgeschichtlicher Beitrag. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1993. 490

von Gemünden, P., Affekt und Glaube. Studien zur Historischen Psychologie des Frühjudentums und Urchristentums. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2009. von Stietencron, H., „Von der Heilträchtigkeit der Angst. Religionsgeschichtliche Perspektiven“, in: idem., (Hg.), Angst und Religion. Düsseldorf: Patmos Verlag, 1991, 13–36. Wayne, G.R., „A Psychological-Critical Approach to the Bible and its Interpretation”, in: idem et al. (ed.), Psychological Insight into the Bible. Texts and Readings. Grand Rapids, Michigan: W. B. Eerdmans, 2007, 17–21. Wehr, G., Wege zu religiöser Erfahrung. Analytische Psychologie im Dienst der Bibelauslegung. Eine Anregung. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1974. Wyss, D., Psychologie und Religion. Untersuchungen zur Ursprünglichkeit religiösen Erlebens. Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 1991. Zimbardo, P.G. & Gerring, R.J., Psychologie. 16., aktualisierte Aufl. München: Pearson Studium, 2004.

1.6  Other Works (General) Adams, E., Constructing the World: A Study in Paul’s Cosmological Language. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2000. –, “Graeco-Roman and Ancient Jewish Cosmology”, in: Pennington, J.T. & McDonough, S.M., (eds.), Cosmology and New Testament Theology. London: T & T Clark, 2008, 5–27. Anderson, C.A., Philo of Alexandria’s Views of the Physical World. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011. Anwander, A., Zum Problem des Mythos. Würzburg: Echter-Verlag, 1964. Aune, D.E., “Apocalypticism”, in: DPL (1983), 25–35. Auffarth, C., „Königtum, sakrales, religionsgeschichtlich”, in: RGG4 4 (2001), 1590–1591. Auffarth, C., „Griechenland. I. Antike”, in: RGG4 4 (2001), 1277–1284. Bauer, J.E., „Weltanschauung“, in: Cancik, H., et al. (Hg.), Handbuch religionswissenschaftlicher Grundbegriffe. 5. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 2001, 355–366. Beker, J. C., Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1980. 491

Beskow, P., „Astrologie. 1.”, in: TRE 4 (1993), 227–280. Betz, H.D. (ed.), The Greek Magical Papyri in translation (including the Demotic Spells). Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1986. Beutel, A., „Aufklärung. I. Geistesgeschichtlich. II. Theologisch-kirchlich.” in: RGG4 1 (1998), 930–947. Berner, C., “The Four (or Seven) Archangels in the First Book of Enoch and Early Jewish Writings of the Secong Temple Period”, in: Reiterer, F.V. et al. (eds.), Angels. The Concept of Celestial Beings – Origins, Development and Reception. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2007, 395–411. Bolle, K.W., “Cosmology: An Overview”, in: ERE 4 (1987), 100–107. Böcher, O., Dämonenfurcht und Dämonenabwehr. Ein Beitrag zur Vorgeschichte der christlichen Taufe. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1970. –, Christus Exorcista. Dämonismus und Taufe im Neuen Testament. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1972 (2). Bousset, W., Kyrios Christos. Geschichte des Christusglaubens von den Anfängen des Christentums bis Iraeneus. 6. Aufl. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1967. Brunner, H., „Ägypten. II. Religionsgeschichte“, in: LThK3 1 (1993), 254–255. Burkert, W., “Hesiod in context: abstractions and divinities in an Aegean-Eastern koine´”, in: Stafford, E., & Herrin, J., Stafford, E., & Herrin, J., (eds.), Personification in the Greek World: From Antiquity to Byzantium. London: Ashgate Publishing Ltd., 2005, 3–20. Colpe, C., „Dämonen (Geister)”, in: RAC 9 (1976), 546–578, 585–598. Crousel, H., „Geist (Heiliger Geist)“, in: RAC 9 (1976), 490–545. Callan, T., The Powers that Be: Theology of a New Millenium. London/New York: Doubleday, 1998. Claret, B.J., „Teufel. III. Theologie- u. dogmengeschichtlich; IV. Systematischtheologisch“, in: LThK3 9 (2000), 1365–1368. –, „Besessenheit. VI. Systematisch-theologisch“, in: LThK3 2 (1994), 315–316. Clemen C., „Wesen und Ursprung der Magie“, in: Petzoldt, L., (Hg.), Magie und Religion. Beiträge zu einer Theorie der Magie. Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1978, 45–78. Cumont, F., Astrology and Religion among the Greeks and Romans. New York: Dover Publications, 1960. 492

Dahood, M.J., “Ugarit. Ugaritic-Canaanite Religion”, in: NCE 14 (2003), 266–271. Dan, J., „Apokalyptik. III. Jüdische Apokalyptik”, in: RGG4 1 (1998), 592–594. Danzel T.W., „Die psychologische Bedeutung magischer Bräuche“, in: Petzoldt L., (Hg.), Magie und Religion. Beiträge zu einer Theorie der Magie. Darmstadt, Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1978, 79ff. de Jonge, M., Outside the Old Testament. London: Cambridge University Press, 1985. de Pina Chan, B.B., “Spells”, in: ERE 14 (1987) 1–4. Dietzfelbinger, C., „Sohn und Gesetz. Überlegungen zur paulischen Christologie“, in: Breytenbach, C., & Paulsen, H., (Hg.), Anfänge der Christologie. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1991, 111–129. Dupré, W., “Magic“, in: NCE 9 (2003), 35–39. Dürr, O., Der Engel Mächte. Systematisch-theologische Untersuchung: Angelologie. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 2009. Ebner, M., Das Christentum in seiner Umwelt. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2012. Engberg-Pedersen, T., Paul and the Stoics. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 2000. Erlemann, K., Jesus der Christus. Provokation des Glaubens. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag, 2011. Eucken, R., “Dualism (Introductory)“, in: Hastings, J., (ed.), Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (ERE) 3rd edition, vol. 5. Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1955. Fenske, W., Paulus lesen und verstehen. Ein Leitfaden zur Biographie und Theologie des Apostels. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 2003. Fitzmyer, J. A., “The Power of his Ressurection” in: Descamps, A. & Halleux, A. de, (eds.), Mélanges bibliques. Gembloux: Duculot, 1970, 411–425. Frankfort, H., u.a. (Hg.); Alter Orientmythos und Wirklichkeit. Zweite Aufl. Stuttgart: W. Kohlhammer, 1981. Frankfort, H., Kingship and the gods: a study of the Ancient Near Eastern religion as the integration of society and nature. Chicago: University Press, 1994. Frazer, J.G., The Golden Bough. Vol 1. London: Macmillan, 1951. Frey, J. & Oberhänsl-Windmer, G., „Der Diskurs um ‚das Böse‘ und der Beitrag biblisch-theologischer Perspektiven. Zur Einführung in die Thematik“, in: idem et al. (Hg.), Das Böse. JBTh 26 (2011), VII-XXVI. 493

Fuchs, O., „Kriterien gegen den Mißbrauch der Bibel“, in: JBTh 12 (1998), 263–269. Gladigow, B., „Plenitudo deorum – Fülle der Götter und Ordnung der Welt“, in: Lange, A., et al. (eds.), The Demonology of Israelite-Jewish and Early Christian Literature in Context of their Environment. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003, 3–22. Godzieda, A.J., “Hermeneutics”, in: NCE 6 (2003), 786–791. Guthrie, D., & Martin R.P., „God“, in: DPL,354–368. Grant, F.C., “Astral Religion. Babylonian Star Worship”, in: NCE 1 (2003), 809–810. Haas, V., & Koch, H., Religionen des Alten Orients. 1: Hethiter und Iran. Grundrisse zum Alten Testament. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 2011. Hahn, F., Frühjüdische und urchristliche Apokalyptik. Eine Einführung. Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener, 1998. Hamerton-Kelly, R., Pre-existence, Wisdom and the Son of Man. A Study of the Idea of Pre-Existence in the New Testament. Cambridge: University Press, 1973. Hannah, D.D., “Guardian Angels and Angelic National Patrons in Second Temple Judaism and Early Christianity”, in: Reiterer, F.V., et al. (eds.), Angels. The Concept of Celestial Beings: Origins, Development and Reception. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2007, 413–435. Harrington, D.J., & Keenan, J.F., Paul and Virtue Ethics: Building Bridges between New Testament Studies and Moral Theology. Plymouth: Rowman and Littlefield Publishers, 2010. Hauke, M., „The Theological Battle over the Rite of Exorcism, ‘Cinderella’ of the New Rituale Romanum“, in: Antiphon 10.1 (2006), 32–69, in http://www. liturgysociety/JOURNAL/Volume10/10_/hauke10.1.pdf, downloaded on 15.01.2014. Hecker, K., „Mesopotamien. II. Geschichte. III. Religion“, in: RGG4 5 (2002), 1114–1124. Hübert, K., „Mythos. 1. Philosophisch“, in: TRE 23 (1994), 597–608. Hull, J.M., Hellenistic Magic and the Synoptic Tradition. London: SCM Press, 1974. Hutter, M., “Demons and Benevolent Spirits in the Ancient Near East. A Phenomenological Overview”, in: Reiterer, F.V., et al. (eds.), Angels. The Concept of Celestial Beings – Origins, Development and Reception. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2007.

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Putti, J., Theology as Hermeneutics. Paul Ricoeur’s Theory of Text Interpretation and Method in Theology. San Francisco: International Scholars, 1994. Rahner, K., „Besessenheit und Exorzismus”, in: Stimmen der Zeit 194 (1976), 721–722. Ramsay, M. W., The Cities of St. Paul: Their Influence on His Life and Thought, The Cities of Eastern Asia Minor. NewYork, NY: Armstrong, 1908. Ratzinger, J., Salz der Erde. Christentum und katholische Kirche an der Jahrtausandwende. Ein Gespräch mit Peter Seewald. 3. Aufl. Stuttgart: Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, 1996. Rebiger B., „Angels in Rabbinic Literature“, in: Reiterer, F.V., et al. (eds.), Angels. The Concept of Celestial Beings – Origins, Development and Reception. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2007, 629–644. Ribi A., “Demons: Psychological Perspectives”, in: ERE 4 (1987), 288–292. Riley, G.J., “Demons“, in: van der Toorn, K., et al. (eds.), Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (DDD). Leiden: Brill, 1999, 235–240. Riley, G.J., „Devil“, in: van der Toorn, K., et al (eds.), Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible (DDD). Leiden: Brill, 1999, 244–249. Sacchi, P., in „Henochgestalt/Henochliterature”, in: TRE 15 (1993), 42–54. Sattler, D., „Per Du mit dem Teufel? Formen der Kommunikation mit dem Bösen im Exorzismus“, in: JBTh 26 (2011), 345–368. Scheffczyk, L., „Exorzismus. III. Systematisch-theologisch”, in: LThK3 3 (1995), 1127. Schipper, B.U., “Angels or Demons? Divine Messengers in Ancient Egypt”, in: Reiterer, F.V., et al. (eds.), Angels. The Concept of Celestial Beings – Origins, Development and Reception. Berlin: de Gruyter, 2007, 1–19. Scholem, G., „Zum Verständnis der messianischen Idee im Judentum“, in: Koch, K. & Schmidt, J.M., (Hg.), Apokalyptik. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1982, 327–369. Schweizer, E., „Jesus Christus. I. Neues Testament“, TRE 16 (1993), 671–726. Smith, M., “On the History of ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΠΤΩ and ΑΠΟΚΑΛΥΨΙΣ”, in: Hellbolm, D. (ed.), Apocalypticism in the Mediterranean World and the Near East. Proceedings of the International Colloquium on Apocalypticism, Uppsala, August 12–17, 1979. Tübingen: Mohr, 1983, 9–19. Söding T., „Wenn ich mit dem Finger Gottes die Dämonen austreibe…“ (Lk 11,20). Die Exorzismen im Rahmen der Basileia-Verkündigung Jesu”, in: Lange, A., et al. (eds.), The Demonology of Israelite-Jewish and Early 498

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VanderKam, J.C., Enoch and the Growth of an Apocalyptic Tradition. Washington, DC: Catholic Biblical Association, 1984. van der Toorn, K., “The Theology of the Demons in Mesopotamia and Israel. Popular Belief and Scholarly Speculation”, in: Lange, A., et al. (eds.), The Demonology of Israelite-Jewish and Early Christian Literature in Context of their Environment. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2003, 61–83. Vollenweider, S., Horizonte neutestamentlicher Christologie. Studien zu Paulus und zur frühchristlichen Theologie. Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2002. Vorgrimler H., Neues Theologisches Wörterbuch. 6. Auflage. Freiburg im Breisgau: Herder Verlag, 2008. Weber, H., Lexikon Religion. Hamburg: Nikol Verlag, 2006. White, J., “Paul‘s Cosmology: The Witness of Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, and Galatians”, in: Pennington, J.T. & McDonough, S.M., (eds.), Cosmology and New Testament Theology. London: T & T Clark, 2008, 90–106. White, M.L., “Paul and Pater Familias”, in: Sampley, J.P. (ed.), Paul in the GrecoRoman World: a Handbook. Peabody, MA: Trinity Press International, 2003, 457–487. Wieland, G., „Hermeneutik. I. Begriff u. Geschichte”, in: LThk3 5 (1996), 1–3. Wink, W., Naming the Powers: the Language of Power in the New Testament. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1984. –, Cracking the Gnostic Code: The Powers in Gnosticism. Atlanta: Scholars Press, 1993. –, Unmasking the Powers: the Invisible Forces that Determine Human Existence. Philadelphia: Fortress, 1986. Wrogemann, H., Interkulturelle Theologie und Hermeneutik. Grundfragen, aktuelle Beispiele, theoretische Perspektiven. Gütersloh: Verlagshaus Gütersloh, 2012. Zeller, D., (Hg.), Religion und Weltbild. Münster: LIT Verlag, 2002. –, Neues Testament und hellenistische Umwelt. Berlin: Philo & Philo Fine Arts, 2006. Zeilinger, T., Zwischen-Räume – Theologie der Mächte und Gewalten. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1999.

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1.7 Works on Igbo (Africa) Traditional Religion, World view, Theology Affam, R.M., Traditional Healing of the Sick in Igboland, Nigeria. Aachen: Shaker Verlag, 2002. Achebe, C., Morning Yet on Creation Day (Essays). Ibadan: 1977. –, The African Trilogy – Things Fall Apart, No Longer At Ease, Arrow of God. New York, NY: Random House, 2010. Anijielo, A.C., Theological Investigation into Fear of Mystical Forces – with special reference to the Igbos. Leverkusen-Opladen: Verlaghaus Borengässer, 1984. Arinze, F.A., Sacrifice in Ibo Religion. Ibadan, 1970. Basden, G.T., Niger Ibos. London, 1966. Baur, J., Christus kommt nach Afrika. 2000 Jahre Christentum auf dem Schwarzen Kontinent. Fribourg: Academic Press, 2006. Bendor-Samuel, J.T., “Niger-Congo Languages“, in: Encyclopaedia Britannica, DVD Edition, 2005. Bujo, B., Foundations of African Ethics. Beyond the Universal Claims of Western Morality. New York: Crossroad Publ., 2001. Charles, J.O., “Witchcraft Beliefs and Practices: Socio-Anthropological Discourse on Man, Religion, Church and Society“, in: Ebelebe, C.A., (ed.), Spirits: Occultism, Principalities & Powers. Acts of the 14th SIST International Missiological Symposium, 2011. Enugu: San Press, 2012, 27–60. Chukwujekwu, M.V.A., That I might preach Him among the Nations: Paul’s Vocation and Evangelisation in Africa Today, with Special Reference to Igboland, Nigeria – An Appraisal of Gal.1:1–2:10. Berlin: Verlag im Internet, 2009. Ebigbo, P., “Psychological Explanation of Occult Phenomena“, in: Ebelebe, C.A., (ed.) Spirits: Occultism, Principalities & Powers. Acts of the 14th SIST International Missiological Symposium, 2011. Enugu: San Press, 2012, 89–112. Echema, A., Corporate Personality in Traditional Igbo Society & the Sacrament of Reconciliation. Frankfurt am Main, 1995. Ejizu, C., “Continuity and Discontinuity in Igbo Traditional Religion”, in: Ikenga-Metuh, E., (ed.), The Gods in Retreat: Continuity and Change in African Religions. Enugu: Fourth Dimension, 1985, 133–155. –, “Endurance of Conviction: The Persistence of the traditional world-views in Igbo Christian converts”, in: Neue Zeitschrift für Missionswissenschaft 45(2), 132. 501

Emebo, B., Healing and Wholeness in African Traditional Religion, African Islam and Christianity – An Historical-Comparative Approach from Christian Theological Perspective. Aachen: Shaker Verlag, 2006. Ezeanya, S., “God, Spirits and the Spirit world (With special reference to the Igbo-speaking people of Southern Nigeria)”, in: Dickson, K.A., & Ellingworth, P. (eds.), Biblical Revelations and African Beliefs. London, 1972, 30–42. Idowu, E.B., African Traditional Religion. New York: Maryknoll, 1975. Ihuoma, S.I., Paul Tillich’s Theology of Culture in Dialogue with African Theology: A Contextual Analysis. Münster: LIT Verlag, 2004. Ike, F.O., & Edozien, N.N., Understanding Africa: Traditional Legal Reasoning, Jurisprudence & Justice in Igboland: As a Basis for Culturally Rooted and Sustainable Development. Enugu: CIDJAP Publ., 2001. Ikenga-Metuh, E., God and Man in African Religion. A case study of the Igbo of Nigeria. London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1981. –, Comparative Studies of African Traditional Religions. Onitsha: 1987. –, African Religions in Western Conceptual Schemes: The Problem of Interpretations (Studies in Igbo Religion), 2nd edition. Jos: IMICO Press, 1991. Ilesanmi, T.M., “African Worldview as Conducive Environment for the Manifestation of Spiritual Forces and Powers“, in Ebelebe, C.A., (ed.), Spirits: Occultism, Principalities & Powers. Acts of the 14th SIST International Missiological Symposium, 2011. Enugu: San Press, 2012, 17–25. Iloanusi, A.O., Myths of the Creation of Man and the Origin of Death in Africa: A study in Igbo traditional culture and other African cultures. Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1984. Isizoh, D.C., (ed.), The Attitude of the Catholic Church towards African Traditional Religion and Culture – 100 Excerpts from the Magisterial and other important Church Documents. Rome: Ceedee Publications, 1998. Kalu Ogbu, Embattled gods: Christianization of Igboland, 1841–1991. Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 2003. –, Power, Poverty and Prayer: The Challenges of Poverty and Pluralism in African Christianity, 1960–1996. Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 2000. LeMarquand, G., “New Testament Exegesis in (Modern) Africa“, in: West, G.O. & Dube, M.W., (eds.), The Bible in Africa: Transactions, Trajectories and Trends. Leiden: Brill Academic Press, 2000, 72–102. Madubuko, L., “Igbo Worldview“, in: Bigard Theological Studies (BTS), 14/2, 1994, 21ff. 502

Mbefo L.N., Theology and Aspects of Igbo culture. Enugu: SNAPP Press, 1997. Mbiti, J.S., „Afrikanisches Verständnis der Geister im Lichte des Neuen Testamentes“, in: Rosenkranz, G. (Hg.); Theologische Stimme aus Asien, Afrika und Lateinamerika. Bd. II; München: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1967, 130–147. –, „Afrikanische Beiträge zur Christologie”, in: Beyerhaus, P., et al. (Hg.), Theologische Stimmen aus Asien, Afrika und Lateinamerika. Bd. III. München: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1968, 72–85. –, Bibel und Theologie im afrikanischen Christentum. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1987. –, African Religions and Philosophy. London: Heinemann, 1971; 1990. –, “o` swth,r h`mw/n” as an African experience”, in: Lindars, B. & Smalley, S.S., (eds.), Christ and Spirit in the New Testament. London: Cambridge University Press, 1973. Ndiokwere, N.I., Prophecy and Revolution: The Role of Prophets in the Independent African Churches and in Biblical Tradition. London: Camelot Press, 1995. Nkwoka, A.O., “The Role of the Bible in the Igbo Christianity of Nigeria”, in: West, G.O. & Dube, M.W., (eds.), The Bible in Africa: Transactions, Trajectories and Trends. Leiden: Brill Academic Publ., 2000, 326–335. Nwoga, D.I., „Nka na Nzere: The Focus of Igbo Worldview”; 1984 Ahiajoku Lecture, in: http://ahiajoku.igbonet.com/1984/ Nwoye, C.M.A., “Igbo cultural and religious worldview: An insider’s perspective”, in: International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, vol. 3 (9), 21 Sept. 2011, 304–317 (308), in http://www.academicjournals.org/IJSA Obiego, C.O., African Image of the Ultimate Reality: An Analysis of Igbo Ideas of Life & Death in Relation to Chukwu-God. Frankfurt am Main, 1984. Onwuama, E.M., “The Epistemological Basis of the Belief in the Occult and Paranormal and the Implications of this Belief System in Nigeria“, in: Ebelebe, C.A., (ed.), Spirits: Occultism, Principalities & Powers. Acts of the 14th SIST International Missiological Symposium, 2011. Enugu: San Press, 2012, 61–88. Onyeneke, A., “The Future of the Masquerade in Igbo Society“, in: Synod Acta: Second Synod of the Catholic Diocese of Enugu (2001). Enugu: CIDJAP Publ., 2002, 125–131. Ozankom, C., Christliche Botschaft und afrikanische Kultur. Zur Bedeutung der afrikanischen Tradition in der afrikanischen Theologie am Beispiel des Kongos. Neuried: Ars Una, 1999. 503

Parrinder, G., African Traditional Religion. (3rd Edition). London, 1974. —, West African Psychology. A Comparative Study of Psychological and Religious Thought. (2nd Edition). Cambridge: James Clark & Co., 2002 (1951). Partain J., “Christians and their Ancestors: A Dilemma of African Theology.” www.religion-online.org Patte, D., „Biblical Scholars at the Interface between Critical and Ordinary Readings: A Response“, in: Semeia 73 (1996), 263–276. Pobee, J.S., “Bible Study in Africa: A Passover of Language”, in: Semeia 73 (1996), 161–179. Pobee, J., West Africa – Christ Would Be an African Too. Geneva: WCC Publications,1996. Sanon, A.T., „Die traditionelle afrikanische Religion und ihre Spiritualität”, in: V. Cikala M., (Hg.), Afrikanische Spiritualität und christlicher Glaube: Erfahrung der Inkulturation. Freiburg: Herder, 1986, 11–32. Sawyer, H., „Grundlage einer Theologie für Afrika”, in: Gensichen, H.-W., et al. (Hg)., Theologische Stimme aus Asien, Afrika und Lateinamerika. Bd I. München: Chr. Kaiser Verlag, 1965, 110ff. Shorter, A., African Culture and the Christian Church. London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1974. Sundermeier, T., „Erfahrungen mit Heilern in Afrika und Asien. Ein Beitrag zur Magie-Diskussion“, in: Assmann J., & Strohm H., (Hg.), Magie und Religion. Paderborn: Fink, 2010, 179–200. Ukeh C. O., Spirit – between God and Man: An Igbo-African Christian Appreciation. Frankfurt am Main: Verlag für Interkulturelle Kommunikation, 2007. Ukpong, J., “Developments in Biblical Interpretation in Africa: Historical and Hermeneutical Directions“, in: West, G.O. & Dube, M.W., (eds.), The Bible in Africa: Transactions, Trajectories and Trends. Leiden: Brill Academic Publ., 2000, 11–28. —, “Popular Readings of the Bible in Africa and Implications for Academic Readings: Report of Field Research carried out on Oral Interpretation of the Bible in Port Harcourt Metropolis, Nigeria under the auspices of the Bible in Africa Project, 1991–94“, in: West, G.O. & Dube, M.W., (eds.), The Bible in Africa: Transactions, Trajectories and Trends. Leiden: Brill Academic Publ., 2000, 583–594. Uzukwu, E.E., „Der spirituelle Gehalt der Igbo-Gebete“, in: V. Cikala M., (ed.), Afrikanische Spiritualität und christlicher Glaube: Erfahrung der Inkulturation. Freiburg: Herder Verlag, 1986. 504

van der Watt, J., “A Hermeneutics of Relevance: Reading the Bible in Dialogue in African Contexts“, in: idem et al. (eds.), Miracles and Imagery in Luke and John. Leuven: Uitgeverij Peeters, 2008, 237–255. West, G.O., “Mapping African Biblical Interpretation“, in: West, G.O. & Dube, M.W., (eds.), The Bible in Africa: Transactions, Trajectories and Trends. Leiden: Brill Academic Publ., 2000, 29–53.

1.8  Internet Sources Catholic Bishops Conference of Nigeria (CBCN), in: http://cbcn.org/aspscripts/ page1.ASP Enchiridion 1.1, in: http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html Lorger-Rauwolf, S., „Umgang mit dem Bösen”, in: http://www.weltanschuungsfragen.at/news/article/2005/12/22/a2419 Nwoga, D.I., „Nka na Nzere: The Focus of Igbo Worldview”; 1984 Ahiajoku Lecture, in: http://ahiajoku.igbonet.com/1984/ Nwoye, C.M.A, “Igbo cultural and religious worldview: An insider’s perspective”, in: International Journal of Sociology and Anthropology, vol.3 (9), 21 Sept. 2011, 304–317 (308), in http://www.academicjournals.org/IJSA Partain J., “Christians and their Ancestors: A Dilemma of African Theology,” in: http:// www.religion-online.org Rennie, D.L., Hermeneutics and Humanistic Psychology, in: http:// www.apa. org/divisions/div32/pdfs/hermeneutics.pdfwww.apa.org/divisions/div32/ pdfs/hermeneutics.pdf http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hermeneutic 2006 WHO report on Sickle-cell anaemia (cf. www.who.int/gb/ebwha/pdf_ files/WHA59/A59_9-en.pdf, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thunder; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning; http://en. Wikipedia.org/wiki/psychoeducation http://www.vatican.va/holy_father/benedict_xvi/speeches/2006/september/ documents/hf ben_spe_20060912_university-regensburg_en.html Encyclopaedia Britannica (2005) DVD Edition.

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