The Weird and Wacky Wokeness of Walter Wink

If Satan authored an article for publication and the subject was himself, he would do no better job vindicating his evil than Walter Wink has done in tackling the subject. Wink was a twentieth-century theologian who significantly influenced the discussion of spiritual warfare in Protestant liberalism. Trained at Union Theological Seminary in New York City, he adopted typical non-evangelical¹ positions such as rejection of biblical inspiration and authority. He supported radical political views and was an early advocate for homosexuality. His best-known books are the Powers Trilogy on spiritual warfare. He summarized the information in these three books in a fourth book, The Powers That Be: Theology for a New Millennium (1998).

How to describe Wink’s argument? Perhaps the best we can do is this: Imagine reading the Bible but taking every obvious, common-sense interpretation and flipping it upside down. It is not that extreme, but almost. David Powlison refers to it as “imaginative exegesis.”² That’s being nice. Wink does not perform exegesis as much as theological butchery. What follows are some of Wink’s more outrageous ideas.

First, he argues that spiritual warfare is primarily social justice. This is the core argument of Wink’s model of spiritual warfare. Every organization has an inner and outer reality which he labels “the dominion system.” On the outside, the powers may be a government, an economic system, and even a church. On the inside, these powers are engaged in injustice both physically and socially, and are the reason for the oppression of the people. These powers introduce poverty, famine, disease, and death, particularly on those who are most vulnerable in society. Wink’s argument is that spiritual warfare should focus on confronting social injustice with his liberal version of Christianity.

Wink also demythologizes Satan and demons. In Wink’s view, demons are impersonal entities of the dominion system rather than fallen angels. “Satan and the principalities and powers don’t exist apart from human social systems.”³ The demoniac from Gadara, for example, was not “demon possessed” in the sense that most Christians think of it, but oppressed by Roman society. Thus, the “demon” is actually a personification of the Roman military — Latin, uncontrollable, violent, “legion,” and desiring to remain in the country.⁴

My favorite flight of Wink’s theological imagination his belief that Christians malign Satan. The result of this “libel” is the presumption that Satan is God’s adversary and interested in harming people.

Wink defends Satan as being God’s servant who occupies a role resembling a prosecuting attorney.⁵ This appears in his interpretation of Satan’s temptation of Jesus. Wink argues: “And Satan’s function in all this? He is no archfiend seducing Jesus with offers of love, wealth, and carnal pleasures.”⁶ Satan is not actually tempting Jesus. Rather, “Satan presents to Jesus the collective messianic hopes and by doing so brings them for the first time to consciousness as options to be chosen rather than as a fate to be accepted.”⁷ Don’t you see? Satan is actually doing Jesus a favor by tempting him. If you don’t agree, then you are part of the 2,000-year-old slander that Satan has endured. Wink also examines Satan’s hateful destruction of Job. He argues that by persecuting Job, Satan was actually blessing the world.

“Satan is not evil, or demonic, or fallen, or God’s enemy. This adversary is merely a faithful, if overzealous, servant of God, entrusted with quality control and testing …”⁸

A Christian Response

How should Christians who are faithful to God’s Word respond to Walter Wink’s wacky and weird approach to spiritual warfare? First, we should acknowledge that one of the foundational arguments of the social justice movement is a theology that provides cover for Satan’s wickedness. Failings in racial injustice leave us potentially handcuffed against fighting Satan where he stands. We must humbly seek reconciliation with those we have wronged and recommit ourselves to God’s plan for his Church to evangelize the nations. This will allow us to take off the mask Satan is wearing that covers his evil as the inner force of institutions and a dominion system. If we don’t fix our problems on race, we will lose the fight on homosexuality. Second, we need to commit ourselves to the power of God’s Spirit in the fight against Satan. God commanded us to stand against evil powers in the war (Eph 6:11, 13-14). This requires God’s strength (v. 10). We are weak and ineffectual without it. Superficial standards against various activities and organizations commonly applied in the late 20^th century will not quench the fiery darts of the Devil. They never have. God recommends walking in the Spirit as the best defense against the world, our flesh, and the Devil. Finally, we must recognize that theological liberalism is still a present danger in the Christian world. There are, presently, some conservative Christians who are willing to adopt a looser standard for inspiration of Scripture and a more inclusive understanding of salvation in order to accommodate “those who have never heard” of Christ. Liberal theology is alive and well. Our best defense is to call it by its name. It is not just weird and wacky, but wicked.

In the next installment I am going to begin examining the evangelical models of spiritual warfare. Up first is a look at Third Wave Charismaticism.

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Previously in this series:

What’s War? The Existential Question of Spiritual Warfare

Misunderstanding God: Greg Boyd’s non-evangelical approach to spiritual warfare

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Matthew Walker (PhD Piedmont International University) is pastor of College Park Baptist Church in Cary, NC. He is also adjunct faculty at Maranatha Baptist University and Seminary.

1. The term evangelical refers to anyone who claims to be Christian based on salvation in Christ. This is a very large group including many fundamentalists and non-fundamentalists. The term non-evangelical refers to those who consider themselves to be Christian but are not evangelical including Catholics, Mormons, and liberal Protestants. [↩]
2. David Powlison in Understanding Spiritual Warfare: Four Views (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012), 73. [↩]
3. Greg Boyd, “Book Review.” [↩]
4. See Unmasking the Powers: The Invisible Forces that Determine Human Existence (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986), 45-49. [↩]
5. Walter Wink in Understanding Spiritual Warfare: Four Views (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2012), 48. [↩]
6. Ibid, 55. [↩]
7. Ibid, 56. [↩]
8. Ibid, 51. [↩]