In his chapter on Yoder, Harink writes after a lengthy discussion relating Yoder’s notion of principalities and powers to that of St. Paul:
Exegetes who insist on understanding the principalities and powers as “personal, demonic intelligences” that primarily attack individual human hearts have failed to read seriously enough the apocalyptic context of Paul’s language. (119)
[Thought: The view of principalities criticized by Harink seems to be the flip side of the well-worn notion that Christianity is a personal, individual relationship with Jesus. Both sides of this coin fail to appreciate the systemic and communal aspects of biblical themes.]
