Greg Boyd and Spiritual Warfare
Scot McKnight has a post titled Greg Boyd and Hostile Forces, referencing Boyd’s contribution to the book Understanding Spiritual Warfare: Four Views
The thing that interests me most about this is the idea that scripture doesn’t (broadly) support the idea that everything that happens is according to God’s will, provided one takes “God’s will” in a detailed sense. (I’m brushing by volumes of theology here!) There is a sense of conflict. This is especially true if one emphasizes reading the story of scripture, rather than just the propositions. One of the passages that has always fascinated me in this regard is Daniel 10, especially verses 12-14.
Our lives as Christians often reflect this apparent conflict. While speaking of God’s plan and will, we blame many things on the enemy, and never come to a sort of accommodation of our lives and affirmations. I’m not sure this is a bad thing. On the other hand, I do think it should point us away from some of the more monolithic views of God’s will.
