The Bottom Line: Fundamentalist/Literalist Christians will love it. Nearly anyone else on the spectrum of Christian belief may find it disturbing. New Ager's will find it outright frightening.
jdstevenson's Full Review: Frank E. Peretti - This Present Darkness
(thanks to those that commented on first version of the review; updates reflect some helpful suggestions)
This Present Darkness tells the tale of a small town that finds itself the center of a spiritual battle between angels and demons. The story takes place on two levels; that which is happening in the physical realm and parallel events in the spiritual realm. The physical story is about a newly arrived young fundamentalist preacher named Hank. Hank excommunicates a member of his church for committing adultery and general does the kinds of things one would expect of a biblical literalist. He quickly butts heads with the pastor of the more moderate mainline church in the community and some of the faculty at a local college. To make a long story short, the angels are on Hank's side and the demons are influencing just about everybody else in town. When the pastor of the moderate church says things like "If we're ever going to get along like any kind of civilized family on this earth, we're going to have to learn to respect the other man's right to have his own views," the demons in the spiritual realm are working their magic through him. When Hank and his followers rebuke the demons or pray, the demons lose power and the angels strengthen. Likewise, when people start to think outside of a very fundamentalist mindset (like seeing how most religions have the same core beliefs at a deeper level, or how young people should be encouraged to explore their their own beliefs), the demons gain strength. Not only are these folks infested with demons, Hank discovers that they are also part of a satanic conspiracy that is linked with the United Nations. The demons describe the UN as a tool to subordinate God's country (USA) to the power of non-Christian foreign entities. They also describe New York (the location of a conspiracy banquet in the book) as "Babylon the Great" and "The Great Harlot". (It seems these heavenly host would get along great with a few Islamic fundamentalist too..)
If none of this bothers you, you'll probably like the book. To most many fundamentalists, there is nothing surprising here. You'll get nicely paced bit of fiction that parallels your own beliefs. The descriptions of spiritual battles are lush and engaging. Characters are believable, if somewhat one-dimensional. If the theology behind it didn't bother me so much, I'd put it on par with some of Stephen King's work.
Here's what spooks me...
Looking back on the events of September 11th, one can see how people can close their minds and turn people who have different points of view into demons and minions of Satan. I have little doubt that the men who crashed planes into the World Trade Center felt like they were on a spiritual mission to rid the world of the demonic influence of American culture on their country; Warriors in an epic spiritual battle. If we see demons in our friends and neighbors who look at the world in a different way, what makes us so different?
I just hope the extent of the so called 'spiritual warfare' that some have convinced themselves to exist here ends with prayer. And doesn't take the next step to violence. The distance between the two is shorter than one might think. At it's heart, the Islamic faith is as peaceful as Christianity. But deceivers managed to twist it's meaning into something hateful. Books like this one chill me into thinking the same thing could happen here.
Think long and hard about the theology behind it before you start viewing the world through the lens that Peretti would have you use. While he has insisted that his books are symbolic and are not meant to teach lessons, much of the reviews I've read here seem to confirm that people like to think about the world in this way.
If you look hard enough, you will find demons in people that have different thoughts than you do. A far better lens is that of Christ, who saw the spark of divinity in the lowliest of sinner, rather than demons and conspiracies. If you are a literalist, think about the fact that Christ only came across demons in a single man out in a field who was howling at the moon and generally acting looney. He never saw them in the very people who were nailing him to the cross in any of the Gospels. Instead, he professed his love and forgiveness to the end. Literal or not, that's a much better story to model your life after.
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