Speaking of the Devil with Richard Beck

Earlier this month, I got to sit down with my frenemy Luke Norsworthy and co-interview my good friend and church member Richard Beck to talk about his great new book “Reviving Old Scratch: Demons and the Devil for the Doubters and the Disenchanted”

I plan on reviewing Richard’s book soon, but until then check out this podcast. In it, we talk about why Spiritual Warfare is so essential for Christians to recover today, even for progressive Christians, maybe especially for progressive Christians.

When you think of Spiritual Warfare, chances are you think of Frank Peritti and some pretty weird stories that sound quite unplausible. And to be sure, there are odd strange things that happen wherever the Kingdom of God is advancing, but those are the kind of stories that get all the spotlight, and that leaves the majority of our ordinary lives and callings outside of the realm of what Beck would call “A theology of revolt.”

But what if you thought of Spiritual Warfare more like drinking bad coffee with people you haven’t hand chosen to be friends with, people who may even often irritate you? Or making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches for the the poor in your community?

I know Richard well, he’s a good friend, and when he first told me he was writing this book I was shocked. In my experience, it takes a certain type of person to write a book about spiritual warfare, and [how to say this delicately?] Richard isn’t quite that type.

But when I read it, I knew why the world needed this book, and why he was the right one to write it. He’s someone who has done the hard work of the soul to actually learn what it means to love other people (actual people, not just “humanity”) and in doing so came to the realization that a world without a Devil is a world that leads to us treating each other like Hell.