Kenarchy Volume 7.7 – The Kenarchy Journal

Kenarchy Journal: Kenarchy & Peace, 2025, Volume 7

How kenotic alignment reframes spiritual warfare prayer
Roger Haydon Mitchell

Abstract

This paper is partly autobiographical in its examination of the author’s theological shift as a prayer leader in the Pentecostal-Charismatic movement engaged in the practice of prayer as spiritual warfare to overcome obstacles to the kingdom of God. This popular form of prayer draws on Paul’s statements “the weapons of our warfare are not carnal but are mighty to the destruction of strongholds” (2 Cor.10: 4) and “put on the full armour of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil” (Eph. 6: 11). It is typically expounded in C. Peter Wagner’s Warfare Prayer: Strategies for Combating the Rulers of Darkness (1992). The paper is testimony to my initial engagement with the practice and the ensuing dramatic events that took place at a meeting of international prayer leaders from some 120 or more nations in South Korea in 1993. Intending to engage in spiritual warfare for the world, we ended up identifying and aligning with those damaged by colonial violence between nations. These events and some of the subsequent implications are spelt out in The Sins of the Fathers (Roger Mitchell and Brian Mills. Tonbridge, Kent: Sovereign World, 1999). This experience fundamentally reconfigured my understanding of the nature of both God and the kingdom of God and helped reorient my interpretation of biblical metaphors, such as those used by Paul, away from oppositional warfare to kenotic alignment with God’s loving identification with the perpetrators of past sin. In tracing this process, the paper will expose key elements of my developing theology leading up to that point and draw on three seminal gospel texts; John’s story of footwashing, Paul’s Philippian hymn and Jesus’ wilderness encounter with Satan. Supportive reference will be made to the theology of Thomas Jay Oord, Giorgio Agamben and kenotic feminists such as Catherine Keller and Anna Mercedes in consideration of the ontological implications for our theology of prayer and its strategic role in the coming resurrection of all things.

DOI:
https://doi.org/10.62950/vupl77

Pages 94-107

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About Kenarchy

While kenarchy is a gift for everybody, those of us who configure the politics of love in these terms are strongly motivated to do so in a way that deeply penetrates existing socially constructed mind-sets. This is why we combine applied academic research and writing together with grassroots social, economic and political activism. Kenarchy developed initially as a form of political theology and we make no apology for that, but it now embraces a wide and interdisciplinary perspective relevant to the politics and theology of love. The purpose of this Journal is to advance the applied research, and as such, it is an academic journal.

Lead Editor:

Roger Haydon Mitchell, PhD, theologian and activist, honorary researcher in the Lancaster University Centre for Alternatives to Social and Economic Inequalities, and political theologian with the Westminster Theological Centre

Associate Editors:

Sue Mitchell, MSc – co-facilitator for the Morecambe Bay Poverty Truth Commission, leading conversations between people with lived experience of poverty and decision makers, towards a new sociality

Bradley Jersak, PhD – (BradJersak.com) is the editor of CWRmagazine and Clarion-Journal.com, Principal & Director of Theology & Culture, at St. Stephen’s University

Andrew Klager, PhD – Provost & Vice-Chancellor, Professor of Religion and Peace Studies, Director of the Jim Forest Institute for Religion, Peace and Justice, St. Stephen’s University, Canada

Publishing Team:

Mike Winter, PhD
Martin Scott

In order to undergird the academic quality and scope of the Journal we are delighted that the following have agreed to be academic advisors to the lead editor and team.

Academic Advisors:

Linda Woodhead MBE DD FAcSS is FD Maurice Professor and Head of the Department of Theology and Religious Studies at King’s College London

Professor Maggi Dawn, MA, PhD (Cantab), CCTM, APRS, APSE, Principal, St Mary’s College, Durham University, UK

Professor Anthony Reddie, Extraordinary Professor of Theological Ethics at the University of South Africa and Director of The Oxford Centre for Religion and Culture, Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford

Thomas Jay Oord, PhD, Director, Doctoral Program at Northwind Theological Seminary/C4ORT, Director, Center for Open and Relational Theology

Timothy Stacey, PhD, Lecturer in Religious Studies, Leiden University, The Netherlands, Co-Founder and Co-Director, AltVisions, Co-Founder and Co-Director, Lived Religion Project

Submissions to the Journal

Submissions are welcomed from a wide and interdisciplinary perspective relevant to the politics and theology of love. Initial submissions must include at least a 250 word abstract and a brief outline. Please state your full name, your applied research field and any other information you deem relevant. Full submissions from now on should be in the region of 3,000-10,000 words and be in accordance with our Chicago “notes and bibliography” in-house style. Longer articles will be accepted at the discretion of the editors. All full submissions will be double peer reviewed before acceptance for publication.

Use the contact form to submit your proposal.

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The Kenarchy Journal (ISSN: 2976-6001) is published in Lancaster UK by 2MT, Charity registration number: 1069653.