from BHT: Stringfellow on Institutions

http://boarsheadtavern.com/2012/02/21/stringfellow-on-institutions/
http://www.outofur.com/archives/2012/02/the_evangelical_1.html

But above all, Stringfellow’s prophetic importance lies in his critique of the way churchly institutions themselves function as demonic principalities. The demonic character of churchly institutions “cannot be hidden by the simple retention of some of the condiments of the Christian faith”; indeed: “Much of what is now discussed and practised in the American churches as the witness of the Church does not really pertain to the witness of the Church to the life and action of God in the world, but rather to the witness of the Church to itself as churchly institution” (Free in Obedience, p. 96). In particular, both “gospel and church [have] become adjuncts or conveyances of civil religion and of a mock-sanctified status of political authority” (Conscience and Obedience, p. 49). The church in America, Stringfellow argues, “has gained so huge a propertied interest that its existence has become overwhelmingly committed to the management of property and the maintenance of the ecclesiastical fabric which that property affords. It is a sign certainly of the demonic in institutional life where the survival of the principality is the dominant morality” (Conscience and Obedience, p. 103).

In all this, Stringfellow’s point is not to advocate any cheap anarchist refusal of institutional life; he is not dreaming of a world without institutions (cf. Free in Obedience, p. 94). Instead, his point is that Christ’s resurrection empowers us to exist with freedom within the various institutions by which our lives are structured; free to live and work without anxiety, without looking to any institution for moral worth or immortality. In short, the Christian is free to obey precisely because she is free from death and from the fear of death. “[Christ’s] resurrection means the possibility of living in this life, in the very midst of death’s works, safe and free from death” (Free in Obedience, p. 72). The task of Christian witness is always “to expose the transience of death’s power in the world” (Free in Obedience, p. 44); and the church is liberated to become something like the true institution, the “exemplary principality” (as Stringfellow somewhere calls it) which fulfills its proper calling by serving God instead of death.
The resurrection of Jesus thus interrupts the demonic rule of the principalities, inaugurating a trajectory of freedom and life amidst the death-regime of the principalities. In this way, the resurrection makes it possible to confront and resist the demands of the principalities in true freedom. “In all idolatry, … death is the reality which is actually worshipped. Death is the deity of all idols; every idol is an acolyte of death…. In light of the Gospel, every life, every person, every event, is included in the context of death and resurrection – of death and the resurrection of life, of death and transcending the power of death…. The resurrection of Jesus Christ means the available power of God confronting and transcending the power of death here and now in the daily realities of our lives” (Imposters of God, pp. 63-65).

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As someone who has blogged here about a personal distinction I have made between a church people I regard as brothers and sisters in Christ and a church as a principality and institution interested in self-preservation this all sounds interestingly familiar.  It's encouraging to learn that there are authors who have considered how Christian institutions themselves can take on the form of demonic principalities by seeking self-preservation. Chris Hubbs, at BHT, writes

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Stringfellow argued strenuously that even the institution of the Church fell into this category. Back when I read it I wanted to disagree with him, but with the this post of Jethani’s and the recent discussions around MHC and SGM, I’m beginning to sympathize with his position.
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Yeah, it's a scary idea to consider the first time it comes up but when you observe the difference between the church as Christ's people in action and the church as a self-preserving institution you begin to appreciate the necessity of the observation of a man like Stringfellow whether you know of his work or not.  As someone who has concluded that there's Mars Hill the people (many of whom I know and love) and then Mars Hill the principality, which needs to be the focus of some informed criticism from time to time, I can appreciate the value of believers bringing up the work of someone like Stringfellow.