The Best Book on Spiritual Warfare You’ve Probably Never Heard Of

 Bolt, Peter. Living with the Underworld. Kingsford, NSW [Australia]: Matthias Media, 2007.

Review by Timothy R. Raymond –

Living with the Underworld is by far the best book I have come across on the “darker” topics of Scripture, namely death, Satan, demons, and spiritual warfare.  And perhaps the reason the book is so good is because ultimately it isn’t exclusively or even primarily about the dark side.  Ultimately the book is about Jesus’ victory through the cross and resurrection, how this impacts (i.e., “disarms”) the principalities and powers, and how Christians should live in light of this victory.  And in that sense, the book is more about Jesus than the powers of darkness.

Bolt lays out his theological method in the first chapter.  He contends that, “It is as if we only understand the underworld [i.e., death, demons, devil, etc.] in its proper place—that is, by its relation to the central message about Jesus.”  Then again, “We should ask our questions about the underworld by asking how it is related to God’s love shown to us in Jesus Christ” (21).  In essence, the author rightly claims that spiritual warfare cannot be correctly understood apart from the death and resurrection of Jesus.  Therefore, this book should be considered a cross-centered theology of spiritual warfare.

While written in a popular style, the book is obviously backed up by serious and careful scholarship.  The author is the head of New Testament studies at Moore Theological College in Sydney, a school renowned for its work in the area of Biblical Theology.  Bolt has written other works, including a volume in the IVP scholarly series, New Studies in Biblical Theology.  This combination of careful scholarship with a Biblical-Theological emphasis probably accounts for the book’s emphasis on the cross and paradigm-shifting conclusions.

Though this may be somewhat of a spoiler, I’ll state Bolt’s overall conclusion regarding spiritual warfare.  Concisely, by bearing the wrath of God in our place, Jesus’ death indirectly defeats the devil.  The cross fully dealt with the problem of guilt, the one weapon Satan has to use against humans.  Therefore, since Jesus’ death was so powerful, those who are beneficiaries of the cross (i.e., Christians) need never fear the powers of darkness or even be terribly concerned about them (and we definitely should not seek to engage them directly).  They are a defeated foe and the only power they could possibly have over God’s people is an imaginary psychological control which exists only in the minds of some.

Though I loved the book, two criticisms come to mind.  First, the book is packed with references to and illustrations from pop-culture.  Bolt often draws parallels to the spiritual underworld from the underworld of organized crime, frequently citing specific events in the HBO crime drama The Sopranos (a show Bolt claims to have watched religiously).  Other allusions to The Simpsons, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, and the Exorcist abound.  These illustrations made for interesting and quick reading, but in my opinion were excessive and left me wondering what a good Christian was doing watching a questionable series like The Sopranos.  A second criticism pertains to the number of questions Bolt raises without answering.  This may have been necessary in dealing with a topic the Bible does not tell us much about, but I found this frustrating.  For example, the author seems to suggest that Jesus may have descended to Hades (i.e., hell?) between the cross and the resurrection.  Though he never says for sure, the reader is left wondering.  Furthermore, Bolt suggests there is some relationship between demons, ghosts, and the spirits of the unsaved, but never clearly explains this relationship.  Are ghosts demons?  Are ghosts the souls of the unsaved?  Bolt never clarifies this point.  Such unanswered questions left me curious but dissatisfied.

These criticisms notwithstanding, the book as a whole was outstanding.  I highly recommend it not merely for its powerfully Christ-exalting content, but also for the clear cross-centered methodology the book employs, a pattern that could wisely be applied to many areas of theological study.

Timothy Raymond is an editor for Credo Magazine and has been the pastor of Trinity Baptist Church in Muncie, Indiana since April 2006. He received his MDiv from the Baptist Bible Seminary of Pennsylvania in 2004 and has pursued further education through the Christian Counseling and Educational Foundation. Tim grew up outside Syracuse, NY and previously served at Berean Baptist Church, Nicholson, PA (member and teacher during college and seminary) and Calvary Baptist Church, Sandusky, Ohio (seminary internship location). Tim met his wife Bethany at college, and they were married in May 2001. Tim enjoys reading, weight-lifting, wrestling with his three sons, and attempting to sleep.