The question of salvation as holistic healing is sometimes raised in Western theology. However, with few exceptions theologians tend to limit salvation primarily to spiritual areas, discussing the healing miracles of Jesus and the apostles as unique to their period. Hand in hand with the concept of salvation as only the transformation of the mind and spirit is the downplaying, or even denial, of the effect of evil spirits. It is a prevalent Western world-view that these manifestations are in the mind of the person suffering from them and the person needs to be cured of these delusions.

The problem arises when the gospel is proclaimed in a non-Western cultural situation where the reality of the world of the spirits is a common cultural belief. What should the response of the church be? The books by Shorter and Milingo attempt to answer this question, albeit in different ways. There are points of agreement, for instance, in the use of the spiritual resources of the church, but the main difference focuses on their quite different perceptions of the problem.

Shorter’s book has a wealth of illustrative stories that make fascinating reading and reveal the cultural mindset of the people he writes about. All of his stories are from the so-called Third World, most from Africa. For example, he tells of an upper-class Ugandan Catholic woman who wanted Shorter to come and ‘bless’ her garden to neutralize an evil spell she believed had been put on it. Shorter describes the dialogue his good angel had with his bad angel as he tried to decide whether or not to accede to this request. The good angel, by the way, was against his going to the garden because it would be ‘pandering’ to the woman’s belief about witchcraft.

That discussion highlights Shorter’s dilemma. He is a Western man, looking for rational explanations for dissociation (multiple personalities associated with possession by evil spirits) and refusing to acquiesce to the belief in witchcraft and sorcery. Yet he has seen the power that such beliefs have and knows that the problem must be dealt with in some form. His answer lies in the use of education and community development so that the cultural elements which are connected with these delusions of evil spirits will be broken. He also advocates a more thorough-going application of the power for healing in the sacraments of the church.

It is to Shorter’s credit that he identifies the problems faced by these non-Western societies. As noted above, the stories and illustrations he relates are well chosen to illustrate the basic philosophical system of belief that is found in these societies, especially with regard to the human sources of evil and misfortune. However, his emphasis on the need for a rational approach, defined by the non-acceptance of the world-view of the non-Western culture, mars the solution. Indeed, it also colours the dialogue, since most of the fear of evil spirits is seen as social paranoia. While we can welcome Shorter’s book as a much-needed introduction to the problem of making the gospel relevant in non-Western cultural settings, this reviewer felt Shorter’s guidelines would not solve the philosophical and practical problems raised by traditional beliefs. It is not enough to say that these evil forces do not exist. What is needed is the proclamation that Jesus has power over them.

It is therefore with a sense of relief that one turns to Milingo’s book. Emmanuel Milingo was for fourteen years the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Lusaka. In 1973 he discovered he had the power of healing and proceeded to minister to his large flock. The exercise of this charismatic gift led to conflicts with the priests in his diocese. Since there was a shortage of African priests, most of the clergy were Western missionaries who did not understand nor believe in the phenomenon of evil spirits. To them it was unscientific delusion that the people needed to be educated out of. The matter was ultimately referred to Rome, which first curtailed Milingo’s healing meetings and finally recalled him in 1982 from his post.

While the book can be read as a clash between the church’s desire to maintain the status quo and the need to express an African form of Christianity, to do so is to see only part of the story. The real issue is the nature of the phenomenon of evil spirits and their effect on the Africans. Do they exist? Can Africans, even African Christians, be in bondage to them? But more importantly, does the church have anything to say to this situation? Milingo’s contention is that the European missionaries were unable to deal with the phenomenon of possession by evil spirits because they had no experience of them in their world-view. But even if it did not fit into the missionaries’ own world-view, they had a duty to try to enter the mindset of the people to whom they had come to minister. For many, this should be the real value of the book. Readers of Themelios, who have no connection and perhaps little interest in the affairs of a particular Roman Catholic diocese in Africa, all need to hear clearly the call to understand fully the culture of the people to whom they minister. While this ignorance has been the particular sin of missionaries (of which I could give several examples), it also is a problem of ministers and even professors of theology (of which I could give more examples).

Milingo speaks of the two religions of the African Christians: the Sunday religion when they brought their Christian selves to church, and their traditional African beliefs to which they resorted when they had real problems and difficulties. The traditional African beliefs involved the world of the spirits, ‘the world in between’ earth and heaven. The description of the spirit world may produce the same reaction in Western Protestants as it did in the Roman Catholic hierarchy, but people who have experienced this phenomenon will find Milingo’s account understandable. However, the crucial issue is the power that Jesus Christ has over these oppressive spirits. And further, the point is made that Jesus came to bring life and wholeness (salvation) to mankind. The bondage to which Satan subjects people must be destroyed fully in Jesus’ name as a result of Jesus’ already accomplished victory on the cross.

At issue in both these books is the question of culture. Does one need to adopt a Western cultural orientation to be fully a Christian? Is it possible for an African to have his cultural orientation in some sense preserved and even enhanced by his Christian faith, a faith which speaks to all aspects of his life? The answer given by Shorter would appear to be that a Western orientation is needed, while Milingo tries to find in Christ the answers to his people’s deepest needs while confirming them in their own culture. One particular point of interest is that Shorter seems to give more credence to and acceptance of African spirit healers than he does Christian healers. This seems to be the case from the approving way he speaks of the former and the criticism he levels at the latter. Those looking for a theology of spirits will not find it in either book; the emphasis in both is on the necessity of an holistic approach to life. That in itself is valuable for all cultural situations.

Anyone preparing for missionary service should read at least Milingo’s book. But those who claim to be thinking Christian theologians also must read Milingo’s book to help them come to terms with the need to present the Christian faith in a way that is intelligible and meets the real problems of their people.