Violence, Deception, and Truth: Radical Environmentalism and Stringfellow's Demonic Powers

Recent high-profile activism, especially by the group Just Stop Oil, has increased attention to radical environmental groups. Responses have typically ranged from derision to anger, with some calling for the group to be considered a terrorist organization. In this paper, I apply William Stringfellow’s theology of the powers and principalities as a useful heuristic for interpreting radical environmental activism, to demonstrate that such activism is an example of truthful action in the face of systems of deception and death. I turn to Stringfellow because of the explanatory force of his treatment of the powers and principalities. In ways that track closely the tactics of the fossil fuel political economy, this New Testament imaginary reveals the essential connection between systems devoted to death and the deceptive and dehumanizing tools that perpetuate those systems, and it shows the feebleness of activist efforts that fail to recognize the systems for what they are.