This Present Darkness
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This Present Darkness, published in 1986, is a Christian novel by Frank E. Peretti. It shows contemporary views on angels, demons, prayer and the spiritual realm. It shows the interaction of angels and demons with the citizens of the small town of Ashton. An instrumental track on one of Michael W. Smith's albums is entitled Ashton, after the town in this book.
This Present Darkness has sold in excess of 2.5 million copies, and has made a remarkable impact on both Christian fiction and the ideas many American Christians have concerning angelic and demonic powers. Also, the book has been instrumental in promoting belief in Territorial Spirits and practices for resisting evil spirits that are known as spiritual warfare.
The title comes from Ephesians 6:12 (ESV): "For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers over this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places."
This Present Darkness takes place in the small college town of Ashton. Bernice Kreuger, a reporter for the Clarion, Ashton's town newspaper, is falsely arrested on prostitution charges after taking a photograph at the annual Ashton Summer Festival. When she is released the next day, she discovers that the film in her camera was destroyed. Marshall Hogan, owner/editor-in-chief of the Clarion investigates possible corruption in the Ashton police department.
Marshall goes to the town police station/courthouse and confronts Alf Brummel, the police chief, about the arrest. Brummel denies any wrongdoing on behalf of the police department and insists it was all a mistake. Marshall leaves, not believing Brummel's story, and continues his investigation.
As the investigation continues, Marshall discovers that there are a number of new members of the board of regents at Whitmore College (where his daughter attends), all somehow connected to the New-Age movement. There are also rumors that the college is about to be sold to the mysterious Omni Corporation.
Just as Marshall begins to put the pieces together, he is falsely arrested for abusing his daughter. While in jail, he meets with Hank Busche, a pastor at the Ashton Community Church. Busche was arrested on false rape charges. As the two talk, they compare experiences and discover that the Omni Corporation is trying to take over the town.
Hank and Marshall are both released from jail and contact the FBI. The head of the Omni Corporation is arrested, and the demons are destroyed.
[edit] Critical Reviews
The novel has been the subject of both literary and theological criticism. On literary grounds several reviewers such as Irving Hexham and James R. Lewis suggest that the novel fits into the genre of horror. Reviewers such as Steve Rabey and Michael Maudlin appreciate the novel's complex multi-layered plot. However, they find the novel's characters typecast in simplistic roles of good versus bad. Other criticisms raised concern redundant passages in the novel, stilted dialogue and poor grammar.
Authority figures within the disciplines of Christian missions, such as A. Scott Moreau and Paul Hiebert, detect a dualist cosmology in the novels that is influenced by Zoroastrian and mystery religion myths. These critics also argue that the novel's depiction of angelic-demonic combat and spiritual warfare techniques are tinged with animist ideas. Christian apologists such as Kim Riddlebarger and Dean Halverson find the portrait of New Age spirituality to be exaggerated and unreliable. Ross Clifford and Philip S. Johnson indicate that the conspiracy theory employed in the novel rests on a discredited interpretation of New Age.
The New Testament scholar Robert Guelich finds the biblical metaphor of spiritual warfare has nothing to do with combat with demons, and argues that the novel's view of spiritual warfare is seriously at odds with those passges in the gospel accounts and Paul's epistles that refer to spiritual conflict and demons. J. Lanier Burns faults the novel in its weak understanding of personal responsibility for evil and sin, and a correspondingly poor sense of God's sovereignty.
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| Frank E. Peretti | |
|---|---|
| Fiction: |
This Present Darkness | Tilly | Piercing the Darkness | Prophet | The Oath | The Visitation | Monster | House |
| The Veritas Project (teen fiction): |
|
| The Cooper Kids Adventure Series (youth fiction): |
The Door in the Dragon's Throat | Escape from the Island of Aquarius | The Tombs of Anak | Trapped at the Bottom of the Sea | The Deadly Curse of Toko-rey | The Secret of the Desert Stone | The Legend of Annie Murphy | Flying Blind |
| Non-fiction: |
The Wounded Spirit | No More Victims | No More Bullies |
| Video Series: |
The Wild and Wacky World of Mr. Henry |
| Films: |
Hangman's Curse | The Visitation |
