Holy Housekeeping: Understanding Evil and Living Godly Lives

“Spiritual warfare” is an important topic for Christians, but it is an overused phrase. Janet Warren proposes a model of “holy housekeeping” as another way of understanding evil that is thoroughly biblical and also more positively focused. In this book, which includes multiple examples and discussion questions, she traces the theme of holy housekeeping—and its associated metaphors of direction, boundaries, and cleansing—from Genesis to Revelation. Because evil spirits (symbolized by dirt and disorder) seek to intrude upon holy space, the Lord continually sets limits on evil through His ministry in healing and cleansing. Christ followers are called to obedience and are given authority over evil. We are commanded to keep sacred space clean by expelling evil. Holy Housekeeping is not a simplistic instruction book, but offers a new biblical framework for understanding and dealing with evil that can inform all of Christian life.

E. Janet Warren (MD, PhD) is a family physician with an interest in psychotherapy and an independent scholar in theology. She lives in Hamilton, Ontario and previously published Cleansing the Cosmos: A Biblical Model for Conceptualizing and Counteracting Evil.