The God Who Riots

Taking Back the Radical Jesus

By: Damon Garcia

Narrated by: Damon Garcia

For thousands of years, religious messages have been used to either uphold the status quo or upend it. And while we are all very familiar with the kind of conservative Christianity that suppresses liberation and justifies oppression, progressive Christians are just as guilty of upholding unjust systems when we prioritize harmony and unity over justice.

True justice requires us to choose sides. True justice requires action. When we look at Scripture, we see that the God of the Bible was never neutral. Again and again, God chooses the side of the oppressed. Jesus said the spirit of the Lord anointed him "to let the oppressed go free", and those of us who claim to follow Jesus today must commit to this radical mission of liberation.

In The God Who Riots, popular YouTuber and public theologian Damon Garcia uses his frank, tell-it-like-it-is style to connect us with the Jesus who flipped tables in the temple and led an empire-destabilizing movement for liberation. The spirit of this God is embodied in today's protests, riots, and strikes. As we join this struggle for liberation, we are joining the God who riots alongside us, within us, and through us.

©2022 Damon Garcia (P)2022 Damon Garcia

Fantastic primer on radical theologies

This book takes the work of numerous liberationist theologians and other scholars working on the margins and makes it concise and accessible to all. Even better, it manages to keep the depth and nuance of such works while doing so! In this text, brevity does mean shallowness.

Furthermore, Garcia achieves the very challenging task of striking a balance between gently guiding beginners through “hot button” issues like racism and rioting, while still being worthwhile for folks who are already quite far left. Thus this book is useful in different ways for anyone ranging from moderate / centrist to the farthest left.

I’ll absolutely be recommending it when people ask me for an easy-to-understand, quality resource on all sorts of topics, including:
- liberation theology’s origins
- how many youth leaving evangelicalism didn’t “fail” in faith — they actually took faith too seriously for the churches they were in
- why we must abolish, not just reform the police and other oppressive systems
- why to support all forms of protest, including riots and even looting (with helpful disclaimers about when not to as well)
- the complexities of forgiveness and reconciliation

Enlighten

Loved everything about this book! Recommend to read, listen, and share. Will buy the hard copy soon

Liberation Theology at its Best

The writer explains Scripturally based Liberation Theology in the most basic, accessible, and understandable language possible. Highly recommend!

Clear, grounded in Christ and supremely relevant.

A beautiful account of Jesus’ revolutionary life and teaching rooted in scripture and Jesus’ historical life. Much to contemplate, challenging us to take up the cross as intended.

Too broad for such a short book

Was hoping for more of a theological review which there certainly is some of in this book but the author tries to address so many topics that all of it can only be superficial. I think it would be very good as introduction for some but it wasn't what I was looking for despite broadly agreeing with the author