Raging Politics: The Metastasis of Political Violence and the Christian Response

Raging Politics: The Metastasis of Political Violence and the Christian Response

by Ralph Black

What happens to a country when disagreement becomes war — and what happens to the church that gets pulled into the fight?

In the summer of 2020, Pastor Ralph Black watched Christians he loved start choosing sides like soldiers picking up rifles. Both sides said Jesus was with them. That troubling moment became this book.

Political violence didn't arrive all at once. It started small — a harsh word here, an ugly label there, "enemies" in place of "neighbors" — and then it spread. Into our schools. Into our families. Into our churches. Raging Politics borrows a word from the cancer ward — metastasis — to name exactly what has happened to us, and then asks the harder question: what does a faithful Christian response actually look like?

This is not a book that tells you who to vote for. You won't find one party defended and the other torn down. Instead, you'll find an honest diagnosis of how the rage spread, a clear-eyed look at what Jesus, Paul, and the Old Testament actually teach about power and violence, and a set of practical, livable steps for following Christ in a country that is angry all the time.

Inside, you'll work through:

• How political violence took root — and why the church didn't stop it
• The polarization trap, and how to tell if you're already caught
• Religious nationalism, and the difference between loving your country and worshipping it
• What Jesus really did with political power — and why he refused the shortcuts
• What Romans 13 actually means (and the catastrophes caused by misreading it)
• How to love people who vote the other way, without pretending to agree
• Why repentance, not victory, is where healing begins
• 
  

Written in plain, direct language for real people — not scholars — and built for both personal reading and group study. Includes a complete six-session small group study guide.

If you're tired of the rage and honest enough to ask hard questions about your own part in it, this book is for you.

Published by Threshold Books. Instant PDF download, formatted for easy reading on any device.