“LIFE IS DEEP and simple, and what our society gives us is shallow and complicated,” Fred Rogers purportedly once said. In The God Who Riots: Taking Back the Radical Jesus, Damon Garcia makes complex concepts accessible yet still resonant and challenging. That is no easy feat, given that he references brilliant but dense writings by intellectual giants such as Paulo Freire, Frantz Fanon, and Abraham Heschel.
Garcia’s conversational writing style feels like talking with him in a coffee shop about upending oppressive systems and pursuing a faith whose end is our collective liberation here and now, not in some future paradise. Those of us who have followed Garcia’s videos on YouTube may almost hear his smooth, instructive voice encouraging us to follow the Jesus that radicalized him.
Garcia unapologetically reads the Bible through the lens of liberation theology, following the footsteps of Latin American theologians whose faith has political implications and who are on the side of the poor and the oppressed. His study of decolonial theory also informs his praxis. These decolonized, liberative models shape his argument that even protests that may result in destruction of property can be aligned with a biblical understanding of justice and the example of Jesus in the gospels.
Those whose inherited faith no longer works (and maybe never did), or who are deconstructing their faith, will find in Garcia a nonjudgmental companion. He is uninterested in a faith that maintains the status quo or seeks only to reform evil and broken systems; his faith inspires him to topple those systems and dream a world that is free and just for all, not just the few. This is not a book about quiet piety, doctrinal debates, or ruminations on the meaning of Jesus’ death—it is about the life Jesus modeled and a call to transform the world.
Garcia is that Thanksgiving guest who refuses to stick to pleasant small talk and instead takes on capitalism, the prison industrial complex, policing, white supremacy, and Christian nationalism, inviting everyone to interrogate them and imagine systems that are life-giving instead of oppressive and harmful. Instead of your racist uncle, he is your radical sibling who will not give up until all of us are free—even the oppressor who is dehumanized in the act of oppression.
Biblical insights illuminate and reinforce Garcia’s message. His discussion of Jesus’ cleansing of the temple is compelling. Jesus turns over tables, rebuking those who prioritize worship over justice, warning against turning the house of God into a “den of robbers.” Garcia notes that a “den” is where robbers hide from the consequences of their actions. Rather than obey God’s instructions to care for the poor, too many come to the temple to escape condemnation for their behavior.
My only objection is to the book’s title. While Garcia makes a case for the word “riot” in relation to Jesus at the temple, I wasn’t convinced. For me “riot” does not evoke liberation but violence, and I cannot think of a single time in my life where violence made me feel safe or free. Perhaps a better title might have been “The God Who Protests.” Nonetheless, this important book will help you commit to Jesus’ radical vision of justice and liberation. I highly recommend it.
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Karen González is a speaker, writer, and immigrant advocate who lives in Baltimore. She is the author of Beyond Welcome: Centering Immigrants in our Christian Response to Immigration.
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