The Wrath of a Loving God

“In giving a new starting point on interpreting God’s anger in the Bible, this book shows a bigger play is at stake: authentic existence for humankind. God is the God of life; his anger is his refusal to see darkness and evil consume his creation. In Jesus, everything finds liberation. Sharing company with figures like Julian of Norwich and Richard Rohr, this book is a testimony that all God can do is love ‘as fierce as death.’ So, the theme of divine wrath, properly understood, rather than being primitive or an aberration, offers a key to understanding the mystery of our redemption in Jesus Christ.”


—John Sentamu, Archbishop of York





“In this insightful, nuanced, and readable study, Brother John takes the biblical perspectives on God’s anger and wrath with utmost seriousness. But he persuasively shows that divine anger and wrath express God’s love, compassion, and sorrow at humanity’s rejection of God’s life-giving ways. Culminating in Jesus, God’s ‘no’ to humanity’s ‘no’ to God is actually God’s ‘yes’ to us! This is an important book, on a critical topic, by an extraordinary interpreter of Scripture and Christian theology.”


—Michael J. Gorman, Raymond E. Brown Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology, St. Mary’s Seminary & University, Baltimore, Maryland





“Brother John willingly enters in where angels fear to tread, especially fallen angels. He explores some of the most difficult passages of both the Old and New Testament, paying careful attention to both the texts and their contexts, so that in the midst of texts of terror the love of God does not disappear.”


—James L. Heft, SM, Alton Brooks Professor of Religion, President, Institute for Advanced Catholic Studies, University of Southern California