Many commen­­tators, both cultural and Christian, argue that we are living in an age of outrage. As someone with a keen interest in the trends that shape theological thinking, and particularly theological education, I first encountered this phrase in Karthik Ramanna’s book The Age of Outrage: How to Lead in a Polarized World (2024). Ramanna argues that contemporary society is increasingly characterised by fear, mistrust, resentment, and tribal identities. Later, I came across the work of missiologist and church planter Ed Stetzer in his book Christians in the Age of Outrage (2018). Although writing from very different perspectives, both Ramanna and Stetzer describe the time we live in as an era where outrage causes polarisations, and as an age of social media, where echo chambers, miscommunications, and fake news are recurring features of public life.

Yet outrage in itself is not a modern phenomenon. Biblical narrative does not shy away from moments of anger, lament and argument, from the prophetic tradition to the beginning of Jesus’ ministry, which started with the reading of the book of Isaiah and his brief message of contextualisation and application. We read that Jesus was met with wrath from the listeners (Luke 4:16–21). Righteous anger, in fact, is a recurring theme in Jesus’ ministry; he overturned the money changers’ tables in the temple. He also asked others to make some outrageous decisions in his cultural context, like asking disciples to put the kingdom above familial boundaries. His own outrageous actions of compassion included radical inclusion by eating and drinking with people who are on the margins, healing people even on the Sabbath, and refusing to accept the religious and political oppressive hierarchies. It is these outrageously compassionate yet challenging actions that lead him to the Cross. For contemporary Christian preachers, an important question is, if Jesus himself preached and taught in ways that challenged the status quo, what does faithful preaching look like in our own age of outrage? How do preachers preach prophetically in contexts marked by populist politics, social division, online hostility and competing truth claims? How do we not fall into the trap of destructive outrage in an attempt to show genuine righteous anger?

OUTRAGE AND PROPHETIC CALLING: WHERE VULNERABILITY MEETS RIGHTEOUS ANGER

The outrage characteristic of our times, as Ramanna and Stetzer argue, is often marked by tribal alliances, distrust of institutions and populist personality cults. Social media, with its often-uncensored nature and hunger for attention, favours and rewards anger and outrage as it attracts attention. As Pankaj Mishra argues in his book Age of Anger (2018), many contemporary political movements are themselves expressions of collective anger, as they provide a group identity and purpose. Yet biblical outrage and anger are profoundly different. Because those emerge not from a desire to dominate others but from a deep concern of justice, truth, and flourishing of God’s creation through reconciliation.

Prophetic tradition constantly demonstrates that rigorous anger is inseparable from vulnerability. Jeremiah chapter 20 offers a very good example of this. Called to proclaim a message that neither the rulers nor ordinary people wish to hear, Jeremiah expressed isolation, rejection and despair to the point that he felt he was deceived by God and ridiculed all day long by everyone (Jeremiah 20:7). Prophetic ministry is not the confident proclamation of those who have all the answers, but the faithful obedience of those who know that silence is not an option.

This pattern reaches its fulfilment in Jesus: he is angry at the exploitation he witnesses at the temple. He confronts religious hypocrisy and he challenges hierarchy, not because he was arranging a political coup but because he was in solidarity with those who suffered exclusion. This was an outrage of compassion. Like Black womanist theologian Kelly Brown Douglas has often stated, we must remember that Jesus was crucified not simply because of what he taught but because of what he did. Turning the tables was only a small (yet significant) part of his ministry; his acts of healing, inclusion, and liberation challenged the hegemonic structures of politics and religion of his time.

The challenge for a contemporary preacher is to distinguish the prophetic righteous anger from populist outrage. Populist outrage creates enemies for the sake of creating enemies, whereas prophetic righteous anger creates enemies through acts of challenging injustice. Populist outrage seeks power, whereas prophetic righteous anger seeks truth, often not the popular one. Populist outrage demands loyalty to a tribe, prophetic righteous anger seeks true repentance, the first step towards true reconciliation. A call to a Christian preacher has always been a kingdom-focused voice amidst cultural wars.

This is a place of vulnerability, just like in Jeremiah’s case; there are no tribes that will protect, and the personal cost becomes high. Latin American liberation theologians identified this: Gustavo Gutierrez and others said that, in the light of oppression and persecution in Latin America, preaching and living a life that teaches liberation is so costly as to be worth martyrdom. When Bishop Oscar Romero started speaking against violence and oppression, he knew he was in danger. Yet he understood that his call and vocation are to stand alongside the people. The vulnerability that the preacher should inhabit in the age of outrage is not weakness but a participation in the ministry of Christ, who did not regard equality with God as something to exploit but emptied himself and took the form of a slave (Phil 2:6).

OUTRAGEOUS SERVICE OF JUSTICE: WHERE JUSTICE LEADS TO REPENTANCE, HEALING, AND HOPE

In the society in which we live, outrage in itself is the destination leading to more anger, more division, and more tribalism. In Christian preaching, the destination is always the good news of the kingdom, which invites all creation to true reconciliation with each other and with God through Christ. Jesus’ challenge towards the powerful was motivated not by his own political ambition but by concern for the vulnerable. His acts of healing, reconciliation and forgiveness angered the political leaders. However, his focus was not on them but on the people who needed healing, reconciliation and forgiveness. His call to repentance was not a political manifesto to start a new tribe or institution, but a new way of living in the light of the kingdom values.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu’s ministry offers a compelling contemporary example. Throughout his struggle against apartheid in South Africa, he refused to accept a (false) choice between justice and reconciliation. He believed that genuine reconciliation could never be achieved by ignoring the injustices of the past or the present, but justice cannot be reduced to revenge or anger. The work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission reflected this deep need to speak and be heard. It also acknowledged that hurt and pain need to be accepted, the path to the ultimate goal of reconciliation and healing.

Going back to liberation theologians, we are reminded that the church cannot separate acts from speech in the service of justice. Gutierrez said proclaiming good news to the poor is not just telling them that God loves them but showing them God’s love through actions of solidarity and advocacy.

This movement from outrage through repentance and healing to hope is grounded in the gospel teaching. The cross was where the political and religious hegemony came head-to-head not just with truth and justice but with love, compassion and vulnerability. Easter morning, on the other hand, proclaims that neither the empire nor the religious hegemonic powers has the final victory. Christian preaching, therefore, should not deny the reality of Good Friday, falling into naive optimism, nor fall into cynical despair, forgetting the victory on Easter morning.

CONCLUSION

The challenge facing the Christian preacher in this age of anger and outrage is not whether to be prophetic but how to be prophetic faithfully. The temptation, of course, is always to move to the two opposite ends of the spectrum: either avoiding difficult topics for fear of controversy, conflict, and upset, or being caught up in rage, mirroring the anger, polarisation, and tribalism that are increasingly characteristic of our public life. The Bible does not shy away from the difficult topics, nor does it sugarcoat the challenges of prophetic witness. Jeremiah’s anger and displeasure with God are not omitted from Scripture, nor is Jesus’ angry reaction to the injustices of his time. But these were never intended as a standalone act to create tribalism division or to achieve political or religious power. What is significant about Jeremiah’s anger is that, without any dramatic intermissions like a thundercloud or a non-dramatic intervention of a small soft voice, Jeremiah’s anger changes to lament, and then the lament moves to praise as he is affirmed in his vocation. Jesus’ teaching was disruptive to the status quo, and his demands on his followers were outrageous, yet the focus remained on the healing of the sick, restoration of relationships, and liberation of the oppressed. His righteous anger emerged not from self-interest
but from compassion, and not with the ulterior motives of domination but with the goal of bringing a kingdom of justice and peace.

Biblical narratives, as well as the examples of Oscar Romero, Desmond Tutu, and the words of Kelly Brown Douglas and Gutierrez, illustrate people who exercised prophetic witness in their own contexts. Their ministries remind us that, in our age of outrage, the preachers called to minister are also called to preach from a place of vulnerability, and that this carries risks to the point of martyrdom, as exemplified by Oscar Romero. Yet it is in this vulnerability that our preaching will find its credibility as it reflects the path towards Calvary itself.

In a culture that is increasingly shaped by anger and outrage, we as Christian preachers must offer something distinct from the culture war around us. We must resist the temptation to succumb to populist clickbait-like rage as a rhetorical technique; instead, we should root ourselves in Scripture and be attentive to the cries of the marginalised, oppressed, and excluded. Committing ourselves to the work of justice is also constantly aligning ourselves to truth, and proclaiming the good news means calling people to repentance. It is truth and repentance that can create a path to healing and reconciliation.

In the kingdom of God preached by Jesus, outrage and anger are not the final word. The final word is always outrageous words and actions of love and compassion leading to reconciliation and resurrection hope.