Good and Angry: Redeeming Anger, Irritation, Complaining, and Bitterness
Digital Verbum Edition
Overview
Good and Angry, a groundbreaking book from David Powlison, shows readers how anger is more than a problem to solve. Anger is our complex human response to what we perceive as wrong in a complex world, thus we must learn how to fruitfully and honestly deal with it.
Powlison undertakes an in-depth exploration of the roots of anger, moral judgment, and righteous response by looking in a surprising place: God’s own anger.
Good and Angry examines God’s desire for justice and his anger, which doesn’t devolve into manipulation. Rather, God’s anger is good and redemptive, and it causes him to step into our world to make wrongs right, sending his own Son to die so we can be reconciled.
In this book full of practical and biblical help, Powlison sets readers on a path toward a faithful and fruitful expression of anger, in which we return good for evil and redeem wrongs. Powlison investigates how God is our model for change and our power for change.
Good and Angry helps people who struggle with irritation, complaining, or bitterness explore how to respond constructively when life goes wrong. You, your family, and your friends will all be glad that you read this book.
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- Shows readers how anger is a complex human response that needs to be dealt with fruitfully
- Examines God’s desire for justice and his good and redemptive anger
- Sets readers on a path toward a faithful and fruitful expression of anger
- Acknowledgments
- Introduction
- SECTION 1: OUR EXPERIENCE
- 1. Angry People
- 2. Do You Have a Serious Problem with Anger?
- 3. How Does That Shoe Fit?
- SECTION 2: WHAT IS ANGER?
- 4. “I’m Against That”
- 5. All of You Does Anger
- 6. Nature, Nurture . . . and Human Nature
- 7. The Constructive Displeasure of Mercy, Part 1: Patience and Forgiveness
- 8. The Constructive Displeasure of Mercy, Part 2: Charity and Constructive Conflict
- 9. Good and Angry?
- 10. The Best Anger, the Best Love
- SECTION 3: HOW TO CHANGE
- 11. A Mirror on Your Anger
- 12. He Gives More Grace
- 13. Eight Questions: Taking Your Anger Apart to Put You Back Together
- SECTION 4: TACKLING THE HARD CASES
- 14. “I’ll Never Get Over It”
- 15. The Everyday Angers
- 16. Do You Ever Get Angry at Yourself?
- 17. Anger at God
- A Final Word
- Endnotes
Anger can teach us something good not only about ourselves, but about God—and my friend David Powlison shows us how. I highly recommend Good and Angry, especially for Christian leaders, counselors, parents, and young people!
—Joni Eareckson Tada, Joni and Friends International Disability Center
This is the best book on anger there is, except for Scripture itself. Powlison explores anger with wonderful depth and precise nuance. The book is a great systematic theology, for it explores all the relevance of creation, providence, and saving grace.
—John Frame, Professor of Systematic Theology and Philosophy, Reformed Theological Seminary
Good and Angry is a remarkably penetrating treatment of a vital but neglected subject. Powlison’s insights are profound, not only on anger, but patience, forgiveness, mercy, and grace. I personally benefited from this excellent book. I highly recommend it.
—Randy Alcorn, Author of If God Is Good, Heaven, and Happiness