Defying Tyrants
Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists
- Ethics, Culture & Social Issues
- Publisher: Broadleaf Books (Augsburg Fortress)
- Published: 2026
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Publisher's Description
"Quite simply, Defying Tyrants is a book every Christian should read." --Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of Jesus and John Wayne \ Christian antichrists \ (noun): Those who use power to harm others in the name of Jesus In this powerhouse book, an expert on Christian extremism issues a profound and biblical rebuke to all who would claim the name of Jesus but disdain his way. Christian fixation with political power is the theological emergency of our time, and in Defying Tyrants, Matthew D. Taylor, author of The Violent Take It by Force, traces the origins of Christian supremacy. Jesus directed his followers away from the race for power, but somewhere along the way, many Christians turned Jesus into a mascot for imperial domination. Where did it all go so wrong? A trenchant reckoning with the murder, mayhem, and monsters of Christianity--from the early church and the Crusades to colonialism, slavery, and the Holocaust-- Defying Tyrants demonstrates how imperialism has infected the body of Christ. With cogent argument and moral precision, Taylor excavates scriptural texts and unpacks the notion of Christian antichrists. When the term antichrist occurs in the Bible, it's frequently plural --not "The Antichrist" who populated the nightmares of fundamentalism's young people. Antichrists originate within the church and abuse people in the name of Christ. Christian antichrists justify harm and vengeance theologically, pointing people away from the God who entered humanity as a colonized peasant in the hinterlands of the Roman empire. Both searing polemic and lyrical meditation, Defying Tyrants challenges us to put steel in the spine of Christian resistance to tyrants and reprimands the Christian leaders who bless them. It also spotlights a countertradition of Christians who have lived generous lives of sacrifice and stood up to authoritatians through the centuries. The gospel of Jesus pulls the rug out from under all human hierarchies, Taylor argues. In this brilliantly conceived and scrappy quarrel with Christian supremacy, he calls us to find in the teachings of Jesus and the witness of the early church a model of rebellion against tyrants of all kinds. Because if Jesus is Lord, Caesar isn't.
Endorsements (10)
“Quite simply, Defying Tyrants is a book every Christian should read. Undermining every case for Christian supremacy, it offers a bracing challenge to those seeking to seize power in the name of Christ. Courageous, clear-eyed, and utterly compelling, this book is a gift to the church and to the world beyond the church--to the neighbors all Christians are called to love and serve.”
“In this bold and timely book, Matthew D. Taylor confronts the theological emergency of our time--a five-alarm fire fueled by Christian supremacy and its antichrists. With an incisive grasp of the early Jesus movement, Taylor offers readers the theological and biblical grammar needed to challenge angry tyrants and their allied pastors and priests. This is the most important book I've read in the past decade for this fraught moment.”
“Taylor paints a vivid picture of the choice now facing us: Christ or antichrists (plural). As perilously present as our current crisis is, the core challenge is an old one: Gospel vs. empire. Power vs. love of neighbors and enemies, generous service, self-sacrifice, and solidarity with the least. Empires rise and fall, with great human cost, but the way of Jesus remains for us to follow. And we will.”
“"I pray that this book would be a means the Lord uses to feed his people well and to inoculate them against the poisons of domination and exploitation, however tasty those poisons may present themselves to be. May we be a people committed to the actual Christ rather than the many antichrists!”
“"In Defying Tyrants, Taylor goes beyond his academic bona fides to become a powerful preacher--illuminating Scripture and culture alike to inspire, empower, and activate all who dare to read this book. Readers will discover a Jesus very familiar to readers of the Bible, but one who has been all too absent from popular white American Christianity. Thank God for Taylor bringing this Jesus to light at such a time as this.”
“Combining deep historical research and rich biblical analysis with an accessible and emphatic style, this must-read book is precisely what is needed today. Bible study classes and book clubs should read and discuss Defying Tyrants while we still can.”
“Taylor writes as a Christian, from within the household of faith, recovering the subversive grammar of Jesus and the earliest churches to expose how poisonous visions of power have grown up alongside the gospel from the start. He recovers what the earliest followers of Jesus understood instinctively: that the gospel is an act of holy subversion, not a platform for coercive power. This is a book the church needs now, whether she knows it or not.”
“By illuminating Christianity's enduring tension between power and discipleship, Defying Tyrants provides both historical clarity and practical resources for resisting the weaponization of faith. A must-read for those in the faithful resistance who value the love of Christ over political power.”
“With true pastoral passion and clarity, Taylor points us back to the Crucified Lamb, providing a renewed vision of faithful discipleship for the facing of this hour.”
“Taylor's work is thoughtful, provocative, and anchored in a desire for Christians to resist the temptation of worldly power and to cling to the power of the risen Jesus.”
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