TWO!
New content and some reasons to celebrate
Today marks two years since the publication of Disarming Leviathan: Loving Your Christian Nationalist Neighbor.
What an unexpected journey these two years have been. The book has sparked dialogue in churches, classrooms, conferences, podcasts, and coffee shops across the country. I'm profoundly grateful for every person who has joined that conversation.
Along the way, I've heard from pastors, church members, students, and even people who once embraced Christian Nationalism, all of whom have reminded me that patient, faithful witness still has the power to change hearts.
When I started this book, I hoped it would help Christians think differently about one of the most difficult challenges facing the American church. My experiences over the last two years have deepened my conviction that the church’s greatest witness will come through communities that embody the way of Jesus by loving our neighbors, telling the truth, practicing hospitality, pursuing justice, and refusing the temptation to trust the way of the sword.
At the heart of this book is the conviction that we can engage neighbors who have embraced malformed expressions of political power without surrendering to those same patterns ourselves. We can reject dehumanization without becoming dehumanizing. We can tell the truth without contempt. We can love our neighbors, including those with whom we disagree, because our hope rests not in coercion, but in the crucified and risen King.
Thank you to everyone who has read the book, discussed it with a small group, hosted a conversation, recommended it to a friend, or reached out to tell me how it has shaped your life and ministry. Those stories have encouraged me more than you know.
Over the past two years, I've also had the privilege of continuing this conversation beyond the book. Content arising from its themes was recently featured by Holy Post ("Should America Rededicate Itself to God?") and Christianity Today ("Anxiety About Affiliation"), allowing these ideas to reach new audiences wrestling with many of the same questions.
These discussions continue to shape my own thinking as I work on my next book, The Politics of Loving Your Neighbor (manuscript due at the end of August!).
Along with the Disarming Leviathan podcast, clergy cohorts, workshops, and this Substack, I’m hopeful this growing body of work can help the church recover a distinctly Christian imagination for public life.
Help Celebrate the Book’s Birthday
If Disarming Leviathan has encouraged you, consider helping us celebrate its second birthday! Here are a few ways you can help:
Recommend the book.
Share it, or one of our other bits of content, on social media.
Leave a review on Amazon or Goodreads.
Become a paid subscriber here on Substack.
Birthday Giveaway 🎉
To celebrate the book’s second birthday, every new paid Substack subscriber who signs up before July 16th will receive a Disarming Leviathan Birthday Swag Bag.
Each swag bag includes:
A signed copy of Disarming Leviathan
Disarming Leviathan stickers
A pin
A few extra surprises
And if you choose the Leviathan Tamer subscription, I’ll also send a plush Levi, who is a very disarming Leviathan indeed.
Paid subscriptions make this work possible. They help fund our articles, podcast, clergy cohorts, congregational workshops, and future writing projects.
Thank you for reading, for praying, for sharing, for asking hard questions, and for believing that another way is possible.
Two years after Disarming Leviathan was released, I remain convinced that the way of Jesus is faithful, beautiful, and true. My prayer is that God would give us the courage to follow Christ in our generation—not merely by resisting what is false, but by becoming people whose lives reveal the love, beauty, and surprising power of the Kingdom of God.
Grace and peace,
Caleb
P.S. If you’d like to partner with us beyond the Substack subscription, you can support the ministry through our donation page.
Happy Book Birthday!!!
When do you get your celebrity pastor card?!