In 2020, ‘The Cost of Discipleship’ by Dietrich Bonhoeffer was without doubt my ‘best book of the year’. Some books you just know are THAT good. They are the books that become the gifts that you send as soon as possible to those whom you care about. That’s why I also just know absolutely that, even though it’s not yet the end of March, ‘Good and Angry’ by David Powlinson, will be my ‘best book of the year’ in 2021. It simply oozes levels of insight, grace, wisdom and maturity that I have never before encountered on the subject of anger - and I have read quite a few.

Let me show you exactly what I mean. I was still in the introduction when I was confronted by the challenging truth, ‘To get anger straight is to get your life straight.’ It was followed hot on the heels by the upside down miracle statement that ‘Anger is meant to be laced with mercy and loving intent.’ And in chapter two, the thought-provoking crumbling of what is so often assumed: ‘The opposite of tantrums and bitterness is not a placid temperament and unflappable demeanour.’

If these snippets of rich fare aren’t enough to whet your appetite to read more, then perhaps you’ve never felt bad anger or never felt yourself on the receiving end of someone else’s bad anger that has assaulted your soul. And, sadly, I’m pretty sure that none of us can make that claim.

In fact, I don’t just invite you - I URGE you - to join me in reading this book. I do this because I want all of us who love Jesus to be well equipped to defeat the evil of bad anger. Then just watch the revolution that happens in you and around you when you replace it with the practice of good anger that is our true calling from God.

Catherine Knights, Lord's Hill Church of England, Southampton