A Prophet’s Perspective
A Feature Review of
The Tears of the Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage
Richard Rohr
Hardcover: Convergent Books, 2025
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Reviewed by Daniel Rose
Over the last several years, the phrase “speaking truth to power” has become popular in many Christian circles and in the culture at large. There has been a significant uptick in the awareness of injustice that exists in many of our communities. As a result, we are left wondering, “What do I do?” or “How do I respond?”
Richard Rohr, in his new book, The Tears of Things: Prophetic Wisdom for an Age of Outrage, seeks to provide us with a framework to respond to such a world through the lens of the Biblical prophets. If one has read previous works by Rohr, similar themes will be found in this small book. Rohr draws together ideas and concepts that he explores in works like The Universal Christ and Falling Upwards. He once again draws heavily on the work of philosopher Ken Wilber.
At its heart, The Tears of Things is a call for people to recapture the prophetic mindset of responding to the world. Rohr writes, “Once we lose the prophetic analysis, most evil will be denied, disguised, or hidden among the rules and rituals of religion and the law itself” (xvii). Each chapter focuses on one or two prophets and their prophetic journey. He argues that the prophetic journey consists of three movements: anger to sadness to hope. “All the prophets started with anger, or even rage, at all the right things: injustice, oppression, deceit, misuse of money, power, even religion itself. But with only a couple of exceptions (Nahum and Obadiah, who remained angry), they did not stop there” (9). Rohr goes on to state that he hopes he is able to make clear the distinctions between the necessary anger and the ultimate end where the prophets display that they are captivated by the beauty of reality while still confronting injustice.
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One of the most helpful things that Rohr offers is a method by which to read the prophets. There is a four-step process that he suggests while reading, using a simple highlighting method. As one reads a prophet, leave the historical narrative unmarked, highlight in red the rage and anger of the prophet, highlight in yellow any passages that reflect the development of inner conflict, and highlight in green the “suffered-to response.” Reading through the book, one is able to see how each chapter follows this flow and is a reflection of this method of reading and studying the prophets.
Chapter one provides a helpful overview of the whole text. Chapter two, rooted in Amos, discusses the necessity to challenge systems by seeing the “evil in the collective.” Chapter three discusses the idea of the remnant and its upside-down nature, primarily through the lens of Hosea. Chapter four expounds the need for a holy disorder and includes a helpful discussion of ten qualities of a prophet. Chapter five drives the reader into the depths of sadness toward redemption through the writing of Jeremiah. In chapter six, Rohr discusses the “unfinished” prophets Elijah, Jonah, and John the Baptist, which demonstrate what happens when the prophet remains stuck in anger or sadness. Chapter seven makes the argument for the necessity of a “universal sadness” that leads to “universal solidarity.” Chapter eight is a wonderful commentary on Isaiah, demonstrating how the three Isaiahs move along the entirety of the prophetic journey. Chapter nine dives into Rohr’s vision of redemption and grace through the lens of Ezekiel’s prophecy. Chapter ten provides a culmination of the text in a call to love through tears. Finally, the text concludes with some very helpful addenda: a summary, a listing of the Biblical prophets, and a summary of Rohr’s “Seven Themes of an Alternative Orthodoxy.”
As a pastor, I found this small book to be significant. I regularly struggle with knowing how to respond to our world—one within which I see horrible injustice and great evil, but also great beauty and grace. Rohr has provided a framework for me to be able to see beyond the rage, through tears, to the beauty. The journey from rage to sadness to hope is the goal.
The highlight of the book for me was chapter five and Rohr’s discussion of unconditional love in Jeremiah. He argues that what we see in Jeremiah’s prophetic journey is the unveiling of the new covenant. This new covenant is one rooted totally in grace. He writes, “This is a love that waits and hopes and desires, working toward surrender and trust. It gifts us a new covenant that we can actually fulfill, just not perfectly or by ourselves. Only God can fill in all the gaps. Henceforth, there is no such thing as deserving or earning anything. All is grace” (77). This is what is uncovered through the tears at the end of the prophetic journey. When we challenge the systems and the powers of this world, calling out injustice and evil anywhere and everywhere we see it, if we are moving through the journey, we will be led to tears and ultimately love.
My small quibble with the book is that at times I get the sense that Rohr has an anachronistic view of certain veins of the Protestant movement. Particularly, if we were having coffee together, I might nitpick his understanding of certain Reformed positions. Although, I also find him to be gracious and kind toward Protestantism. Some people of a more fundamentalist or evangelical background may struggle with some of the themes that are carried over from his work in The Universal Christ.
I highly recommend The Tears of Things to anyone who is wrestling with how to engage the many challenges of our modern world. You will walk away with a clear framework of a prophetic mindset, along with the knowledge that the goal of the engagement is to move toward love rooted in universal solidarity.
Daniel Rose
Daniel Rose is a pastor of a network of missional communities in Ypsilanti, MI called the Acts 13 Network (acts13.net). He is married to Amy and they have two adult children, Ethan and Libby. Daniel writes regularly at danielmrose.com
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