Crushing Chaos: Calm Your Storms. Order Your Life. Find Your Peace.

by Manny Arango, Scot McKnight (foreword)

Respected pastor and Bible nerd Manny Arango reveals how the gospel empowers us to establish peace in our disordered lives by embracing God's design for us to be agents of order in a chaotic world.

This book is a deeply biblical and fresh look at what is wrong with the world and what is wrong with us. It is a book about sin, but maybe not in the way you might think. Crushing Chaos dives into the monster stories of the Bible to reveal how chaos has always been holding people back from the life of dignity, joy, and purpose God has for us.

Crushing Chaos reveals how chaos shows up in our lives in the form of a struggling marriage, moral failure, past trauma, or present suffering. Arango then empowers readers to dispel the chaos and join Jesus in the work of bringing order to our lives and world. By rediscovering God's design, you will break free from the chaos that is holding you back from a life of meaning and purpose.

Whatever monsters you face, Crushing Chaos reveals how followers of Christ can rewire their lives for peace and join Jesus in the work of bringing order to our lives and world.

Genres: Christian, Nonfiction, Theology, Christian Non Fiction

304 pages, Hardcover

Published May 6, 2025

Reviews

[Jed Walker · Rating 3 out of 5]

I have mixed feelings regarding this book. On one hand, it is intriguing, thought-provoking, and well-written. Certainly centered in a sound theological framework. Unfortunately, the unintended consequence of rooting so much of your focus on speculative possibilities hidden in the biblical narrative is that you create distance between people and the Word.

I don't think this is what the author intended, but if you center the Gospel on ancient cultural narratives of chaos and dragons, you make it difficult for the everyday believer to have confidence that they can grow in their understanding of the Bible and genuinely hear from God. In other words, they need expert scholars to know what the Word says. It appears from the acknowledgements, this book is an adaptation from his doctoral project, which makes a lot of sense. It would help the audience to explain this earlier and nuance how to integrate these ideas in their ongoing spiritual formation. He makes a few attempts to do this, but most of them are quick and vague.

While it may be interesting and helpful to consider these concepts, we can know and understand God through the revelation of the Holy Spirit when we simply meet with Him in the Word. I DO NOT have any reason to believe the author would argue with this assertion, but the entirety of this book makes the opposite case.

These are fascinating conjectures with enough merit to consider, but it doesn't make sense pastorally to center our relationship with God on them.

[Ivanna Rodriguez · Rating 5 out of 5]

I thought this book was phenomenal. He made certain connections that were fascinating and created perspectives on chaos vs orders that are game changing. Especially for those of us struggling to maintain godly order in our lives when our family history didn’t teach us this. I think this is who can get the most out of this book. We may not be as fixated on certain nuances like others. And Manny Arango seems to get what it’s like for people that are trying to dig their way out of the chaos. He gives insight and breaks certain paradigms about what a faith walk should look like. It breaks the stigma that as Christ followers there will be no chaos in our life. But rather we aren’t impervious to chaos but Jesus has crushed chaos and we are overcomers IN and THROUGH Him. Personally, I had a lot of reflections and takeaways from this book. It encouraged me to dig deeper into scripture and that there’s so much more to the text that God is trying to show us rather than tell us. I’m inspired to read Gods word from a different lens. Job well done! 10/10

[Zachary Stewart · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.8

A good book about God's good order. Arango is reading the right scholars and doing a good job bringing biblical scholarship down to an accessible level. I didn't think he always did the best job demonstrating some of his more surprising intertextual connections. I think he's often correct, but doesn't make the strongest arguments. But this isn't an academic book. I think dealing with every counteraurgument is beyond its scope--and it didn't really deal with any. It leans more into appealing to scholarship and peppers in pop culture references and relatable anecdotes. It was enjoyable and struck me as profound on a few occasions. The good outweighed the bad but I found myself disagreeing with an idea or the presentation enough to leave me feeling somewhat mixed by the end. He also casually mentions he and his wife's experience with IVF and is completely unbothered by the practice. This was a supporting, but not insignificant, detail in one chapter that bothered me and felt out of step with the rest of the book's consistent emphasis on God's order over chaos. Chaos was promoted over order in this singular place and everywhere else a thoroughgoing Christian ethic was on display even when it might offend acendent cultural currents. This book was still really good for what it promotes, and I hope it accomplishes what I think it's aiming to do.

[Raquell Lopez · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enjoyed every minute reading this book! I’ve been really diving into scripture lately and have found myself so delighted in it and in the presence of God so reading something like this based on the theology of scripture and the comparisons of the Old and New Testament was so refreshing and gave me a new perspective. This book made me literally laugh out loud at times, tear up and take so many notes. Overall great read, I learned a lot. 10/10

[Reader · Rating 5 out of 5]

A great read for those who want to break free of old habits! This book is full of comparisons and figurative language to keep young and older readers engaged. When I was reading this book I felt like I was there talking with him! There is also some humor in there to light up the atmosphere. Great read and I recommended!

[Savana · Rating 5 out of 5]

"Sometimes things die, but death is not the end."

A fantastic read that brings an entirely new meaning to the Creation story. Arango humbly and passionately guides readers through prominent Scripture passages to show how practicing order brings the peace offered to us through Christ.

[Rhoyal · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book was PACKED with wisdom and knowledge. I had to take my time through it.

[Meredith Ryburn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely recommend! The Bible is so much more interesting than we see at first glance and this book unlocks the incredible beauty & intricacy of scripture in an easy to follow way.