How Western Christianity Got It Wrong: Replacing the God of Fear with a Spirituality of Healing

by Randy Woodley

Jesus never intended to start a religion that would justify stealing land, enslaving people, or destroying creation. So how did we get here?


In How Western Christianity Got It Wrong, acclaimed author Randy Woodley, of mixed white and Native American heritage, traces how a brown man from Nazareth who never lost his connection to the whole community of creation became the poster child for empire-building and environmental destruction. The faith that bears his name crafted theologies that rationalize greed, violence, and colonization--everything Jesus actually opposed.


Woodley exposes the ideas that poisoned Christianity's well, how the Western church won a monopoly on sin and salvation, and how violent atonement theories replaced the healing message Jesus lived. Drawing on Indigenous wisdom that was flourishing on Turtle Island long before missionaries arrived, Woodley reveals what Jesus's liberating message looks like when freed from imperial frameworks.


Picture communities where creation is family, not commodity. Where healing happens through relationship, not transaction. Where Creator speaks through many voices and welcomes all who walk in love. This is the Jesus Way as it was meant to be--not a system of control but a path of wholeness.

232 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 14, 2026

About the author

Rev. Randy Woodley (PhD, Asbury Theological Seminary) is Distinguished Professor of Faith and Culture and Director of Intercultural and Indigenous Studies at Portland Seminary. Woodley is a Keetoowah Cherokee (legal descendent) teacher, poet, activist, former pastor, missiologist and historian. Woodley received his baccalaureate degree from Rockmont College in Denver. He was ordained to the ministry through the American Baptist Churches in the USA in Oklahoma after graduating with a Masters of Divinity degree from Eastern Seminary (now Palmer Seminary) in Philadelphia. Randy's PhD is in intercultural studies from Asbury Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky.

Professor Woodley is active in the ongoing discussions concerning new church movements, racial and ethnic diversity, peace, social justice, interreligious dialogue and mission. He regularly blogs in these areas and publishes his own blog, Ethnic Space and Faith. He is also a regular contributor to God's Politics Blog: Jim Wallis and Friends, Emergent Village Voice and The Huffington Post’s religion page.

He also hosts the "Peacing it all together" podcast about journey and place with Bo Sanders.

Rev. Woodley was pastor of the Eagle Valley Church in Carson City, Nevada, which for many years served as a unique role model as an authentic Native American Christian church. He and his wife Edith, cofounders of Eagle's Wings Ministry, are considered early innovators in what has been dubbed the “Native American Contextual Movement.” The Woodleys have spent over 25 years of culturally contextual service in Native North American communities.

Reviews

[Joan · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a thought provoking book. While Woodley is a prolific author, this is the first book I have read by him. He starts out right on point, “The values adopted by Western Christianity are, foundationally, the opposite of the teachings of Jesus.” (loc 89/2632) That is a strong claim but I feel he proves his point. He goes through history and shows the role of Plato's dualism, then follows through the history of western Christianity. His background is indigenous and he shares spiritual insight from the indigenous understanding of reality.

He calls us to focus on what Jesus actually taught. “The real good news of Jesus … is not found in theological debates … Rather, it lives in his radical example of love...” (loc 1881/2632) Some of what Woodley says is uncomfortable for me. But perhaps that is the aim. His work is certainly worth reading and thinking about.

I received a complimentary egalley of this book from the publisher. My comments are an independent review.