Did Jesus practice toxic empathy?

Did Jesus practice toxic empathy?

From THE UN-SILENT CHURCH by Roosevelt Community Church

April 19, 2026 · 30 min · Season 5 · Episode 63

About this episode

The episode discusses the concept of toxic empathy and its implications within Christianity, questioning whether Jesus practiced it.

A growing number of Christian voices are warning the church about something they're calling "toxic empathy." Allie Beth Stuckey wrote a book on it, and Joe Rigney has called it "the sin of empathy." The concern, more or less, is that empathy has been used to pull Christians away from love and truth, and into condoning sin. But is that what's really happening, or is that just a narrative they've created? Because the story of the gospel is not a God who stayed at a safe distance or a God who stayed away from sinners. It's a God who wrapped himself in flesh, walked into our mess, and met people inside their stories, even so much as to "become sin, so that we might become the righteousness of God." So did Jesus practice toxic empathy? We talk about this and more in this episode of the Unsilent Church podcast.

People in this episode

Host: Roosevelt Community Church

Topics covered

  • toxic empathy
  • Christianity
  • love and truth
  • sin
  • gospel
  • empathy

Keywords

  • toxic empathy
  • Christianity
  • Allie Beth Stuckey
  • Joe Rigney
  • gospel
  • sin
  • empathy

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: toxic empathy

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