The Russell Moore Show

4.7 (1.1K)
Christianity

Listen in as Russell Moore, editor at-large of Christianity Today and director of CT's Public Theology Project, talks about the latest books, cultural conversations and pressing ethical questions that point us toward the kingdom of Christ.

1d ago

Scary, Angry Churches Make Scared, Angered Christians

From the Moore to the Point newsletter: A system that scares you can sometimes keep you compliant, but whatever can ultimately direct your life is your god. Watch the episode here. Keep up with Russell: Sign up for the weekly newsletter where Russell shares thoughtful takes on big questions, offers a Christian perspective on life, and recommends books and music he's enjoying. Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
6d ago

Russ Ramsey on What Facing Death Teaches Us About Being Alive

How do you learn the lessons of mortality before mortality forces you to? ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube ⁠. After Wendell Berry’s death, Russell Moore gathered with friends to talk about Berry’s life and work. During that conversation, pastor and author Russ Ramsey brought up Remembering, Berry’s novel about Andy Catlett, a farmer who loses his right hand—and, with it, his old way of holding on to the world. Years earlier, Ramsey had nearly died from a bacterial infection that required open-heart surgery. Reading Remembering during his recovery gave him language for what was happening to him: the disorientation of suddenly knowing life will not go back to what it was, the temptation to take our pain out on those closest to us, and the strange clarity that can come from confronting death. Dr. Moore wanted to continue that conversation here. He and Ramsey talk about whether it is possible to learn some of mortality’s lessons without first being “struck”; why suffering sometimes makes us freer and sometimes makes us harder; and what happens when a culture responds to death not with resurrection hope but with attempts to outrun mortality altogether. Yes, the tech bros come up. They also turn to Ramsey’s books Rembrandt Is in the Wind and Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart. What initially seems like a different subject turns out not to be different at all. Ramsey’s writing about mortality and his writing about art are both concerned with learning to see—to pay attention to beauty, to other people, and to the life in front of us while we still have it. Along the way, Ramsey walks us through how to look at a painting, why you don’t have to like every great work of art, and how to know when it’s time to leave a museum—which, as it turns out, may be a lesson about mortality too. Plus, stay to the end to hear Ramsey’s song “The Ballad of Andy Catlett,” inspired by Berry’s Remembering. Keep up with Russell: Subscribe to Russell on Substack Sign up for the weekly Moore to the Point newsletter Submit a question for the show at questions@russellmoore.com Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sep 21

AI, Surrender All

From the Moore to the Point newsletter: AI tech bros seem like awful, broken people. And they might be telling us the truth. Watch the episode here. Keep up with Russell: Sign up for the weekly newsletter where Russell shares thoughtful takes on big questions, offers a Christian perspective on life, and recommends books and music he's enjoying. Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sep 16

Michael Keller on The Stories We Live By

Tim Keller’s son on the new book they co-wrote together. ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube Russell talks with Michael Keller about his new book, The Stories We Live By (co-written with Tim Keller), and the cultural myths that promise to make sense of our lives before ultimately falling apart. Michael and Russell talk about why suffering has a way of exposing the stories we actually believe, why forgiveness becomes almost impossible when everything is reduced to a struggle for power, and why a Christian understanding of identity is neither something imposed on us nor something we invent for ourselves. They also consider whether AI–a particularly interesting topic for Keller, who has a PhD in computational linguistics–is creating new problems or just magnifying very old ones. Michael also reflects on the more personal story behind the book, finishing work he began with his father before his death. He shares what it was like to return to his father’s words while grieving—and why, afterward, he found himself searching their old text messages for a word every child longs to hear. Keep up with Russell: Subscribe to Russell on Substack Sign up for the weekly Moore to the Point newsletter Submit a question for the show at questions@russellmoore.com Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sep 14

Trump-Era Laughter at Immigrant Suffering Is Deforming Our Souls

From the Moore to the Point newsletter: The Joker Is Our Spiritual Director Now Watch the episode here. Keep up with Russell: Sign up for the weekly newsletter where Russell shares thoughtful takes on big questions, offers a Christian perspective on life, and recommends books and music he's enjoying. Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sep 9

What Wendell Berry Can Teach Us About Christian Nationalism

How can Wendell Berry’s novels help us understand love of country and community without stumbling into idolatry? ⁠Watch this episode on YouTube In 2021, Russell did a talk at The Rabbit Room’s virtual conference, Hutchmoot: Homebound. Given in the main room of North Wind Manor, Russell shared how Berry’s fiction can help us see something underneath our political arguments, revealing the human longing to belong somewhere. Drawing from Jayber Crow, Hannah Coulter, and other works by Berry, Russell argues that the answer to Christian nationalism isn’t less Christianity, but Christianity that refuses to use Jesus as a means to some other end. Special thanks to the Rabbit Room for allowing us to air this talk from Hutchmoot Homebound 2021. Learn more about the Rabbit Room here. Keep up with Russell: Subscribe to Russell on Substack Sign up for the weekly Moore to the Point newsletter Submit a question for the show at questions@russellmoore.com Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sep 7

What Wendell Berry Taught Me About Heaven

From the Moore to the Point newsletter: Reflections on Wendell Berry. Watch the episode here.Some of Russell’s Writings on Wendell Berry over the Years "Why You Should Read Hannah Coulter" "7 Books That Changed My Life" "My Favorite Books of 2019" On It All Turns on Affection On Life Is a Miracle "Faith, Fiction, and Christian Nationalism" My Library of America tribute to Wendell Berry on his 90th birthday "Good Riddance to the Robert E. Lee Statue" "Wendell Berry’s Grief and Gratitude" Keep up with Russell: Sign up for the weekly newsletter where Russell shares thoughtful takes on big questions, offers a Christian perspective on life, and recommends books and music he's enjoying. Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Sep 2

Charlie Dates on What American Christianity Gets Wrong About Justice

What happens when Christians separate righteousness from justice? ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube . In American Christianity, questions of personal morality and public justice are often treated as though they belong in different categories. Christians may speak confidently about some moral issues while dismissing others as distractions from the gospel or as politics the church should avoid. Charlie Dates’ new book, What Hath Justice to Do with Righteousness?, challenges that distinction. Scripture, he argues, doesn’t allow Christians to choose between personal holiness and concern for the people and communities around them. On this episode, Russell and Charlie explore what that divide has done to the American church and why, in Charlie’s words, American Christianity can become “more American than Christian.” They discuss what the prophet Amos has to say to comfortable churches, why pastors can be tempted to avoid difficult subjects, and what Christian courage looks like when speaking the truth comes with a cost. Dates has no easy optimism about where American Christianity is headed, in fact, he says he has a “healthy cynicism". But, he does have hope that, as he says, is needed “when the evidence is against you.” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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Russell D. Moore

Host
Michael Keller

Guest
Charlie Dates

Guest
Beth Moore

Guest
Andrew Peterson

Guest
Rainn Wilson

Guest

4.7

out of 5

1,143 Ratings

Charlie Dates Interview

Sep 3

kyrxvydgj

I am a consistent listener and fan of the Podcast. I appreciate the topic but I needed more specificity on the “problems” within the church you all referred to. Were you speaking of just the evangelical church or white church- it wasn’t clear to me. If rebuke or criticism is to be constructive, for me ,it needs to very specific about the problems not just broad call outs of racism or injustice.Maybe I missed them but I did not hear that in the interview .
Too tidy redemption arc

Jul 13

BJR1020

Thank you for saying the obvious. Of course your character matters. As a non-conservative, but a whole-hearted Christian your messages are inspiring. Double-thanks for today’s episode.
Make room for in your life for this podcast

Jul 11

Abu James

Edifying, enlightening, enjoyable all at the same time.
One of the best & important episodes

Jun 12

Cindy Mallin

You put into words so many of my own thoughts. Thank you both.

Listen in as Russell Moore, editor at-large of Christianity Today and director of CT's Public Theology Project, talks about the latest books, cultural conversations and pressing ethical questions that point us toward the kingdom of Christ.