Skip to content
The Russell Moore Show

The Russell Moore Show

NewFrancis Fukuyama on What Happens When Freedom Gets BoringNovember 11, 2026 · 44 min
Episodes
507
Released
weekly
Latest episode
Nov 11, 2026

About the podcast

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.

Episodes 507

  1. Francis Fukuyama on What Happens When Freedom Gets Boring

    44 min

    What if one of the greatest threats to democracy is not that people hate freedom, but that they get bored with it? ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube ⁠ For decades, political philosopher Francis Fukuyama has …

    Show notes

    What if one of the greatest threats to democracy is not that people hate freedom, but that they get bored with it?

    ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube ⁠

    For decades, political philosopher Francis Fukuyama has been asking a question that seems more urgent now than when he first posed it: What happens when people have peace, prosperity, and security, but still find themselves longing for something more? His landmark book The End of History and the Last Man explored the human desire for recognition, greatness, and struggle—and warned that those desires could eventually threaten the very institutions that made modern life possible. Now, in his new memoir, In the Realm of the Last Man, Fukuyama reflects on the ideas that shaped his life, the convictions he's reconsidered, and the political upheavals that have followed.

    Russell Moore talks with Fukuyama about the surprising connections between religious faith, human nature, and the growing appeal of authoritarian politics. They discuss his family's experience of Japanese American incarceration during World War II, his father's work as a Protestant minister and civil rights advocate, and why some Christians have begun rejecting the religious liberty their predecessors fought to secure. They also consider why political movements increasingly promise the kind of meaning and purpose once found in religious communities, and what happens when the desire for greatness turns into a celebration of cruelty.

    Along the way, the two of them explore the threats artificial intelligence poses to the dignity of work, the difference between democracy and liberal democracy, and whether Americans can recover a sense of shared purpose without manufacturing new enemies. 

    Francis Fukuyama's books

    Keep up with Russell:

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  2. Why I Am Still a Christian

    14 min

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: I can talk and write about transcendence and moral foundations and canonical coherence, but what really kept me Christian most is learning how to say, “I Love Jesus.” …

    Show notes

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: I can talk and write about transcendence and moral foundations and canonical coherence, but what really kept me Christian most is learning how to say, “I Love Jesus.”

    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

  3. Peter Wehner on the Christian Political Agenda

    53 min

    What happens when Christians become more afraid of losing political power than of losing their moral witness? ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube The question of what American Christians should care about has …

    Show notes

    What happens when Christians become more afraid of losing political power than of losing their moral witness?

    ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube 

    The question of what American Christians should care about has become increasingly difficult to separate from the question of what their political tribes demand. This week, Russell welcomes back his friend Peter Wehner, a contributing writer at The Atlantic and former adviser in three presidential administrations. Drawing on two of Pete's recent essays (The Issues Christian Voters Are Neglecting, and What If AI Is the End of the World?), they consider why so many Christians have become selective in their moral concerns, how the culture wars can obscure the teachings of Jesus, and what happens when political identity begins to shape the way we read Scripture rather than the other way around.

    But there's another kind of fear looming. As developers of artificial intelligence warn of its potentially catastrophic consequences, Russell and Pete turn to the question of how Christians should respond to threats they cannot control. What can C. S. Lewis teach us about living in the shadow of catastrophe? And how can churches prepare for a future that may be changing faster than anyone realizes? 

    Moore and Wehner close with reflections on Johnny Cash, Columbo, and what a haunting music video can teach us about mortality, grace, and the hope of resurrection.

    Keep up with Russell:

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  4. You Cannot See Everything

    17 min

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: What a Painfully Weird Movie Can Show Us About Lying and Liars Watch the episode here. Keep up with Russell: Sign up for the weekly newsletter where Russell shares …

    Show notes

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: What a Painfully Weird Movie Can Show Us About Lying and Liars

    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

  5. N.T. Wright on How an Ancient Prophet Explains Our Crazy World

    60 min

    What if everything we think we know about power is wrong? Watch this conversation on YouTube In a world captivated by political strongmen, military might, and the promise of technological salvation, the ancient …

    Show notes

    What if everything we think we know about power is wrong?

    Watch this conversation on YouTube 

    In a world captivated by political strongmen, military might, and the promise of technological salvation, the ancient prophet Isaiah offers a startlingly different picture of what happens when God comes to set the world right.


    For Russell Moore, Isaiah has been one of the biblical books keeping him sane in unsettling times. And in his new book, Into the Heart of Isaiah (October 27), renowned biblical scholar N. T. Wright argues that the prophet's message is even stranger—and more hopeful—than many Christians realize.


    Moore and Wright explore why Isaiah mocks the idols people trust, how money and military power can become objects of worship, and whether artificial intelligence might be creating idols of its own. They also take up a particularly contemporary question: What should Christians make of the claim that God raises up modern-day versions of Cyrus, the pagan king who delivered Israel from exile?


    Keep up with Russell:

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  6. How I Changed My Mind (Kind of) on the Death Penalty

    17 min

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: Maybe now is the time to look at what we actually see around us: a culture that too often delights in cruelty and violence. Watch the episode here. Keep up with Russell …

    Show notes

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: Maybe now is the time to look at what we actually see around us: a culture that too often delights in cruelty and violence.

    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

  7. Mike Cosper on the Rise and Fall of Mars Hill, Five Years Later

    46 min

    Five years after The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast, have American churches learned anything about the dangers of celebrity, power, and spiritual abuse? ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube When Mike Cosper …

    Show notes

    Five years after The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill podcast, have American churches learned anything about the dangers of celebrity, power, and spiritual abuse?

    ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube 

    When Mike Cosper released The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill in 2021, he thought he was telling the story of one church congregation and its charismatic, controversial pastor, Mark Driscoll. But the podcast reached far beyond those who knew anything about Mars Hill. It turns out the story of a Seattle megachurch had something to say about the ways we think about leadership, authority, and the things we're willing to excuse in the name of a good cause. Five years later, Driscoll is still drawing crowds, the evangelical celebrity machine is still running, and some of the questions the series raised seem more urgent than ever.

    Russell welcomes Mike back to the show to ask what, if anything, has changed in the last 5 years. They talk about why churches continue to rally around leaders whose character should give them pause, how our ideas of success can distort the very meaning of pastoral ministry, and why the people who speak up about abuse so rarely receive the apologies they're owed. 

    Mike also reflects on the people whose stories he told, the unexpected lessons he learned about grief and forgiveness, and why some who have been deeply wounded by the church still find themselves unable to walk away from Jesus. Ultimately, this isn't just about a church that collapsed more than a decade ago. It's about the kinds of churches we're building today—and what it might take to build something different.

    Resources mentioned in the episode:

    Keep up with Russell:

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  8. Alister McGrath on Why Christianity Is Worth Rethinking

    56 min

    What if the most important questions people are asking about Christianity are no longer about whether it's true, but whether it can make sense of their lives? ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube When Alister …

    Show notes

    What if the most important questions people are asking about Christianity are no longer about whether it's true, but whether it can make sense of their lives?

    ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube 


    When Alister McGrath arrived at Oxford as a young atheist, he assumed Christianity was on its way out. He wasn't alone in that assumption. For much of the past century, the prevailing idea among intellectuals was that science and reason would eventually make religious belief obsolete. But McGrath ended up becoming a Christian, and over the decades since, he's noticed something interesting in his conversations with students. Where skeptics once came to him convinced that Christianity was intellectually indefensible, many now come wondering whether it might offer something that secularism hasn't been able to provide.

    Russell Moore has been reading McGrath since he was a teenager, and his books have occupied a good deal of space in Russell's library ever since. A theologian, scientist, and one of the world's leading Christian apologists, McGrath has spent decades thinking about the relationship between faith and reason. His new book, Rethinking Christianity: A Thoughtful Guide to a Life-Changing Faith (out October 27), grows out of years of conversations with people trying to figure out what they believe and why. Together, Russell and McGrath discuss whether renewed interest in Christianity amounts to anything like revival, why artificial intelligence is raising questions about human dignity, and what Christians can learn from C. S. Lewis and the remarkable growth of Pentecostalism around the world.

    It's a conversation about the limits of argument, the importance of empathy, and the possibility that the Christian faith offers not simply a set of answers but a place to belong.


    Keep up with Russell:


    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  9. The Cornell Seven and the High Cost of Fake Fraternity

    12 min

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: We ought to look around at places without keg parties or ketamine hits and ask where our own sense of solidarity is real and where it’s just another prelude to a coverup …

    Show notes

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: We ought to look around at places without keg parties or ketamine hits and ask where our own sense of solidarity is real and where it’s just another prelude to a coverup.

    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

  10. Emilee Hackney on Appalachia, Faith, and What the Church Doesn’t See

    54 min

    What would we learn if we listened to the people who have left our churches? ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube Emilee Hackney had never written a book before. She doesn’t have a substack or a social media …

    Show notes

    What would we learn if we listened to the people who have left our churches?

    ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube 

    Emilee Hackney had never written a book before. She doesn’t have a substack or a social media following, nor does she write op-eds for the New York Times or The Atlantic. But her debut memoir, All That’s Unseen, has become a New York Times bestseller, was named a finalist for the 2026 Southern Book Prize, and had feature reviews in the Wall Street Journal, Publisher’s Weekly, Kirkus, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, and more. 

    The topic? Appalachia, faith, poverty, and her journey from Virginia coal country to Harvard. 

    Remarkably–despite having left the Christian faith as an adult–Hackney doesn’t speak poorly of the church, instead she remembers the beauty and freedom she experienced growing up in a Pentecostal tradition. And yet, she recounts the devastating failure of that same community when she found herself in an abusive relationship as a teenager engaged to an older man. 

    Hackney’s story is indeed complex, but familiar for so many of us who once had genuine spiritual experiences in a church home, but were failed by that same community when it seemed to really matter. While some continue in the Christian faith despite the devastation, many choose to leave. You might know some of them. You might be one of them.

    This shared experience is part of what drew Russell to Hackney’s story, especially with her tone of hospitality and high regard for a tradition in which she experienced great devastation. 

    Emilee joined Russell from her office in Virgina, with a Dolly Parton poster peeking over one shoulder, and a Loretta Lynn poster above the other. Their conversation spreads from church hurt to class and belonging, even to parenthood. Through it all, Emilee resists the invitation to dilute or flatten Appalachia, her family, or even the church that wounded her into something easily dismissed. Instead, she asks what it might mean to see the people and places we think we already understand.    

    Keep up with Russell:

    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

  11. John Mark Comer on Why We Need to Get Quiet

    50 min

    Maybe the way to speak with clarity into a loud and angry age starts with learning when not to speak at all. ⁠⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube ⁠ Most of us know what it is to feel overwhelmed by noise…not …

    Show notes

    Maybe the way to speak with clarity into a loud and angry age starts with learning when not to speak at all.

    ⁠⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube ⁠

    Most of us know what it is to feel overwhelmed by noise…not just the literal kind, but the pings and alerts, the demands and arguments, the constant sense that something somewhere requires our attention right now. John Mark Comer, author of The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry, returns to talk with Russell about his new book, Into the Quiet: Following Jesus in a World of Noise (October 6th). And, as Comer argues, quiet isn't simply a way to calm down. Sometimes the first thing we encounter in silence is everything we've been using the noise to avoid.


    Russell and Comer talk about why solitude can initially make us more anxious rather than less, how to distinguish the voice of God from all the other voices rattling around in our heads, and why God's silence isn't the same thing as God's absence. They also consider what churches might look like if they became refuges from noise rather than competitors in it—and why the Christian call to “lead a quiet life” doesn't mean retreating from a troubled world. 

    Keep up with Russell:

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  12. Scary, Angry Churches Make Scared, Angered Christians

    15 min

    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 …

    Show notes

    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

  13. Russ Ramsey on What Facing Death Teaches Us About Being Alive

    59 min

    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 …

    Show notes

    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:


    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  14. AI, Surrender All

    18 min

    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 …

    Show notes

    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

  15. Michael Keller on The Stories We Live By

    49 min

    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 …

    Show notes

    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:

  16. Subscribe to Russell on Substack

  17. Sign up for the weekly Moore to the Point newsletter 

  18. Submit a question for the show at [email protected] 

  19. 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

  20. Trump-Era Laughter at Immigrant Suffering Is Deforming Our Souls

    13 min

    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 …

    Show notes

    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

  21. What Wendell Berry Can Teach Us About Christian Nationalism

    45 min

    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 …

    Show notes

    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:


    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  22. What Wendell Berry Taught Me About Heaven

    24 min

    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 …

    Show notes

    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

    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

  23. Charlie Dates on What American Christianity Gets Wrong About Justice

    48 min

    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 …

    Show notes

    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

  24. Goodbye, Dolly

    19 min

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: Dolly Parton didn’t need you to love her (and that’s why most of us did) Watch the episode here. Keep up with Russell: Sign up for the weekly newsletter where Russell …

    Show notes

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: Dolly Parton didn’t need you to love her (and that’s why most of us did)

    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

  25. BEST OF: A Conversation with Beth Moore

    1 h 1 min

    Our most listened-to episode of all time. ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube We’re finishing our “Best Of” series with the most listened to, most engaged with, most OUTSTANDING listener favorite episode of all …

    Show notes

    Our most listened-to episode of all time.

    ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube 


    We’re finishing our “Best Of” series with the most listened to, most engaged with, most OUTSTANDING listener favorite episode of all time: Russell’s conversation with Beth Moore from 2021. The topic of the conversation was supposed to be “lessons in leaving and staying,” as they had both recently gone through leaving the beloved denomination they were raised in, but as it often goes…the conversation went much further than that. 

    Beth has been on this show several times since this episode–and you all have loved every one of them–but this one remains the most beloved of them all.

    Keep up with Russell:


    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  26. How to Forgive Someone Who Isn’t Sorry

    23 min

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: God knows forgiveness is hard for us. It is not hard for him. Watch the video of this episode on The Russell Moore Show YouTube Playlist here. Keep up with Russell: Sign …

    Show notes

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: God knows forgiveness is hard for us. It is not hard for him.

    Watch the video of this episode on The Russell Moore Show YouTube Playlist 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

  27. BEST OF: A Conversation with Andrew Peterson

    23 min

    An early conversation with one of our favorite guests. This “Best of” episode is from the first few years of this show’s existence–back when it was called Signposts–with a guest we’ve had on many times since …

    Show notes

    An early conversation with one of our favorite guests.


    This “Best of” episode is from the first few years of this show’s existence–back when it was called Signposts–with a guest we’ve had on many times since, Andrew Peterson. The conversation was recorded in 2016 (without cameras, so you won’t be able to watch this one on YouTube) in front of a live audience. You’ll hear shifting in seats, coughing, and even the sound of soda cans being opened. 


    The conversation wasn’t centered on a new book or new music or some new project, it was just an agendaless exchange about creating art from seasons of darkness, Buechner (par for the course with Russell and Andrew), burnout in leadership, marriage, and more. 

    Take a seat, grab a Diet Coke, and enjoy this conversation with Andrew Peterson.

    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 ⁠[email protected]⁠ 

    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

  28. Christian Nationalist Doublespeak

    14 min

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: A state that can define who is in or out of the kingdom of God is a state that has the power to do anything. Watch the video of this episode on YouTube here. Sign up for …

    Show notes

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: A state that can define who is in or out of the kingdom of God is a state that has the power to do anything.

    Watch the video of this episode on YouTube here.


    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

  29. BEST OF: A Conversation with Marilynne Robinson

    27 min

    One of the great American novelists on her little-explored Theological foundations Over the next few weeks, the Russell Moore Show is digging into the archives and bringing back some of our favorite episodes …

    Show notes

    One of the great American novelists on her little-explored Theological foundations

    Over the next few weeks, the Russell Moore Show is digging into the archives and bringing back some of our favorite episodes, like this one from 2021 (before the show included video!) with great American novelist, Marilynne Robinson.

    On the occasion of her new novel, Jack, Russell welcomed Marilynne to explore some of her Theological foundations that no one asks (but he wished someone would). They talk about the place of religion in society, sin and evil, and the transforming power of grace in each of our lives. 

    In a review of Jack, Russell wrote, "Reading this book, you will find yourself bound up in the stories and in the characters' spoken and unspoken internal dialogues, but you will end up realizing that you have been meditating on such big themes as love, fidelity, regret, and as always in Marilynne Robinson, a theology of creation, fall, redemption, meaning, and grace."


    These were things worth meditating on in 2021, and they remain so in 2026.

    Keep up with Russell:

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  30. Your Brain Does Not Belong to You

    21 min

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: How you can protect yourself from brain rot—and why it matters to the rest of us. Find the David Brooks episode here. Watch the video of this episode on The Russell Moore …

    Show notes

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: How you can protect yourself from brain rot—and why it matters to the rest of us. Find the David Brooks episode here.


    Watch the video of this episode on The Russell Moore Show YouTube Playlist 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

  31. BEST OF: A Conversation with Rainn Wilson

    50 min

    Russell’s conversation with Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute). Watch this conversation on YouTube. Over the next few weeks, the Russell Moore Show is digging into the archives and bringing back some of our favorite …

    Show notes

    Russell’s conversation with Rainn Wilson (Dwight Schrute).

    Watch this conversation on YouTube.


    Over the next few weeks, the Russell Moore Show is digging into the archives and bringing back some of our favorite conversations. 


    This inaugural “best of” episode from May of 2023 is with Rainn Wilson, best known as Dwight Schrute from the TV series, The Office, who utters this phrase: “Whenever I’m about to do something, I think ‘Would an idiot do that?’ And if they would, I do not do that thing.” 


    In an age of cultural division and religious disagreement, many people feel that talking to someone with a different perspective on faith is, well, something an idiot would do. But Rainn Wilson disagrees: he’s fascinated by spirituality, generally. In fact, he’s the cofounder of SoulPancake, which develops content rooted in human connection (remember Kid President?), and the author of the book Soul Boom. 


    Though Russell and Rainn have genuine disagreements, the conversation is respectful, and ultimately covers pop culture depictions of religion, Wilson’s upbringing in the Baháʼí Faith, and what it was like to skyrocket from relative obscurity to fame. They talk about trying to discuss religion in Hollywood, what transcendence means, and whether or not the longing for justice points to a judgment day.


    Resources discussed during this episode include:

    Keep up with Russell:

    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  32. David Brooks on Thriving in the AI Age

    52 min

    Do you have what it takes to thrive in the era of AI? Watch the video of this episode on YouTube Playlist We talk a lot about AI on this show. And at a time when everyone is questioning the ethics of it all …

    Show notes

    Do you have what it takes to thrive in the era of AI?

    Watch the video of this episode on YouTube Playlist

    We talk a lot about AI on this show. And at a time when everyone is questioning the ethics of it all, David Brooks is more interested in what kind of people we should be no matter what happens with AI. His latest for The Atlantic, “The People Who Will Thrive in the AI Age” starts with a comforting bit of research: AI is not necessarily taking our jobs or lessening our workloads. Instead, it’s changing the way we relate to our work. And, the way we respond to this change will have more to do with our success in an AI era than anything else. Brooks says that the future doesn’t belong to those who optimize every task, but to those who continue pursuing the uniquely human work of enthusiasm and volition.

    If you’ve been wondering what kind of person will succeed in the onslaught of AI technology, how to be the kind of person that weathers the perceived storm, or what the development of AI means for the modern Christian: this conversation is for you. 

    Resources mentioned in the episode:

  33. “The People Who Will Thrive in the AI Age” by David Brooks

  34. What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Haruki Murakami

  35. The Hungry Mind: The Origins of Curiosity in Childhood by Susan Engel


  36. Keep up with Russell:

  37. Subscribe to Russell on Substack

  38. Sign up for the weekly Moore to the Point newsletter 

  39. Submit a question for the show at [email protected] 

  40. Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription.

  41. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

  42. Why Christopher Nolan’s Odyssey Haunts Us Right Now

    15 min

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: No matter which way we turn, we don’t know what home is. That’s why Homer still rings true, even in the era of IMAX and SpaceX. Watch the video of this episode on YouTube …

    Show notes

    From the Moore to the Point newsletter: No matter which way we turn, we don’t know what home is. That’s why Homer still rings true, even in the era of IMAX and SpaceX.


    Watch the video of this episode on YouTube 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

  43. Lee Camp on the Politics of Loving Your Neighbor

    49 min

    What would it look like if Christians were known less for winning political battles and more for being good neighbors? ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube . And now for something a little different! On the …

    Show notes

    What would it look like if Christians were known less for winning political battles and more for being good neighbors?

    ⁠Watch this conversation on YouTube .

    And now for something a little different! On the occasion of Lee C. Camp’s paperback release of his book Scandalous Witness, he invited Russell to interview him for his own podcast, No Small Endeavor. Since the conversation included topics like Christian nationalism, how Christians have been neighbors both good AND bad, and how Christian witness can actually recover some humility, it felt appropriate to share the episode here too.

    This conversation explores what it would mean if, in this divided and exhausted era, Christians (and others) stopped despairing and allowing themselves to be held captive to tribes and ideologies, and instead, actually did the patient work of loving God and neighbor.

    Keep up with Russell:


    Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

These are the latest 40 of 507 episodes. You’ll find older episodes in the podcast’s feed.

Is this your podcast?

Confirm it with an entry in your feed: you get a code here, add it as podcast:txt to the channel of your feed, and we check it. Your podcast is then shown as “verified” on SoundNode.

Settings

Display

Language

Decides which stations you see first on the home page.

History

Recently played stations and episodes and your latest searches are only stored in this browser.

Notifications

A short notice when a podcast you follow has a new episode. Turn off single podcasts with the bell on their page.

Account

Save favorites – in the app and on the website.

Keyboard shortcuts

/
Open search
Space
Play or pause
← →
In the player: back 15 s, forward 30 s (episodes) · in a row: next tile
↑ ↓
In a row: target within the tile
Home / End
In a row: first or last tile
Esc
Close window or menu
?
This overview
Now playing

Go to station page

Play next

    Add episodes with “Play next” – they play after the current episode.