Shifting Culture

We’re living in a fractured world, pulled in a thousand directions, unsure what it actually means to live a good life. In this episode, I talk with Alan Noble about virtue, telos, and how prudence, justice, courage, temperance, faith, hope, and love reorient us toward a life that is whole, grounded, and shaped by the way of Jesus. We explore decision-making, suffering, agency, and hope - and what it looks like to actually embody these virtues in everyday life. Dr. O. Alan Noble is Associate P...

What do you do when the world refuses to become what you know it should be? In this conversation, Steven Garber introduces the concept of "the proximate" - learning to make peace with what is nearly, but not yet, true - in our marriages, our work for justice, and our longing for God's kingdom to come. Drawing on Tolkien, Augustine, the Clapham Society, and the surprising cry of a postmodern novelist, Steven helps us understand the difference between hope and optimism, what it means to carry o...

I sit down with Andrew Root to talk about his new book Baal and the Gods of More and the ways fertility idols still shape how we think about growth in the church. We explore how the drive for more - more people, more influence, more momentum - can pull us away from the way of Jesus, even when we think we’re being faithful. This conversation moves from Elijah to Mary and reframes growth as being formed into Christ, not building something bigger. Andrew Root (PhD, Princeton Theological Seminary...

In this episode, I talk with Jason VanRuler about why we keep missing each other in conversation and what’s actually going on beneath the surface. We explore the five communication types - peacemaker, advocate, thinker, harbor, and spark - and how our upbringing, attachment styles, and even shame shape the way we speak and listen. Jason offers a practical way forward: growing in self-awareness, understanding the person in front of you, and shifting from trying to win or convince to actually c...

Forgiveness is one of the hardest, but most crucial parts of the Christian life. In this episode with Amy Orr-Ewing, we talk about why forgiveness matters right now, especially in a culture shaped by outrage, cancellation, and competing visions of justice. Amy helps clarify the difference between forgiveness and reconciliation, why real forgiveness doesn’t minimize harm or remove consequences, and how the cross makes a way to take evil seriously while still offering grace. We also get into tr...