Listen in as Russell Moore, director of Christianity Today’s Public Theology Project and Editor-in-Chief, talks about the latest books, cultural conversations a...
Welcome to the annual best-of-books episode of The Russell Moore Show! Former show producer and current editorial director of print Ashley Hales joins Moore to talk about his favorite reads of the year. Hales identifies three themes in Moore’s book list—the importance of outsiders in communities, ways forward in our historical moment, and the pursuit of the beautiful as a humanizing mechanism.
**Special Event: Join Russell Moore, Ashley Hales, Bonnie Kristian, and Matt Reynolds on YouTube for the CT Book Awards Live Event on December 12, 2024, at 8:00 p.m. EST. Book of the Year winner Gavin Ortlund and Award of Merit winner Brad East will share the inspiration behind their books and the big ideas that animate them as they answer questions from CT staff and subscribers.**
Russell’s top ten books (in alphabetical order by author):
Another Day: Sabbath Poems, 2013–2023 by Wendell Berry
I Cheerfully Refuse: A Novel by Leif Enger
Willie, Waylon, and the Boys: How Nashville Outsiders Changed Country Music Forever by Brian Fairbanks
Ghosted: An American Story by Nancy French
The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jonathan Haidt
The Crisis of Narration by Byung-Chul Han, translated by Daniel Steuer
The Mythmakers: The Remarkable Fellowship of C. S. Lewis & J. R. R. Tolkien by John Hendrix
Van Gogh Has a Broken Heart: What Art Teaches Us About the Wonder and Struggle of Being Alive by Russ Ramsey
Cosmic Connections: Poetry in the Age of Disenchantment by Charles Taylor
Mere Christian Hermeneutics: Transfiguring What It Means to Read the Bible Theologically by Kevin J. Vanhoozer
Resources mentioned in this episode or recommended by the guest include:
CT Book Awards Live Event
“The Beautiful Orthodoxy Book of the Year”
“Christianity Today’s 2019 Book of the Year”
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt
Moby-Dick by Herman Melville
Owen Barfield
A Secular Age by Charles Taylor
Advent: The Once and Future Coming of Jesus Christ by Fleming Rutledge
Poiéma by Michael Card
Mystery and Manners: Occasional Prose by Flannery O’Connor
The Faithful Spy: Dietrich Bonhoeffer and the Plot to Kill Hitler by John Hendrix
Conjectures of a Guilty Bystander by Thomas Merton
James by Percival Everett
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
--------
55:07
A Conversation with Peggy Noonan
“You have to read in order to develop your mind and develop your ability to think,” Peggy Noonan said. “It’s no good to say, ‘Oh, I can’t help that I was born in 1990 and everybody has a phone.’ Too bad. Put it down.”
For decades, Noonan has been a Wall Street Journal columnist and author, known for her Pulitzer Prize–winning commentary on politics and culture. She and Moore reflect on Noonan’s career both in journalism and as a speech writer in the Reagan Administration. They talk about Noonan’s faith, her love for Christian history, and her long-standing relationship to Roman Catholicism. The two discuss sexual scandals in both church and government, the power of the written word, and the way artists see the world. They consider the concerning potential of artificial intelligence, the value of reading in a world overrun by technology, and the importance of critical thinking in our modern political culture.
Resources mentioned in this episode or recommended by the guest include:
Peggy Noonan
A Certain Idea of America: Selected Writings by Peggy Noonan
Walker Percy
The Seven Storey Mountain by Thomas Merton
We Don’t Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland by Fintan O’Toole
Pascal’s Pensées
“How to Find Grace After Disgrace”
Abbey of Gethsemani
Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson by Gordon S. Wood
The Shadow
War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
“The godfather of AI: why I left Google”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
--------
52:38
Mental Health, Temptation, and Union with Christ
“ Two of the devil's biggest lies are ‘You’re the only one who struggles with this kind of stuff’ and ‘You can’t tell anyone.’ Sin thrives in that kind of dark secrecy.”
So says author and apologist Sam Allberry during this conversation with Russell Moore. The two discuss Allberry’s new book, One with My Lord, and consider various ways people interpret the Bible’s perspective on sexuality. They talk about gender identity, marriage, and what it means when God says it is not good for humans to be alone. Allberry and Moore consider the importance of friendship, the value of community, and the impact of social media on mental health.
They also discuss Allberry’s experience with Ravi Zacharias International Ministries (RZIM), the Billy Graham rule, and fostering organizational cultures of transparency.
Resources mentioned in this episode or recommended by the guest include:
Is God Anti-Gay? And Other Questions About Jesus, the Bible, and Same-Sex Sexuality by Sam Allberry
What God Has to Say about Our Bodies: How the Gospel Is Good News for Our Physical Selves by Sam Allberry
Why Does God Care Who I Sleep With? by Sam Allberry
7 Myths about Singleness by Sam Allberry
One with My Lord: The Life-Changing Reality of Being in Christ by Sam Allberry
The Moral Vision of the New Testament: A Contemporary Introduction to New Testament Ethics by Richard B. Hays
The Crucifixion: Understanding the Death of Jesus Christ by Fleming Rutledge
“Interview with Sam Allberry || What Can We Learn from the Ravi Zacharias Scandals?”
“Dallas pastor removed indefinitely due to 'inappropriate relationship' with woman, church says”
“Sex Scandals and the Evangelical Mind”
The Whole Christ: Legalism, Antinomianism, & Gospel Assurance―Why the Marrow Controversy Still Matters by Sinclair B. Ferguson
“Me and Bobby McGee” by Kris Kristofferson
The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York by Robert A. Caro
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
--------
45:19
Moore to the Point: How a Dark Sense of Humor Can Save You From Cynicism.
How gallows humor is what we need right now to overcome cynicism.
The Russell Moore Show is bringing Russell's weekly newsletter to all streaming platforms. Listen to his most recent newsletter every Monday!
Subscribe to Russell's weekly newsletter here!
Do you have questions for Russell Moore? Send them to [email protected].
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
--------
13:56
Jesus in the Old Testament and the Reliability of Scripture
Nancy Guthrie has taught the Scriptures, written about them, and searched them for answers when tragedy struck her family. “ The Bible is the one thing in the world that the closer scrutiny you give to it,” she said, “the more it holds up.”
Guthrie and Moore discuss Guthrie’s new book, Saved: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Acts; maintaining attention while studying Scripture; and interacting with the biblical text. They talk about praying with the Bible in hand, avoiding the stereotypes often projected onto female authors, and engaging with difficult passages. They consider what it looks like for modern Christians to follow God’s command not to call common what God has called clean and what it means that suffering is not the end of our stories—glory is.
Resources mentioned in this episode or recommended by the guest include:
Saved: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Acts by Nancy Guthrie
The One Year Book of Discovering Jesus in the Old Testament by Nancy Guthrie
“It All Turns on Affection”
Seeing Jesus in the Old Testament with Nancy Guthrie
Nancy Guthrie
“Preaching Christ in a Postmodern World”
“Help Me Teach the Bible”
The Gospel Coalition Women’s Conference
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Listen in as Russell Moore, director of Christianity Today’s Public Theology Project and Editor-in-Chief, talks about the latest books, cultural conversations and pressing ethical questions that point us toward the kingdom of Christ.
USA