Another quarterly conversation on books with Christianity Today’s Editorial Director, Ashley Hales, on the subject of resisting the digital era.

Watch the full conversation on YouTube

What’s the role of reading in a screen-saturated, distracted, AI world?

Russell is joined once again by Ashley Hales, print editor at Christianity Today, to explore how literature can help us resist the attention-fractured nature of our technological era by offering unique ways to process real life itself, giving us tools to see grace where we least expect it.

Russell reflects on Wendell Berry’s latest (and perhaps final) Port William novel, Marce Catlett, and what it means to say goodbye to a lifelong literary companion. Ashley shares insights on Jan Karon’s return to Mitford, and the two discuss how stories shape our capacity for empathy, memory, and hope. They also highlight nonfiction works like Jonathan Haidt’s The Anxious Generation (check out our recent episode with Jon) and David Zahl’s The Big Relief, considering how books can guide us through exhaustion, anxiety, and the pressures of modern life. Then, the two share the stack of books they’re reading just for fun, and upcoming releases they’re looking forward to.You can find all the titles mentioned in the episode below.

Plus–Hear ye one and all!–Russell shares about an AI tool that he likes! 

If you’ve ever wondered how exactly reading still matters in a world of constant noise, this episode makes the case that it does—perhaps now more than ever.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Bookshelf App

Marce Catlett by Wendell Berry

My Beloved by Jan Karon

The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness by Jon Haidt

The Big Relief by David Zahl

Feminism Against Progress by Mary Harrington

Ashley’s CT article based on this book

Ct article about MAID in Canada

Pan by Michael Clune

Blaise Pascal: The Man Who Made the Modern World by Graham Tomlin

Mark Twain by Ron Chernow

Thomas More by Joanne Paul

On His Own Terms by Richard Norton Smith (audiobook link)

Food For Thought by Alton Brown

Making Room by Christine D. Pohl

Unreasonable Hospitality by Will Guidara 

The Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe

The Trinity Forum’s Revelation of Divine Love, which includes an introduction by Jessica Hooten Wilson

Joseph and his Brothers by Thomas Mann
The Vanishing Church by Ryan Burge

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