Shifting Culture

In this episode, Matthew D. Taylor joins me to talk about his new book, Defying Tyrants: Following Jesus in a World of Christian Antichrists, and why he believes American Christianity has reached an emergency. We trace the merger of Christianity and empire back to Constantine, then read Mark, 1 John, and Revelation as challenges to Caesar’s vision of power. Matthew explains what John meant by antichrist and why the early church aimed that word at fellow Christians. I ask him what we’re supposed to do when the wheat and the weeds grow together, and what following Jesus looks like when Christians choose empire.

Matthew D. Taylor is the author of Defying Tyrants, The Violent Take It by Force, and Scripture People, and his work has appeared or been featured in the New York Times, Weekend Edition, On the Media, Rolling Stone, The Bulwark, Politico, Sojourners, and Religion News Service. A religious studies scholar who specializes in American Islam, Christian nationalism, and Christian extremism, he is also the creator of the Charismatic Revival Fury podcast series. Taylor holds a PhD from Georgetown University and an MA from Fuller Theological Seminary. He is currently a senior visiting scholar at the Center on Faith and Justice at Georgetown University.

Matthew's Book:

Defying Tyrants

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In this episode, Carmen Joy Imes returns to talk about Fierce and Faithful: 25 Women of the Bible Who Dared to Trust God, the children’s book she co-wrote with Nijay Gupta. The book tells the stories of biblical women honestly and gives kids a big enough imagination for how God invites all of us into his work. We talk about holy disobedience, what Eve was called to do in the garden, Hagar naming the God who sees, the prophet Huldah, and how to tell hard stories to children with care. These are stories worth putting in the hands of the girls and boys in your life.

Dr. Carmen Joy Imes is associate professor of Old Testament at Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, in Southern California. She is the author of Bearing God’s Name: Why Sinai Still Matters, Being God’s Image: Why Creation Still Matters, and Becoming God’s Family: Why the Church Still Matters. Her primary areas of expertise are Exodus and the Psalms. Carmen releases weekly videos on her YouTube channel and you can find her writing on various websites, including Christianity Today and Substack. Carmen has appeared on over 200 podcasts and radio outlets. She enjoys traveling to speak at churches, schools, conferences, and retreats. Carmen is passionate about equipping the church to engage the Old Testament well and to see its relevance for the Christian life. She is a fellow of Every Voice.

Carmen and Nijay's Book:

Fierce and Faithful

Carmen's Recommendations:

The Gospel and My Black Skin

Dementia

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

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In this episode, Michael Gorman and I talk about his new book, Life Transfigured, and why Paul still matters for a church that wants to look like Christ. Michael makes the case that Paul was a practitioner, not an armchair theologian, and that being “in Christ” means being drawn into Christ’s own story of self-giving love. We talk about the cross as the shape of our salvation, power in an age of Christian nationalism, the church as an alternative culture, and what the letter to Philemon still asks of us. It’s a conversation about a change so total that Paul could only call it new creation.

Michael J. Gorman holds the Raymond E. Brown Chair in Biblical Studies and Theology at St. Mary's Seminary & University in Baltimore, where he has taught since 1991. A specialist in the writings of Paul and of John, he is the author or editor of more than 20 books.

Michael's Book:

Life Transfigured

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

Go to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.

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In this episode, Jonathan Tremaine Thomas returns to talk about Make Straight the Path and what it means to stand in the gap when everyone around you is choosing a side. JT argues that justice without righteousness turns false, and righteousness without justice never becomes the kingdom Jesus preached. We talk about the difference between a contract and a covenant, how anger became something we reward, why the church needs room to lament instead of rushing past grief, and what Rwanda might teach us about reconciliation. This conversation doesn’t let any side off the hook.

Jonathan Tremaine Thomas is the founder and president of Civil Righteousness, a nonprofit movement committed to reconciliation and restorative justice through spiritual formation and grassroots engagement. His work has reached over 400 cities globally and has been featured on major media outlets, including Christianity Today. Based in Ferguson, Missouri, Jonathan is a trusted voice in the Church and a sought-after speaker at conferences, universities, and churches nationwide.

Jonathan's Book:

Make Straight the Path

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

Go to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.

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In this episode, Mark Batterson joins me to talk about Not My Circus and how to live with courage, conviction, and compassion in a world of chaos. We explore discernment as anointed intuition, why grace and truth need each other, and what Jesus with the woman caught in adultery teaches us about which comes first. Mark opens up about people-pleasing, overfunctioning, and the practice of being unoffendable. We discuss unity in a divided church, holding convictions with humility, and the call to create culture rather than simply consume or condemn it. We also talk about wayfinding and how discernment grows over time.

Mark Batterson is the New York Times bestselling author of 25 adult and children’s books including Whisper and A Million Little Miracles. His newest book is Not My Circus: Living with Courage, Conviction and Compassion in a World of Chaos. More than 10 million of his books are in print. 

He’s also the lead pastor of National Community Church in Washington, D.C. One church with multiple campuses, NCC owns and operates Ebenezers Coffeehouse, the DC Dream Center, the CultureHouse, and the Capital Turnaround. Mark holds a doctor of ministry degree from Regent University. He and his wife, Lora, have been married for 30 years, have three adult children and reside on Capitol Hill. For more information, visit markbatterson.com and Instagram.com/markbatterson, https://www.facebook.com/markbatterson/ & https://X.com/markbatterson

Mark's Book:

Not My Circus

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

Go to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.

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In this episode, Kristin Mockler Young and I talk about The Other Side of Certainty and what it means to grow from certainty into something with more nuance. We discuss the four walls of religious certainty (authority, fear, conformity, and obligation) and what each one promises but can’t deliver. We get into the difference between repenting and simply growing up in faith, why Jesus has to remain the head, and how to stay in relationship with people who see the world in black and white. Kristin talks about the friendships she lost, lament as an antidote to cynicism, and letting go of the need to change anyone’s mind.

Kristin Mockler Young is a teaching pastor at Mosaic Church and host of the Becoming Church podcast. Through her teaching, podcast, and Turning the Gem Substack, Kristin encourages curiosity over certainty and helps people discover God in unexpected places.

Kristin's Book:

The Other Side of Certainty

Kristin's Recommendations:

Anxious People

The Road to Tender Hearts

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

Go to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.

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In this episode, Chuck DeGroat joins me to talk about how people actually change. We talk about how therapy language and spiritual practices can become performance, and why so much of our formation sits on top of anxious, dysregulated bodies. Chuck walks through the four conditions for maturing: safety, an elder, community, and a sacred story. We also explore integrity as wholeheartedness rather than moral perfection, the slow work of discernment, and what it means to stay rooted in a place. We ask why transformation so often runs through the wilderness, and how character is formed slowly, rarely the way we expect.

Chuck DeGroat is a professor of pastoral care and Christian spirituality at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, Michigan, where he also serves as founding executive director of the clinical mental health counseling program. He is a licensed therapist, spiritual director, author, retreat leader, and founder of the Soul Care Collaborative, a network of practitioners offering spiritually attuned and trauma-informed care. As a therapist, he specializes in navigating issues of abuse and trauma, pastoral (and leadership) health, and doubt and dark nights on the faith journey. He and his team also facilitate five-day soul care intensives. He trains clergy in handling issues of abuse and trauma, and he conducts pastor and planter assessments. Before transitioning to training and forming pastors, Chuck served as a pastor and counseling center director in Orlando and San Francisco. He and his wife, Sara, have two married daughters. Visit Chuck online at chuckdegroat.net and soulcarecollaborative.com.

Chuck's Book:

Who You're Becoming

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

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In this episode, Matthew Kaemingk joins me to talk about Can Religion Save Democracy?, the book he co-wrote with Shadi Hamid. As religious participation in America has declined, our politics has become more apocalyptic, and Matthew argues that's no coincidence: when we stop looking to faith for meaning, we start looking to politics. We talk about political idolatry, congregations as training grounds for democracy, prayer as civic formation, and why our culture knows how to cancel people but has no language for atonement. Disagreement isn't going anywhere. The question is what kind of people it makes us.

Matthew Kaemingk (PhD, Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam) is professor of public theology at Theological University Utrecht, a senior fellow at Georgetown University's Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding. He is the author of Christian Hospitality and Muslim Immigration in an Age of Fear.

Matthew's Book:

Can Religion Save Democracy?

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

Go to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.

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In this episode, Kayla Craig joins me again to talk about her new devotional, Our Daily Breath, a year of breath prayers, Scripture, and short reflections for anxious people living in anxious times. We talk about breath as a recurring thread through Scripture, from Eden to the valley of dry bones, and what the science says about how breathing shapes a body under stress. Kayla describes prayer as noticing more than performing. Together we explore spiritual direction, anger, and waiting rooms, and how the inner life turns outward into love of neighbor.

Kayla Craig is a former journalist who brings deep curiosity and care to her writing. Now an author and spiritual director, Kayla helps others slow down and reconnect with God through her writing and speaking.
She’s the author of the brand new Our Daily Breath: 365 Prayers and Practices that Whisper Peace in a Shouting World, along with the bestelling books Every Season Sacred and To Light Their Way. Her relatable reflections appear in books, devotionals, and commentaries. Her work has been featured by Christianity Today and Hallmark’s DaySpring. Her weekly newsletter reaches readers in all 50 states and more than 100 countries. With a poetic, prophetic voice, she created the popular Liturgies for Parents Instagram account.
With a background in journalism, Kayla brings curiosity and depth to everything she creates. Studying contemplative spiritual direction and formation at Columbia Theological Seminary, she’s learning to companion others on their faith journeys with deep listening and care.
Kayla lives in Iowa with her husband, Jonny, and their four children in an 115-year-old former convent, where she’s discovering that a meaningful life with God doesn’t require perfect silence—just a willingness to pay attention.

Kayla's Book:

Our Daily Breath

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

Go to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.

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In this episode, Kutter Callaway joins me to talk about his new book, Be Afraid, and why horror might be one of the most spiritual genres in film. We explore the difference between managing fear and fearing rightly, what happens when fear goes unresolved, and how Scripture, from Eden forward, can be read as the long work of redirecting our fears. We talk about what Frank Peretti got wrong, why the best horror doesn't let its heroes off the hook, and how the horror stories in our own Scriptures might meet a culture looking for somewhere to put its fear.

Kutter Callaway (PhD, Fuller) is the William K. Brehm Chair of Worship, Theology, and the Arts, associate professor of theology and culture, and associate professor of psychology at Fuller Theological Seminary. He writes and speaks on the interaction between theology and culture—particularly film, television, and online media—in both academic and popular forums. Callaway holds two PhDs, one in theology and the second in psychological science. He is the host of the Be Afraid podcast, and is author of Deep Focus, The Aesthetics of Atheism, Watching TV Religiously, and Scoring Transcendence.

Kutter's Book:

Be Afraid

Kutter's Recommendation:

Undertone

The Odyssey

Connect with Joshua: [email protected]

Go to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.

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