The Intersection with Dr. J + Friends

Dr. J talks with (soon to be Dr.) Griffin Gooch about something we all want but often struggle to define, and get: happiness. In a culture that equates the good life with pleasure, personal fulfillment, and getting what we want, what does it mean for Christians to understand happiness? Drawing on theology, philosophy, and the social sciences, Griffin explores the historic vision of true happiness.

The conversation considers why pursuing happiness directly can leave us disappointed, and why genuine joy often emerges when we orient our lives toward something greater than ourselves. Justin and Griffin explore the difference between happiness and hedonism, the role of spiritual disciplines in shaping our desires, and how habits and communities form as people. What if the good life isn't about maximizing pleasure, but becoming the kind of person who can experience joy more deeply?

From the power of love, kindness, delight, and goodwill in evangelism to the liturgical practices that shape our deepest desires, the conversation asks how Christian faith can help us flourish in everyday life. Rather than offering a formula for happiness, this episode invites us to reconsider what the good life looks like—and how faith might help us discover it. 

Perhaps the path to greater happiness isn't making happiness the goal, but cultivating a life rooted in God, shaped by community, and attentive to the ordinary moments where joy takes hold.

LINKS:

• Reality Theology on Substack
• (Forthcoming) Book: How to (Not) Pursue Happiness: Why We Get It Wrong, Why It Matters, and What to Do About It
• Instagram

Dr. J talks with musician Joshua Leventhal about something Christian often struggles to make room for: honesty. What happens when our songs and subculture leaves little room for anger, grief, doubt, or disappointment? Drawing on Scripture, the Psalms, and his experience as a musician, Joshua explores why honest artistic expression matters—not just for making better art, but for being human and growing in faith.

The conversation considers how church culture can subtly sanitize our emotional lives, rewarding certainty and celebration while leaving lament, confession, and vulnerability at the margins. Justin and Joshua explore the biblical case for bringing the full range of human emotion before God, asking what we lose when worship prioritizes what’s smooth and positive.

They also examine the influence of market forces on Christian music and the pressure to produce art that fits familiar expectations. What happens when the demands of an industry—or the preferences of a congregation—begin to shape what we're willing to sing, say, and feel? Rather than treating art as a decorative addition to spiritual life, Joshua argues that it can be one of our most formative influences, shaping the stories we tell about God and ourselves.

Fortunately, hope doesn't require us to rush past grief; we often have to sit with sorrow before we can discover what hope actually means. For anyone who has struggled to find their own emotional life reflected in Christian worship, wondered whether doubt has a place in faith, or grown weary of spirituality that always seems to put on a happy face, this conversation offers an invitation to embrace a more honest faith—and to make room for the kind of art that helps us get there.

LINKS:

• Website: joshualeventhal.com 
• (New) Album: Tapiseri 
• Spotify
• YouTube
• Insta 

Dr. J talks with Pastor Trevor Sutton about something we all have in equal measure but increasingly seem unable to control: time. In an age of notifications, deadlines, endless feeds, and constant availability, what does it mean for Christians to think theologically about time? Drawing on biblical theology, the history of timekeeping, and the realities of modern technology, Trevor explores whether our problem is simply that we have too much to do—or whether we've lost sight of what time is actually for.

The conversation considers how technologies have shaped not only how we measure time but how we experience it, training us for speed, efficiency, and perpetual distraction. Justin and Trevor explore the biblical vision of time, including its horizontal and vertical dimensions, and ask what changes when we understand our lives as moving toward a God-given telos. If we know where we're ultimately going, how should that shape the way we spend the hours we've been given?

We may profess that our lives belong to God while structuring them around productivity, achievement, and constant availability. Rather than offering another set of productivity hacks, Trevor points toward practices like prayer, gratitude, community, reflection, and intentional presence as ways of recovering a healthier relationship with time.

For anyone whose calendar feels perpetually full, whose phone constantly demands attention, or who has wondered where the last six months went, this conversation offers an invitation to stop merely managing time—and start receiving it as a gift.

LINKS:

• Website
• (Forthcoming) Book: Between Hurry & Heaven by Dr. Trevor Sutton & Jeff Bilbro
• Church: St. Luke Lutheran Church
• Other Writing
• Faith & Leadership

Dr. J talks with Phil Gillespie of Athletes in Action for a conversation about something many of us treat as mere entertainment but may reveal something much deeper about what it means to be human. With more than three decades in sports ministry, Phil brings a theological lens to our fascination with competition, asking why we care so much about who wins, who loses, who gets remembered, and who gets to stand on top. Drawing on C.S. Lewis and the idea that we were made with a deep desire to be desired and approved of, the conversation explores sports as an “iceberg”—with the visible excitement of competition revealing deeper longings for glory, identity, connection, and transcendence. Because beneath our obsession with the scoreboard may be a much more fundamental question: what are we actually longing for?

Rather than treating sports as a distraction from discipleship, Justin and Phil consider what happens when we see athletics as a genuine site of spiritual formation. The church has often treated sports as secular territory—something Christians participate in but rarely think theologically about. Phil challenges that assumption, arguing that the fields, courts, locker rooms, teams, rivalries, victories, and defeats of everyday athletic life can become places where relationships are formed, character is revealed, and faith is lived out organically. Along the way, they explore why competition can be both deeply compelling and spiritually dangerous, how our pursuit of glory can become an attempt to secure an identity that only God can give, and why the church may be overlooking one of the most significant discipleship environments in contemporary culture.

At the center of it all is a distinctly Christian vision of play: sports aren’t simply about winning, and play isn't simply wasted time. If human beings were made for glory, joy, creativity, community, and delight, then our impulse to play may itself be a clue to the goodness for which we were created. Even in the renewed creation, Phil argues, play will have a place—because the Christian hope isn’t the escape from embodied life but its restoration. For anyone who loves sports, has ever wondered why competition feels euphoric, or suspects that our obsession with athletics is about more than games, this episode offers a different way to see the field: a window into our theology of glory, a laboratory for discipleship, and a surprisingly glimpse of what we were made for.

LINKS:

• MSU Athletes in Action 
• Book: Away Game: A Christian Parent's Guide to Navigating Youth Sports by Brian Smith and Ed Uszynski
• Miracle: Herb Brooks' Speech on YouTube

Dr. J talks with author and cultural commentator Brett McCracken for a conversation about something most of us treat as an inconvenience, but Scripture treats as a gift: sleep. Rather than framing rest as a productivity hack or a wellness trend, Brett resists the impulse to treat sleep as merely biological maintenance. From the strange, fascinating facts of what our brains do while we're unconscious to what he calls the deeper trouble with a culture that prizes hustle over rest, the conversation explores how our discomfort with sleep often reveals a deeper discomfort with dependence. The result? We treat rest as a weakness to manage rather than a truth to receive.

Viewing sleep not as downtime but as doxology, Dr. J and Brett draw on Scripture, theology, and everyday habits to explore how sleep mirrors God's own design—his rest, his sustaining care while we're unaware, even Jesus asleep in the boat during a storm. Because if trust in God's provision is at the heart of the gospel, why wouldn't our nightly surrender to sleep be an embodied rehearsal of that same trust? Along the way, they tackle the pride and overwork baked into modern culture, the way technology and constant attention erode our capacity for rest, and practical habits for reclaiming healthier sleep in a distracted age.

At the center of it all is a distinctly Christian claim: creation matters, embodiment matters, and because God meets us in our weakness and unconsciousness alike, sleep can become a physical, embodied ritual of faith. As Brett puts it, "entering God's rest is the point of life"—and sleep, far from a wasted third of our days, is a nightly invitation to practice it. For anyone running on empty, suspicious of hustle culture, or longing for a faith that meets them even in their most vulnerable, unconscious hours, this episode offers both a diagnosis and an invitation: recover a vision of rest as worship.

LINKS:

• New Book: The Wisdom of Sleep by Brett McCracken
• BrettMcCracken.com || Twitter
• The Wisdom Pyramid 
• Scrolling Ourselves to Death 
• The Gospel Coalition

Dr. J sits down with Chris Richards to explore a provocative question: What if our divisions are rooted in something deeper than politics, and what if beauty is part of the cure?

Rather than reducing polarization to bad ideas or bad actors, this conversation examines the broader economic forces that have reshaped modern life. Chris argues that self-interested economics and the attention economy have not simply changed our politics—they have altered how we understand identity, community, and even ourselves. As wealth, power, and influence become increasingly concentrated, many experience a growing sense of dislocation, making outrage, consumerism, and politics attractive substitutes for belonging.

Yet this episode is not an exercise in cynicism. Instead, it offers a hopeful vision rooted in the Christian imagination. Beauty, hospitality, music, and the shared experience of creation can cultivate deeper forms of love, community, and spiritual formation. They also consider how Christians can recover the practice of discerning authentic beauty in an age where nearly everything is commodified. How might recovering wonder and pursuing the common good become acts of resistance against outrage and consumption? And what would it look like for Christians to become people who don't merely criticize, but create?

For listeners interested in public theology, polarization, sociology, and the relationship between beauty and discipleship, this episode offers a thoughtful and hopeful vision for healing a divided world.

LINKS:

• The Secular Age by Charles Taylor
• Citizens United Supreme Court Case

In this short bonus episode, Justin gives some insight about the podcast’s journey and desire to create meaningful dialogue between society and Christian faith centered around thought leadership. 

Highlights: The Intersection now has over 40 episodes and thousands of downloads from over 40 countries.

Ask: Holler with topic and guest suggestions for future episodes by emailing: [email protected]. 

Thanks for listening and sharing!

In a moment marked by declining church attendance and religious affiliation, competing truth claims, and growing scepticism toward institutions, Dr. J chats with Luke Cawley to explore a pressing question: How should Christians think about evangelism and apologetics in a post-Christian world?

Far from merely winning arguments or using urgent emotional appeals, this conversation examines the deeper currents shaping the foundations of un/belief today. Drawing from his extensive study and ministry experience across Europe and beyond, Luke argues that faith is never found in a vacuum. Every culture creates conditions that make certain beliefs seem plausible or difficult to imagine. As traditional assumptions lose their cultural footing, Christians must learn to engage the environments, stories, and social realities that shape how people make sense of the world.

Globalization, technological change, and generational shifts have transformed the landscape of not just faith conversations but also the plausibility structures that contain them. As such, the conversation explores why storytelling often matters as much as argumentation, and how apologetics must adapt to a fragmented secular age. The conversation also challenges some of the assumptions that have shaped modern evangelism, particularly in how American Evangelicalism relates to cosmopolitan post-Christian settings. 

What if the goal is not merely to provide stock answers but to help people see Christ in a way that is more fitting and compelling? How can Christians create spaces where honest questions are welcomed, and the gospel can be heard within contemporary realities? And what opportunities might exist for Christian witness in a culture where inherited faith can no longer be taken for granted?

For listeners interested in evangelism, apologetics, cultural engagement, and the future of faith in the West, this episode offers a thoughtful reexamination of how Christians can be more faithfully present in a rapidly changing world.

LINKS:

• The Invisible Castle Podcast (Spotify) (Apple) (Amazon)
• Substack: @invisiblecastle 
• Website: lukecawley.org
• Book(s): Somethingism: Exploring Our Sense of More | The Myth of the Non-Christian | other books 

In a political culture overflowing with opinions but often lacking deeper reflection, Dr. J sits down with Dr. Michael Giles to explore a deceptively simple question: What is political theology, and why does it matter?

Far more than partisan preferences or ideological instincts, political theology asks how our understanding of God, human nature, authority, and the common good shapes the way we think about politics. Drawing from Augustine and various intellectual traditions, Dr. Mike argues that every political vision rests upon deeper assumptions about reality, whether we recognize them or not.

Along the way, Justin and Mike trace the historical roots of modern democracy, examining the influences of ancient Athens, the Roman Republic, Christianity, and the humanism of the Enlightenment. They discuss how Christian ideas of human dignity helped transform political thought and why understanding these historical foundations remains essential for navigating contemporary debates.

The conversation also confronts a challenge unique to every generation: our tendency to become prisoners of our own moment. As Dr. Giles observes, we often swim in cultural waters we scarcely notice, making it difficult to recognize the assumptions and narratives shaping our political imaginations. How have Christian, Enlightenment, and other philosophical ideas shaped democratic institutions? And how can historical awareness help us better understand the opportunities and tensions of our present age?

For listeners interested in faith, politics, history, and public life, this episode offers an introduction to political theology and a compelling invitation to think more deeply about the ideas that shape our civic lives.

LINKS:

• Website: michaeltgiles.com
• City of God by Augustine
• Augustine & the Limits of Politics by Bethke
• A Common Wealth of Hope by Michael Lamb

Dr. J sits down with Karen Swallow Prior for an incisive conversation about the evangelical imagination. In a moment where many seem more discipled by the trappings of a subculture and internet tribalism than by wisdom, beauty, or truth, Karen argues that the crisis facing evangelicalism is not merely theological or political, but imaginative. Drawing from history, literature, theology, and cultural criticism, Justin and Karen explore the powerful but often invisible forces that shape how evangelicals engage the world. From Victorian moralism and sentimentalism to modern consumerism and culture war reflexes, they unpack the “social imaginary” that forms contemporary faith long before believers ever articulate doctrine. 

As Karen points out, our water is imbued with the Victorian era. In other words, many have inherited a cultural mood they mistake for Christianity itself. The conversation makes a case for recovering art, literature, beauty, and moral imagination as essential components of formation. Along the way, they wrestle with evangelicalism’s credibility crisis, the fallout of deconstruction, generational disillusionment, shallow conversion practices, and the difficulty of cultivating discipleship in an age increasingly allergic to nuance.

The episode also explores the unique role stories play in shaping culture and belief. Rather than offering simplistic nostalgia or culture-war panic, Justin and Karen cast a hopeful vision for faithful presence in a pluralistic world. The task, they argue, is not merely to condemn culture nor mindlessly reproduce it, but to help cultivate healthier cultural ecosystems rooted in wisdom, humility, creativity, and love of neighbor. 

LINKS:

• Substack: @karenswallowprior
• Website: karenswallowprior.com
• Book(s):The Evangelical Imagination: How Stories, Images, and Metaphors Created a Culture in Crisis || other books & articles
• The Trinity Forum
• Modern Social Imaginaries by Charles Taylor