As a pastor, author, and speaker, Rich Villodas has spent a lot of time studying the Scriptures. Over the years, he’s realized what he treasures about them: 

“ I love that the Bible is not this collection of sanitized, holy people,” he said. “It’s a collection of broken, frail people who are made righteous by a goodness outside of themselves.”

Villodas and Moore discuss that righteousness and goodness through the lens of the Sermon on the Mount. They talk about the type of life Jesus calls his people to live and consider what it looks like to engage with the emotions of our loved ones. The two converse about the prescriptive power of the Psalms, consider the role of forgiveness, and explore the nature of resentment as they cover Jesus’ statements about anger and lust.

Resources mentioned in this episode or recommended by the guest include:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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):



Resources mentioned in this episode or recommended by the guest include:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“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:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“ 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:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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

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:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Note: This episode was recorded before the presidential election.

“We don’t live in a world of ideals right now.”

So says Jeffrey Goldberg, editor in chief of The Atlantic. He and Moore, who recorded this episode on the anniversary of the October 7th Hamas attacks on Israel, discuss the fraught state of both domestic and global politics. They consider cultural climates on college campuses and social media, civil disobedience, and leadership. They also talk about military service in light of Goldberg’s new book, On Heroism, and talk about perspectives on masculinity in light of American culture and politics. 

Resources mentioned in this episode or recommended by the guest include:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

“Civility is not the whole story in life,” Richard Mouw said. “But we often take incivility much too far.” 

Online, in face-to-face relationships, and even at church, this statement has proven true time and again in recent years. Mouw—author, theologian, and former president of Fuller Seminary—says that in a world of ridicule, Christians can still be people who honor the humanity of others.

Mouw and Moore discuss political division, patriotism in worship services, and the powerful draw of specific candidates to certain demographics. They talk about the rise in female leadership, the sense of lostness many men feel amid cultural shifts, and the idea that bitterness and anger are often forms of grief. Mouw and Moore talk about what Calvinism can bring to the church today, whether they believe they’ll be surprised by the faces they see in eternity, and how to live in light of the kingdom.

Resources mentioned in this episode or recommended by the guest include:

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When will all the craziness be over? 

It’s the question that seems to be on every American’s mind, and one that many have asked both Russell Moore and George Packer, author and staff writer at The Atlantic. Moore and Packer discuss the exhaustion and rage that have become common in our politics. They discuss partisanship, profitability, and pessimism. They talk about the historical events that have led to our current realities, the effects of secularization on culture, and what it might take for Packer to believe there is a God—and why Packer still, despite all of the chaos, can’t forgo his hope for humanity.

Resources mentioned in this episode or recommended by the guest include:

Click here for a trial subscription at Christianity Today.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices