What if the world’s brightest engineers aren’t just building smarter tools—but opening a door to something older, darker, and more sinister?

In this episode of The Russell Moore Show, RDM sits down with Paul Kingsnorth—novelist, essayist, and former pagan turned Orthodox Christian—to talk about his searing new book Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity. Kingsnorth argues that the technologies we treat as neutral conveniences may, in fact, be spiritual weapons. The internet as a giant Ouija board. AI not as invention, but as invocation.

It sounds insane—until you realize the people creating these systems admit they don’t fully understand them either.

In this conversation, Kingsnorth tells the unlikely story of his journey from Wiccan witchcraft to baptism in the Orthodox Church, why he believes our cultural obsession with screens, sex, and selfhood is a trap, and why Christians in particular must stop treating technology as just another tool. What if it’s more than that? What if, in chasing progress, we’ve been summoning something we cannot control?

This isn’t your average hand-wringing about iPhones or social media. It’s a bracing, unsettling, and oddly hopeful dialogue about how to remain human in an age increasingly hostile to humanity itself.

Listen in if you’ve ever wondered:

Why AI feels less like a tool and more like a presence

How paganism and environmentalism can point toward, but never satisfy, the longing for God

What the “four pillars of the machine” are—and how they’re shaping us without our consent

Whether resistance to the machine is possible, and how communities of faith might embody it

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Against the Machine: On the Unmaking of Humanity by Paul Kingsnorth

Savage Gods by Paul Kingsnorth

Buccmaster Trilogy by Paul Kingsnorth

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A conversation with Tim Keller from 2021, in honor of his birthday.

Watch the full conversation on YouTube.

Tim Keller would have turned 75 years old this week (September 23rd). To mark this, we are bringing back an episode from early in 2021 (back when the show was called Signposts). At the time of the conversation, Keller was a few months removed from learning of the cancer that eventually took his life and had just released a new book, Hope in Times of Fear: The Resurrection and the Meaning of Easter. They also talk about the recent article Tim wrote for The Atlantic, wrestling with mortality, how to order our loves in this life, and finding hope in the midst of suffering.

Ultimately, this is a conversation upholding the comfort of the resurrection, and reminds us that through it, nothing truly good is ever lost. 

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Russell shares 30 things he’s learned in his 30 years of ordained ministry. 

Watch the full episode on YouTube

This was originally shared in the Moore to the Point newsletter (sign up here), but Russell received so much feedback that it deserved its own episode.

Have feedback? Email [email protected]. We’ll look forward to hearing from you.

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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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Russell is joined by Jon Haidt to answer a listener's question: “Is screentime with grandparents dangerous for my children?” Listen to the full interview with John HERE, and (ironically) watch the video of this conversation on YouTube here.

Submit your own question for the show! Email [email protected] — and remember: attach a voice memo!

Keep up with Russell:

Sign up for the weekly newsletter where Russell shares thoughtful takes on big questions, offers a Christian perspective on life, and recommends books and music he's enjoying.

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It’s odd that one of our listeners’ favorite frequent guests is an atheist: Jonathan Haidt. And yet, it’s not really that unusual because Haidt, though not a believer, is perhaps the world’s foremost thinker on issues Christians face every day: the digital war on our attention spans, how technology is making us anxious, how removing obstacles and pain-points from our children hurts them, and why we all seem to hate each other so much.

This week, Dr. Moore welcomes back social psychologist Jonathan Haidt to ask him how things have changed in recent months in the rapidly evolving landscape of technology and its impact on faith communities. Haidt—author of The Anxious Generation, The Coddling of the American Mind, and The Righteous Mind—shares his latest observations and updated insights since we last spoke.

This is a fresh new conversation, building off of the previous ones. As the digital world shifts at breakneck speed, Haidt offers new analysis on what he's witnessing on the front lines: how smartphones and social media are reshaping our capacity for prayer and Bible reading, the escalating influence of TikTok and short-form video, and emerging concerns about AI in church settings.

From practical questions about phone-free churches to broader concerns about protecting children in digital environments, this conversation bridges scientific insight with pastoral care.

You'll hear Haidt's surprising predictions about AI's future, discover which social media platform he considers most harmful, and learn his single most important piece of advice for church leaders seeking to preserve human connection in our high-tech age.

This is an essential dialogue for anyone concerned about reclaiming our ability to pay attention,  think deeply, pray meaningfully, and build authentic community in an era of endless digital distraction.

See more from Jon Haidt:

Anxious Generation website: AnxiousGeneration.com

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

The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion

The Coddling of the American Mind (with Greg Lukianoff)

Politico Article: There’s Only One True Bipartisan Issue Left

Derek Thompson’s Atlantic article: The Anti-Social Century

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Russell answers a listener's question: How can I be friends with atheists? 

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You may know Philip Yancey as the bestselling author of What’s So Amazing About Grace?, Where Is God When It Hurts?, and The Jesus I Never Knew. We’ve even had him on the show a few times to talk about these books and more. For decades, his writing has guided Christians who are wrestling with disappointment, doubt, and suffering. But in recent years, his own life has required deeper study into such things.

In this episode, Philip Yancey joins Russell Moore for an honest conversation about suffering, lament, and the God who meets us in our pain. Yancey opens up about his own story, from the trauma of losing his father to living with cancer and Parkinson’s. He reflects on how those experiences have shaped his faith and why simplistic religious answers so often do more harm than good.

Together, they talk about what the Book of Job does—and doesn’t—say about suffering, and why Jesus didn’t “solve” pain during his earthly ministry. Yancey explains why lament is not only permitted but essential, and what it means for the church to be a place of comfort rather than clichés.Plus: what surprising things led him to see the graciousness of God before writing the book(s) on it.

If you’ve been sitting in the silence of God, or are grappling with the problem of pain in your own life, you may find comfort in this conversation.

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

Where Is God When It Hurts? by Philip Yancey

What’s So Amazing About Grace? by Philip Yancey

The Jesus I Never Knew by Philip Yancey

The Brothers Karamazov by Fyodor Dostoevsky

The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky

War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy

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A reading of the latest from Russell’s weekly newsletter. Sign up for the newsletter, Moore to the Point, where Russell shares thoughtful takes on big questions, offers a Christian perspective on life, and recommends books and music he's enjoying.

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Today we put the “Sho” in the Russell Moore Show with Sho Baraka, Christianity Today’s director of the Big Tent Initiative.

Five years after the murder of George Floyd, many wondered if the United States—and the church—was headed toward lasting change. Talk of a “racial reckoning” filled headlines, pulpits, and boardrooms. But where do things stand now, in 2025?

Sho joins Russell to reflect on the promises and disappointments of the past half-decade. The child of a Black Panther, Sho shares thoughts about race and reconciliation but also the deeper struggles of spiritual disillusionment, even in his own life.

Sho speaks candidly about his own journey through spiritual dryness over the last 5-7 years as he navigated attitudes of cynicism which gave way to a time of terrible decisions that left his life in freefall. He and Russell explore what repentance and renewal can look like—not only for individuals, but for communities and institutions that have lost their way.

Together, they discuss why conversations about racial justice often stall, how and why multi-ethnic churches struggle, and how Moses is an example of endurance in radically changing a broken institution. Plus: hear which book of the Bible Sho would take with him to a desert island that no other guest has chosen before.

This is a thoughtful, vulnerable conversation about failure, repentance, and the possibility of restoration—for leaders, for churches, and for the witness of the gospel.

—

Keep up with Russell:

Sign up for the weekly newsletter where Russell shares thoughtful takes on big questions, offers a Christian perspective on life, and recommends books and music he's enjoying.

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Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription.

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