The Russell Moore Show

Tim Keller’s son on the new book they co-wrote together.

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Russell talks with Michael Keller about his new book, The Stories We Live By (co-written with Tim Keller), and the cultural myths that promise to make sense of our lives before ultimately falling apart.

Michael and Russell talk about why suffering has a way of exposing the stories we actually believe, why forgiveness becomes almost impossible when everything is reduced to a struggle for power, and why a Christian understanding of identity is neither something imposed on us nor something we invent for ourselves. 

They also consider whether AI–a particularly interesting topic for Keller, who has a PhD in computational linguistics–is creating new problems or just magnifying very old ones. 

Michael also reflects on the more personal story behind the book, finishing work he began with his father before his death. He shares what it was like to return to his father’s words while grieving—and why, afterward, he found himself searching their old text messages for a word every child longs to hear.

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From the Moore to the Point newsletter: The Joker Is Our Spiritual Director Now

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How can Wendell Berry’s novels help us understand love of country and community without stumbling into idolatry?

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In 2021, Russell did a talk at The Rabbit Room’s virtual conference, Hutchmoot: Homebound. Given in the main room of North Wind Manor, Russell shared how Berry’s fiction can help us see something underneath our political arguments, revealing the human longing to belong somewhere.

Drawing from Jayber Crow, Hannah Coulter, and other works by Berry, Russell argues that the answer to Christian nationalism isn’t less Christianity, but Christianity that refuses to use Jesus as a means to some other end. 

Special thanks to the Rabbit Room for allowing us to air this talk from Hutchmoot Homebound 2021. Learn more about the Rabbit Room here.

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From the Moore to the Point newsletter: Reflections on Wendell Berry.

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Some of Russell’s Writings on Wendell Berry over the Years

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What happens when Christians separate righteousness from justice?

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In American Christianity, questions of personal morality and public justice are often treated as though they belong in different categories. Christians may speak confidently about some moral issues while dismissing others as distractions from the gospel or as politics the church should avoid. Charlie Dates’ new book, What Hath Justice to Do with Righteousness?, challenges that distinction. Scripture, he argues, doesn’t allow Christians to choose between personal holiness and concern for the people and communities around them.

On this episode, Russell and Charlie explore what that divide has done to the American church and why, in Charlie’s words, American Christianity can become “more American than Christian.” They discuss what the prophet Amos has to say to comfortable churches, why pastors can be tempted to avoid difficult subjects, and what Christian courage looks like when speaking the truth comes with a cost. 

Dates has no easy optimism about where American Christianity is headed, in fact, he says he has a “healthy cynicism". But, he does have hope that, as he says, is needed “when the evidence is against you.”

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From the Moore to the Point newsletter: Dolly Parton didn’t need you to love her (and that’s why most of us did)

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Our most listened-to episode of all time.

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We’re finishing our “Best Of” series with the most listened to, most engaged with, most OUTSTANDING listener favorite episode of all time: Russell’s conversation with Beth Moore from 2021. The topic of the conversation was supposed to be “lessons in leaving and staying,” as they had both recently gone through leaving the beloved denomination they were raised in, but as it often goes…the conversation went much further than that. 

Beth has been on this show several times since this episode–and you all have loved every one of them–but this one remains the most beloved of them all.

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From the Moore to the Point newsletter: God knows forgiveness is hard for us. It is not hard for him.

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An early conversation with one of our favorite guests.

This “Best of” episode is from the first few years of this show’s existence–back when it was called Signposts–with a guest we’ve had on many times since, Andrew Peterson. The conversation was recorded in 2016 (without cameras, so you won’t be able to watch this one on YouTube) in front of a live audience. You’ll hear shifting in seats, coughing, and even the sound of soda cans being opened. 

The conversation wasn’t centered on a new book or new music or some new project, it was just an agendaless exchange about creating art from seasons of darkness, Buechner (par for the course with Russell and Andrew), burnout in leadership, marriage, and more. 

Take a seat, grab a Diet Coke, and enjoy this conversation with Andrew Peterson.

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From the Moore to the Point newsletter: A state that can define who is in or out of the kingdom of God is a state that has the power to do anything.

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