What do myth, wilderness, and ancient story have to teach a culture drowning in information but starving for meaning?

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Russell Moore sits down with mythologist, storyteller, and author Martin Shaw–called our “greatest living storyteller”–in a conversation centered on Shaw’s upcoming book, Liturgies of the Wild (releasing February 3).

Drawing on folklore, wilderness tradition, and Christian theology, Shaw argues that Christianity is not merely a belief system but an initiatory path—one that modern culture has domesticated into something safer, quieter, and far less demanding.

Shaw reflects on his own journey from Baptist church pews to decades spent studying myth, living in a tent, and eventually returning—reluctantly—to Christianity through Eastern Orthodoxy. Their conversation touches on his 4-day-retreat-turned-conversion, myth versus fact, the resurrection as “disturbingly strange,” the dangers of cynicism and sarcasm, the rise of psychedelic spirituality, and how practices as simple as memorizing a poem or sitting by a fire can begin to re-form the soul.

If you’re beginning the year considering longing, risk, and what it means to become fully human in a world that prefers comfort to transformation–and you’re wanting to hear poetry recited in a British accent–this conversation is for you.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

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Believers can disagree on migration policies—but the Word of God should shape how we minister to vulnerable people.

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We begin 2026 with a question: What if the most decisive battles in our time aren’t fought with ballots or bombs—but with the imagination?Watch the full conversation on YouTube

Russell Moore talks with historian and author Joseph Loconte about The War for Middle-earth, his book on how World War I and World War II forged the friendship, faith, and fiction of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. Together they explore why The Lord of the Rings and Narnia weren’t escapist detours from reality, but a deliberate counter-assault on cynicism, propaganda, and the will to power—written by men who had seen the trenches up close and knew exactly what modern darkness looks like.

Loconte and Moore talk about why World War I has slipped from our cultural memory, what protected Tolkien from the disillusionment that swallowed so many of his peers, and why both writers keep insisting that deeds done in the dark are “not wholly in vain.” They also discuss Lewis’s warning about the “cataract of nonsense” in modern media, and why genuine friendship is almost never built by chasing “community”—but by pursuing a shared mission so compelling you find yourself fighting alongside someone.

Loconte shares the origin story of the Lewis–Tolkien friendship, why grace—not grit—is the hinge point in both Middle-earth and Narnia, and where to start if you’ve never read either author: The Screwtape Letters for Lewis, and Tolkien’s short, haunting “Leaf by Niggle.”

Resources mentioned in this episode:

By J.R.R. Tolkien

The Lord of the Rings

The Hobbit

Leaf by Niggle

The Fall of Gondolin

“Beren and Lúthien” (legendarium story)

By C.S. Lewis

The Screwtape Letters

The Chronicles of NarniaOut of the Silent Planet

That Hideous Strength

The Space Trilogy

The Four Loves

Spirits in Bondage (early poetry collection)

“Learning in Wartime” (sermon/essay)

By Joseph Loconte

The War for Middle-earth

A Hobbit, a Wardrobe, and a Great War

Other Literary & Historical Works Referenced

All Quiet on the Western Front — Erich Maria Remarque

Paradise Lost — John Milton

The Odyssey — Homer

The Aeneid — Virgil

The Divine Comedy — Dante

Plato’s Cave (from The Republic) — Plato

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Russell shares his favorite reads of the year, an annual tradition on the Russell Moore Show.

Watch the video of this episode on YouTube here.

You can read a version of this list from the newsletter here. 

Russell’s top ten books (in alphabetical order by author):

Leslie Baynes, Between Interpretation and Imagination: C. S. Lewis and the Bible (Eerdmans)

Wendell Berry, Marce Catlett: The Force of a Story (Counterpoint)

Nicholas Carr, Superbloom: How Technologies of Connection Tear Us Apart (Norton)

Catherine Conybeare, Augustine the African (Norton)

Stephen King and Maurice Sendak, Hansel and Gretel (HarperCollins)

Ian McEwan, What We Can Know: A Novel (Knopf)

Daniel Nayeri, The Teacher of Nomad Land: A World War II Story (Levine Querido)

Adam Plunkett, Love and Need: The Life of Robert Frost’s Poetry (Farrar, Straus and Giroux)

Jonathan Rauch, Cross Purposes: Christianity’s Broken Bargain with Democracy (Yale University Press)

Graham Tomlin, Blaise Pascal: The Man Who Made the Modern World (Hodder & Stoughton)

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Voices across Christianity Today join together to read the Christmas story found in Luke 2. 

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What does the phrase “6 white boomers” have to do with Christmas?

Watch the video of this episode on YouTube here.

Join us for a special Christmas episode as Russell joins the Being Human Podcast’s Steve Cuss and The Bulletin podcast’s Clarissa Moll to talk about what Christmas looks like in their own worlds. They discuss when they officially start listening to Christmas music, their favorite Christmas memories, nativity story characters that are meaningful to them, and what “Wombat Divine” means for Australians at Christmas (it may not be what you think).

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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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Russell Moore talks with pastor and author David Platt (McLean Bible Church, Radical) about his new book All You Want for Christmas, which is built around one verse: “The Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve.” Together they explore why this claim stands apart from every other religion’s story of humans climbing their way up to God—and why the Christian story begins with God coming down the mountain to us.

Platt and Moore talk about what it means to believe in a personal God in a culture that prays to “the universe,” how to face grief and doubt in the “happiest season of all,” and why the wonder of Christmas is both more comforting and more unsettling than we realize. They also discuss the difference between divine service and the prosperity gospel, the surprising role of dreams and magi in God’s self-revelation, and what it means to repent and trust when belief doesn’t come easily.

Platt shares stories from a Southeast Asian temple, a Muslim Uber driver’s midnight conversion, and his own family’s Christmas traditions—complete with “giving jars” and a goat that wasn’t for the kid who thought it was.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

All You Want for Christmas by David Platt

Radical by David Platt

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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Russell and Leslie meander through the 2025 podcast episodes and share some of their favorite moments.

Watch the video of this episode on YouTube here.

See all podcast episodes for 2025 here.

Episodes referenced:

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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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Gather round ye listeners come…Andrew Peterson is back.

Watch the full conversation on YouTube.

Songwriter/author Andrew Peterson has been singing about the birth of Jesus every Christmas for over 26 years in the form of a Christmas concept album and tour called Behold the Lamb of God (LINK: catch the tour or livestream—available to watch until 1/31). In this special episode, Russell joins Andrew in the Chapter House–Andrew’s writing cabin–to talk about a tour that’s spent twenty-six years creating a Christmas tradition for thousands across the world.

Together, they swap stories about the origins of the album, the strange power of minor-key Advent songs, and the backstage chaos you never see—covert clementines, nightly TED talks, and the annual fear of forgetting a song that might contain more names than any other song ever written. They also talk honestly about exhaustion, longing, and why the story of the incarnation keeps surprising them after all these years.

Plus: Wingfeather cosplay, Randy Travis covering “Labor of Love,” British carol-singing that’ll blow your hair back, and why both of them have very strong opinions about the First Noel.

If you’ve ever wondered what makes this Christmas tour feel more like liturgy than concert—or why the gospel still sneaks up on people who think they’ve heard it all—this conversation is a warm, funny, deeply human place to land.

Resources mentioned in this episode:

Get 10% off the Behold the Lamb of God Livestream on December 12th from the Ryman Auditorium (watchable until January 31) with code RUSSELL10. Get tickets for the tour and livestream here.

Andrew Peterson’s The Wingfeather Saga

Randy Travis’ version of Labor of Love

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Russell takes a listener question about whether some songs are better than others for worshipping in a congregational setting.

Watch the video of this episode 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.

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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