
Hosted by Christianity Today, Russell Moore · EN

What does it mean to call someone the “father” of a nation—and what happens when that father is more complicated than legend allows? Watch this conversation on YouTube . Russell welcomes renowned historian H.W. Brands for a conversation on his newest book, American Patriarch: The Life of George Washington. Washington was a man formed by ambition and concern for character, but from the myth of praying at Valley Forge to the quiet realities of Washington’s faith, his life is often incorrectly perceived through a filter of our modern era. The truth about his leadership and life has more nuance than we realize. Brands helps uncover a leader who believed in providence but resisted religious spectacle, who embodied authority not through charisma but through consistency. And perhaps most strikingly, a man who understood power well enough to walk away from it. But the conversation isn’t just about the past, It’s about the kind of leadership we recognize in the present (and the kind we are missing). In an age marked by distrust in institutions and suspicion of motives, Washington’s example raises uncomfortable questions we should reckon well with: Can character still command respect? Can authority still be earned rather than performed? And are we even looking for the kind of leaders who would rather leave than stay? Resources mentioned in this episode: American Patriarch: The Life of George Washington — H.W. Brands Keep up with Russell: Subscribe to Russell on Substack Sign up for the weekly Moore to the Point newsletter Submit a question for the show at questions@russellmoore.com Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Russell answers a listener question about how to identify spiritual revival. Watch this episode on Youtube. Submit your own question for the show! Email questions@russellmoore.com — and remember: attach a voice memo! Keep up with Russell: Subscribe to Russell on Substack Sign up for the weekly Moore to the Point newsletter Submit a question for the show at questions@russellmoore.com Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Russell overcomes nerves while welcoming musical artist, songwriter, and overall legend Amy Grant. Watch this video on Youtube. Amy Grant and Russell sit down in Charlie Peacock’s home to talk about her first album in over a decade, The Me That Remains (out May 8). The conversation starts with Russell’s admission that Amy’s was his first concert as a middle school youth group student. From there, Grant reflects on the aftermath of a serious bike accident, the strange disorientation of memory loss, and the rediscovery of songwriting in the midst of an ongoing, strenuous tour schedule. Along the way, the conversation turns to the inner critic that follows all of us, the spiritual weight of suffering, the possibility of grace in a fractured world, and the artwork surrounding the record from Nashville artist Wayne Brezinka. This is a story about legacy, growth, and the healing that comes…somewhere down the road. 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. Submit a question for the show at questions@russellmoore.com Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Russell shares his 8 tips for making major decisions. Watch this episode on YouTube. Russell reads the latest from his newsletter – read it here. Submit a question for the show (and include a voice memo!) at questions@russellmoore.com Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

McKay Coppins spent one year and $10,000 of The Atlantic’s money to find out the truth about sports betting. Watch this conversation on YouTube. Russell welcomes McKay Coppins to talk about his latest for The Atlantic, a deeply personal and unsettling experiment with online sports betting, which opened a window into the addictive architecture of modern gambling, and the quiet ways it can take hold of a life. Together, they explore not just the mechanics of gambling, but its deeper implications: how it alters our attention, distorts our relationships, fuels anger and illusion, and increasingly reshapes everything from sports to politics to everyday life. Coppins–a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints–even remarks at the ways the experiment affected his prayer life. If you’ve wondered how sports betting has become so popular, or why younger men are being held tightly by its grasp, you might find this episode enlightening. This is a conversation about more than just betting, it’s about desire, discipline, and the kinds of guardrails we don’t realize we need until they’re gone. Resources mentioned in this episode: Sucker: My Year as a Degenerate Sports Gambler (The Atlantic) 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. Submit a question for the show at questions@russellmoore.com Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Russell answers a listener question about how we can pass our Christian faith heritage to our children without making it weird. Watch the video of this episode on YouTube here. Submit your own question for the show! Email questions@russellmoore.com — 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. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

How should the church address infertility and childlessness? Watch this episode on YouTube In this special episode filmed as a livestream for Christianity Today subscribers, Russell Moore sits down with Karen Swallow Prior to talk about her recent CT Magazine article, “The Birds and the Bees, Babies and Me.” Drawing from her own experience, Prior reflects on the deeply personal nature of infertility—not just as a medical or social issue, but as a spiritual and communal one. But this conversation is not only about loss, it’s also about rethinking fruitfulness, calling, and blessing. In answering questions taken live from viewers, Prior points to the unexpected ways God shapes lives outside of cultural expectations, while Moore considers how churches can become places that recognize spiritual motherhood and fatherhood beyond biology. Along the way, they wrestle honestly with the tension of unanswered prayers, offering a vision of community that bears burdens together rather than explaining them away. Resources mentioned in this episode: Walking Through Infertility by Matthew Arbo 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. Submit a question for the show at questions@russellmoore.com Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Trust Me, I’m a Doctor. Watch this episode on YouTube. Russell reads his latest article for Christianity Today – read it here. Submit a question for the show (and include a voice memo!) at questions@russellmoore.com Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Malcolm Guite and Russell meet in Andrew Peterson’s Chapter House–Guite’s pipe smoke billowing–on the occasion of Guite’s new book, Galahad and the Grail, the first volume in the Merlin's Isle trilogy from Rabbit Room Press. Guite argues that myths and old stories aren’t just relics of a pre-modern imagination, they’re carriers of truth we’ve forgotten how to see with modern eyes. From King Arthur to the Holy Grail, these stories don’t distract us from the real world, they reveal it. Guite suggests that our cultural moment—fragmented, distracted, and flattened by endless scrolling—has left us dismembered. We no longer see our lives as part of a coherent narrative. And without story, we lose not just meaning but identity. At the center of it all is a claim both strange and familiar: that the greatest story ever told is not one among many, but the one that gives meaning to all the others. Along the way, Russell and Malcolm talk about how Guite has found a new audience on his wildly popular YouTube channel hosted out of his home library, the definition and origins of chivalry, and even the role Guite played in Martin Shaw’s conversion (find Russell’s interview with Shaw, here). King Arthur, the Grail, Merlin…these aren’t just literary devices. They and other mythical tales echo something real about sin, redemption, and the hope that what is broken in us and in the world can be made whole again. Resources mentioned in this episode: Galahad and the Grail by Malcolm Guite Malcolm’s YouTube Channel 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. Submit a question for the show at questions@russellmoore.com Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Russell answers a listener question about whether church policies should include reporting abuse to local law enforcement. (Spoiler alert: yes, you should.) Watch the video of this episode on YouTube here. Submit your own question for the show! Email questions@russellmoore.com — 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 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices