Exploring Questions of Identity and Spirituality

In this chapter, the hosts introduce a podcast called the Bulletin that tackles important questions Christians are asking. They also delve into the concept of increased secularization and individual spirituality, including interests in crystals and tarot card readings among younger generations.

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The year is coming to an end, which means it’s time to reflect on our favorite reads! On this episode, Russell Moore and producer Ashley Hales discuss the books that have stuck with them this year. Their conversation touches on the winners of Christianity Today’s 2023 Book Awards and the back catalogs of authors whose new releases are making a splash.

Their conversation spans biographies, memoirs, fiction, and more. Moore and Hales discover themes across genres and consider how their 2023 reading might inform their 2024 thinking.

For more insight into what Russell is reading throughout the year, subscribe to his newsletter here.

Russell’s Top Ten Books of 2023:

How to Know a Person: The Art of Seeing Others Deeply and Being Deeply Seen by David Brooks
The Kingdom, the Power, and the Glory: American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism by Tim Alberta
Watership Down: The Graphic Novel by Richard Adams, adapted and Illustrated by James Sturm and Joe Sutphin
All My Knotted-Up Life: A Memoir by Beth Moore
C.S. Lewis in America: Readings and Receptions, 1935-1947 by Mark A. Noll
Godless Crusade: Religion, Populism, and Right-Wing Identity Politics by Tobias Cremer
King: A Life by Jonathan Eig
How Far to the Promised Land: One Black Family's Story of Hope and Survival in the American South by Esau McCaulley
Self-Made: Creating Our Identities from DaVinci to the Kardashians by Tara Isabella Burton
Lights a Lovely Mile: Collected Sermons of the Church Year by Eugene H. Peterson

Additional books mentioned in this episode include:

Biblical Critical Theory: How the Bible's Unfolding Story Makes Sense of Modern Life and Culture by Christopher Watkin (CT Book of the Year Award)
The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
Surprised by Joy by C. S. Lewis
The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams
Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing by Andy Crouch
Bobos In Paradise: The New Upper Class and How They Got There by David Brooks
Strange Rites: New Religions for a Godless World by Tara Isabella Burton
Remaking the World: How 1776 Created the Post-Christian West by Andrew Wilson
The Adams-Jefferson Letters: The Complete Correspondence Between Thomas Jefferson and Abigail and John Adams by Lester J. Capon
The Three-Body Problem Series by Cixin Liu

Episodes of The Russell Moore Show featuring authors discussed in this episode include:

“Tim Alberta on the White Evangelical Crisis”
“Christianity’s Being Co-opted with Tobias Cremer”
“Developing a Biblical Framework with Christopher Watkin”
“Esau McCaulley Makes Grace Plausible”
“Losing Our Religion: David Brooks on the Allure of Tribalism”
“Andy Crouch’s Cure for a Tech-Obsessed World”
“Beth Moore Didn’t Expect Us to Be Us”
“Beth Moore and Russell Moore in Conversation” & “Listener Questions for Russell Moore and Beth Moore”