New Persuasive Words

On this special Christmas episode of New Persuasive Words, Bill and Scott slow things down on the night before Christmas Eve to reflect on the mystery and miracle at the heart of the season. Stepping back from headlines and hot takes, they explore why Christmas continues to matter in a restless, disenchanted world—and what it means to speak of incarnation, hope, and divine interruption in a culture shaped by cynicism and spectacle. Together, they consider how the story of Christmas resists easy sentimentality, inviting instead wonder, humility, and a renewed imagination for what God is doing in and through ordinary human life. It’s a contemplative, warm, and quietly provocative conversation—an invitation to pause, listen, and rediscover the strange good news announced in the dark.

What happens when nationalism tries to draw a moral boundary—and discovers it’s already fraying? In this episode of New Persuasive Words, Bill and Scott dig into Ross Douthat’s recent Interesting Times conversation with political theorist Yoram Hazony on the unsettling rise of antisemitism on the American Right. Hazony, one of nationalism’s most prominent intellectual defenders, argues that this resurgence isn’t mainly about Israel or foreign policy, but about deeper cultural, theological, and identity-based resentments that predate our current moment. Bill and Scott wrestle with that claim: Does naming “ancient tensions” help us confront modern antisemitism—or does it risk normalizing it? Where does legitimate critique of liberalism or globalism end, and where do dangerous tropes about power, influence, and loyalty begin? And what does all of this mean for persuasion in an era when political movements are increasingly shaped by grievance and identity rather than policy? This is a conversation about nationalism’s moral limits, the power of narrative, and the responsibility of public intellectuals when ideas migrate from theory to movement. Thoughtful, critical, and urgent.

In this episode, Scott and Bill take a provocative historical detour, exploring whether there’s a meaningful connection between the ancient Arian theological heresy and today’s ascendant Aryan-inflected white nationalism. What happens when a 4th-century doctrinal struggle over the nature of Christ echoes—however faintly—into modern movements animated by racial mythmaking and pseudo-spiritual identity? We trace the parallels, interrogate the contrasts, and ask what lessons the past might offer a culture increasingly vulnerable to distorted stories of power and purity. We also welcome a new and very special addition to the NPW universe: Emily Acrigg, our freshly installed ombudsman. Emily joins us to help keep the show honest, sharp, and maybe even a little more civilized. It’s a lively, wide-ranging conversation—equal parts history, theology, and social diagnosis—that you won’t want to miss.

In this episode of New Persuasive Words, Scott and Bill take a deep dive into the long, complicated, and often surprising history of Christian missions to the so-called “barbarians”—those peoples and cultures living at the outer edges of the empire and the church’s imagination. Drawing on episodes from late antiquity through the medieval world, they explore how the Church has, at its best, found creative, relational, and incarnational ways to reach those on the cultural margins. What happens when mission looks more like listening than conquering? When the gospel adapts without losing its heart? When the “barbarians” end up reshaping the Church as much as the Church shapes them? Scott and Bill unpack the lessons—both hopeful and cautionary—that history offers for engaging cultural outsiders today. Whether you’re a student of history, a leader navigating cultural change, or simply curious about how faith travels across boundaries, this conversation offers a fresh and provocative lens on the ongoing work of persuasion and conversion.

In this episode of New Persuasive Words, Scott and Bill dive into Chapter 4 of Tomáš Halík’s The Afternoon of Christianity, exploring Halík’s provocative vision for faith in a rapidly changing world. Drawing on Halík’s rich metaphors of spiritual maturation, they unpack what it means for Christianity to move beyond its “adolescent certainties” and into a deeper, more contemplative season. Scott and Bill wrestle with Halík’s challenge to embrace mystery over dogmatism, dialogue over defensiveness, and a renewed openness to the hidden work of God in unexpected places. Along the way, they connect Halík’s insights to the cultural, political, and ecclesial tensions of our moment—asking whether an “afternoon Christianity” might be exactly what our fractured world needs. Thoughtful, candid, and characteristically hopeful, this conversation invites listeners to ponder where faith is headed, and what kind of wisdom the afternoon light might yet reveal.

_New Persuasive Words _goes live! Recorded at the First Congregational Church of Manchester, Vermont, this special episode dives into one of the most pressing conversations of our time: Christian Nationalism and the Future of the Republic. Hosts Scott Jones and Bill Borror are joined by moderator Rev. D. Mark Blank and respondent Rabbi Michael Cohen for an evening of spirited, thought-provoking dialogue about faith, politics, and the future of American democracy. Engaging, challenging, and full of insight, this live event captures what New Persuasive Words does best—inviting listeners into honest, hopeful conversations about the stories shaping our public life.Special Guests: Rabbi Michael Cohen and Rev. D. Mark Blank.

In this provocative episode of New Persuasive Words, Scott and Bill dig into the Reformation — not as a museum piece of church history, but as a radical, world-upending movement that redefined faith, authority, and freedom. Was it a holy revolt or a spiritual jailbreak gone wrong? They explore the passion and peril at the heart of the Reformation: a longing for authenticity that shattered Christendom and still shapes the modern soul. Five hundred years later, are we due for another reformation — or have we forgotten what one even looks like?

In this episode of the show Scott and Bill reflect on how the deepest movements of theological renewal have always begun in places of authentic spirituality rather than positions of power. They trace how the Church’s greatest upheavals often come when authority refuses to listen to the voices calling for reform. In what some have called a new Axial Age—an era marked by technological noise, stress, and spiritual hunger—they explore why so many people, both inside and outside the Church, are seeking a more vital, grounded spirituality for our time.

In this episode, Bill and Scott dig into a recent New York Times piece Something Is Stirring in Christian America, and It’s Making Me Nervous, by David French— a sharp look at how faith, politics, and power are fusing in post-Kirk America. The article argues that what many are calling a spiritual awakening might actually be a political uprising dressed in religious language. The hosts break down the rhetoric, the myth-making, and the media framing — asking what happens when “revival” becomes a rally cry, and belief turns into brand. A fast, provocative conversation about faith, persuasion, and the dangerous seduction of moral certainty in American life.

In this episode of New Persuasive Words, Bill and Scott unpack Chapter 3 of Richard Rohr’s Breathing Under Water, where Rohr draws a powerful contrast between surrender and sacrifice. They explore why authentic transformation begins not in striving or control, but in letting go—and how that truth speaks to more than personal faith. In a culture addicted to performance, outrage, and winning, Rohr’s call to surrender offers a radical alternative. This episode dives deep into what it means to live freely—in our spiritual lives, our politics, and our public culture.