Faith Angle

Today's conversation is about the leadership, faith, historical record, and implications of the national security policy of Ronald Reagan. This exchange between two seasoned national security officials with unusual expertise is rooted in a hot-off-the-press new book, The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink, by Will Inboden, who is joined for this episode by Elliott Abrams of the Council on Foreign Relations.    Guests: Elliott Abrams Will Inboden   Additional Resources: The Peacemaker: Ronald Reagan, the Cold War, and the World on the Brink, by Will Inboden "Remembering Mikhail Gorbachev," by Will Inboden

Anne Snyder is one of Faith Angle’s newest Advisory Board members. She currently hosts The Whole Person Revolution podcast, and earlier this year she co-edited a volume entitled Breaking Ground, with over 45 short essays published throughout the pandemic. Spurring today’s conversation, since May 2019 Anne has served as Editor in Chief of Comment Magazine. She is joined by one of its current contributors, Greg Thompson, who is the co-director of Voices Underground, a Pennsylvania-based, HBCU-affiliated initiative that promotes African American cultural history through scholarly research, community experiences, and historical memorialization. This conversation explores themes from Greg's regular Comment column, "The Welcome Table", which weaves together history, race, memory, hospitality, and a theology of belonging.   Guests Anne Snyder Gregory Thompson   Additional Resources  Comment Magazine The Welcome Table Reparations: A Christian Call for Repentance and Repair, by Gregory Thompson and Duke Kwon The Whole Person Revolution Podcast , with Anne Snyder

In this episode, Bonnie Kristian discusses her brand new book, Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community. Her haunting phrase, “the knowledge crisis,” was perhaps popularized last year by another compelling book from Jonathan Rauch, the senior fellow in Governance Studies at the Brookings Institution. Jon’s 2021 book is The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, and as he explains in more detail, the book describes the essential conditions and institutions necessary for maintaining the basic building blocks of shared human understanding in a free society. This is a rich conversation between the two of them on how to steer clear from getting lost in the vortex of news that sometimes swirls.     Guests Bonnie Kristian Jonathan Rauch   Additional Resources  Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community, by Bonnie Kristian The Constitution of Knowledge: A Defense of Truth, by Jonathan Rauch

In this episode, Paul D. Miller of Georgetown University and Samuel L. Perry of the University of Oklahoma sit down for an insightful, timely conversation about Christian nationalism. Highlighting themes from Paul's newly-released book, The Religion of American Greatness: What's Wrong with Christian Nationalism, both guests offer a historically-rooted definition of Christian nationalism, analyze journalists' coverage of this rapidly-spreading ideology, and explore key differences between Christian nationalism and generative patriotism that bears faithful witness in the public square.   Guests: Paul D. Miller Samuel L. Perry   Additional Resources:  The Religion of American Greatness: What's Wrong with Christian Nationalism?, by Paul D. Miller The Flag and the Cross: White Christian Nationalism and the Threat to American Democracy, by Samuel Perry and Philip Gorski Taking America Back for God: Christian Nationalism in the United States, by Samuel Perry and Andrew Whitehead

If you’re an evangelical insider, the name Mike Cosper and his “Rise and Fall of Mars Hill” podcast series, published by Christianity Today in 2021, is almost certainly familiar for its artful retelling of the story of a Seattle megachurch pastored by Mark Driscoll. In this episode, Cosper, who is the director of podcasting for Christianity Today, is joined by Jon Ward of Yahoo News. Together, they examine what it is about the structure of megachurches that leaves them prone to the quick rise and fall of a charismatic leader. How does that compare to American politics—especially when our parties have weakened? And how does Mike’s 15-year experience as a pastor temper what he and his colleagues chose to see, and hold up, in this magnificent podcast that took American listeners by storm last year?   Guests Mike Cosper  Jon Ward   Additional Resources  The Rise and Fall of Mars Hill Podcast, by Mike Cosper  Testimony: Inside an Evangelical Movement that Failed a Generation, by Jon Ward

On this episode, we are joined by Simran Jeet Singh, Executive Director of the Aspen Institute’s Religion and Society Program, and Ari Goldman, Professor of Journalism at Columbia Journalism School, for a nuanced conversation about American religious pluralism and identity through the lens of Sikh theology and practice. Our guests explore themes from Simran’s recently-released book, The Light We Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life, and discuss how Sikh religion invites us to find joy in humility, sacrificial love, and service towards our neighbor, practices with profound implications for broader American society.   Guests Simran Jeet Singh Ari Goldman   Additional Resources The Light We Give: How Sikh Wisdom Can Transform Your Life, by Simran Jeet Singh The Search for God at Harvard, by Ari Goldman  

The purpose of Faith Angle is to connect religious leaders with leading journalists, and today's conversation comes at it from both sides. The setting for this conversation was a group of 19 journalists who gathered three days after the Supreme Court ruled on Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization. This conversation features one of the country’s most thoughtful, publicly-minded evangelical leaders, Dr. Russell Moore, who is now a year into directing the Public Theology Project at Christianity Today. He is joined by Molly Ball, TIME Magazine’s national political correspondent.     Guests Russell Moore  Molly Ball   Additional Resources  Faith Angle West Session: Evangelicals and America's "Abortion Wars" "Tim Alberta Worries Politics is Poisoning the Church," on The Russell Moore Show  "How Politics Poisoned the Evangelical Church," by Tim Alberta  "Will Overturning Roe v. Wade Change Everything?", with Molly Ball Pelosi, by Molly Ball

In this episode, twice-elected U.S. Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE) joins Rev. Dr. Sam Ferguson for a nuanced discussion of power and public service, contemporary media, spiritual disciplines, political stewardship, and the liturgical aspects of social media and public worship. Sen. Sasse names some fascinating things – including when and how he starts the workday; how many Elmers are in his Lutheran circle of grandparent farmers; his perspective on churchgoing; and how he looks back differently, now, on the stretch-years of early parenting. Ben is sometimes called “the intellectual of the Senate,” in the vein of the late Daniel Patrick Moynihan, whose desk on the Senate floor he now occupies. Conversing with him is Rev. Dr. Sam Ferguson, who in May 2019 became rector of The Falls Church Anglican – a congregation where in 1791, George Washington served on the vestry.   Guests: Ben Sasse Sam Ferguson   Additional Resources: "A Time for Choosing" by Ben Sasse Them: Why We Hate Each Other - And How to Heal by Ben Sasse Falls Church Anglican Sermons by Sam Ferguson    Episode Transcript

This episode explores how “masculinity” has shaped elements of white evangelicalism in America. As evangelicals frequently make headlines for their voting patterns and outsized political influence, this discussion will peel back the layers and go deeper—especially on issues of gender equality, racial justice, historic Christian orthodoxy, global expressions of evangelicalism, and the possibilities and limits for evangelical renewal. American evangelicalism is today navigating an important moment of reorientation and reexamination of its identity, and as our speakers highlight, it has much to learn from the history and witness of its global counterparts.   Guests Kristin Kobes Du Mez Walter Kim   Additional Resources  Jesus and John Wayne: How Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation, by Kristin Kobes Du Mez  National Association of Evangelicals 

On this episode, we are joined by Christine Emba, opinion columnist for The Washington Post, and Kimberly June Miller, a licensed marriage and family therapist. Christine has just written a fascinating new book called, Rethinking Sex: A Provocation, which opens with this moral quote: “It is only by asserting one’s humanness every time, in all situations, that one becomes someone rather than something. That, after all, is the core of our struggle.” In this provocative book, Christine raises profound questions about meaning and connection, sexuality and even spirituality, as she traces shifting generational views of sex and sexual practices in America.   Guests Christine Emba  Kimberly June Miller    Additional Reading  Rethinking Sex: A Provocation, by Christine Emba  Boundaries for Your Soul, by Kimberly June Miller and Alison Cook