“What can people do about the fact that things are so tense with their families, especially when it comes to politics?” This is one of the pressing questions that Russell Moore poses to Jon Ward, chief national correspondent for Yahoo News. A longtime political reporter, Ward has observed the relationship between religion and politics in America. His new book , Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation chronicles Ward’s upbringing in, and eventual separation from, a well-known church that emerged at the intersection of Pentecostalism, the church-growth movement, the Jesus Movement, and the New Calvinism.
On this episode, Ward and Moore talk about what it’s like to look back on the church experiences of their earlier years and notice the political manifestations they hadn’t seen as young people. They talk about the ways various evangelical movements engaged society, the role of social media, and whether or not institutionalism is the answer to cultural problems. And they talk about what it looks like to maintain meaningful connections with family members when political differences threaten to break relationships.
Tune in for a conversation that is full of honesty and insight, not only into the state of American faith and politics today but also how we got here.
Resources mentioned in this episode include:
- Camelot’s End by Jon Ward
- Testimony by Jon Ward
- Untrustworthy by Bonnie Kristian
- Axios
- 2023 Asbury Revival
- Timothy George
- “Development of the Spiritual Harm and Abuse Scale” by Dan Koch
- “The Toronto Blessing”
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“The Russell Moore Show” is a production of Christianity Today Executive Producers: Erik Petrik, Russell Moore, and Mike Cosper Host: Russell Moore Producer: Ashley Hales Associate Producers: Abby Perry and Azurae Phelps CT Administration: Christine Kolb Social Media: Kate Lucky Director of Operations for CT Media: Matt Stevens Production Assistance: coreMEDIA Audio Engineer: Kevin Duthu Coordinator: Beth Grabenkort Video Producer: John Roland Theme Song: “Dusty Delta Day” by Lennon Hutton
