Counterflow with Buck Johnson

Fr. Turbo Qualls returns to Counterflow for a conversation about suffering, spiritual growth, ideology, and the wisdom of the Orthodox Church. We discuss why suffering is so often something we try to escape, even though it can be essential to our spiritual growth. We also explore how easily we can become attached to ideologies, political movements, and our own understanding of the world, sometimes...

What happens when bad theology becomes the foundation for an entire political and religious worldview?   Fr. Tom Soroka joins me to discuss the Third Temple, Christian Zionism, and the theological assumptions that have shaped much of modern evangelical Christianity.   We examine the dangers of interpreting Scripture through political ideology, the obsession with rebuilding a temple in Jerusalem, a...

Fr. Peter Heers returns to Counterflow for a conversation about ecumenism, ideology, and the proper ordering of both the human soul and the Church. We begin with a warning Fr. Peter gave me years ago during our time together on Mount Athos: that ecumenism would be one of the greatest challenges we'd face as Orthodox Christians. We revisit that conversation and explore the historical origins of ecu...

What happens when the institutions running a country seem more interested in extracting its wealth than preserving its future?   I'm joined by William George, an Orthodox Christian living in England, to discuss the decline of the West, the interests of political and financial elites, and the geopolitical tensions surrounding Russia, Ukraine, and Europe. We also get into the City of London, the Bri...

What if we've completely misunderstood the purpose of marriage? In this episode, recorded live at my parish, St. Andrew's ROCOR Orthodox Church in Lockhart, Texas, I'm joined by Fr. Justin Havens to discuss the Orthodox Christian understanding of marriage and how it differs from what we've come to accept in the modern West. We get into love, sacrifice, divorce, the meaning behind the Orthodox wedd...

Longinus was at the point where he didn't want to live anymore. His mother, Sophia, was at the point where all she could do was pray. They join me to tell the story of what happened next—a suicide attempt, time in a psychiatric hospital, years of struggle, and eventually, an unexpected path into the Orthodox Church. We talk about despair, a mother's persistence, conversion, and what it looks like...

Father Michael Marcantoni joins me to talk about addiction, recovery, repentance, and the Orthodox spiritual life. Father Michael shares his own journey through alcoholism and sobriety, what "rock bottom" actually means, his experience with AA and the 12 steps, and the surprising similarities between recovery and the life of repentance. We also get into his time in the military, his road to Orthod...

This week I'm joined by Jeff Messina, a longtime Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt and Orthodox Christian. We get into what happens when the mat exposes your ego, why knowing how to fight doesn't mean looking for a fight, and what jiu-jitsu can teach us about humility, discipline, and self-control. We also talk about Jeff's journey into Orthodoxy, the importance of having a teacher, and why real stre...

I've known Kara Mosher for a few years now and she has one hell of a story. Her road to Orthodoxy was already pretty wild. She spent years involved in the occult, New Age spirituality, psychedelics, and all kinds of things she thought might give her answers or healing. Eventually, that search led her somewhere she never expected: the Orthodox Church. This conversation is about love, loss, and what...

Justine Alter joins me to discuss her book How Could I Possibly Convert to Orthodox Christianity?, written specifically for psychics, magicians, occult practitioners, and others attempting to leave that world behind. Justine writes from firsthand experience with the occult and now approaches these questions from within Orthodox Christianity. We talk about psychic phenomena, spirit communication, d...

Kenneth B., writer of Becoming Orthodox , joins me for a great conversation about his journey to the Orthodox Church and what he's learned along the way. We get into Scripture and Tradition, the saints, the Theotokos, the ancient Jewish world Christianity emerged from, and why more young people seem to be searching for something deeper than what modern Christianity and culture are offering. We als...

In this episode, I'm joined by my friend and one of my favorite authors, Dr. Clark Carlton, for a conversation about Protestantism, Orthodoxy, and what happens when Christianity becomes less a lived, sacramental faith and more an ideology derived from a text. Clark takes us through the history of American Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism, including the Southern Baptist "Conservative Resurgence,"...

My guest this week is Carollynn Xavier—Orthodox  catechumen , longtime touring comedian, and now host of a brand-new interview show coming to Logos Cinema. We get into Carollynn's years doing stand-up and touring, what life as a comedian actually looks like, how Orthodoxy fits into all of it, and why she's now trading some of that stand-up time for sitting down with interesting people. Her new sho...

Fr. Zechariah Lynch joins me to talk about something a lot of people would rather forget: what the COVID years actually did to us. We get into fear, mandates, "misinformation," the pressure to conform, and the damage done to people who simply asked questions. Fr. Zechariah also gets personal about what he and his family went through within the Church during that time and why he describes some of i...

In this episode of Counterflow, I'm joined by Neil DeGraide, musician, songwriter, and founding member of Dirt Poor Robins. Neil spent years in the Evangelical world leading worship and creating Christian music before beginning a journey that ultimately led him to the Orthodox Church. We talk about what changed, the assumptions he had to unlearn, and why he came to believe the search for the true...

For decades, Christians have lamented the decline of culture. We criticize Hollywood, complain about entertainment, and point out everything that's wrong with the stories shaping our civilization. But what comes after the criticism? My guest, Andrew Stokich, co-founder of Logos Cinema, believes the answer isn't retreat—it's creation. In this episode, we explore why storytelling has always been one...

What happens when Orthodox Christians stop simply criticizing culture and start creating it? In this episode, Buck chats with his good friend Mano Elia—host of the Study of Stuff Podcast, founder of Spoon Records, and one of the driving forces behind the Bored No More movement—to discuss what it means to reclaim culture by creating art, music, film, and authentic community centered on Christ and H...

Before becoming Orthodox, Erika MacDougall spent years immersed in the occult. She practiced theistic Satanism, participated in blood rituals, worked with ritual magic, and was even paid to place curses on others. What promised power, hidden knowledge, and spiritual enlightenment ultimately led to bondage, fear, and despair. In this episode, Erika shares her remarkable journey to Christ and the Or...

In an age dominated by algorithms, outrage, and endless scrolling, what does it mean to become a truly human person?   John Heers joins me for a wide-ranging conversation on modernity, the crisis of meaning, internet Orthodoxy, the rise of the "Orthobro," and why so many people are searching for identity. We discuss how social media shapes the soul, why information alone cannot heal us, the Orthod...

In this episode, Buck sits down with Dr. Anastasia Stewart, an Orthodox Christian psychologist and trauma specialist, to explore the relationship between modern psychology and the healing tradition of the Orthodox Church. Together they discuss where psychology contains genuine insights—and where it falls short without Christ. Drawing on decades of experience treating trauma, PTSD, women's mental h...

In this post-conference conversation, Fr. Turbo Qualls joins me to reflect on the themes, insights, and discussions that emerged from the inaugural OINTMENT Conference—an event bringing together clergy, clinicians, and laypeople to explore the relationship between Orthodox Christianity, mental health, and the healing of the human person.   Our discussion moves beyond the usual debates about therap...

In this episode, I chat with former Navy SEAL Slade Cutrer for a candid conversation about military service, trauma, spiritual warfare, and the search for healing.  After spending fifteen years in one of the most demanding military communities in the world, Slade found himself facing challenges that combat training could not prepare him for. We discuss the realities of life in the SEAL Teams, PTSD...

Fr. Sergei Sveshnikov grew up in the Soviet Union during the final years of state-sponsored atheism before immigrating to the United States on his own. After some life happenings and lots of revelations, he became an Orthodox priest. A fascinating aspect of his ministry has been in the prisons. We get into what that is and how it compares and contrasts with being a priest in a parish. In this conv...

In this episode, I chat with author Andrew Edwards to discuss his novel King of Dogs and the deeper realities that inspired it. While the conversation begins with fiction, it quickly expands into a wide-ranging discussion on spiritual warfare, civilizational decline, modern nihilism, masculinity, technology, geopolitics, and what it means to remain fully human in an age of fragmentation.   We expl...

What happens when an Evangelical pastor begins seriously studying the early Church — and realizes modern Christianity looks very different from ancient Christianity? In this episode, I chat with Father David Hovik to discuss his remarkable journey from Evangelical ministry into the Orthodox Church, and how that journey ultimately brought much of his congregation with him. This story is truly capti...