Good Faith

In this podcast, David and Curtis return from trips around the world to give us a philosophical insight on courage. From Churchill to Lord of The Rings, stories of virtue can influence our own actions when tests cross our paths. They talk about the power of narratives and how they can build moral courage and character. Both dig into their past to bring up personal models of strength that have infl...

What does it look like to have Christian hope in this chaotic world? As believers, we live in the "already but not yet," which means that we are currently in the kingdom of God, though the kingdom has not reached its full expression. In other words, we are "already" in the kingdom of God, but we do "not yet" experience its full glory. In this Advent episode, David and Curtis look back at the chall...

Jesse Wiese robbed a bank and spent eight-and-a-half years in prison. After he served his time, he experienced the challenges of reentering society.  He joined the Prison Fellowship, graduating from law school, and is now the vice president of program design and evaluation at Prison Fellowship.  Now he spends his time attempting to help fellow imprisoned people flourish after serving time in priso...

We toss around words like "conservative" and "progressive" without really understanding – or agreeing on – the meaning of these terms.   This week, David and Curtis discuss how these labels simply don't work when applied across both theology and politics. How is the equivocation surrounding these terms misleading and therefore damaging to Christian discourse? Can politics be used as a proxy for fa...

This week David and Curtis are joined by Eric Costanzo, a Southern Baptist pastor from Tulsa, Oklahoma who has led his own congregation in the practice of welcoming refugees and immigrants in their community. Eric is also the co-author of the book "Inalienable: How Marginalized Kingdom Voices Can Help Save the American Church". Join us for this challenging discussion that, based on the number of t...

There is no shortage of punditry, analysis and Monday morning quarterbacking about this week's midterm elections, including David's own work at the Dispatch. In this podcast, however, David and Curtis try to take a slightly broader (dare we say higher?) view, to ask not only the raw political questions, but also the broader questions about what this election might be signaling for our country, our...

Episode 51 - Does Jesus Need an Ad Campaign? with Jason Vanderground If you watch any sports on television you may have seen one of the edgy, black & white ads from the "He Gets Us" campaign. Designed to introduce Jesus to a culture that is actually quite intrigued by him, this campaign has created both curiosity and questions. We are excited to be joined this week by one of the chief architects o...

This week David and Curtis are joined by David Skeel, one of the world's leading experts on bankruptcy law and the Chairman of the Financial Oversight & Management Board for Puerto Rico, which was responsible for helping the territory restructure and cut its public debt by 80%. David brings a unique perspective as both a legal scholar and follower of Christ, particularly around how our understandi...

So how should Christians be approaching the midterm elections? Apart from the basic question of who to vote for, are there perhaps deeper questions to consider? What about the fact that 60% of Americans will have an election denier on their ballot this year? Is our democracy as unstable as a game of Jenga? Join David and Curtis for this enlightening discussion around the midterms and how we as Chr...

Anxiety is everywhere. It feels as though it is at crisis levels individually, and is also spilling over into our culture at large, particularly in the political arena. This week David and Curtis are joined by a live studio audience in Washington, DC to talk about our personal and cultural anxiety. Fortunately, they also offer some good news. Drawing upon Curtis' upcoming book "The Anxiety Opportu...

Are Christians called to navigate their finances differently from everyone else? Are the oft-repeated directives to save aggressively and avoid all debt either scriptural or wise? Is it possible that spiritual wisdom and practical wisdom are sometimes one and the same? Join David and Curtis in this excellent discussion with James Choi, Professor of Finance at Yale. As a Christian and a behavioral...

Raise yourself up by your own bootstraps. This is a refrain we hear all the time, especially as Americans catechized in the dogma of personal responsibility. But what if some people don't have bootstraps?  What if some don't even have boots? This week David and Curtis welcome educational expert and Rice University sociology professor Ruth López Turley. Raised on the U.S./Mexico border, Ruth's own...

Evil is certainly a powerful force in our world. We are witnessing it live in the form of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. But is evil ultimately as powerful as it is popularly portrayed? Does evil perhaps contain in itself the seeds of its own destruction? Join David and Curtis in this week's fascinating discussion about the inherent weakness of evil.  Show Notes: Why the Allies Won by Richard Ov...

In this special re-release, we at the Good Faith podcast want to honor the life of Jonathan Tjarks, who passed away last week. Jonathan was an NBA beat writer and podcaster for The Ringer, but he was so much more! Just 6 months ago we had the pleasure of having Jonathan join us to talk about his cancer diagnosis, the role of his faith community in caring for his family, and even a little NBA talk....

In a previously recorded (but never released) episode, David and Curtis tackle the particularly vexing challenge of justice when crimes are committed. For those who do not engage regularly with the criminal justice system, these questions can feel distant, or even irrelevant. But as we are reminded, God's repeated calls for justice throughout the scriptures don't give the Christian such an easy ou...

This week David and Curtis dive into the issue of time and how our understanding of time horizons can profoundly impact our perspective on the world, whether it is getting worse or better, and what actions that should lead us to take. As Christians who believe in eternity, we should be good at "playing the long game," but we often let ourselves get caught up in the issues of the moment, and let ou...

This week David and Curtis are joined by Meghan Sullivan, philosopher, teacher, and creator of the most popular class at the University of Notre Dame, "God and the Good Life." As many of us send our kids off to college (or head off to college ourselves), Meghan helps us appreciate the role of education–and of philosophy in particular–in helping students take on the big questions of life.   Show No...

This week David and Curtis are joined by Karen Swallow Prior, writer, thinker, and research professor of English and Christianity and culture at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. Karen talks to us about the current state of affairs in social media, particularly Twitter, and compares its impact on culture and the church to another critical technology, the printing press. She discusses how...

It's been an eventful week, and for many a deeply troubling one. But of course, no matter what end of the political spectrum you come from, weeks like this seem increasingly common. The hits just keep on coming, as do the feelings of loss and fear. So how are we as Christians to navigate such deeply troubled times? This week, David and Curtis dive into this question with some interesting thoughts...

This week David's theological wingman Curtis returns from his July sabbatical. He's rested and raring to go, but rather than dive into another hot political or cultural issue, Curtis actually has some remarkable insights to share about the nature of sabbath rest and the spiritual discipline of letting go, stepping away from our illusions of ultimate control and placing all our striving in God's ha...

While Curtis is still on sabbatical, David talks to Justin Giboney, co-founder of the AND Campaign, about racial justice, political tribalism, and the "God gap" in the Democratic Party. They discuss the problems with left and right as they grapple with extremism, and they talk about Justin's experiences talking about hot-button topics from a politically heterodox (but theologically orthodox) point...

David talks to Georgetown professor and Bush administration alum Paul Miller about Paul's new book, "The Religion of American Greatness: What's Wrong With Christian Nationalism." Paul defines Christian nationalism, discusses what's wrong with it theologically, what's wrong with it politically, and how it invariably leads to conflict and illiberalism. They also discuss Christian underrepresentation...

David talks to Scott Sauls, an author and pastor of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, Tennessee. They talk about handling the exhaustion of the current moment, whether winsomeness "works," and the challenges facing pastors in the face of relentless criticism. They also address Scott's prescient warnings about the dangers of culture war obsessions--warnings that date well before the present...

This week Eboo Patel, a Muslim pioneer in interfaith work, joins David and Curtis to discuss his book, We Need to Build . They discuss the need to allow people of different faiths to be able to bring their whole selves, including real and significant religious disagreements, to these conversations. Eboo also helps us understand why it is so important to do more than criticize what we don't like in...

Dobbs ; January 6 hearings; war in Ukraine; mass shootings. We are being overwhelmed on a weekly basis by a relentlessly heavy news cycle. In this week's episode David and Curtis give us a break from all this to talk with us about anxiety , despair and weariness . Wait . . . what?! Yes that's right, this is the Good Faith version of "lighter" fare! It's actually a very uplifting conversation and y...