Shifting Culture
On Shifting Culture we have conversations at the intersection of faith, culture, justice, and the way of Jesus. Hosted by Joshua Johnson, this podcast features long-form conversations with authors, theologians, artists, and cultural thinkers to trace how embodied love, courage, and creative faithfulness offer a culture of real healing and hope.
Episodes
427 episodes
Ep. 424 Jeffrey Overstreet - Lost and Found in the Cathedral of Cinema
Light is a language, and learning to read it - in a darkened theater, in the stories of your neighbors, in the films you were told to avoid - helps us see clearly. In this conversation, Jeffrey Overstreet and I talk about cinema as a spiritual ...
Ep. 423 Nijay Gupta - Paul for the World: What Does New Creation Look Like Here and Now?
Paul wasn't just helping people get to heaven. Nijay Gupta joins me to make the case that Paul's letters were written for people trying to figure out how to live, not how to escape. Drawing from his new book Paul for the World, Nijay w...
Ep. 422 Tia Levings Returns - Recovery and Hope After Religious Trauma
In this episode, Tia Levings returns to talk about her new book I Belong to Me - a guide to healing and recovery after high-control religion and other controlling environments. Tia walks through what she calls the steps before the step...
Ep. 421 Tish Harrison Warren - What Grows in Weary Lands
What do you do when the fire won't start - when life is full but God feels distant, when faith is intact but the soul is running on empty? In this conversation, I sit down with Tish Harrison Warren, who draws on her new book, What Grows in ...
Ep. 420 Eric Clayton Returns - The Spirituality of Star Wars
In this episode, I sit down with Eric Clayton to explore the spirituality of Star Wars and why these stories still shape how we see ourselves and the world. We talk about the cave on Dagobah, the pull of the dark side, nonviolence, discernment,...
Ep. 419 Scot McKnight & Adrienne Gibson - Traumatized Church
In this episode, I talk with Scot McKnight and Adrienne Gibson about their new book Traumatized Church, and what it looks like to read Paul, and our congregations, through a trauma-informed lens. We explore what trauma actually is, how...
Ep. 418 Alan Noble - How to Live Well in a Fractured World
We’re living in a fractured world, pulled in a thousand directions, unsure what it actually means to live a good life. In this episode, I talk with Alan Noble about virtue, telos, and how prudence, justice, courage, temperance, faith, hope, and...
Ep. 417 Steven Garber - Making Peace with the Proximate
What do you do when the world refuses to become what you know it should be? In this conversation, Steven Garber introduces the concept of "the proximate" - learning to make peace with what is nearly, but not yet, true - in our marriages, our wo...
Ep. 416 Andrew Root - Rescuing Church Growth from Idolatry
I sit down with Andrew Root to talk about his new book Baal and the Gods of More and the ways fertility idols still shape how we think about growth in the church. We explore how the drive for more - more people, more influence, more mo...
Ep. 415 Jason VanRuler Returns - Discovering Your Communication Type: The Path to Deeper Connections and Stronger Relationships
In this episode, I talk with Jason VanRuler about why we keep missing each other in conversation and what’s actually going on beneath the surface. We explore the five communication types - peacemaker, advocate, thinker, harbor, and spark - and ...
Ep. 414 Amy Orr-Ewing Returns - Reclaiming the Power of Forgiveness in a Culture of Outrage and Fear
Forgiveness is one of the hardest, but most crucial parts of the Christian life. In this episode with Amy Orr-Ewing, we talk about why forgiveness matters right now, especially in a culture shaped by outrage, cancellation, and competing visions...
Ep. 413 Malcolm Guite - Lifting the Veil: Beauty, Myth, and Re-Enchantment
Malcolm Guite joins me to talk about his new epic poem Galahad and the Grail and why these ancient stories still matter. We explore how myth and poetry can help us see what’s real, how we’ve lost a sense of wonder in a mechanized and d...
Ep. 412 Jay Stringer - What Your Desires Are Trying to Tell You
Desire is shaping your life more than you think. In this conversation, I talk with Jay Stringer about why desire often feels like a civil war within us and how our longings are deeply connected to our story - our wounds, our past, and the forma...
Ep. 411 Mark DeYmaz Returns - Make Me an Instrument of Your Peace
Mark DeYmaz - pastor, author, and longtime leader in building multi-ethnic, economically diverse churches returns to talk about what it actually means to be a peacemaker in a divided world. We center the conversation on the Prayer of St. Franci...
Ep. 410 Al Gordon - Igniting Your God-Given Creativity
Creativity isn’t optional in this moment, it’s essential to what it means to be human and to follow Jesus in a rapidly changing world. In this conversation, I talk with Al Gordon about why imagination is under threat, how AI is reshaping our cr...
Ep. 409 Marty Solomon - The Gospel of Being Human
Marty Solomon joins me to talk about what it actually means to be human and why starting with belovedness changes everything. We explore how the stories we believe shape our view of God, ourselves, and others, why certainty can get in the way o...
Ep. 408 Kevin Burrell - Consider the Birds: Joy, Attention, and the Way of Jesus
Kevin Burrell joins me to talk about what it means to pay attention again - to consider the birds, as Jesus says, and to see how creation can lead us deeper into the life of God. We walk through Philippians, a letter written from prison yet ful...
Ep. 407 James K.A. Smith - Make Your Home in This Luminous Dark
In a world of misinformation and uncertainty, we’re often tempted to think our way out of our problems. But what if more knowledge isn’t the answer? In this episode, I talk with philosopher and author James K.A. Smith about his book Make Yo...
Ep. 406 Bethaney Wilkinson - A More Beautiful Way to Live
In this episode, I sit down with Bethaney Wilkinson to talk about the pressure so many of us feel to move faster, do more, and carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. Bethaney shares her own story of burnout and how that crisis forced h...
Ep. 405 Josh Nadeau - Heaven Meets Earth: Beauty, Truth, Goodness and the Nicene Creed
Josh Nadeau, author of Heaven Meets Earth, joins me to explore what it looks like to move beyond intellectual faith into something embodied and transformative. Drawing on the Nicene Creed as a 40-day guide, Josh makes the case that goo...
Ep. 404 Jared Stacy - Reality in Ruins: Conspiracy, the Church, and the Way of Christ
In this episode, I talk with theologian Jared Stacy about why conspiracy theories have taken such deep root in our cultural moment and why they often find unique traction within American Christianity. We explore how an overload of information, ...
Ep. 403 Shannan Martin - Counterweights: Holding Hope in a Heavy World
In this episode, I’m joined by Shannon Martin to talk about her new book Counterweights and how we keep moving forward when life feels overwhelmingly heavy. We explore grief, collective trauma, and why quick fixes and toxic positivity ...
Ep. 402 Justin Ariel Bailey Returns - Discipling the Diseased Imagination
Justin Ariel Bailey joins me to talk about his book Discipling the Diseased Imagination and why imagination plays a crucial role in spiritual formation. We explore how the stories, habits, and media that capture our attention quietly s...
Ep. 401 Kendall Mariah - The Anchoring Tether in the Midst of Soul Friction
What do you do when your faith no longer fits the formulas you were given? In this episode, I sit down with Kendall to talk about what she calls “soul friction” — the holy discomfort that surfaces through disillusionment, infertility, adoption,...
Ep. 400 Sarah Bessey Returns - Braving the Truth with Rachel Held Evans
In this episode, I sit down with Sarah Bessey to talk about editing Braving the Truth, a curated collection of blog posts and essays from Rachel Held Evans that feel as timely now as when they were first written. We explore Rachel’s le...
