The Russell Moore Show

Former Harper’s Magazine editor Christopher Beha on his journey from skeptical Atheism to skeptical Christianity.

Watch the video of this episode on YouTube here.

For many people, faith and skepticism are opposites, but novelist and former Harper’s Magazine editor Christopher Beha argues that the two may be more intertwined than we assume. In this conversation about his new book, Why I’m Not an Atheist, Beha reflects on his journey from a devout Catholic upbringing to atheism and eventually back to Christian faith.

Beha describes how an early mystical experience and later personal tragedy pushed him into deep questions about suffering, prayer, and the nature of belief. In college, those questions led him to identify as a skeptic, valuing reason and intellectual independence. Yet over time he came to see that skepticism itself has limits. The turning point came not through philosophical argument but through life itself, like falling in love and becoming part of a family. Those experiences prompted Beha to return to church, where he began hearing familiar Christian teachings in a new way: not primarily as moral demands or metaphysical propositions, but as a story centered on love and relationship–without setting aside his questions.

Together, Russell and Chris reflect on what it means to believe while still wrestling with doubt, how parents might talk with children who are questioning faith, and why the path toward belief often begins not with certainty but with simply showing up.

If you’ve wrestled with the Christian life being sold as putting aside all questions and doubt to choose unwavering certainty, you may appreciate hearing from Chris. 

Resources mentioned in this episode:


Why I Am Not an Atheist by Christopher Beha


Essays by Michel  de Montaigne

Keep up with Russell:


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On the war with Iran.

On occasion, we like to record audio versions of the latest from Russell’s weekly newsletter. Read this article here. Sign up for the newsletter, Moore to the Point, where Russell shares thoughtful takes on big questions, offers a Christian perspective on life, and recommends books and music he's enjoying.


Submit a question for the show (and include a voice memo!) at [email protected] 

Watch this episode on YouTubeSubscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription.
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A bonus episode with bestselling author and friend, Jennie Allen, on the occasion of her new book, The Lie You Don’t Know You Believe.

Watch the video of this episode on YouTube here.

Many people live with a persistent sense that something is not quite right—a low-grade hum of anxiety, insecurity, or striving that never seems to go away. In this bonus episode, Russell Moore talks with author and Bible teacher Jennie Allen about the hidden lies that can quietly shape our lives for years. Drawing from her brand-new book, The Lie You Don’t Know You Believe, Allen argues that many of our struggles—whether feelings of worthlessness, being unlovable, or helplessness—can often be traced back to stories we began believing long ago.

Russell and Jennie discuss how those beliefs form, often in childhood moments that seemed small at the time but quietly shaped a person’s identity. Along the way, they consider how faith, self-reflection, and grace can help people see their stories more clearly without turning the process into an exercise in blame.

The discussion also moves outward—from personal struggles to cultural ones—touching on why people crave recognition, why fear so often drives public life, and how Christians can respond without being ruled by anxiety. Ultimately, Allen points toward a simple but demanding path: recognizing the lies that bind us and fixing our eyes on Christ.

Resources mentioned in this episode:


The Lie You Don’t Know You Believe by Jennie Allen

Keep up with Russell:


Sign up for the weekly newsletter where Russell shares thoughtful takes on big questions, offers a Christian perspective on life, and recommends books and music he's enjoying.


Submit a question for the show at [email protected] 


Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

The author of Theo of Golden sits down with Russell in Andrew Peterson’s Chapter House for a conversation on the breakout novel. NO SPOILERS!

Watch the video of this episode on YouTube here.

Russell is joined by Allen Levi, the author of the breakout novel Theo of Golden, to ask why so many readers are hungry for a story about kindness—and whether such a person could exist outside the pages of fiction. 

Russell and Allen sit together in Nashville for a conversation based on questions RDM collected from listeners and friends. Without any spoilers, Levi describes Theo of Golden as a book not only about kindness, but about the reason for kindness—an ordinary holiness rooted in the reality of Heaven. Levi’s clear-eyed theology of “glory and grime” found in Golden insists that darkness is real, but it doesn’t get the last word. 

To close, Russell offers for Allen to share a rare on-air prayer for listeners who are exhausted by suspicion and artificiality.

If you’re struggling to see how kindness is worth the cost, or if you’re weary from cynicism, this episode is for you.

Resources mentioned in this episode:


Theo of Golden by Allen Levi


“The Confession” by Leo Tolstoy


“Think Little” by Wendell Berry 


How to Know a Person by David Brooks

Keep up with Russell:


Sign up for the weekly newsletter where Russell shares thoughtful takes on big questions, offers a Christian perspective on life, and recommends books and music he's enjoying.


Submit a question for the show at [email protected] 


Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A thought experiment on the realness of aliens, and what that would mean.

⁠Watch this episode on YouTube

On occasion, we like to record audio versions of the latest from Russell’s weekly newsletter. Read this article here. Sign up for the newsletter, Moore to the Point, where Russell shares thoughtful takes on big questions, offers a Christian perspective on life, and recommends books and music he's enjoying.


Submit a question for the show (and include a voice memo!) at [email protected] 


Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices