Shifting Culture

In this episode with Natalia Terfa we talk about her book It All Counts, why questions deepen faith instead of eroding it, how to tell human authority from God's, what love looks like when a protest turns ugly, and why the prosperity gospel falls apart at a child's funeral. We get into loneliness and the risk community asks of us, the incarnation as an argument for the goodness of bodies, and how breath and creation return us to who we are.
Natalia is a Lutheran pastor, podcaster, and author who lives in Minneapolis with her her loves, Sam and Layla, and kitty babies. When she’s not working or writing, you’ll find her reading in her couch nest, ideally with a cat on her lap, watching Turkish television, taking walks in the neighborhood, looking at trees, or making good food for the people she loves.
Natalia's Book:
It All Counts
Connect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.com

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In this episode with Scot McKnight, we ask whether the perception that the Pharisees were hypocrites, legalists with a religious spirit is the right way to view them. We move the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees from one of theological debate to one in response to charisma, the crowds, and power. We talk about what charisma actually is, why economic justice sat at the center of Jesus' movement, the seven things the Pharisees really were, and what it means to stop weaponizing the word against anyone we disagree with.
Scot McKnight (PhD, Nottingham) has been a Professor of New Testament for more than four decades. He is the author of more than ninety books, including the award-winning The Jesus Creed as well as The King Jesus Gospel, A Fellowship of Differents, One.Life, The Blue Parakeet, Revelation for the Rest of Us, and Kingdom Conspiracy.
Scot's Book:
Jesus, People, Pharisees
Scot's Recommendation:
Furious Minds
Connect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.com

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In this episode with Matthew Soerens and Issam Smeir, we touch on something that has shaped my faith - sitting across a table from refugees until a statistic became a person with a name. A decade after the first edition of Seeking Refuge, the number of forcibly displaced people has doubled to roughly 120 million, yet care for the vulnerable has become one of the most politicized issues in American culture and the American church. We work to untangle fear and misinformation from biblical conviction, dig into the parable of the Good Samaritan, and ask what it looks like to stop, come closer, and respond.
Matthew Soerens is the Vice President of Advocacy and Policy for World Relief. Dr. Issam Smeir is a psychologist focused on trauma treatment for victims of persecution and torture who also works at World Relief. They're coauthors, along with Stephan Bauman, of the newly updated book Seeking Refuge: The Human Face of the Global Refugee Crisis (Moody Publishers, 2026).
Matthew and Issam's Book:
Seeking Refuge
Matthew's Recommendation:
The Faithful Innkeeper
Connect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.com

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In this episode with Joshua Luke Smith we sit with the idea that the life in front of you is the main event – even when it is limited, when it is unglamorous, when it’s not what you hoped for. We talk about lament and shame, consecration and wonder, what the cell and limits teach us about freedom, how we need to put ourselves in the way of beauty to bring us back to who we are. It’s a conversation about attention and presence.
Joshua Luke Smith is a poet for the people. He’s a songwriter, community builder, podcaster and author. He’s the founder of The Psalmists, a charity cultivating creative practice in prisons and among those on the margins of society.
His new book "This is The Main Event" comes out in July 2026.
He lives with his family in London, UK.
Joshua's Book:
This is the Main Event
Joshua's Recommendation:
The Odyssey
Connect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.com

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In this episode, Graham Joseph Hill joins me to talk through how every culture tends to read Jesus through their own lens and how we tend to remake Him in our own image. And when we do that, we tend to follow idols rather than Jesus. In his latest book Ten Movements of the Jesus Way, Graham maps ten typical idols and the turn we need to make to follow Jesus instead. Are we following Jesus, or just following our own culture with Jesus attached?
Graham Joseph Hill (PhD, Flinders University) is an adjunct research fellow and associate professor in the School of Theology at Charles Sturt University. In 2024 he received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) for service to theological education. His books include Global Church, Healing Our Broken Humanity, and World Christianity, shortlisted for the 2025 Australian Christian Book of the Year. He lives in Sydney with his wife, Shyn.
Graham's Book:
Ten Movements of the Jesus Way
Connect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.com

Go to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.

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