Beauty & Resistance: Practicing a Life That Forms You (Jonathan P. Walton)
Dr. James Spencer talks with Jonathan P. Walton—author of Beauty and Resistance and 12 Lies That Hold America Captive—about moving beyond “thinking Christian” to living as a Christian. Jonathan shares how grief, burnout, and hard family seasons pushed him from activism-on-adrenaline to formation and faithfulness: Sabbath as the minimum, annual “Dope Day” planning with his wife, building guardrails for generosity and time, embracing insignificance over platform, and choosing obedience even when it means visible losses. We unpack a practical pathway from pity → sympathy → empathy → compassion → incarnation, learning to mourn with others (and even empathize with “enemies”), plus simple, local practices that build communal good. A grounded, hopeful invitation to become the kind of person who can do the kinds of things Jesus commands.
Thinking Christian is hosted by Dr. James Spencer, president of the D. L. Moody Center and author of Digital Discernment (InterVarsity Press). Each conversation reads the Bible as the final authority for life and faith, questioning the assumptions of our culture, even our Christian culture, so that we don't settle for a narrower vision than God's word offers.
Unsettling convention. Cultivating conviction.
Episodes, articles, and questions: thinkingchristian.org
About James Spencer: thinkingchristian.org/james
The Thinking Christian Framework: thinkingchristian.org/framework
Order Digital Discernment: amazon.com
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In addition to being a regular contributor to Christianity.com and Washingtontimes.com, James has published multiple works, including Christian Resistance: Learnign to Defy the World and Follow Christ, Useful to God: Eight Lessons from the Life of D.L. Moody, Thinking Christian: Essays on Testimony, Accountability, and the Christian Mind, and Trajectories: A Gospel-Centered Introduction to Old Testament Theology.
James currently serves as president of the D. L. Moody Center, an adjunct instructor at Wheaton College Graduate School, and faculty member at Right On Mission.
You can find out more about James at his personal website www.jamesspencer.com.
