Welcome to the Inspired Human Podcast!

Today we’ve got the one and only Dr. Andrew Root.

Andy is a friend. He’s a prolific author. If you have never read his Ministry in the Secular Age book series, you have to stop what you’re doing right now and start reading. Most recently, Andy wrote a book with his wife, Kara, called Pilgrimage into Letting Go: Helping Parents and Pastors Embrace the Uncontrollable. No surprise, but it is WONDERFUL. We talk about this book, and his other somewhat new-ish book called Evangelism in an Age of Despair: Hope beyond the Failed Promise of Happiness.

In the book, Andy charts how we in the modern west have become “happiness hunters,” and how as happiness hunters we are mostly becoming sad. We live as sad people, in many cases, living in sad times. Christians, he rightfully points out, can and should console these sad people and in turn invite people to Jesus in the life of the Church.

Nick published a book review for the Military Chaplaincy Review in February 2026 on Andy’s book Evangelism in an Age of Despair.

Inspired Human Podcast, Season 4, episode 2.

Welcome Frank Shirvinski! Frank and Nick are co-authoring a book for Purpose Press with an expected publication date of late 2026 or early 2027.

Frank is quite literally a jack of all trades (who has mastered them all). He is a full time aerospace engineer, Christian minister, and co-founder of Purpose Press with his daughter Abigail. Purpose Press is a platform for faith-centered books and study resources designed to help readers deepen their relationship with God and engage Scripture more meaningfully. They chase purpose not profits.

Drawing on decades of experience in both technical and theological fields, Frank has authored a range of titles published, including Before the Day Ends, The Trail, and the Toward the Horizon Bible study guides. He blends biblical insight with practical application for individuals and small groups. His work spans children’s stories that point young readers to spiritual truths as well as devotional and study guides that invite believers of all ages to explore faith with confidence and curiosity.

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Welcome to Season 4 of the Inspired Human Podcast.

This season is all about interviews with Christian thinkers and Christian pastors.

We welcome Dr. Hans Boersma!

Why did we interview him?

* We respect him. He’s a wonderful priest and pastor and a brilliant scholar.

* His books on the Beatific Vision and his writings about Scripture have deeply impacted us!

Dr. Boersma is an Anglican theologian and priest who holds the Saint Benedict Servants of Christ Chair in Ascetical Theology at Nashotah House Theological Seminary and previously taught at Regent College in Vancouver. He is a leading voice in contemporary sacramental theology and patristic studies, engaging theological traditions from East and West to enrich Christian thought and practice. His influential works include Seeing God: The Beatific Vision in Christian Tradition, which explores classical Christian understandings of the vision of God; Scripture as Real Presence: Sacramental Exegesis in the Early Church, a study of patristic biblical interpretation; and Sacramental Preaching: Sermons on the Hidden Presence of Christ, which offers a theological approach to preaching informed by tradition. His scholarship has shaped discussions on theological interpretation, ecclesiology, and the recovery of pre-modern theological insights for the church today.

Friends! This is it. The final episode of Season 3.

Let's call it an Epilogue, but it's really a conclusion with a ton of "what do we do now" kind of stuff. It's a wrap-up, so in many ways, it could have made a great intro episode as well. Whether this is the first episode you've heard, or the final one of the season... enjoy!

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Throughout this season, we want to remove the cultural scales from our eyes using insight from:
Alan Noble (You are Not your Own)
Andrew Root (Ministry in the Secular Age series)
Alan Ehrenberg (Diagnosing the History of Depression in the Contemporary Age)
Charles Taylor (A Secular Age)
Andy Crouch (The Tech-Wise Family)
Leonard Sax (The Collapse of Parenting)
All of Jean Twenge's (SDSU) recent interviews / articles / and her books
James K.A. Smith's books and articles
N.T. Wright (The Day the Revolution Began among others)
Alasdair MacIntyre (After Virtue)
The New and Old Testaments... plus other works that we sprinkle throughout.

[The views presented are those of the speaker or author and do not necessarily represent the views of DoD or its components.]

Season 3, episode 8: "Parenting in the You Do You Era."

This episode is our attempt at re-focusing parenting on raising disciples of Jesus.

To that end, we draw from parenting "fails" that stem from the junk values of the YDYE, and ultimately encourage Christian parents to help their children see themselves in God's story. Helping our kids see themselves in God's story allows us to help them "figure out who they are and what they want" in light of their identity as a child of God.

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Throughout this season, we want to remove the cultural scales from our eyes using insight from:
Alan Noble (You are Not your Own)
Andrew Root (Ministry in the Secular Age series)
Alan Ehrenberg (Diagnosing the History of Depression in the Contemporary Age)
Charles Taylor (A Secular Age)
Andy Crouch (The Tech-Wise Family)
Leonard Sax (The Collapse of Parenting)
All of Jean Twenge's (SDSU) recent interviews / articles / and her books
James K.A. Smith's books and articles
N.T. Wright (The Day the Revolution Began among others)
Alasdair MacIntyre (After Virtue)
The New and Old Testaments... plus other works that we sprinkle throughout.

[The views presented are those of the speaker or author and do not necessarily represent the views of DoD or its components.]

Season 3, episode 7: "Love and Marriage in the You Do You Era."

When relationships are simply an additional tool for you to be "your best self" or to find who you are...then you know you're living in the You do You Era.

Today we chat about how love, and marriage itself, has been influenced by the junk values of the YDYE. But, we don't just whine and complain. We also turn to the New Testament, especially Paul's theology of submission, in order to beckon Christians back to a cross-centered foundation for our most intimate relationships.

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Throughout this season, we want to remove the cultural scales from our eyes using insight from:
Alan Noble (You are Not your Own)
Andrew Root (Ministry in the Secular Age series)
Alan Ehrenberg (Diagnosing the History of Depression in the Contemporary Age)
Charles Taylor (A Secular Age)
Andy Crouch (The Tech-Wise Family)
Leonard Sax (The Collapse of Parenting)
All of Jean Twenge's (SDSU) recent interviews / articles / and her books
James K.A. Smith's books and articles
N.T. Wright (The Day the Revolution Began among others)
Alasdair MacIntyre (After Virtue)
The New and Old Testaments... plus other works that we sprinkle throughout.

[The views presented are those of the speaker or author and do not necessarily represent the views of DoD or its components.]

Season 3, episode 6: "Technology is Forming You and Failing to Transform You."

Your phone is not a tool. It is not neutral.

Your phone is a cash-cow device designed to get you to pick it up, use it, never put it down, and in the process, make other people lots and lots of money.

Friends, we are being formed by an algorithm, created by neuroscientists and computer programmers in California, on full display across all major social media platforms. Our eyes and our minds get pulled into video after video, feed upon feed, all based on what other people perceive we want to look at or consume.

We are being formed...or perhaps, de-formed.

The You Do You Era is marked by rampant use of electronic devices: Phones, tablets, computers, watches, and more. Our behaviors have become daily liturgies. Rather than organizing ourselves around time in service to God-in-the-world, most everything we do is orchestrated around or deeply influenced by inputs from our smart devices.

In this episode, we pull heavily from James K.A. Smith and Andy Crouch (The Tech Wise Family). We unashamedly encourage you to be weird, to adopt odd practices and thick boundaries around technology. Why? Because you and your kids are being formed by these practices....or, perhaps, de-formed! The question to consider is "What image am I being formed into?"

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Throughout this season, we want to remove the cultural scales from our eyes using insight from:
Alan Noble (You are Not your Own)
Andrew Root (Ministry in the Secular Age series)
Alan Ehrenberg (Diagnosing the History of Depression in the Contemporary Age)
Charles Taylor (A Secular Age)
Andy Crouch (The Tech-Wise Family)
Leonard Sax (The Collapse of Parenting)
All of Jean Twenge's (SDSU) recent interviews / articles / and her books
James K.A. Smith's books and articles
N.T. Wright (The Day the Revolution Began among others)
Alasdair MacIntyre (After Virtue)
The New and Old Testaments... plus other works that we sprinkle throughout.

[The views presented are those of the speaker or author and do not necessarily represent the views of DoD or its components.]

Season 3, episode 5: "Depression thrives on the You Do You Era's narrative."

Humans have never had more access to self help media and mental health drugs than right now. And yet, depression and anxiety are the hallmark pathologies of the You Do You Era. All the statistics show the same thing: We're more depressed, more anxious, and less happy, even though we have more creature comforts than ever in human history.

Why is this?

Obviously, the answer is very complicated....more complicated than what we could cover in this episode.

But here's the deal: Modern society makes us ill. Many people are anxious and depressed not because there is something wrong with them, but because something is wrong with the water (culture) that we are swimming in. It's polluted. It points you inward and then leaves you all alone.

Research shows that religious faith, connected to a healthy Church, is a buffer, a HUGE buffer, against depressive disorders. Why? Because a healthy Church offers a counter narrative to the You Do You Era.

You belong to God (See Alan Noble's You Are Not Your Own); You are a baptized child of God; God is the center, not you; these Church folk love you and you are accountable to them; you are not the king /queen of your life.

And this counter narrative will change your habits, and your habits may lead you to God.

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Throughout this season, we want to remove the cultural scales from our eyes using insight from:
Alan Noble (You are Not your Own)
Andrew Root (Ministry in the Secular Age series)
Alan Ehrenberg (Diagnosing the History of Depression in the Contemporary Age)
Charles Taylor (A Secular Age)
Andy Crouch (The Tech-Wise Family)
Leonard Sax (The Collapse of Parenting)
All of Jean Twenge's (SDSU) recent interviews / articles / and her books
James K.A. Smith's books and articles
N.T. Wright (The Day the Revolution Began among others)
Alasdair MacIntyre (After Virtue)
The New and Old Testaments... plus other works that we sprinkle throughout.

[The views presented are those of the speaker or author and do not necessarily represent the views of DoD or its components.]