When most people hear “apologetics,” they think of courtroom-style arguments for the resurrection or bestsellers like The Case for Christ. But those are only a recent chapter in a much longer story. In this episode, host Dan Hummel talks with guest Daniel K. Williams about his new book, The Search for a Rational Faith: Reason and Belief in the History of American Christianity (Oxford University Press, 2026).

Together they trace four centuries of Christian efforts to defend the faith: the English Arminians and William Paley’s natural theology, the “Christian evidences” courses once taught at nearly every American college, the German research university model that displaced them, the experiential apologetics of liberal Protestantism, and the cultural apologetics of C.S. Lewis, Tim Keller, and their heirs. Williams also reflects on how his own upbringing shaped the book, why apologetics has mostly served believers rather than skeptics, and what today’s intra-Christian debates on YouTube have in common with seventeenth-century arguments.

IN THIS EPISODE

• The five main types of apologetics: evidentialist, classical, presuppositional, worldview, and cultural
• Why nineteenth-century Christians thought the evidence for Christianity was as certain as Newtonian science
• How the German university model, not Darwin alone, ended apologetics in the American curriculum
• Why today’s apologists must answer critiques of Christianity’s historical record
• How Catholic and Protestant apologetics have converged in recent decades

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Daniel K. Williams is a senior fellow at the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University, where he teaches American history. He is the author of several books on American religion and politics, including God’s Own Party: The Making of the Christian Right and The Politics of the Cross: A Christian Alternative to Partisanship. His newest book, The Search for a Rational Faith: Reason and Belief in the History of American Christianity, was published by Oxford University Press in 2026.

NAMES AND WORKS MENTIONED

• Josh McDowell, Evidence That Demands a Verdict

• Lee Strobel, The Case for Christ

• C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity and The Chronicles of Narnia

• Francis Schaeffer and Cornelius Van Til

• N.T. Wright, Gary Habermas, and Michael Licona on the resurrection

• Tim Keller and Rebecca McLaughlin (cultural apologetics)

• Thomas Aquinas, R.C. Sproul, and William Lane Craig (classical apologetics)

• William Paley (natural theology and Christian evidences)

• Mark Hopkins (Williams College) and George Frederick Wright (Oberlin College)

• Thomas Reid, Immanuel Kant, and David Strauss

• Mark Noll on the Bible as "America’s book"

• Tom Holland and Christopher Hitchens on Christianity’s legacy

• G.K. Chesterton, J.R.R. Tolkien, and Peter Kreeft

• Gavin Ortlund, Trent Horn, and Bishop Robert Barron (online apologetics)

• John Owen and the Young, Restless, and Reformed movement

🔗 LINKS

• The Search for a Rational Faith: Reason and Belief in the History of American Christianity (Oxford University Press, 2026) — https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-search-for-a-rational-faith-9780197748039?cc=us&lang=en&

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Subscribe to The UpWords Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and visit slbf.org/studio to learn more about our work at the intersection of faith, the academy, and the marketplace.

This episode was created by the SLBF STUDIO at Upper House.

Produced by Daniel Johnson and Dave Conour

Edited by Dave Conour

As the seasons change, so do our reading lists. Byron Borger, co-owner of Hearts & Minds Bookstore in Dallastown, Pennsylvania, returns to The UpWords Podcast with his fall roundup of the books most worth your time. Host Susan Smetzer-Anderson and Byron begin by remembering Annie Dillard and Wendell Berry, two literary lights whose work shaped generations of Christian readers, before turning to a remarkable season of new releases.

Byron makes the case for reading the ancients alongside the moderns, previews John Fea’s new look at whether America was founded as a Christian nation, and compares two of the fall’s most debated books: Kristin Kobes Du Mez’s Live Laugh Love and Bonnie Kristian’s In Defense of Evangelicalism. The conversation then moves into spiritual formation, with new books on God’s love, the humanity of Jesus, the medieval mystics, silence, and character, and closes with titles on cultural myths, womanhood in art, a theology of place, and the role of faith in a pluralistic democracy.

IN THIS EPISODE

• Remembering Annie Dillard and Wendell Berry
• Why Christians should read ancient literature, and how to read it with discernment
• Two contrasting accounts of evangelical women and evangelical culture
• New books on spiritual formation, from the Trinity to the mystics to the discipline of silence
• Books on cultural narratives, visual culture, sacred place, and religion in public life
• A teaser for anyone who wants to read more but struggles to

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Byron Borger and his wife, Beth, opened Hearts & Minds Bookstore in Dallastown, Pennsylvania, in 1982. Byron writes BookNotes, the store’s long-running review newsletter, and is a longtime conference bookseller and speaker on relating Christian faith to every area of life.

📙 BOOKS FEATURED IN THIS EPISODE

• Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea by Emily Wilson
• Christians Reading Classics by Nadya Williams
• From Achilles to Christ by Louis Markos
• Breaking Bread with the Dead by Alan Jacobs
• In God We Trust by John Fea
• Live Laugh Love by Kristin Kobes Du Mez
• In Defense of Evangelicalism by Bonnie Kristian
• The Wisdom of Jesus by N. T. Wright
• Fully Beloved by Timothy Jones
• Vulnerable God by Kenneth Tanner
• Make Your Home in This Luminous Dark by James K. A. Smith
• The Way of the Spirit by Jeremy Sims
• Into the Quiet by John Mark Comer
• Who You’re Becoming by Chuck DeGroat
• The Stories We Live By by Timothy Keller and Michael Keller
• Look Like a Lady by Elissa Yukiko Weichbrodt
• Every Somewhere Sacred by Ben Norquist and Brian Miller
• Can Religion Save Democracy? by Matthew Kaemingk and Shadi Hamid

🔗 LINKS

Hearts & Minds Bookstore: heartsandmindsbooks.com

Byron’s BookNotes newsletter: heartsandmindsbooks.com/booknotes

Send us Fan Mail

CONNECT WITH US
Subscribe to The UpWords Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and visit slbf.org/studio to learn more about our work at the intersection of faith, the academy, and the marketplace.

This episode was created by the SLBF STUDIO at Upper House.

Produced by Daniel Johnson and Dave Conour

Edited by Dave Conour

What does it mean to follow Jesus not only in who you are, but in how you lead, serve, and work? On this episode of The UpWords Podcast, host Joy Fea sits down with guest Joanna Meyer, founder and executive director of Women, Work, & Calling at the Denver Institute for Faith & Work, to explore vocational discipleship: forming people for a whole-life "yes" to God that reaches into their daily work.

Joanna traces her path from aspiring high school social studies teacher to twelve years of campus ministry, a season in global telecom, and more than a decade at the Denver Institute, showing how calling is often formed over time rather than discovered in a single moment. Together, Joy and Joanna walk through core ideas from Joanna's framework for vocational discipleship: influence that flows from hearts renewed by Christ; our identity as image-bearers and stewards; participation in God's renewal of all things; and women as agents of flourishing. Along the way, they talk about productivity and overwork, a redemptive understanding of power, generous leadership, and the mentors who help us see what God is inviting us into.

WHAT YOU WILL LEARN

• Why vocation is "a whole-life response to God's voice," not just a category of religious work
• How Christ's renewal of "all things" gives new meaning to daily work, from private equity to HOA boards
• Setting a generous table for women across theological convictions and life stages
• Joanna's candid reflections on overwork and being "addicted to mission"
• A business leader who built pre-apprenticeship on-ramps for people facing barriers to employment
• What a redemptive, servant-shaped understanding of power looks like across a workweek
• Breath prayer and daily silence as portable practices for busy workers
• Why God's hand is often clearer in the rearview mirror than in the road ahead

ABOUT OUR GUEST

Joanna Meyer is the founder and executive director of Women, Work, & Calling, a national initiative of the Denver Institute for Faith & Work that equips Christian women to have a godly influence in public life. She also hosts the Institute's Faith & Work Podcast. Before joining the Institute, she worked in global telecom, nonprofit consulting, and campus ministry with Cru. She holds an MA in Social Entrepreneurship from Bakke Graduate University and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Colorado Boulder. She is the author of Women, Work, & Calling: Step into Your Place in God's World (InterVarsity Press, 2023).

RESOURCES MENTIONED

• Women, Work, & Calling: Step into Your Place in God's World by Joanna Meyer (InterVarsity Press)

• Strong and Weak by Andy Crouch

• Culture Making by Andy Crouch

• The Work of Leaders (Jossey-Bass)

• The MBA Oath

• Denver Institute for Faith & Work: denverinstitute.org

• Women, Work, & Calling: womenworkandcalling.com

Send us Fan Mail

CONNECT WITH US
Subscribe to The UpWords Podcast wherever you listen to podcasts and visit slbf.org/studio to learn more about our work at the intersection of faith, the academy, and the marketplace.

This episode was created by the SLBF STUDIO at Upper House.

Produced by Daniel Johnson and Dave Conour

Edited by Dave Conour