In this episode, I am joined by Russell Moore, editor in chief of Christianity Today, to reflect on the imago Dei—the belief that every person is created in the image of God—and why it matters for the practice of civility.
What does it mean to owe others a basic level of respect? And why is this so difficult to live out in our fractured public life? The idea of the Imago Dei counters our temptation to see people in terms of their usefulness or political alignment. It reminds us that human worth is not earned, but inherent.
Dr. Moore and I discuss how easily we misplace our sense of meaning in politics, reducing intellectual disagreements into definitions of character. We explore the rituals and habits that can help us resist this, cultivating instead the vision to see others as human beings first. As Wendell Berry warns, one of the most dangerous phrases in English is “desperate times call for desperate measures”—a license to ignore dignity, kindness, and civility when we need them most.
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