Thinking Out Loud

In this episode of Thinking Out Loud, Nathan Rittenhouse and Cameron McAllister offer a deep theological analysis of current events, using U.S. involvement in Venezuela as a springboard to explore a much larger cultural shift where efficiency, power, and results increasingly eclipse ethical reasoning and Christian moral reflection. Engaging thinkers like Thomas Aquinas, Jacques Ellul, Alasdair MacIntyre, and Dallas Willard, Nathan and Cameron examine why just war theory, Christian political theology, and moral language often feel irrelevant in today’s public discourse—and what that means for Christians seeking faithfulness in a time of cultural transition. This conversation challenges believers to rethink the relationship between church and state, resist conflating Christian faith with political success, and recover a Christ-centered vision of hope, obedience, and vocation amid global instability, cultural upheaval, and moral fragmentation.DONATE LINK: https://toltogether.com/donate BOOK A SPEAKER: https://toltogether.com/book-a-speakerJOIN TOL CONNECT: https://toltogether.com/tol-connect TOL Connect is an online forum where TOL listeners can continue the conversation begun on the podcast.

In this episode of Thinking Out Loud, Nathan and Cameron engage in a deep theological discussion on parenting, childhood, and Christian formation in light of current cultural pressures, drawing on recent findings from Science that challenge the modern obsession with early specialization and measurable success. Through a distinctly Christian worldview, they explore how American competitiveness, metrics-driven education, and parental anxiety often crowd out moral development, spiritual maturity, and the biblical call to raise children toward wisdom, virtue, and love of neighbor rather than status or achievement. Nathan and Cameron reflect on Scripture, Christian anthropology, and lived experience to argue that letting kids be kids is not negligence but faithfulness, emphasizing that true success cannot be reduced to trophies, test scores, or bumper stickers but is found in character, humility, joy, and long-term formation under God’s providence. This episode is especially relevant for Christians seeking thoughtful theological insight on parenting, discipleship, cultural critique, and how faith shapes everyday decisions in a restless, results-obsessed age.DONATE LINK: https://toltogether.com/donate BOOK A SPEAKER: https://toltogether.com/book-a-speakerJOIN TOL CONNECT: https://toltogether.com/tol-connect TOL Connect is an online forum where TOL listeners can continue the conversation begun on the podcast.

In this episode of Thinking Out Loud, Nathan and Cameron engage in a deep theological discussion on the New York MAID Act (Medical Aid in Dying) and what medically assisted suicide means for Christians thinking faithfully about current events. From a Christian bioethics perspective, they explore end-of-life ethics, the sanctity and intrinsic value of human life, and how cultural ideas of autonomy, rights, happiness, and suffering are shaping moral decision-making—even within the church. Drawing on Scripture, Christian tradition, and real-world pastoral experience, Nathan and Cameron examine whether pro-life convictions can remain consistent from birth to death, why assisted suicide is gaining cultural acceptance, and how Christians can recover a robust theology of suffering, death, and hope in the resurrection. This episode is for Christians seeking serious theological reflection on medical ethics, assisted dying laws, and how to live and think Christianly in a rapidly changing society.DONATE LINK: https://toltogether.com/donate BOOK A SPEAKER: https://toltogether.com/book-a-speakerJOIN TOL CONNECT: https://toltogether.com/tol-connect TOL Connect is an online forum where TOL listeners can continue the conversation begun on the podcast.

In this Christmas episode of Thinking Out Loud, Nathan and Cameron offer a deep theological reflection on current cultural and institutional collapse through the simple yet profound story of a 94-year-old man planting a Christmas tree he may never see fully grown, using it as a lens to explore Christian hope, generational responsibility, and the calling to build lasting institutions in an uncertain age. Drawing on Scripture, church history, N.T. Wright, cultural criticism, and lived pastoral experience, they examine pessimism, stoicism, technological modernity, and the temptation toward utopian or nationalist solutions, while arguing for a distinctly Christian vision rooted in the Incarnation, Emmanuel, and an “open” universe shaped by divine intervention. This episode challenges believers to reject despair and shallow optimism alike, encouraging faithful investment in churches, communities, and cultural foundations that may outlast us, and inviting Christians who care about theology, culture, and current events to recover a resilient, contagious hope worthy of the gospel.DONATE LINK: https://toltogether.com/donate BOOK A SPEAKER: https://toltogether.com/book-a-speakerJOIN TOL CONNECT: https://toltogether.com/tol-connect TOL Connect is an online forum where TOL listeners can continue the conversation begun on the podcast.

In this episode of Thinking Out Loud, Nathan and Cameron engage in a deep theological conversation on Christian hope during Advent, wrestling honestly with the widespread sense of cultural exhaustion, despair, and decline shaping current events in the modern West. Drawing on Scripture, Christian tradition, and contemporary debates involving figures like David French and broader evangelical discourse, they explore the difference between optimism and true Christian hope, asking whether Western culture is in a moral and spiritual “death spiral” or whether that diagnosis misses something essential. Nathan and Cameron argue that biblical hope is not rooted in political solutions, economic progress, or cultural victories, but in the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ, offering a “living hope” that can coexist with suffering, weakness, and uncertainty. This episode is especially for Christians seeking serious theological reflection on cultural decay, Advent spirituality, moral formation, and how to live faithfully and joyfully in dark times without denial, despair, or false optimism.DONATE LINK: https://toltogether.com/donate BOOK A SPEAKER: https://toltogether.com/book-a-speakerJOIN TOL CONNECT: https://toltogether.com/tol-connect TOL Connect is an online forum where TOL listeners can continue the conversation begun on the podcast.