Episode Details

What if the crushing weight of modern life isn't a bug in the system but a feature of a false belief? In this episode of Thinking Christian, Dr. James Spencer is joined by Dr. Alan Noble to explore his compelling book, You Are Not Your Own. Together, they unpack why our culture's demand to “define yourself” leads to despair, and how belonging to Christ—not ourselves—is the good news we’ve been trained to forget. Drawing from the Heidelberg Catechism, zoocosis, and Sylvia Plath, this conversation dives deep into anthropology, social pressure, identity, and the role of the Church in resisting cultural formation. A quietly radical episode that reminds us that true freedom isn’t found in self-expression, but in surrender.

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.
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