📚The Good Books: The NAR & Trump's Return to Power with Dr. Matthew D. Taylor

Now on YouTube! (And coming soon to your favorite podcast app!)

I’ve got a new interview for you today with Matthew D. Taylor, author of The Violent Take It By Force: The Christian Movement That Is Threatening Our Democracy.

We talk about the growth of independent charismatic Christianity, the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) and its role in J6 and ongoing support for Trump, as well as what's happened in the first month of Trump 2.0. This interview was recorded on 2/19/2025.

It’s already published on my YouTube channel as well as embedded below (and will be published to the Exvangelical podcast feed - and the new The Good Books feed - very soon).

As I wrote this past November, I’ve been planning to expand my coverage to more explicitly focus on books & author interviews for some time.

Well, that day is here. And given the state of things, I’m going to be publishing videos that may lack polish but have valuable content that deserves to be shared. This will absolutely feature a lot of me learning in public, but I hope that you will follow along and support the work.

Here’s the script I used to make a promotional Short about the show:

We read in all sorts of ways now. In fact, we read and write all the time, whether it’s for work or pleasure, to inform or entertain. We read commentary and takes on social media and in newsletters, as rolling captions or in single-sentence missives on Threads or Bluesky.

And I’ve always loved books. Over the last several years, I’ve had the pleasure and privilege of being able to talk to authors as part of my podcast, Exvangelical. I’ve even had the incredible opportunity to write my own book. Both of those experiences have only deepened my appreciation for what it takes to write and publish a book today.

That’s why I’m starting a new series called The Good Books, focused on authors, books, publishing, and how we read now. The title itself is a nod to my prior work focused on religion and society, as well as an indication of what I want to highlight—books I consider good, and authors who I consider compelling. It’s not going to be critical or harsh, but about books worth celebrating across a variety of genres.

So if that sounds like something you’d be interested in, subscribe today.

I will, of course, continue to share these videos here and explore other forms of content as well.

Let me know what you think either here or in the comments on YouTube.

And if you value my work, consider supporting it with a subscription.