Karen Swallow Prior on Birds, Bees, and Babies

The Russell Moore Show

Russell Moore

Christianity, Religion & Spirituality

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 22 April 2026

⏱️ 44 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

How should the church address infertility and childlessness? Watch this episode on YouTube In this special episode filmed as a livestream for Christianity Today subscribers, Russell Moore sits down with Karen Swallow Prior to talk about her recent CT Magazine article, “The Birds and the Bees, Babies and Me.” Drawing from her own experience, Prior reflects on the deeply personal nature of infertility—not just as a medical or social issue, but as a spiritual and communal one. But this conversation is not only about loss, it’s also about rethinking fruitfulness, calling, and blessing. In answering questions taken live from viewers, Prior points to the unexpected ways God shapes lives outside of cultural expectations, while Moore considers how churches can become places that recognize spiritual motherhood and fatherhood beyond biology. Along the way, they wrestle honestly with the tension of unanswered prayers, offering a vision of community that bears burdens together rather than explaining them away. Resources mentioned in this episode: Walking Through Infertility by Matthew Arbo Keep up with Russell: Sign up for the weekly newsletter where Russell shares thoughtful takes on big questions, offers a Christian perspective on life, and recommends books and music he's enjoying. Submit a question for the show at questions@russellmoore.com Subscribe to the Christianity Today Magazine: Special offer for listeners of The Russell Moore Show: Click here for 25% off a subscription. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

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0:00.0	This paid message is from the 26 moms, dads, and grads gift guide from Christianity
0:06.0	today's creative studio. Whether you're celebrating your mother, father, new graduate, or
0:11.4	want to give a gift just because, you'll find a book you love. Visit moms, dads, dads,
0:17.2	dot com to browse our books. Blessings are not rights.
0:23.1	Blessings are not guarantees.
0:25.3	And yet we just are so prone to trying to explain and control those blessings that we
0:30.9	lose the opportunity to be a blessing to one another as we bear one another's burdens.
0:38.3	Hello, this is Russell Moore, and this is the Russell Moore Show, brought to you by Christianity
0:43.2	today. Here, we look for signposts in a strange time by standing fast to what really
0:49.9	matters, kingdom over culture wars, truth over tribalism, pilgrimage over partisanship,
0:55.8	sanity over cynicism, witness over winning, and Christ over everything.
1:00.9	Today we have a conversation to do just that.
1:08.7	Every once in a while, we do an event for Christianity Today subscribers with a live stream conversation with someone whose work is making a difference in the world.
1:19.1	And that's one of the things that we did very recently in a conversation with Karen Swallow Pryor about infertility and how the church should respond, how the person should
1:30.0	respond to childlessness and to praying for children and when that prayer is not being answered.
1:37.4	If you'd like to be in on these conversations in the future, check the show notes for a special
1:43.2	subscription discount for those of you who listen to this show.
1:46.8	So here's Karen Swallow Pryor and I talking about this really important subject. Hope you enjoy.
1:58.8	Today we're talking to Karen Swallow Pryor about how the church should respond to infertility, to childlessness, to various issues.
2:09.1	Most of you, I'm sure, are already familiar with Karen Swallow Pryor.
2:14.0	KSP is a very popular writer speaker.
2:17.2	She's a contributing writer for the dispatch. She's a
	...

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