#207:David Zahl: The Big Relief

This Undivided Life

David Zahl is the director of Mockingbird Ministries and editor-in-chief of the Mocking Bird website. Born in New York City and brought up elsewhere, David graduated from Georgetown University in 2001, and then worked for several years as a youth minister in New England. In 2007 he founded Mockingbird in NYC.

We talk about his latest book The Big Relief:the urgency of grace for a worn-out world.

Today David and his wife Cate reside in Charlottesville, VA with their three boys, where David also serves on the staff of Christ Episcopal Church. He is also the author of A Mess of Help: From the Crucified Soul of Rock N’ Roll and co-author of Law and Gospel: A Theology for Sinners (and Saints). His book, Seculosity: How Career, Parenting, Technlogy, Food, Politics, and Romance Became Our New Religion and What To Do About It, appeared in 2019 from Fortress Press.

Even after all these years, he’s still mourning the end of Calvin and Hobbes (and hoping that Morrissey and Marr will bury the hatchet). His favorite theologian is probably a cross between Johnny Cash, Flannery O’Connor and his brother Simeon.