MBL series Coda: David Brooks

A Quiet Road Toward Jesus

A Pilgrimage from darkness to Light, one step at a time

One of my astute subscribers commented after the first post of the Moral Bucket List series: “Tim, I’m new to your Substack and enjoying it very much. I don’t want to be premature, as I know you plan to write about David Brooks next week as well, but Brooks is a Jesus follower, having come to faith about 2015.”

I confessed that I didn’t know that, so I decided to research it to be sure it is true. And the answer is: yes, Brooks has become a Jesus Follower—but in a very human and gradual way.

Over the past decade, David Brooks—longtime columnist for The New York Times, author of The Road to Character and The Second Mountain—has written and spoken increasingly about Jesus, grace, redemption, and resurrection. But he has done so with the honesty of someone still on the way: part pilgrim, part public intellectual, still holding tension between his Jewish heritage and Christian belief.

A Quiet “Crossing of Borders”

Brooks often describes his spiritual shift not as a lightning-strike conversion, but as a long, quiet journey.

“I didn’t have a moment where Jesus walked through the wall… it was gradual… I became a Christian around 2013, 2014 (a transition I liken to investing in the stock market in 1929).”
— Interview, 2022

He recounts how this began not with doctrine or creeds, but with a personal experience of grace:

“I experienced some sort of unconditional love… before I figured there was a guy up in the sky. Then gradually I came to think there’s a moral order to the universe.”

In many ways, Brooks’s “moral bucket list” writings—especially The Second Mountain—reflect his spiritual journey from self-driven achiever to receiver of grace and love. He gradually shifted his focus from his exterior life to his interior life. Intentionally opening himself up to a deeper life.

“I Can’t Unread Matthew”

Brooks maintains a strong connection to his Jewish roots but acknowledges that following Jesus now defines his spiritual life.

“I feel more Jewish than I ever did. I love the Hebrew prophets more. But I can’t unread Matthew.”

When asked about religious identity, he responded:

“Religiously I’m more on Team Christian… but culturally and ethnically Jewish.”

In practice, he goes to church, receives communion, and affirms the resurrection of Jesus—though he honestly admits to having a vacillating faith.

“Sometimes I believe in the resurrection; sometimes I don’t. I’m sort of rolling with it.”

I personally find such honesty in public conversation about faith refreshing. I am one of many Christians who live in that “rolling with it” space—a faith that deepens but still wrestles. With the apostles I often pray “I believe, help me in my unbelief”.

Jesus the “Badass Prophet”

One of my favorite moments on Brooks’ spiritual journey was when he experienced Jesus not as an abstract religious figure, but as a living, radical voice.

“Jesus is a total badass... Everything about that world was fraught, political, terrifying... I am in awe.”

So am I! And for much the same reason. He read the story of Jesus in the Gospels as an actual historical account of an actual man. Reading the story of Jesus as the story of a real man standing for truth in an ancient Israel full of corruption makes me stand in awe of Him too! I confess that I believed the Gospels were true long before I believed they were real. What a difference it makes to read the Gospels as a portrait of the very real Jesus of Nazareth. Brooks’ spiritual journey led him to see the Gospels as living texts—not simply ethical advice, but revolutionary grace in action.

How Faith Has Shaped His Public Voice

In the past 10 years, Brooks’s public writing has softened, deepened, and matured. The changes are most evident in three areas.

1. A New Focus on Grace:
   His earlier columns often emphasized merit, grit, and moral striving. Slowly, grace and humility took center stage.

2. Deeper Awareness of Woundedness and Redemption:
   Over the past decade Brooks moved from speaking mostly about the external cause effect circumstances of his story to speaking more often of the human condition—of inner battles, failures, and the healing power of love.

3. A Voice for Reconciliation:
   He never was a rabble rouser, but more than ever, he began championing humility in public discourse and seeking common moral ground—echoing Jesus’s call to peacemaking.

A Pilgrim’s Journey

So, has David Brooks “become a Christian”?
Yes—though not in the form of a neat label or headline conversion. His words point to a man walking the path of faith, eyes open, heart slowly being remade by grace.

For many thoughtful people today—especially those who find belief fragile or complex—Brooks offers a deeply relatable picture. A portrait of a pilgrim I find quite compelling. He is a public intellectual finding Jesus not in a rush, but through love, struggle, and truth.

“I’ve crossed the border,” Brooks says, “but I still live near the border.”

And isn’t that how often the journey of pilgrim goes? One step at a time. David Brooks seems to me to have ticked off many items on his “Moral Bucket List”, but his pilgrimage from darkness to light continues.

May we too continue our pilgrimage, one step at a time, from darkness to “The true light, which gives light to everyone…” (John 1:9)