Kelly Kapic's The Christian Life — the newest volume in the New Studies in Dogmatics series — frames Christian living as a response to divine love, arguing that human agency is always Christological and ecclesial before it is personal. With Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and James Wood.

—

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

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Apply for fall 2026 admission to Beeson Divinity School's MDiv and be considered for a full-tuition scholarship. https://bit.ly/beesonscholarships

—

00:48
A Summit Work

04:01
False Dichotomies in Evangelical Thought

08:19
Anthropology and Life

11:33
A Little Summa

12:32
What's New About the Christian Life?

14:35
Forgiveness vs. Reconciliation

15:42
The Response to the Love of God

19:20
Christ's Vicarious Love and Agency

24:44
Understanding the Law and Gospel Distinction

29:58
Capital 'S' Sin

37:11
Obedience to the law

41:38
The Role of Liturgy in Corporate Worship

49:42
Living Out the Christian Life in Community

Carl Trueman joins Mere Fidelity to discuss his book The Desecration of Man: How the Rejection of God Degrades Our Humanity. They examine why "desecration" captures something "disenchantment" misses — the frenzied, ecstatic violation of what is still recognized as sacred — and trace its implications for abortion, gender, technology, and end-of-life ethics. Trueman argues the church's answer is consecration: creed, worship, and a code of hospitality that restores genuine personhood. With Derek Rishmawy and Alastair Roberts.

—

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, Classical Theism: A Christian Introduction, by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Apply for fall 2026 admission to Beeson Divinity School's MDiv and be considered for a full-tuition scholarship. https://bit.ly/beesonscholarships

—

Chapters

• 00:00 - Introduction
• 01:10 - Why "Desecration" and Not Just "Disenchantment"
• 06:16 - The Pleasure of Desecration and Alternative Sacralizing
• 10:07 - Is This a Perennial Problem or Something New?
• 14:27 - Power, Impotence, and Promethean Shame
• 17:35 - Dizziness, AI, and the Nothingness of Radical Freedom
• 22:41 - Nietzsche, Nature, and the Denial of the Given
• 28:42 - Consecration as Response: Creed, Cult, and Code
• 33:14 - The Church and End-of-Life Ethics
• 39:18 - Vitalism, False Friends, and the Logic of the Cross
• 45:38 - Two Cheers for Christianity and the Opportunity Before Us
• 48:51 - Freedom, Belonging, and the Gospel

What does it mean to live well in morally incoherent times? Alan Noble joins the show to discuss his new book To Live Well: Practical Wisdom for Moving Through Chaotic Times, which uses the four cardinal virtues and three theological virtues as a framework for navigating choice paralysis, the loneliness epidemic, and contemporary anxiety. The conversation covers why courage and temperance feel especially urgent today, the difficulty of writing on justice, hoping all things for political opponents, the sunk cost fallacy in vocational discernment, and why friendship requires intentional cultivation. Grace, not optimization, grounds the virtuous life. Hosted by Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and James Wood.

—

Get the Spiritual Formation for the Family ebook for free at http://mereorthodoxy.com/family.

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, Classical Theism: A Christian Introduction, by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Apply for fall 2026 admission to Beeson Divinity School's MDiv and be considered for a full-tuition scholarship. https://bit.ly/beesonscholarships

—

Chapter Markers

• 00:00 - Welcome and introductions
• 00:52 - The pitch for To Live Well
• 03:30 - Diagnosis: alienation or anomie?
• 06:30 - The four cardinal and three theological virtues
• 08:14 - What is a virtue?
• 10:11 - Office hours and the paradox of choice
• 14:54 - Fortitude in an anxious age
• 18:41 - The sunk cost fallacy and pivoting well
• 21:40 - The heap of broken images and Christian wholeness
• 25:07 - Hoping all things for political opponents
• 29:36 - The hardest chapter to write: justice
• 32:17 - What pastors and churches can do
• 34:40 - Grace, virtue, and the Protestant hesitation
• 38:55 - Friendship as the practice of love
• 44:31 - Closing thoughts

Was the Apostle Paul Torah-observant — not just before the Damascus road, but throughout his apostleship to the nations? Brad East stakes out a thesis drawn from Messianic Judaism and the Paul Within Judaism school: that Acts 21 should be read straight, that James is telling the truth about Paul, and that Genesis 12 and 17 still bind Jewish believers. Derek Rishmawy and Alastair Roberts push back hard, working through Galatians 2, 1 Corinthians 9, and the question of whether the law's force after Christ is divine command or Hookerian adiaphora — with the future of Jewish identity in the church in view.

—

Get the free ebook Spiritual Formation for the Family at http://mereorthodoxy.com/family.

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, Keeping Kids Christian: Recovering A Biblical Vision For Lifelong Discipleship, by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Apply for fall 2026 admission to Beeson Divinity School's MDiv (or M.Div., your choice) and be considered for a full-tuition scholarship: https://bit.ly/beesonscholarships

—

Chapters

• 00:00 - Welcome and the Disclaimer
• 01:00 - The Thesis: Paul Remained Torah-Observant
• 01:34 - Messianic Judaism and Paul Within Judaism
• 04:29 - Acts 21: Is Paul Lying or Walking the Law?
• 08:04 - Alastair's First Move: Affirming, Not Practicing
• 10:33 - A Law You Need Not Obey Is Not a Law
• 12:17 - Law as Covenant vs. Law as Instruction
• 15:34 - Circumcision as the Test Case
• 16:13 - Adiaphora, Hooker, and Binding Authority
• 17:40 - 1 Corinthians 9 Enters the Conversation
• 18:08 - The Halakhic Question: Should Elders Discipline?
• 21:11 - Acts 15 and Internally Differentiated Norms
• 23:13 - Alastair on Existing Authorities and Custom
• 26:36 - The Canonical Vision: Revelation 7
• 29:50 - Adiaphora's Sociological Problem
• 33:22 - Galatians 2: What Was Peter Doing?
• 38:18 - Permission vs. Prohibition
• 41:04 - Why Reduce Genesis 12–17 to Local Custom?
• 44:02 - Baptism, Circumcision, and Covenant Signs
• 47:55 - Does God Want Jews in the World?
• 50:10 - Providence and the Future Conversion
• 56:42 - One Body in Christ and the Complementarian Parallel
• 57:08 - Reinterpreting "Under the Law"
• 1:01:18 - Difference Without Division
• 1:04:13 - The Empirical Problem for Both Views
• 1:07:51 - Reading Our Situation Back into Paul
• 1:10:46 - Closing

How do we hold together confidence before God and a proper sense of his holiness? Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and Joe Minich take up a pastoral question at the heart of Christian worship and prayer. Working from the Lord's Prayer, the Psalms, Job, and John 8, they discuss the dangers of both presumption and paralyzing anxiety, the relationship between knowledge of God and knowledge of self, and why assurance is less a fact we verify than a relation we inhabit. Along the way: Isaiah's vision, Calvin on "stupid" prayer, and what Alcoholics Anonymous teaches about showing up.

—

Spiritual Formation for the Family ebook: http://mereorthodoxy.com/family

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, Keeping Kids Christian: Recovering A Biblical Vision For Lifelong Discipleship, by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Apply for fall 2026 admission to Beeson Divinity School's MDiv (or M.Div., your choice) and be considered for a full-tuition scholarship: https://bit.ly/beesonscholarships

—

• 00:00 - Introduction
• 01:17 - Confidence and holiness: the central tension
• 02:52 - The Lord's Prayer and the dynamic of approach
• 04:48 - The honesty of the Psalms and Job
• 09:16 - Boldness in prayer: the unjust judge and friend at midnight
• 11:11 - Hebrews and the two mountains
• 13:45 - Name-it-and-claim-it vs. petitionary prayer
• 14:45 - Being seen by God rather than seeing God
• 16:50 - John 8 and the woman caught in adultery
• 19:50 - Owen, Calvin, and "hard thoughts about God"
• 23:51 - "There is forgiveness with you, that you may be feared"
• 24:34 - Judgment and absolution in forgiveness
• 29:13 - The joy of approach and the glory of God
• 31:13 - Calvin, Isaiah, and the knowledge of God and self
• 33:58 - The erasure of sin in Waugh and Eliot
• 36:25 - Assurance as relation, not calculation
• 39:13 - Adoption, marriage, and secure identity
• 41:11 - Two kinds of self-absorption
• 45:48 - Alcoholics Anonymous and staying in the game
• 50:10 - Distorting the game itself: Jeremiah and the den of thieves
• 52:30 - Pastoral wisdom: who needs what
• 55:05 - Closing

On this episode of Mere Fidelity, historian of history Paul Gutacker joins Matt, Derek, and Alastair to talk about the changing and sometimes fraught relationship that Protestants have had with the notions of "history" and "tradition." Paul's book, The Old Faith in a New Nation, particularly examines how nineteenth century debates about slavery, etc., influenced our ideas about the roles of Scripture and Church in regard to history. 
—

Get the free ebook Spiritual Formation for the Family at http://mereorthodoxy.com/family.

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, Keeping Kids Christian: Recovering A Biblical Vision For Lifelong Discipleship, by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Apply for fall 2026 admission to Beeson Divinity School's MDiv (or M.Div., your choice) and be considered for a full-tuition scholarship: https://bit.ly/beesonscholarships

—

Timestamps:
Neo-Calvinism [0:30]
My Fellow Subjects [2:08]
Meta-history [3:22]
What is Biblicism? [4:37]
Misusing History [9:54]
Scripture's Changing Role [14:42]
Tradition or History [18:41]
Church Disputes [23:36]
Foreigners [27:06]
Spirit and Letter [29:35]
Hermeneutical Precedent [42:42]
How should pastors use history? [46:05]

Derek Rishmawy, James Wood, and Joseph Minich trace the nature-grace debate from de Lubac's challenge to neoscholastic "pure nature" through Blondel, Bavinck, and Betz's Christ the Logos of Creation — asking what's actually at stake: the gratuity of grace, the coherence of theological anthropology, and the twin dangers of secular dualism and pantheist collapse.

—

Get Spiritual Formation for the Family ebook for free at http://mereorthodoxy.com/family.

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, Keeping Kids Christian: Recovering A Biblical Vision For Lifelong Discipleship, by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Apply for Beeson Divinity School's Ph.D program by April 1 for Fall 2026 admission here: https://bit.ly/BeesonPhD

—

Chapters

• 00:00 - Introduction: Why Nature and Grace?
• 02:30 - The Debate in Context: Neo-Calvinism, Catholic-Protestant Dialogue, and David Bentley Hart
• 05:00 - James on De Lubac: Challenging Pure Nature and Extrinsicism
• 08:30 - Blondel, Desire, and the Political Consequences of Separation
• 11:30 - Derek's Five-Year-Old Explanation: What Is Actually at Issue
• 13:30 - Joe: Natural Ends, Supernatural Ends, and the Beatific Vision
• 16:00 - Steel-Manning the Two-Tier View: Gratuity of Grace
• 18:30 - Bavinck, the Donum Superadditum, and Terminological Convergence
• 22:00 - The Neo-Calvinist Peril: Immanentizing the Eschaton
• 24:00 - Reception History: Did De Lubac Get Thomas Right?
• 27:00 - Betz, Chavarra, and Philosophy's Openness to Theology
• 31:00 - Participatory Metaphysics and Non-Competitive Freedom
• 33:30 - Derek's Worry: The Pantheist Ditch
• 36:00 - Horton's Trilogy and the Irenaean/Origenist Distinction
• 39:00 - The Two Ditches: Extrinsic Dualism vs. Pantheistic Monism
• 43:00 - Desire, Idolatry, and the Hook Into the Real
• 47:00 - Was the Incarnation Part of the Plan? Creation in Christ
• 50:00 - Closing Thoughts: Bavinck's Affirmations and Where to Go Next

When students started turning in papers written by artificial intelligence, educators were caught flat-footed. We knew that machines would replace many human tasks, but we thought the humanities were immune to that. Have our writing standards fallen so low that we can no longer write better than computers? Or are we about to experience the awakening of Artificial Consciousness? Matt and Alastair discuss this situation with Jason Thacker, the Chair of Research in Technology Ethics at the ERLC.

—

Get the ebook Spiritual Formation for the Family at http://mereorthodoxy.com/family.

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, Keeping Kids Christian: Recovering A Biblical Vision For Lifelong Discipleship, by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

—
Timestamps:
Written by a Bot [0:00]
The ChatGPT Panic [2:45]
What is human? [6:48]
Is intelligence important? [11:09]
Going Full Hobbit [20:57]
Did we do this on purpose? [28:00]
Inevitable Arms Race [34:44]
Covid Tech-lash [45:20]
AI(dolatry) [52:34]

What if death's presence in the cosmos is not native to creation but a wound running all the way down to its foundations, inflicted before Adam ever reached for the fruit? Philip Porter joins Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and Brad East to discuss his new book, which retrieves Augustine, Aquinas, Milton, and Tolkien to argue that the angelic fall precedes and precipitates every other form of evil, and that contemporary theology has been too quick to make peace with death.

——

Hosts: Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, Brad East

Guest: Philip Porter, assistant professor of theology at Saint Louis University (Madrid) and author of Unnatural Death: Creation, Sin, and the Angelic Fall. He completed his doctoral work under Paul Griffiths at Duke Divinity School.

——

Get the free ebook Spiritual Formation for the Family at http://mereorthodoxy.com/family.

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, Keeping Kids Christian: Recovering A Biblical Vision For Lifelong Discipleship, by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Apply for Beeson Divinity School's Ph.D program by April 1 for Fall 2026 admission here: https://bit.ly/BeesonPhD

——

Timestamps

• 0:00 - Intro
• 3:50 - Porter's thesis: why death as enemy matters and what contemporary theology gets wrong
• 8:40 - Augustine's rationes seminales: the seed-like reasons at the heart of creation
• 10:15 - Angels as administrators of creation and how their fall wounds the cosmos
• 13:30 - Tolkien's Silmarillion, Melkor's discord, and the felix culpa logic
• 17:30 - The conditio and administratio: God's atemporal creation vs. its unfolding in time
• 20:00 - Three false paths: Kelsey, McCabe, and Darwin
• 27:00 - Does scripture naturalize death? The grain of wheat, 1 Corinthians 15, and Alastair's question
• 39:10 - The double fall: Romans 5, the angelic fall, and how they fit together
• 42:00 - Satan's envy of the hypostatic union: what Lucifer saw and why he turned
• 52:00 - Refracted and diffracted light: a metaphor for holy and fallen angels
• 1:01:40 - Deep time, hominins, and what it means for Adam to be unfallen in a devastated cosmos
• 1:05:05 - The Johannine thread: destroying the works of the devil and what the devil actually wants
• 1:12:30 - Universalism, David Bentley Hart, and the problem the angelic fall poses for it
• 1:20:35 - Supralapsarianism and the incarnation-anyway position

Books Mentioned

• Philip Porter, Unnatural Death: Creation, Sin, and the Angelic Fall
• Paul Griffiths, Decreation
• David Kelsey, Eccentric Existence
• J.R.R. Tolkien, The Silmarillion
• David Bentley Hart, That All Shall Be Well
• Ambrose of Milan, On the Good of Death

Derek Rishmawy, James Wood, and Alastair Roberts welcome Dr. Lyndon Jost, author of Transfiguring Headship: A Figural Theology of Gender. Jost argues that headship is rooted in Old Testament figural theology rather than Greco-Roman culture, that it fundamentally means representation rather than authority, and that this reframes debates between complementarians and egalitarians alike. 

—

Get your copy of our free ebook, Spiritual Formation for the Family, at http://mereorthodoxy.com/family.

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, Keeping Kids Christian: Recovering A Biblical Vision For Lifelong Discipleship, by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Apply for Beeson Divinity School's Ph.D program by April 1 for Fall 2026 admission here: https://bit.ly/BeesonPhD

—

Chapters

01:15 - Overview of Transfiguring Headship

03:06 - Headship as Representation, Not Authority

06:09 - Critiquing Complementarian and Egalitarian Readings

10:32 - Figural Theology and the Fourfold Senses of Scripture

17:05 - Against Greco-Roman Readings of Headship

20:13 - 1 Corinthians 11:3 and Trinitarian Headship

25:35 - Ivan Illich, Gender vs. Sex, and Vernacular Gender

32:48 - Headship, Marriage, and the One-Flesh Union

43:23 - Essentialism, Gender Realism, and Minimalist Claims

50:36 - Headship as Unity, Not Opposition

55:59 - Male Responsibility and the Final Account

58:28 - Headship, Creation Order, and External Representation

01:02:14 - Closing Remarks

Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and Brad East consider what Christian theology actually has to say about aliens — from the populated Christian cosmos to the angelic fall, demonic deception, and the Christological anthropocentrism that runs through Lewis, Edwards, and Aquinas. Are UFO encounters spiritual phenomena in disguise? And does any of this unsettle orthodox faith?

—

Get the ebook, Spiritual Formation for the Family, by going to http://mereorthodoxy.com/family.

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, R30 Key Moments in the History of Christianity: Inspiring True Stories from the Early Church Around the World, by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Apply for Beeson Divinity School's Ph.D program by April 1 for Fall 2026 admission here: https://bit.ly/BeesonPhD

—

Chapters

00:00 Aliens Are In The Air
06:38 What Counts As Alien?
12:22 The Nature of Alien Phenomena
19:08 Close Encounters of the Heavenly Kind
25:40 Lewis vs. L'Engle
32:52 Testimony
39:37 The Uniqueness of the Incarnation
45:30 Angels, Humanity, and Salvation
50:48 Christological Considerations
53:07 Be Fruitful and Explore Space!

In this Replay episode, Matthew Lee Anderson, Derek Rishmawy, and Alistair Roberts are joined by Andy Crouch — Partner for Theology and Culture at Praxis — to examine what the data on social media and video games reveals about the diverging formation of young men and women. The conversation turns on a pointed question: what happens when the skills adolescence develops are simulations rather than realities? And what does that mean for formative communities — home, school, and church — that bear responsibility for shaping persons, not just managing behaviors?

-

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, R30 Key Moments in the History of Christianity: Inspiring True Stories from the Early Church Around the World, by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Apply for a full-tuition scholarship for Beeson Divinity School's M.Div program that begins Fall 2026 here: https://bit.ly/beesonscholarships

-

Chapters

• 2:00 — Guest Introduction: Andy Crouch
• 3:00 — The Tweet: Social Media, Video Games, and Diverging Outcomes
• 5:30 — Why We Now Have Reliable Data
• 7:00 — Social Media's Harm to Girls
• 8:30 — Why Boys Seem Fine (At First)
• 11:00 — The Idolatry Framework: Things That Work at First
• 17:00 — Pornography as Formation Failure
• 19:00 — The Feminization of Internet Culture
• 25:00 — The Algorithmic Turn: From Chronological to Algorithmic Feeds
• 31:00 — The Algorithm Catches You at Your Worst
• 33:00 — Mobile Devices and the End of Distance
• 36:00 — Practical Applications: Give Resistors an Off-Ramp
• 40:00 — Banning Phones in Schools: A Framework
• 44:00 — "But They Need to Prepare for the Real World"
• 46:00 — Instruments vs. Devices: A Distinction
• 48:00 — Closing & Patron Teaser

Derek Rishmawy and Alastair Roberts host Jake Meador for a wide-ranging conversation on why evangelical institutions struggle with leadership transitions and long-term succession. They explore how evangelicalism's emphasis on discontinuity, charismatic personality-driven leadership, and brand-over-institution thinking undermines durability. The discussion touches on the boomer generational bottleneck, the producer-consumer framework shaped by technology, and what healthier models—like RTS or long-tenured churches—might teach us about building things that outlast their founders.

—

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, R30 Key Moments in the History of Christianity: Inspiring True Stories from the Early Church Around the World, by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Apply for a full-tuition scholarship for Beeson Divinity School's M.Div program that begins Fall 2026 here: https://bit.ly/beesonscholarships

—

Chapters

• 00:00 – Introduction & Framing the Problem
• 02:48 – Evangelicalism's Built-In Bias Toward Discontinuity
• 06:34 – Charisma, Personality, and the Exoskeleton Problem
• 08:46 – Brands vs. Institutions
• 11:22 – RTS as a Positive Case Study
• 15:24 – Market Forces and Media Adaptability
• 17:33 – Long-Tenured Churches and the Mold vs. Platform Distinction
• 24:18 – The Boomer Generational Cliff
• 30:16 – Carson, Piper, Keller, and Golden Age Expectations
• 39:23 – Evangelical Anxiety About Institutional Betrayal
• 43:31 – Technology, Formation, and the Performing Self
• 51:26 – Birth Rates, Legacy, and Thinking About Succession

Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, Brad East, and James Wood trace the evangelical spiritual formation movement from Richard Foster through Dallas Willard to John Mark Comer. They explore why disciplines resonate today amid technological distraction and desire for embodied faith, while navigating tensions between individual and communal formation, liturgy's role, and concerns about practices becoming self-optimization divorced from gospel foundations.

—

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, 30 Key Moments in the History of Christianity: Inspiring True Stories from the Early Church Around the World, by going to 

Apply for a full-tuition scholarship for Beeson Divinity School's M.Div program that begins Fall 2026 here: https://bit.ly/beesonscholarships

—

Chapters

• 00:00 – Introduction
• 01:06 – Tracing the Spiritual Formation Movement
• 08:35 – Why Spiritual Disciplines Resonate Today
• 19:45 – Technology, Attention, and the Appeal of Forms
• 25:00 – Critiques: Self-Optimization and Theological Drift
• 33:12 – The Role of Set Prayers and Liturgy
• 44:50 – Inhabiting Forms vs. Formalism
• 53:00 – Suffering as Spiritual Formation
• 58:47 – The Danger of Christian Elitism
• 01:12:54 – The Parable of the Three Bricklayers

Hosts Derek Rishmawy and Brad East are joined by Myles Werntz to discuss his Christianity Today Award of Merit-winning book, Contesting the Body of Christ: Ecclesiology's Revolutionary Century. Rather than systematic argument, Werntz uses narrative case studies examining how diverse Christian communities—from African Pentecostals to Korean Presbyterians—have embodied and contested the classical marks of the church.

His starting premise: assume the Holy Spirit is at work in churches confessing Christ, then investigate what's happening. The conversation tackles tough questions about theological boundaries, ecumenical charity, and faithful disagreement when salvation is at stake.

—

Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership.

Get 40% of the Baker Book of the Month, Reading The Psalms As Scripture by James Hamilton and Matthew Damico, by using the promo code MEREFIDELITY at checkout. Get the book here: https://bakerpublishinggroup.com/products/9781683597766_reading-the-psalms-as-scripture

—

Key Topics

• Why the 20th century was revolutionary for the church (Vatican II, Pentecostalism, decolonization, ecumenical movement)
• Contestation as intrinsic to ecclesial life, not a bug but a feature
• Theological guardrails: the Nicene Creed, Scripture, faith-hope-love
• Limit cases: when does disagreement become denial of God's work?
• How to argue faithfully in a non-Roman Catholic ecclesiology

Guest

Myles Werntz, Professor of Theology at Abilene Christian University

A podcast from Mere Orthodoxy

Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts and Brad East talk with Dr. Jason Staples about his book 'Paul and the Resurrection of Israel.' The discussion explores the themes of restoration eschatology, the role of Gentiles in Paul's theology, and the nature of Israel's restoration. Staples argues that Paul's understanding of Israel is broader than just ethnic Jews, emphasizing the inclusion of Gentiles in the restoration narrative. The conversation also touches on the concept of infectious holiness and the church's role as the assembly of Israel, highlighting the theological implications of these ideas for contemporary Christianity.

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Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership

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Derek, Brad, and Alastair talk with Leah Sargeant about her book The Dignity of Dependence. They discuss why the world is built for male bodies, how pregnancy exposes universal human dependence, whether artificial wombs would help anyone, what's wrong with workplace dynamics, and why autonomy is a dangerous cultural idol.

Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and Brad East discuss the nature of preaching, exploring its purpose, context, and the role of the preacher. They discuss the importance of engaging the heart and conscience of the audience, the need for contextualization in sermons, and the common pitfalls that preachers face. The conversation emphasizes the collective nature of engaging with scripture and the significance of avoiding jargon to ensure accessibility for all listeners.

Derek Rishmawy and Alastair Roberts discuss how minds actually change—through paradigm shifts, careful arguments, or accumulated experience. They explore why steel-manning opponents and engaging charitably with the strongest versions of opposing views is more persuasive than antagonistic debate. The key insight: the best positions emerge when you're willing to incorporate real strengths from other viewpoints and make warranted concessions, which requires moving beyond polarized combat toward genuine good-faith dialogue.

Derek Rishmawy and Brad East engage with Paul T. Sloan, an expert in early Christianity, to discuss his book 'Jesus and the Law of Moses.' The conversation explores the relationship between Jesus, the law, and the restoration of Israel, challenging popular views on legalism and emphasizing the importance of understanding the law as a gift. They delve into the concept of nomism, the significance of Jesus' authority, and the implications of his death as a ransom for liberation. The discussion also touches on the role of faith, the misunderstandings of the Pharisees, and the enduring relevance of the law in the New Testament.

Chapters

Most of what we talk about on Mere Fidelity presupposes a lot of reading. What is the real use of reading? Is what we read more important than how we read? Why do some people who read for years never develop the habits of reading well? Alastair, Matt, and Derek discuss these questions as well as summer reading on this episode.

In this episode of Mere Fidelity, Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and James Wood engage in a deep conversation about the evolving landscape of evangelism and contextualization, particularly focusing on the concept of 'reality respecters'—individuals who are open to the gospel due to their recognition of certain truths in a world increasingly alienated from reality. They discuss the cultural shift towards a more right-leaning openness to Christianity, the importance of understanding individual contexts in evangelism, and the need for a balanced approach that acknowledges both right and left perspectives. The conversation emphasizes the necessity of speaking truthfully about reality while remaining rooted in the gospel's message, ultimately aiming to connect with diverse audiences in meaningful ways.

Chapters

Derek Rishmawy and Alastair Roberts explore the Bible as a technological medium, discussing its historical context, the impact of the Reformation on biblical engagement, and the shift from oral to written culture. They delve into the implications of modern technology on scripture interpretation and the importance of internalizing the word of God. The conversation also touches on eschatology and the balance between technology and tradition in the church's life.

Chapters

Derek Rishmawy and Brad East engage in a conversation about the complexities of atonement, particularly focusing on penal substitution. They explore the historical context, personal experiences, and theological implications surrounding the topic, emphasizing the need for clarity and understanding in discussions about God's justice and mercy.

Chapter

When dealing with delicate, nuanced, disputed, or important issues, should Christians primarily rely on their own judgment or the authority of church leaders in their lives? Derek, Alastair, and Matt bring their own experience to bear, as well as a reliance on Scripture and authority, to answer this listener-submitted question.

Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and Brad East explore the theological significance of the tabernacle and temple in the Old Testament, discussing their roles as divine dwellings, their relationship to Israel's kingship, and their implications for understanding God's presence among His people. The conversation also looks into the destruction and rebuilding of the temple, the church as the new temple, and the counter-temple polemic in the New Testament, ultimately reflecting on how these themes shape our understanding of God's dwelling with humanity.

Chapters

Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and Brad East engage in a discussion about the concept of 'holy ambition' within the context of ministry. They explore the balance between ambition and faithfulness, the impact of social media on pastoral ambitions, and the fears associated with ministry today, including the fear of cancellation. The conversation emphasizes the importance of seeking God's approval over personal recognition and the need for pastors to dream big while remaining grounded in their faith.

Chapters

This is a rerelease of a previous episode.

In response to a listener question, Derek, Matt, and Alastair go deep on the doctrine of creation. They ask and answer questions about whether creation is real, what counts as worship, what makes a doctrine of creation thick or thin, and whether we need to be thinking about God at all times. 

Timestamps:
On the Excitement Meter [0:00]
Wherein Lies the Deepness? [2:13]
Reality and Goodness [10:30]
Participatory vs. Intrinsic Value [14:12]
A Dim Reflection [15:53]
Curiositas [18:57]
Not Everything Is Worship [22:39]
Children of the Earth [40:44]

Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, James Wood, and Joe Minich explore whether modernity deserves our praise or criticism. They examine the goods and challenges of the modern world, from medical advances to technological disruption, asking how Christians should thoughtfully engage rather than simply retreat or embrace uncritically.

Chapters

• 00:00 Introduction and Setup
• 02:10 Defining Modernity - What Are We Talking About?
• 07:54 The Goods of Modernity - Why People Embraced Change
• 17:13 The Revolutionary Character of Modern Life
• 25:33 Freedom From vs. Freedom For
• 30:44 The Problem of Collective Agency
• 39:05 Rising Risks and Diminished Control
• 46:00 The Church as Ark - Finding a Third Way
• 55:33 Critical Engagement vs. Simple Acceptance

Alastair, Joseph, Brad, and Derek explore the themes of enchantment and disenchantment in theology and culture. They reflect on Charles Taylor's analysis of the "disenchanted" modern age, the loss of a sacramental imagination, and the ways Christians might recover a sense of wonder, mystery, and divine presence in creation. The conversation considers both dangers—superstition, romantic nostalgia—and opportunities for faithful re-enchantment through Scripture, liturgy, and daily discipleship.

Chapters
00:00 – Introduction: What is enchantment?
04:15 – Charles Taylor and the "disenchanted age"
09:02 – Medieval vs. modern imagination
14:27 – Superstition, magic, and the dangers of false enchantment
19:40 – Re-enchantment and the Christian imagination
26:03 – Sacramentality, symbolism, and divine presence
32:55 – The role of worship in shaping perception
38:21 – Wonder, mystery, and recovering joy in creation
44:10 – Disenchantment as protection against idolatry
49:35 – Faithful ways of living with re-enchanted vision
55:28 – Closing reflections and further resources

This episode of Mere Fidelity is about the boundaries and controls on theological and typological biblical interpretation - essentially asking "what are the brakes on theological exegesis?"

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Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and Brad East explore the tension between:

The Promise: Rediscovering richer, deeper ways of reading Scripture that go beyond simple historical-grammatical methods - finding typological patterns, narrative connections, and symbolic meanings that link Old and New Testament figures and events (like seeing Jesus as the new David, or Joseph as a type of Christ).

The Problem: The legitimate concern that once you start reading Scripture typologically or allegorically, where do you stop? What prevents interpretation from becoming purely subjective, limited only by the interpreter's imagination?

Key Discussion Points:

1. Steelmanning the critics - Derek asks Alastair to acknowledge valid concerns about "wax nose" interpretations that can be twisted to support any position
2. Historical precedent - How the apostles themselves read the Old Testament in ways that seem to go beyond original authorial intent
3. Different paradigms for meaning - Brad argues for multiple faithful readings within proper bounds, using his "infinite sets" mathematical analogy, while Derek pushes back with concerns about authorial intention
4. Practical controls they suggest:
   • Alastair emphasizes grounding readings in the text's own literary patterns and connections
   • Reading within the "rule of faith" (basic Christian orthodoxy)
   • Alastair's "tree" metaphor - distinguishing between core interpretations (strong branches) and speculative ones (thin branches you don't put weight on)
   • Reading in community rather than in isolation
   • Alastair's key point - Understanding meaning as something that unfolds through time, not just locked in original context
   • Brad advocates for reading Scripture with multiple paradigms (not just Paul's argumentative style, but also narrative like Song of Songs)

The conversation shows Derek wrestling with concerns about going beyond authorial intention, while Brad takes a more "maximalist" approach and Alastair provides detailed textual grounding for typological readings. They ultimately argue that while there are real dangers in uncontrolled typological reading, the solution isn't to abandon these deeper interpretive methods but to practice them more carefully and responsibly.

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Chapters

01:21 Grammatical Historical vs. Typological Exegesis
03:40 Steel Man Strikes Again
06:07 If This Were Wrong, How Would We Know?
09:05 Wax Nose
11:07 Gifted Interpreters and Accessibility
13:01 The Gigi Rule
16:48 Infinite Ways to Get It Right
19:08 Stories and Arguments
22:05 It's Alive!
26:19 Choose Your Own Adventure
29:14 More Anachronism Please
30:23 Anachronism and Authorial Intention
34:39 How Meaning Works
40:10 Asking the Text a Question
43:02 Practice Safe Reading
51:32 Resources

In this episode of Mere Fidelity, the hosts engage in a deep discussion about covenant theology, exploring its significance in scripture and its role in Reformed theology. They debate the load-bearing nature of covenant language, its historical context, and its relationship to other theological concepts. The conversation highlights the complexity of covenant theology and its evolution over time, emphasizing the importance of understanding scripture through multiple lenses while recognizing the unifying role of covenant in redemptive history.

Chapters

In this episode, Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and Brad East are joined by political theorist Jason Blakely to explore the life, work, and legacy of Alasdair MacIntyre. Best known for After Virtue, MacIntyre diagnosed the deep moral confusion of modernity and called for a return to virtue, tradition, and narrative. The conversation traces his journey from Marxism to Thomism, unpacks his critique of Enlightenment liberalism, and considers how his thought challenges both the postliberal right and progressive deconstruction. Along the way, the hosts reflect on what it means to form moral communities in a world of fragmented ethics.

Chapters:

Mere Fidelity hosts Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and James Wood interview Professor John Bolt about completing Herman Bavinck's Reformed Ethics translation project. Discussion covers Bavinck's methodology combining creation order and union with Christ, his engagement with contemporary scholarship, controversial applications on marriage/sexuality, and why Bavinck appeals across denominational boundaries.

Chapters:

Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and Joseph Minich explore the Jesus People movement of the 1970s—from hippie communes to Calvary Chapel—and its lasting impact on American evangelicalism. They discuss the tension between Spirit-led revival and institutional church structure, examining how countercultural seekers became conservative evangelicals and what today's church can learn from this transformative era.

Key Takeaway:

The Jesus People movement reveals how the church's greatest evangelistic strength—meeting spiritual hunger with radical acceptance—can also become its greatest weakness without proper institutional structure and long-term discipleship.

Chapters:

Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, and Brad East discuss why so many Christians today feel stuck, anxious, or overwhelmed by the idea of "calling." They examine how the biblical and Reformation doctrine of vocation has been reshaped by modern expectations of career, identity, and fulfillment—and how to recover a clearer, more grounded view of vocation rooted in community, providence, and everyday faithfulness.

A Mere Orthodoxy Podcast

Sponsor
This episode is brought to you by Lexham Press, featuring The Foremost Problems in Contemporary Dogmatics by Herman Bavinck. These newly translated lectures explore faith in the modern world with Bavinck's signature depth and clarity.

Mere Fidelity listeners receive 40% off at lexhampress.com/merefidelity.

Key Idea
Vocation isn't about finding the perfect, fulfilling job. It's about using your gifts to serve others and glorify God in the ordinary responsibilities of life.

Chapters
0:00 Introduction and sponsor
2:00 Why calling feels confusing today
4:30 When vocation becomes careerism
6:30 Community and the biblical view of calling
8:30 The myth of the perfect job
11:00 Deep gladness and daily responsibility
13:00 The idol of work and career fulfillment
16:00 Gifts for the good of others
18:30 The human calling in Genesis
21:00 Male and female in shared vocation
24:00 Why we need a deflated view of calling
26:30 Dignity in ordinary work
29:00 Vocation for all kinds of people

Resources Mentioned
The Foremost Problems in Contemporary Dogmatics – Herman Bavinck (Lexham Press)

Frederick Buechner: "The place God calls you to is the place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet."

Mere Fidelity is back! Welcome to Mere Fidelity 2.0: A Mere Orthodoxy Podcast. Hosts Derek Rishmawy, Alastair Roberts, Brad East, and James Wood dive into the major news of Pope Francis's passing and Cardinal Robert Prevost's election as Pope Leo XIV. As Protestant theologians, they grapple with what this papal transition means for the broader Christian landscape.

They discuss how evangelicals should approach papal authority, explore the potential for greater Christian unity under the new papacy, and examine the ongoing influence of Catholic social teaching. They also reflect on the challenges and opportunities of engaging with Catholic tradition while remaining committed to Protestant principles.

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Chapters: