Mere Fidelity

Latest Episodes:

Delighting In The Ten Commandments Mar 11, 2026

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Derek Rishmawy and Alastair Roberts explore the Ten Commandments — their structure, their two tables, the bookending parallel between the first and tenth commandments, and how the law is always oriented toward delight rather than mere prohibition. The law shapes the Christian life, testifies to Christ, and reflects the character of God.

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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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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/OurRisenLord — Chapters 00:00 Exploring the Ten Commandments
04:48 The Structure and Order of the Commandments
08:35 The Heart of the Commandments: Internal Motivation
12:38 Positive and Negative Aspects of the Law
18:08 The Law as a Source of Delight
23:03 The Law in the Context of Freedom
29:51 Navigating Ethical Dilemmas in Ministry
32:10 Understanding the Nature of God's Law
36:07 The Role of the Ten Commandments
40:20 The Law as a Reflection of Christ
44:45 The Law and Holiness in Christian Life
46:50 Delighting in the Law of God

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% off the Baker Book of the Month by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

The Spirituality of Aliens Mar 04, 2026

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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?

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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

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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!

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% off the Baker Book of the Month by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Resisting Doomerism and Cultivating Hope Feb 25, 2026

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Derek Rishmawy and Alastair Roberts take up the problem of Christian doomerism in an age of AI development, geopolitical instability, and algorithmic anxiety — diagnosing why our moment feels uniquely threatening, then building a theology and practice of realistic hope from the Sermon on the Mount, the Psalms, eschatology, and the concrete habits (prayer, scripture, crocheting) that keep despair at bay.

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Get your copy of Mere Orthodoxy's 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

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

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Chapters

00:00 – The Problem of Living in Interesting Times
05:05 – I Call All Times Interesting
11:52 – Agency
17:34 – Hope at Rock Bottom
28:03 – The Benefits of Apocalypse
32:39 – Eschatology
36:13 – Practically Constructing Hope
42:03 – Investing in Future Generations
49:06 – Back to Basics

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% off the Baker Book of the Month by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Replay: Put Social Media In Its Place with Andy Crouch Feb 18, 2026

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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.

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

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% off the Baker Book of the Month by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

The Great Evangelical Hand-Off (That Never Happened) with Jake Meador Feb 11, 2026

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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.

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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.

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

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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

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% off the Baker Book of the Month by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Spiritual Formation: A Close Examination Feb 04, 2026

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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.

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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.

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

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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

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% off the Baker Book of the Month by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

A Generous Ecclesiology with Myles Werntz Jan 28, 2026

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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.

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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.

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

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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

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% off the Baker Book of the Month by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Paul and the Resurrection of Israel with Dr. Jason Staples Jan 21, 2026

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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

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

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00:00 Introduction to the Conversation 01:30 Not All Israelites Are Jews 09:47 Restoration Eschatology Explained 18:00 They're ALL Coming Back 26:08 Infectious Holiness 30:28 Reassimilation of the Other Tribes 40:15 Symphonic Gospels 47:27 The Transformation of Jews and Gentiles 01:02:51 Cut Off and Grafted In 01:09:13 Nations Qua Nations

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% off the Baker Book of the Month by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

The World Is The Wrong Shape For Women with Leah Sargeant Dec 03, 2025

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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.

Chapters 00:00 Introduction to The Dignity of Dependence 01:07 Unpacking the Feminist Manifesto 03:15 The Intersection of Feminism and Dependence 06:24 Christian Perspectives on Feminism 08:06 Navigating Interchangeability in Society 12:37 Accommodating Differences in a Standardized World 17:40 The Role of Dependence in Human Experience 21:54 The Asymmetry of Dependence and Fertility 29:54 The Power of Asking for Help 31:10 Marketization of Relationships 32:24 The Impact of Endless Choices 33:54 Debt and Relationships 36:25 Navigating Dependence and Dependability 38:16 The Dignity of Dependence 39:47 The Intersection of Dependence and Dignity 43:28 Gender Dynamics in Dependence 46:23 Skepticism Towards Artificial Wombs 50:44 Technical Challenges in Podcasting 51:56 The Ethics of Artificial Wombs 53:28 The Experience of Motherhood 55:54 Navigating Technological Consequentialism 57:33 The Role of Suffering in Life 59:00 Gender Dynamics in Professional Environments 01:00:29 Historical Context of Gender Roles 01:03:00 The Nature of Workplace Relationships 01:05:47 HR Dynamics and Workplace Culture 01:08:05 The Intersection of Gender and Professionalism 01:16:48 Concluding Thoughts on Dependence and Gender

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% off the Baker Book of the Month by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

Post-Liberalism: RETVRN, Retrieval, or Revolution? Nov 26, 2025

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Post-liberalism has escaped the internet and entered mainstream politics—but what does it actually mean? Derek, James, and Alastair map three competing visions: nostalgic return to pre-modern order, retrieval of Christian liberalism, or genuine revolution forward.

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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.

Get 30% off the Baker Book of the Month by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity

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