Mere Fidelity

For many 21st century Christians in the West it seems that the world is unraveling. There are two questions we must ask: Is this time different than other times? and How can Christians offer hope to a world coming apart? These are the questions that Matt, Alastair, and Derek seek answers for with Jake Meador while discussing Jake’s new book, What Are Christians For? Life Together at the End of the World. Full show notes at www.merefidelity.com.

Reading the Psalms individually as we often do, you can miss how they all fit together. Dr. James Hamilton’s new two-volume commentary brings to life the wonder of how intricately the Psalms are linked literarily and structurally. Derek, Alastair, and Matt explore with Dr. Hamilton what the big patterns are, what the superscriptions indicate, and what David was perhaps thinking when he was writing about Christ. Full show notes at www.merefidelity.com.

We humans have a complicated relationship with our limits. We constantly push them; expand them; try to circumvent them. But limits are inherent to Creation. Why would God, who could have made the world in an instant, use a process instead? And what does this mean for our own process of sanctification, which we often want to be instantaneous? Matt, Derek, and Alastair jump into these questions with Dr. Kelly Kapic, the author of You're Only Human: How Your Limits Reflect God's Design and Why That's Good News. Full show notes at www.merefidelity.com.

A conundrum has been bothering Andrew: If you say that few people are saved, that raises certain theological problems, but if you say that many people are saved, that raises other theological problems. But this is what Mere Fidelity is for: tackling the tough questions that others avoid. Matt doesn’t think this is the right question to be asking, but you’ll be interested to hear where he ends up. And Derek coins a unique word. s Full show notes at www.merefidelity.com.

The modern mindset instinctively views everything, even texts, as objects to be pulled apart and understood rationally. When we do this to the Bible, we can inadvertently end up bifurcating Biblical studies from ethics. But that’s not what the Bible is doing. When you read the Bible and let it change you, you discover that all of it is Wisdom Literature. That’s what Mere Fidelity guest Dr. Jeff Dryden claims in his book, A Hermeneutic of Wisdom. Matt and Derek love where he goes with it on this episode. Full show notes at www.merefidelity.com.

You may get the impression that shame is always a bad thing. That’s not exactly right. Dr. Gregg TenElshof, author of the book For Shame: Rediscovering the Virtues of a Maligned Emotion, discusses the nuances of bad shame and good shame with the Mere Fidelity crew. When should we feel shame? For what should we feel shame? How does the body and appearance relate to shame? Listen in! (The +1 on this one is particularly good.) Full show notes at www.merefidelity.com.

On Mere Fidelity it’s not just the guests that are experts. All four of our hosts have projects of their own that will be of great interest to our listeners. Three of our hosts (alas, Derek is not on this episode) open up about what has been taking up their intellectual space this past year: from 1776 to Dante to YouTube to Gossip and more. Full show notes at www.merefidelity.com.

New York Times columnist Ross Douthat returns to Mere Fidelity to discuss his harrowing experience with Lyme disease as told in his new book, The Deep Places: A Memoir of Illness & Discovery. Alastair and Matt take the conversation in some interesting directions that you’ll probably only find on Mere Fidelity, like how the sociological experience of chronic illness compares with the psychology of witness in the Christian community. That, and more, in this episode. Full show notes at www.merefidelity.com.

The church year begins with Advent. But Advent begins by looking forward to the Second Coming of Christ. Why would we start with the end? The doctrine of the Last Things sheds some light on this tradition. Matt, Derek, and Alastair examine Advent and the Last Things by taking a close look at Charles Wesley’s classic Advent hymn, “Lo! He Comes with Clouds Descending.” Full show notes at www.merefidelity.com.

What is our only comfort in life and in death? It’s that we do not belong to ourselves, but that we belong body and soul to Jesus Christ. Alan Noble thinks that if we will embrace this teaching, the church will be able to weather modernity. How exactly does that play out in our daily lives? That’s what he talks about with Matt, Derek, Alastair, and Andrew(!) on this episode. Full show notes at www.merefidelity.com.