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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• 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.

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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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• 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

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

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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