To the: - Seekers of Truth - Friends of Wisdom - Passionate for Theology - Eager for Thoughtful Discussion We’re Mere Orthodoxy. Your support makes it possible to cut through clickbait and chart a course in faithful, public discourse. Support Mere O: hubs.li/Q01vT0xQ0

New episode of Christians Reading Classics: "James Fenimore Cooper with Dr. Wayne Franklin" Cooper gets filed away as "important" long before most of us actually read him. Wayne Franklin, a leading Cooper scholar, on what makes a classic live past its own pages. buzzsprout.com/2612793/episo…

New episode: "Online And Outside the Institutions" - exploring the 'Elijah syndrome' and what it means to pursue faithfulness within compromised systems. How do we lead well when the institutions themselves are broken? buzzsprout.com/2612792/episo…

The theme of this season of Christians Reading Classics pod @mereorthodoxy is books American Christians should read in honor of America250! Hard to get MORE America250-appropriate than the Journals of the Lewis & Clark Expedition with @craigfehrman! podcasts.apple.com/us/podcas…

Replay: How 1776 Remade The World with Andrew Wilson 1776 works like a master key for the modern world. We sit down with Andrew Wilson to explore why one crowded year can illuminate the rise of the post-Christian West better than a thousand hot takes. Listen on Mere Fidelity: buzzsprout.com/2612792/episo…

I am grateful to @mereorthodoxy for allowing me to write this reflection on the pope’s encyclical. mereorthodoxy.com/the-challe…

These accurate & excellent thoughts put a steady finger on the pulse of the underlying attitude of our culture rn.

On @ZacharyGarris, Racism, and the PCA: @jake_meador, publishing at @mereorthodoxy, has done an excellent job at explaining my thoughts on this current controversy. I agree with everything in his article (I’ll link below). Heartedly. First, he gives an overview of the various public issues that Garris has. And then he gives an honest assessment of the recent trial and the need for the PCA to have good churchmen competent in procedure. As Jake says, we still don’t know all the details. Some highlights. “His record is quite clear. Garris has a direct commercial relationship to a self-described kinist in Schlebusch. Garris has co-authored work with an ethnonationalist in Wolfe. And we see that Garris’s own commercial associates, Schlebusch and Justice, are closely tied to a self-described white supremacist and defrocked minister.” “Even if you only considered his associations with Schlebusch, Wolfe, Isker, Webbon, and Spangler and set that next to the 2025 General Assembly’s call to repent of “any who would promote or associate themselves” with racist teaching, Garris is in violation. He has, since the church adopted that statement last summer, co-authored a book with a man who, as noted above, says that Black people are a reliable source of criminality in the USA and who has suggested that inter-racial marriage is sinful—a position explicitly condemned by the PCA’s own past statements on the issue. That alone seems like a quite brazen and obvious act of defiance directed at last year’s General Assembly.” “The challenge for the PCA is that the overwhelming majority of our teaching elders are simply ordinary pastors. They love to preach, to shepherd, and to evangelize. They are not terminally online. They do not know the ins and outs of esoteric political theology disputes. They are not kinists. And yet a sizable portion of our communion, precisely because of their admirable and good pietism, are radically unprepared to navigate the procedural rules that govern presbyterian churches. If it is accurate, as some have reported, that Garris’s defense was led by multiple lawyers while the prosecution in his case had no lawyers... well, there you have it.”

On James Talarico and the church, @somewilderwords in @mereorthodoxy warns: "There is no more effective way to destroy an institution than to inhabit it, keep its vocabulary, and gut its definitions and convictions." mereorthodoxy.com/james-tala…

That Hideous Narcissicism by Eddie LaRow mereorthodoxy.com/that-hideo…

Thank you so much @mereorthodoxy!

Yes, she is!

Grateful to debut at @mereorthodoxy with this book launch essay. Many thanks @NadyaWilliams81 and @jake_meador mereorthodoxy.com/community-…

Agatha Christie Is Still Worth Reading by Jackson Greer mereorthodoxy.com/agatha-chr…

Community, Character, and the Governance of the Social Commons: Sanctuaries of Order by Benjamin Peterson mereorthodoxy.com/community-…

Welcome to the New Mere Orthodoxy by Jake Meador mereorthodoxy.com/welcome-to…

Augustine and the Glittering Vices of Christian Ministry by Joey Sherrard mereorthodoxy.com/augustine-…

“Paidophthoros means destroyer of children. Corruptor of children. The one who ruins what is young. The vocabulary shift is not incidental. It is a complete moral reclassification. What Greek culture had named as love, the Didache names as destruction. The adult in the relationship is not an admirer or a teacher. He is someone who destroys.” @mereorthodoxy mereorthodoxy.com/the-ancien…

Ida B. Wells's Public Faith by @casethorp at @mereorthodoxy mereorthodoxy.com/ida-b-well…

@mereorthodoxy has several reflections/responses to the new encyclical coming over the next short while, starting with my piece today. Overall, I thought so much of it was simply good theology grounded in the Bible--what evangelicals believe as well. mereorthodoxy.com/trojan-hor…

The Ancient World Had No Word for Child Abuse by Matthew Cluraghty mereorthodoxy.com/the-ancien…