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September 15, 2015

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Mere Fidelity: What is Christ-Centered Hermeneutics?

So, we’ve all see that phrase “Christ-centered” pop up on the blogosphere before. “Christ-centered preaching”, “Christ-centered theology”, “Christ-centered dog washing”–but what does that even mean? Especially when it comes to interpretation, what does it mean to have a truly Christ-centered hermeneutics? Does that just mean doing typology all day long? And is there a right way or a wrong way to do typology? Do we stick to only the types authorized explicitly by the apostles, or can we expand? And if we expand, how do we stop before we fall into typological excess? And what about Tim Keller?

Alastair, Andrew, and I go into all this in this week’s episode of Mere Fidelity. It was a fun one. I hope you enjoy and pass it along.

By the way, if you’d like to review and rate us over at iTunes (if and only if you like us), please feel free to do that here.

Soli Deo Gloria

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Derek Rishmawy

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September 10, 2015

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Mere Fidelity, Podcast

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Mere Fidelity: Curiosity

Last week I wrote a piece exploring and summarizing John Webster’s little essay, “Curiosity.” Then we decided on Mere Fidelity to have a chat about what curiosity is and isn’t and how it plays into our lives as disciples, pastors, and students. Also, Matt, Alastair, and I get into a heated argument about the role and place of cat videos in the economy of God’s dealings with his created, redeemed, and fallen creatures. So, you definitely want to listen in for that.

Soli Deo Gloria

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Derek Rishmawy

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August 25, 2015

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Mere Fidelity: Intersex and Sexual Difference w/ Megan DeFranza

This week usual crew is joined by Megan K. DeFranza, author of Sex Difference in Christian Theology: Male, Female, and Intersex in the Image of God. Matthew Lee Anderson reviewed the book recently for Christianity Today, which you can read here. Also, after you listen to the show (or whenever, really), Alastair has already posted some follow-up thoughts on the conversation that I think are well worth considering. It was a good episode, but we barely scratched the surface on so many important issues. Alastair gets after them.

Soli Deo Gloria

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Derek Rishmawy

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August 6, 2015

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Mere Fidelity: After Obergefell

In June this year, the Supreme Court legalized gay marriage across the country in the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges case. Across the nation there were varieties of reactions ranging from, many hysterical on both sides. On this episode of Mere Fidelity, Anderson, Roberts, Wilson, and I sit back and try to take a sober look at the landscape as well as analyze just why the reaction was so different here in the states than across the pond. We hope you’re encouraged and challenged by this.

(By the way, take advantage of future Mere Fidelity episodes to your Anderson fix. He’s mostly offline now, except with us.

Soli Deo Gloria

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Derek Rishmawy

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July 7, 2015

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Mere Fidelity: The Pastor Theologian w/ Dr. Kevin Vanhoozer and Gerald Hiestand

I don’t know what he’s thinking right here, but it could probably serve as a Ph.D. thesis.

This last week Alastair and I had the privilege of hosting Dr. Kevin Vanhoozer and Gerald Hiestand on Mere Fidelity to talk about the topic of pastor theologians. As it happens, they both have books out on the subject. Vanhoozer has co-authored The Pastor as Public Theologian with Owen Strachan, and Hiestand co-authored The Pastor Theologian. While the two projects are clearly related, they are distinct in a number of ways that made the conversation quite interesting–especially with Alastair mildly grilling Hiestand on his proposal. Plus Vanhoozer is being Vanhoozer–for free!–and that’s always worth your time.

By the way, for those of you pastor theologians out there, or seminarians drawn to the idea, I’d recommend buying both of the books. Beyond that, though, the Center for Pastor Theologians which Hiestand and Wilson cofounded is having a conference this fall in the greater Chicago area with a great line-up of speakers including Vanhoozer and James K.A. Smith. I plan on being there and I hope you’ll consider making it out.

Soli Deo Gloria

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Derek Rishmawy

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June 15, 2015

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Mere Fidelity: On Liturgy and Recovering the Past

Most of the usual crew join this conversation on Christian’s attempt to recover the past, especially through liturgical forms of worship. We’re talking about a two part series by Alastair Roberts (part one is here, part two will be added when it is published). In any case, we chat about some of mixed motives, confusion about the nature of the past, and some of our misguided ideas about what it means for the liturgy to “form” us. We hope you’ll profit from the discussion.

Soli Deo Gloria

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Derek Rishmawy

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June 8, 2015

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Mere Fidelity, trinity

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Mere Fidelity: “On Creeping Perichoresis”

If you follow any discussions about the Trinity nowadays, you’re likely to hear the idea of “perichoresis”, or the mutual indwelling of the Father, Son, and Spirit. It’s long been a piece of trinitarian theology. But does it and should it have applications elsewhere in our theology? Like our doctrine of humanity, or our view of creation? That’s the issue we take up this week on Mere Fidelity as we interact with this article by Peter Leithart.

Hope you enjoy the show.

Also, you may find this article by Karen Kilby helpful, as well.

Soli Deo Gloria

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Derek Rishmawy

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May 26, 2015

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spiritual gifts

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Mere Fidelity: Pentecost and the Prophetic Gift of the Spirit

Having just celebrated Pentecost, Andrew, Alastair, and I consider the role that the frequently overlooked ‘prophetic’ gift of the Spirit plays in the life of the church.

Articles to consider include Peter Leithart’s essay on the seven spirits, and the “Alastair Roberts corpus.”

Soli Deo Gloria

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April 7, 2015

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ethics, Podcast

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Mere Fidelity: The Resurrection, Ethics, and Natural Law

Given that it’s the week after Easter, Alastair, Matt, and I decided to ask “What has the resurrection to do with how we think about ethics?” as well as the limits and possibilities of natural law reasoning. We consider (tangentially) this essay by James K.A. Smith, this fascinating story from Conor Friedersdorf, and this tome by Oliver O’Donovan. I think we cover a lot of important and relevant material here, so I hope you enjoy it.