Become a Member

A Reader-Supported Publication

Christian Renewal
for the Common Good.

Long-form essays, patient podcasts, and a quarterly print journal on theology, culture, and spiritual formation.

Become a Member Never Miss An Essay

Latest

Teaching Tragedy in Tragic Times: Relying on Dante and Aristotle

By EducationFormationBooksChristine NorvellMere Orthodoxy · · 8 min read

Seeing a great soul in pain or death should transform these concepts of pain and death for us because tragedy involves the dignity and significance of human life, and often, man’s ability to endure suffering.

Read the essay →

Latest

What's new

BooksFormationNadya Williams

The Lord Is My Light: Interview with Trevin Wax

"However it’s used, my prayer is the same: that people will receive this liturgy as a gift, placing themselves before God day after day with open hands."

By BooksFormationNadya Williams

By Mere Orthodoxy

November 3 · 8 min read

Must Reads

This Month

  1. Emily CarringtonFamilyTheology

    What Remains of Our Remains

    God will redeem my grief when I hold my babies in my arms. But today I honor their bodies with the grief I carry inside of me that they have no resting place on this side of heaven.

    By Emily CarringtonFamilyTheologyMere Orthodoxy · 7 min read

  2. Valerie PavilonisCultureFormation

    The Shape of Sin: Why We Paint the Vices (and the Virtues)

    It’s good to know what sin is, so you can recognize it and cast it out. But you also need to fill your heart with good things, with abundant things, so that when sin knocks, it realizes someone strong is home, and it stays away.

    By Valerie PavilonisCultureFormationMere Orthodoxy · 5 min read

  3. Cody BarnhartTheologyChurch

    Against Theological Retrieval as Resource Gathering

    The church, if it retrieves well, always retrieves against itself.

    By Cody BarnhartTheologyChurchMere Orthodoxy · 6 min read

  4. ChurchFormationJessie Turpin

    How Patient Attention Nurtures the Life of the Church

    When people grow tired of the rapidly shifting nature of modern culture, weary of not finding happiness in self-satisfaction, they will find the core of their longing fulfilled in the steadfast, though paradoxical, love of Christ.

    By ChurchFormationJessie TurpinMere Orthodoxy · 7 min read

  5. A. A. KostasFormationChurch

    Vaccinated Against God

    A weaker, culturally accommodated version of Christian faith can render us immune, as it were, to the life we are called to in Christian discipleship.

    By A. A. KostasFormationChurchMere Orthodoxy · 8 min read

The Weekly Digest

Premier Thought Every Thursday

All of our recent essays and podcasts delivered to you. Free.

Free. Delivered Thursday mornings.

The Faith Received

An online library with tens of thousands of primary source works from across church history made publicly available, practically usable, and beautifully readable.

Go To The Faith Received

The Daily Liturgy Podcast

The Daily Liturgy Podcast & Newsletter

Read and pray. Every day.

Start Now

This Week

The wider conversation.

ScienceCultureJessica Miskelly

Scientism and the Allure of Control

The real conundrum is why science was eventually recognized by many as the ultimate arbiter of rational knowledge and became entrenched as such in the popular imagination.

By ScienceCultureJessica Miskelly

By Mere Orthodoxy

November 2 · 17 min read

Jake MeadorCultureFormationChurch

Mobs and Friends: Encouraging a Culture of Reading in Our Churches

If the devices we spend so much of our lives absorbed in are shaping us to be angry, reactive, and combative, and if the communities that would help shape us in better ways are scarce, what can be done?

By Jake MeadorCultureFormationChurch

By Mere Orthodoxy

November 2 · 6 min read

Ian OlsonCultureTheology

The Gospel in a Haunted World

Re-enchantment will be enticing for the dissatisfied but enchantment doesn’t carry an intrinsically Christian valence.

By Ian OlsonCultureTheology

By Mere Orthodoxy

October 30 · 16 min read

Emily CarringtonFamilyTheology

What Remains of Our Remains

God will redeem my grief when I hold my babies in my arms. But today I honor their bodies with the grief I carry inside of me that they have no resting place on this side of heaven.

By Emily CarringtonFamilyTheology

By Mere Orthodoxy

October 30 · 7 min read

Gillis HarpCulture

Was the New Deal Socialist?

The New Deal's failures were significant, but if we want to understand them, we need to reckon with what the New Deal actually was rather than with the false claims of various polemicists.

By Gillis HarpCulture

By Mere Orthodoxy

October 29 · 7 min read

Joseph WhitentonCultureFilm Reviews/Hollywood

You Can See Everything: On Masks, Performing, and Holiness

The post-Christian West seems more and more determined to deny that certain self-knowledge is even possible. The consequences of that could be dire for us all.

By Joseph WhitentonCultureFilm Reviews/Hollywood

By Mere Orthodoxy

October 29 · 5 min read
Read more essays

Listen

Patient conversations.

Mere Fidelity

Mere Fidelity

Christians Reading Classics

Christians Reading Classics

The Print Journal

Ink and paper,
four times a year.

A quarterly print journal of serious Protestant thought. Long essays, poetry, and criticism you will want to keep on the shelf. Mailed to members.

Journal Status

Next Issue …

  1. Drafting
  2. In Production
  3. Arriving
Get The Journal

Readers

From our readers.

I'm very grateful for the work of Mere Orthodoxy. It has been a genuine companion on my spiritual journey.

Thank you for offering thoughtful, reasonable and decent commentary. It is a boon to my sanity at this stage of my life.

The articles and podcasts have made the Protestant tradition more accessible to me, and helped me establish boundaries during this confusing and tumultuous era.

Mere Orthodoxy is (for me) a counterpoint to social media, a place of depth and critical thought.

Join Mere Orthodoxy

Mere Orthodoxy is a reader-supported publication.

Mere Orthodoxy is able to produce top-notch essays and podcasts on faith, church, and culture because of readers just like you.

If you believe in quality Christian media for the sake of renewal, join us.

Membership

Support the work.

Most Popular

Member

$100 /yr

Just 27¢/day

For readers who want serious Christian thought and the quarterly print journal.

Become a Member

Cancel anytime

  • The quarterly print journal, mailed to your door
  • Digital archive of every past journal issue
  • Private Discord community of serious readers
  • Ebook and online event library
  • Monthly Mailbag from Jake Meador
  • The full archive, including 20+ years of essays
  • Audio versions of every article
  • Save essays to Bookmarks
  • Save quotes to Commonplace Book
  • Ad-free experience
  • Church calendar site themes
  • Member Dashboard

Lifetime

$995

One-time payment

For readers who want to help sustain Mere Orthodoxy permanently.

One-time. No renewal.

  • Everything in Member, plus:
  • A copy of Trevin Wax's The Lord Is My Light: A Liturgy for Daily Prayer
  • Two annual memberships to give away

Other Memberships

Share Mere Orthodoxy
With Others

I

Give a membership

One month, three, six, or a full year of Mere Orthodoxy for a friend, a pastor, or a seminary student. From $10.

Give a gift
II

For a small team

A church staff, a session, or a reading group. $80 per seat, five to ten seats.

See group pricing
III

For your whole organization

Churches, seminaries, colleges, and denominations. $2,500 a year, as many people as you like.

Get organizational access
IV

For students

A discounted membership for students with a school email. Digital, or with the print journal.

Join as a student

Readers

From our readers.

I'm very grateful for the work of Mere Orthodoxy. It has been a genuine companion on my spiritual journey.

Thank you for offering thoughtful, reasonable and decent commentary. It is a boon to my sanity at this stage of my life in this cultural moment.

I used to be a campus minister with a parachurch organization. In finding Mere Orthodoxy, it has felt like a little more balance in perspectives like I had when I worked for the ministry. Appreciate your work as it grows my faith.

Mere Orthodoxy is (for me) a counterpoint to social media, a place of depth and critical thought.

I love Mere Orthodoxy! One of the best protestant publications out there!

What You're Supporting

I

Long-Form Essays

Writing on theology, culture, and spiritual formation built for rereading, not the news cycle.

II

The Print Journal

A quarterly of serious Protestant thought, printed and mailed four times a year.

III

Mere Fidelity

The flagship podcast. Long, patient conversations about theology, church, and the life of faith.

IV

Christians Reading Classics

A slow walk through the great books of the Christian and classical tradition, one volume at a time.

V

The Daily Liturgy

Scripture and prayer for every morning. Read it in your inbox or hear it as a podcast.

VI

The Faith Received

An online library of tens of thousands of primary source works from across church history, made readable and usable.

VII

A Community of Readers

A private forum where members read, argue, and think together, away from the noise of public platforms.

VIII

Ebooks and Online Forums

Short books, lectures, and live gatherings on the questions that don't go away.

And the work itself.

Your membership funds the next writer commissioned, the next journal published, and the next essay and episode we can bring to readers and listeners like you.

Become a Member