Tish Harrison Warren: When Weariness Drains Your Soul, Don’t Escape—Go Deeper

What Is Spiritual Weariness and How Can We Find Renewal?

In this episode of The Good Faith Podcast, Curtis Chang chats with Tish Harrison Warren—Anglican priest, former New York Times columnist, and author of What Grows in Weary Lands—about burnout, spiritual weariness, and the exhaustion that escapism and rest alone cannot fix. Tish explains how polarization, digital distraction, consumerism, and isolation can leave us tempted to “flame out” or “numb out.” Instead, she invites listeners to “go deeper” through prayer, silence, embodied community, Sabbath, and the difficult but meaningful commitments that lead to lasting renewal.

00:36 – Introduction to World Weariness

02:43 – Tish Describes the Draining Experience of Public Faith

06:04 – What Are the Cultural Factors of Collective Burnout?

13:01 – Dysfunctional Responses: Reinvention and Escape

15:01 – Flame Out, Numb Out, or Go Deep

20:51 – Are There Practical Steps to Go Deep?

23:29 – The Practice of “Staying in Your Cell”

26:40 – The Tough Sell of Going Deeper

32:07 – The “Dark Night of the Soul” as a Growth Stage 

36:11 – Learning from Historic Church Practices 

38:04 – What Do Healthy Rhythms of Engagement and Withdrawal Look Like?

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Mentioned in This Episode:

• Tish Harrison Warren’s What Grows in Weary Lands: On Christian Resilience
• The Ezra Klein Show: Burned Out? Start Here.
• Curt Thompson on Covid-era digital fatigue
• Thomas Aquinas’s idea of arduous goods
• St. John of the Cross’s The Dark Night of the Soul
• Stanley Hauerwas: Evangelicalism Will Die of Exhaustion (conversation with Al Mohler)
• the Desert Fathers and Mothers: “Stay in your cell”

More From Tish Harrison Warren:

• Tish Harrison Warren’s website
• Tish Harrison Warren’s New York Times pieces
• Other books by Tish Harrison Warren

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The Good Faith Podcast is a production of a 501(c)(3) nonpartisan organization that does not engage in any political campaign activity to support or oppose any candidate for public office. Any views and opinions expressed by any guests on this program are solely those of the individuals and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of Good Faith.