Trinity Forum Conversations: Recent Episodes
The Trinity Forum
Trinity Forum Conversations is a podcast exploring the big questions in life by looking to the best of the Christian intellectual tradition and elevating the voices, both ancient and modern, who grapple with these questions and direct our hearts to the Author of the answers. We invite you to join us in one of the great joys of life: a conversation among friends on the things that matter most.
The Challenge of Christian Nationalism with Mark Noll and Vincent Bacote
As the lines between faith, politics, and patriotism have become, in some quarters, increasingly blurred, it is increasingly important to understand the origin, ideas, and consequences of Christian Nationalism — what it means, why it matters, and how best to respond.
“Responsible Christian patriots try to show how Christianity can be a service to the nation; extreme nationalists make Christianity a servant of the nation.” - Mark Noll“If you think about the cross: patriotism, rightly construed from a Christian point of view, will put the flag at the foot of the cross. Christian nationalism wants to drape the [flag] over them. So is God serving your country, the sponsor of your country, or are you, as a Christian, operating wherever you are and having loyalty, but not your primary loyalty to your country over God?” - Vincent Bacote
We hope you find this conversation insightful and helpful as you consider the state of our culture and shared political life, and your role in reviving responsible Christian patriotism.
This podcast is an edited version of an Online Conversation recorded in June of 2021. You can access the full conversation with transcript here. Learn more aboutMark Noll and Vincent Bacote.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind by Mark Noll
God and Race in American Politics: A Short History, by Mark Noll
The Civil War as Theological Crisis, by Mark Noll
In the Beginning Was the Word: The Bible in American Public Life, by Mark Noll
The Political Disciple, A Theology of Public Life, by Vincent Bacote
Reckoning with Race and Performing the Good News, by Vincent Bacote
The Spirit in Public Theology: Appropriating the legacy of Abraham Kuyper, by Vincent Bacote
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
A Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass
City of God by St. Augustine of Hippo
Children of Light and Children of Darkness by Reinhold Niebuhr
Letter from a Birmingham Jail by Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.
Related Conversations:Rebuilding our Common Life with Yuval Levin
The Challenge of Christian Nationalism with Mark Noll and Vincent Bacote
The Decadent Society with Ross Douthat
Science, Faith, Trust and Truth with Francis Collins
Beyond Ideology with Peter Kreeft and Eugene Rivers
Justice, Mercy, and Overcoming Racial Division with Claude Alexander and Mac Pier
Healing a Divided Culture with Arthur Brooks
After Babel with Andy Crouch and Johnathan Haidt
Trust, Truth, and The Knowledge Crisis with Bonnie Kristian
Hope in an Age of Anxiety with Curtis Chang & Curt Thompson
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, join the Trinity Forum Society
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.
Rebuilding our Common life with Yuval Levin
One of the greatest problems in our civic life is that our institutions are weak. And they're weak not merely because they are distrusted by outsiders, but because their leaders fail to take their institution-building responsibilities seriously. Rather than submitting to the responsibilities and constraints that any functioning institution imposes, those leaders have come to use the institution as a personal platform to gain attention and express themselves.
On our podcast, Yuval Levin explains how institutions have historically served to connect, mediate, and structure much of our social interaction, but as they’ve been hollowed out from within, they’ve lost their sense of authority and are no longer able to serve a morally formative purpose:
“A lot of people are using institutions as platforms to express themselves in the culture war, rather than as molds that might form us into better men and women. And that contributes enormously to that loss of confidence and also to the broader social crisis that we're all living with.” - Yuval LevinWe hope this conversation inspires you to look afresh at the institutions you lead or of which you are a part, and ask, “what is my responsibility here?” Please share it with a friend and other institution builders you know.
This podcast is an edited version of an Online Conversation with Yuval recorded in November of 2020. You can access the full conversation with transcript here. Learn more aboutYuval Levin.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream, by Yuval Levin
Rabbi Johnathan Sacks
Related Conversations:Rebuilding our Common Life with Yuval Levin
The Challenge of Christian Nationalism with Mark Noll and Vincent Bacote
The Decadent Society with Ross Douthat
Science, Faith, Trust and Truth with Francis Collins
Beyond Ideology with Peter Kreeft and Eugene Rivers
Justice, Mercy, and Overcoming Racial Division with Claude Alexander and Mac Pier
Healing a Divided Culture with Arthur Brooks
After Babel with Andy Crouch and Johnathan Haidt
Trust, Truth, and The Knowledge Crisis with Bonnie Kristian
Hope in an Age of Anxiety with Curtis Chang & Curt Thompson
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, join the Trinity Forum Society
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.
All the Lonely People with Ryan Streeter and Francie Broghammer
Why is it, in the midst of relative peace and prosperity, we are increasingly alienated, lonely, and depressed? Even before we lived through a global pandemic, we were (and are) living through a deadly loneliness epidemic.
In this conversation Ryan Streeter and Francie Broghammer join us to wrestle with tough questions such as how to think about reinvigorating relational and community ties that encourage the flourishing of both the individual and the body politic.
We discuss the antidotes to isolation in a time of pandemic and strive to find hope for connecting lonely people in a divided and polarized nation:
Loneliness is the subjective feeling of being alone. You can feel alone in a crowded room. And so this is important that we highlight because what happens when you start feeling that way is that not far from there is this inability to find meaning in your life and daily actions. - Francie BroghammerWe hope this conversation on America’s epidemic of loneliness and the path towards meaningful connection inspires you to consider how you can further cultivate enduring friendships and engage with your community.
Our podcast is an edited version of an Online Conversation with Ryan and Francie from April, 2021. You can access the full conversation with transcript here.
Learn more aboutRyan Streeter and Francie Broghammer.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Transforming Charity, by Ryan Streeter
Religion and the Public Sphere in the 21st Century, by Ryan Streeter
The Soul of Civil Society, by Ryan Streeter
The Pursuit of Loneliness, by Philip Slater
The Lonely Crowd, by David Riesman
Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam
Arthur Brooks
George Orwell
Yuval Levin
Alexis de Tocqueville
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
On Happiness, by Thomas Aquinas
On Friendship, by Cicero
Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl
Augustine’s Confessions
The Long Loneliness, by Dorothy Day
Wrestling with God, by Simone Weil
Related Conversations:Strength in the Second Half with Arthur Brooks
Cultivating a Life of Learning with Zena Hitz
Being, Living, and Dying Well with Lydia Dugdale
Hope, Heartbreak, and Meaning with Kate Bowler
The Burden of Living and the and the Goodness of God with Alan Noble
All the Lonely People with Ryan Streeter and Francie Broghammer
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, join the Trinity Forum Society
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.
The Burden of Living and the Goodness of God with Alan Noble
We don’t often talk about the courage required to face ordinary life. Such common human challenges as sorrow, despair, anxiety, and mental illness may cause us to experience life more as a burden than a gift. For many, this struggle is a constant one.
In his new book, On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden & Gift of Living, author and professor Alan Noble considers the challenges that face each one of us every morning. He concludes that the simple decision to engage with the world each day constitutes a declaration of the goodness of God.
“One of the things I want to remind people of is that actually just by choosing to go through the basic motions of life, you are affirming to other people that this life is good.“And just putting your feet on the ground and getting up despite the suffering you might be experiencing, communicates to other people that this life is worth living even when you are suffering. And that's a powerful witness.”
Bearing witness and Carrying Each Other
As Alan so eloquently makes the case, our call to faithfulness is not a solo journey. When we persevere despite our suffering, we communicate that God’s creation is good, and it’s an encouragement to others. It's by carrying and being carried by others that the pilgrim can make it home.
“Now, there may come times when you are required by your suffering to radically depend upon others to carry you out of bed. My advice is to embrace those moments, knowing that you'll carry your neighbor in return when the time comes.”We hope you’ll enjoy this conversation and share it with your community.
This podcast is an edited version of an Online Conversation with Alan recorded in April of 2023. You can access the full conversation with transcript here. Learn more aboutAlan Noble.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden & Gift of Living, by Alan Noble
Disruptive Witness: Speaking Truth in a Distracted Age, by Alan Noble
You Are Not Your Own: Belonging to God in an Inhuman World, by Alan Noble
Jacques Ellul
The Soul of Shame: Retelling the Stories We Believe About Ourselves, by Curt Thompson
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
On Happiness, by Thomas Aquinas
On Friendship, by Cicero
Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl
Augustine’s Confessions
The Long Loneliness, by Dorothy Day
Wrestling with God, by Simone Weil
Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
Related Conversations:
Strength in the Second Half with Arthur Brooks
Cultivating a Life of Learning with Zena Hitz
Being, Living, and Dying Well with Lydia Dugdale
Blessings for Imperfect Days with Kate Bowler
The Burden of Living and the and the Goodness of God with Alan Noble
All the Lonely People with Ryan Streeter and Francie Broghammer
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, join the Trinity Forum Society
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.
The Blessing of Imperfect Days with Kate Bowler
It’s easy to be caught in the trap of perfectionism, especially when those around us seem to have it all together. But we can find ourselves alone and discouraged when things don’t go as we’ve planned, and the lives we actually have fail to resemble those we’d hoped to lead.
In her recently released book The Lives We Actually Lead, New York Times best-selling author and Duke University professor Kate Bowler (along with co-author Jessica Richie) offer a collection of blessings that center gratitude and hope while acknowledging the reality of our often messy and frantic everyday lives. They show how embracing our limitations and vulnerabilities, as well as those of others, can open new possibilities for healing, hope, and community.
Finitude, Gratitude, and Being of HelpIn this conversation, Kate shares about her work detailing the Prosperity Gospel movement from an academic standpoint, and how her own setbacks and health catastrophe in a cancer diagnosis both deepened her sense of being loved by God and softened her toward those desperate for a miracle.
Kate and Cherie's conversation goes through deep waters, but does so with much humor and heart. We hope you'll listen and share it with your friends and loved ones.
This podcast is an edited version of an Evening Conversation with Kate recorded in February of 2023. You can access the full conversation with transcript here. Learn more about Kate Bowler.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Blessed: A History of the American Prosperity Gospel, by Kate Bowler
The Preacher's Wife: The Precarious Power of Evangelical Women Celebrities, by Kate Bowler
Everything Happens For a Reason: And Other Lies I've Loved, by Kate Bowler
No Cure for Being Human: (And Other Truths I Need to Hear), by Kate Bowler
The Lives We Actually Have: A Hundred Blessings for Imperfect Days, by Kate Bowler and Jessica Richie
Seneca
Joel Osteen
Oprah
Joanna Gaines
Rev. Dr. Stephen B. Chapman
Wendell Berry
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
On Happiness, by Thomas Aquinas
On Friendship, by Cicero
Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl
Augustine’s Confessions
The Long Loneliness, by Dorothy Day
Wrestling with God, by Simone Weil
Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
Related Conversations:
Strength in the Second Half with Arthur Brooks
Cultivating a Life of Learning with Zena Hitz
Being, Living, and Dying Well with Lydia Dugdale
Hope, Heartbreak, and Meaning with Kate Bowler
The Burden of Living and the and the Goodness of God with Alan Noble
All the Lonely People with Ryan Streeter and Francie Broghammer
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, join the Trinity Forum Society
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.
Being, Living, and Dying Well with Lydia Dugdale
In the wake of the Black Plague of the middle ages, people cried out for help to die well. What developed over the ensuing centuries was a work called the Ars Moriendi, a book designed to help Christians die well. In the midst of the global COVID-19 pandemic in 2021 we were joined by professor and physician Lydia Dugdale to discuss her book The Lost Art of Dying Well which explores the wisdom of the Ars Moriendi:
“The Christian theology about death is one of paradox in many ways. Death is overcome. That is what Christians celebrate on Easter Sunday. But death still has a sting. It still is bitter. It hurts, it rips, a hole in the fabric of our lives. And so we hold in tension this idea that death has this sting, but also is ultimately overcome. So we don't need to accept death, but we need to start by acknowledging finitude.”Acknowledging our Finitude and Call for CommunityOver the course of our conversation, Lydia explains how acknowledging our finitude and investing in our community are the two crucial first steps in preparing to die well. And these steps in preparation for a good death ultimately help us to live well too.
We trust you’ll find much to think about and wrestle with in this conversation, and we hope it inspires you to live wisely and well today.
This podcast is an edited version of an Online Conversation with Lydia recorded on Good Friday in April of 2021. You can access the full conversation with transcript here.
Learn more aboutLydia Dugdale.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
The Lost Art of Dying: Reviving Forgotten Wisdom, by Lydia Dugdale
This Republic of Suffering: Death and the American Civil War, by Drew Gilpin Faust
Philippe Ariès
A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
The Christian Art of Dying: Learning from Jesus, by Allen Verhey
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
On Happiness, by Thomas Aquinas
On Friendship, by Cicero
Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl
Augustine’s Confessions
The Long Loneliness, by Dorothy Day
Wrestling with God, by Simone Weil
Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens
Related Conversations:
Strength in the Second Half with Arthur Brooks
Cultivating a Life of Learning with Zena Hitz
Being, Living, and Dying Well with Lydia Dugdale
Hope, Heartbreak, and Meaning with Kate Bowler
The Burden of Living and the and the Goodness of God with Alan Noble
All the Lonely People with Ryan Streeter and Francie Broghammer
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, join the Trinity Forum Society
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.
Beauty and Wonder with Andrew Peterson
In this second episode of our Advent Series, celebrated author and songwriter Andrew Peterson shares his insights about the importance of location and living responsibly and attentively in whatever specific place you inhabit. He discusses how deeper attentiveness to the beauty around us can awaken us to wisdom and wonder.
This podcast is an edited version of our Online Conversation from December 2021. You can access the full conversation with transcript here.
Learn more about Andrew Peterson.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
The God of the Garden, by Andrew Peterson
Tim Mackey, The Bible Project’s Tree of Life podcast series
Jaber Crow, by Wendell Berry
William Wordsworth
The Death and Life of Great American Cities, Jane Jacobs
The Geography of Nowhere: The Rise and Decline of America's Man-Made Landscape, by James Howard Kunstler
Sidewalks in the Kingdom: New Urbanism and the Christian Faith, Eric O. Jacobsen
Gilead, by Marilynne Robinson
Rich Mullins
10 Resolutions for Mental Health, Clyde Kilby
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Bright Evening Star, Madeleine L’Engle
A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
Babette’s Feast, by Isak Dinesen
Related Conversations:
Practicing Gratitude with Diana Butler Bass
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, join the Trinity Forum Society
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.
This podcast is an edited version of our Online Conversation from November 2021. You can access the full conversation with transcript here.
Learn more about Diana Butler Bass.
Diana’s Substack, The Cottage is available here.
You can find Diana’s book Grateful and others here.
Grace and Gratitude: The Eucharistic Theology of John Calvin by Brian Gerrish
Mary Jo Leddy
Join the Trinity Forum Society
With Thanksgiving and the season of Advent approaching, The Trinity Forum is offering a new podcast series to help you think more deeply about ideas and practices related to gratitude, attention, anticipation, and what it means to behold beauty. We’ll talk with Diana Butler Bass about the meaning and practice of Gratitude Andrew Peterson will share his insights on how deeper attentiveness to the beauty around us can awaken us to wisdom and wonder. James K.A. Smith will help us explore the importance of being time-bound creates and how to best inhabit time Curt Thompson will consider the ways that beauty can emerge from the most difficult situations. Subscribe to Trinity Forum Conversations wherever you listen to podcasts to make sure you don't miss an episode. And thank you for allowing us to be part of your Thanksgiving and Advent season.
Our series on Reading & The Common Good concludes with this episode on the importance of reading poetry. Trinity Forum President, Cherie Harder speaks with internationally acclaimed poet and writer, Dana Gioia, who is a former California Poet laureate and Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts.
As poetry often does, the conversation in this episode considers the personal as well as the universal, including how Dana became interested in poetry, and what can be done to interest a generation of readers to the habit of reading--and even memorizing--poetry.
Christians have been called a “people of the book,” yet how often do we spend time gathering together to read deeply? In a fast-paced technological world, taking time to read deeply and well, let alone alongside others, can feel like a daunting task. And while reading alone has extraordinary value (and, research shows, is intriguingly linked with spending more time with others), reading in community is a uniquely formative endeavor that shapes how we think, what we value, and our ability to have genuine and meaningful dialogue and relationship with others.
The Trinity Forum hosted an Online Conversation with Matthew Lee Anderson and Anika Prather to explore the importance of reading together and the impact that such small but meaningful interactions can have on ourselves, our communities, and our civic structures.
Cherie Harder speaks with author and literature professor Karen Swallow Prior about her own history of reading as well as the challenges and possibilities for virtue formation that reading literature presents.
Visit ttf.org/bookclub to get everything you need to start your own bookclub.
Reading for Regeneration
In this episode, Jessica Hooten Wilson and Claude Atcho join Cherie Harder to discuss the countercultural practice of reading carefully and communally. This podcast is an edited version of an Online Conversation, which you can find with video and transcript, here.
If you're interested in reading old books in community, we encourage you to check out our newly announced Bookclub Box. The Bookclub Box is designed to make it easy for you to host your own reading group. Each quarter will release a new box with a trio of curated, thematically linked Trinity Forum Readings. You'll also get a discussion guide to spur conversation on each of the Readings, as well as some other great Trinity Forum items, including a tote bag, notepad, pen and bookmark.
Alan Jacobs joins Cherie Harder to discuss his book, Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Readers Guide to a More Tranquil Mind. This podcast is an edited version of the Online Conversation, which you can find with video and transcript, here.
We encourage you to put the ideas discussed in this episode into practice by starting your own reading group. The Trinity Forum Bookclub Box has everything you need to get started.
Reading & The Common Good is our new podcast series with Jessica Hooten Wilson, Karen Swallow Prior, Alan Jacobs, Dana Gioia, Anika Prather, and Matthew Lee Anderson. Few things in life are as enriching and humanizing as reading deeply and well. Yet the pace and technology of modern life make it hard for many of us to give books the time and attention they demand. Join us this season as we hear from guests who explain the value of reading in community, reading alone, reading old books, reading new books, and, above all, how reading serves as an antidote to the many problems of our time.
If you're interested in leading your own reading group, we encourage you to visit our website. There you'll find information about our newly announced Bookclub Box. The Bookclub Box is designed to make it easy for you to host your own reading group. Each quarter will release a new box with a trio of curated, thematically linked Trinity Forum Readings.
You'll also get a discussion guide to spur conversation on each of the Readings, as well as some other great Trinity Forum items, including a tote bag, notepad, pen and bookmark.
Neurobiology and the Soul
What is the connection between our mind and our soul? New discoveries in neuroscience reveal that love can literally change our minds — that our relationships and interactions with others help shape our brains – which in turn, shape our relationships and behaviors. The link between our habits and spiritual practices and the renewing of our mind may be far more direct than once supposed.
Friendship Shapes our Soul
On Friday, June 24th we hosted an Online Conversation with psychiatrist Curt Thompson and The King’s University philosophy professor Jeffrey Dudiak to discuss the convergence of what brain research and spiritual practices reveal about the formation and development of our mind, heart, and soul. These longtime friends shared how their relationship has been used by God to repair and shape their lives in fascinating and unexpected ways.
This Conversation is part of our Discovery and Doxology series in partnership with BioLogos and Church of the Advent bringing together leading scientists, theologians, and scholars to discuss the relationship between science and faith.
Learn more about Curt Thompson and Jeff Dudiak.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis
John Wood
Makoto Fujimura
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
God's Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
Babbet’s Feast, by Isak Dinesen
Related Conversations:Faith in an Empirical World: an Online Conversation with Ard Louis and Tremper Longman
Suffering, Healing, and Meaning, with Philip Yancey and Julia Wattacheril
Understanding Transhumanism with Rosalind Picard and Richard Mouw
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, visit ttf.org/join.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
Science, Faith, and the Pursuit of Truth
What does it mean to pursue truth — and how do we know what we know? Science and religion have often been assumed to offer either contradictory or unrelated forms of knowledge, with any intersection between them presumed to be a conflict.
Such assumptions have grown more contentious in recent years in a world awash in misinformation and epistemic battles. How do science and faith relate in pursuing truth? What might each have to say to the other? And how might such a conversation enhance our understanding of knowledge itself?
On Friday, March 25 2022, The Trinity Forum hosted a conversation with Elaine Howard Ecklund and Ted Davis to show how science and Christianity intersect in constructive, even beautiful ways.
This conversation is a part of our Discovery and Doxology series, and hosted in partnership with Biologos and Church of the Advent and made possible through the support of Templeton Religion Trust. This series brings together leading scientists, philosophers, and theologians to discuss the relationship between science and faith.
Learn more about Elaine Howard Ecklund and Ted Davis.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Christian View of Science and Scripture, Bernard Ramm
Richard Dawkins
Philo Judaeus
John Philoponus
Augustine of Hippo
Galileo Galilei
Ptolemy
Galen
Euclid
Sam Harris
A Brief Retrospect of the Eighteenth Century, Samuel Miller
Ken Ham
Francis Collins
Albert Einstein
Peter Medewar
Thomas Henry Huxley
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
God's Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
Related Conversations:Faith in an Empirical World: an Online Conversation with Ard Louis and Tremper Longman
Neurobiology and the Soul with Curt Thompson and Jeffrey Dudiak
Suffering, Healing, and Meaning, with Philip Yancey and Julia Wattacheril
Understanding Transhumanism with Rosalind Picard and Richard Mouw
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, visit ttf.org/join.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
Understanding Transhumanism
Rapid developments in artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies can add confusion to the existential questions of who we are and why we are here. Through this conversation, Mouw and Picard explore the potential benefits and cautions of these technologies and thoughtfully examine the philosophical foundation of transhumanism.
This conversation is a part of our Discovery and Doxology series, and hosted in partnership with Biologos and Church of the Advent and made possible through the support of Templeton Religion Trust. This series brings together leading scientists, philosophers, and theologians to discuss the relationship between science and faith.
Learn more about Rosalind Picard and Richard Mouw.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Raymond Kurzweil
Brave New World, by Alduous Huxley
Uncommon Decency: Christian Civility and Uncivil World, Pluralisms and Horizons, He Shines in All That’s Fair, Praying at Burger King, Calvinism in the Las Vegas Airport: Making Connections in Today's World, all by Richard Mouw
BF Skinner
The Concept of Mind, by Gilbert Ryle
Hubert Dreyfus
Friedrich Nietzsche
He Jiankui
Neil Postman
John McCarthy
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
God's Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
Related Conversations:
Faith in an Empirical World: an Online Conversation with Ard Louis and Tremper Longman
Science, Faith, & the Pursuit of Truth with Elaine Howard Ecklund and Ted Davis
Neurobiology and the Soul with Curt Thompson and Jeffrey Dudiak
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, visit ttf.org/join.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
Science and Faith in Conflict?
We live in an era where science and faith are widely believed to be in conflict. A spreading materialism asserts, even assumes, that only empirical knowledge is reliable, and denigrates ways of understanding reality beyond the quantitative. Others believe that the realms of science and religion are entirely separate — each with interesting things to say, but nothing to say to each other.
Wonder Can Lead to Worship
In this conversation, we offer a different hypothesis: that science and faith actually have things to say to each other and can enable us to better understand ourselves, our minds, our world, and its originator and designer. In contemplating the complexity of our Cosmos, and the mystery of our self and soul, we may cultivate a new sense of wonder, awe, and even worship – a doxology amidst discovery.
This conversation is a part of our Discovery and Doxology series, and hosted in partnership with Biologos and Church of the Advent and made possible through the support of Templeton Religion Trust. This series brings together leading scientists, philosophers, and theologians to discuss the relationship between science and faith.
Learn more about Tremper Longman and Ard Louis.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Elaine Howard Ecklund
Isaac Newton
Sir Robert Boyle
James Clerk Maxwell
Simon Conway Morris
David Alcalde
Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Charles Colson
The Language of God, by Francis Collins
Deborah Haarsma
John Paul II
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Brave New World, Aldous Huxley
God's Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
Related Conversations:
Understanding Transhumanism
Science, Faith, & the Pursuit of Truth with Elaine Howard Ecklund and Ted Davis
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, visit ttf.org/join.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
Discovery and Doxology
This special podcast series is called Discovery and Doxology conversations on science and faith and is created in partnership with Templeton, Religion Trust, Biologos, and Church of the Advent. The four conversations in this series features conversations between scientists, philosophers, and theologians helping us explore the relationship between science and faith.
Science and Faith in Conflict?
We live in a time when science and faith are often thought to be in conflict. The discipline of science is sometimes conflated, even within the scientific community, with a reductionistic materialism or scientism that asserts or even assumes that only empirical knowledge is reliable and dismisses ways of knowing what is real beyond the merely quantitative.
On the other hand, some people of faith fear that scientific findings are undermining of spiritual authority or Christian orthodoxy, and may even see discoveries and fields like vaccine creation, gene therapy, and artificial intelligence as a threat to the claims of Christianity. But as our conversations make clear, the mistrust between Christians and scientists hasn't always existed.
Scientific Discovery Leading to Worship of the Creator
Many of the greatest lights in the history of science understood their calling as one of making known the beauty and grandeur of God through a better understanding of the created order. They believed science and worship were connected by a shared love of truth and its author, and that discovery led to doxology.
The conversations that make up our discovery and doxology series explores these tensions and possibilities. It's our aim to introduce you to some of the brightest scientific and theological lights of our own generation and to help you think wisely and well about these questions. You can listen to any of these conversations in full at ttf.org.
Our sincere thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork and to Andrew Peterson for providing our music.
In our final podcast episode of our special Lenten series, we're considering the meaning of the good news view through the lens of scripture, with an emphasis on Christ, passion and triumph.
Reading Scripture with New Eyes
To help us explore the spiritual discipline of reading scripture, we’re returning to an evening conversation we hosted back in 2016 with Anglican Bishop, and New Testament scholar, N.T. Wright.
Since the very earliest days of the Christian Church, the reading of scripture has been foundational for Christian formation. Rather than prescribe a particular methodology of Bible reading this week, our invitation is simply to join us in reading each of the four gospel accounts of Jesus' last days, but to do so with a refreshed understanding of what Jesus meant when he spoke of the “good news.”
On Earth as it is in Heaven
As N.T. Wright makes clear, Jesus’ good news wasn't about giving advice, or founding a new religion, or even where a soul goes when the body dies. Jesus was inviting his hearers into a new way of understanding Israel's ancient story and the cosmic significance of its sudden fulfillment.
It's our hope that this conversation will help you read slowly, thoughtfully, and to consider and savor aspects of this good news that you may have missed before.
Thank you for journeying with us through Lent, and we wish you a very happy Easter.
Learn more about N.T. Wright.
Watch The Good News and the Good Life, with N.T. Wright and Richard Hayes.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Who is this Man? by John Ortberg
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Devotions by John Donne and paraphrased by Philip Yancey
The Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine of Hippo, Introduced by James K.A. Smith
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
God’s Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
A Spiritual Pilgrimage by Malcolm Muggeridge
Related Conversations:
Liturgy of the Ordinary in Extraordinary Times with Tish Harrison Warren
Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies with Marilyn McEntyre
Invitation to Solitude and Silence with Ruth Haley Barton
On the Road with Saint Augustine with James K.A. Smith and Elizabeth Bruenig
The Habit Podcast, Episode 26: Tish Harrison Warren with Doug McKelvey
The Spiritual Practice of Remembering with Margaret Bendroth
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org, and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, visit ttf.org/join.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
We continue our Lenten podcast series by considering the spiritual practice of remembering with historian and author, Margaret Bendroth.
Remembering is a Scriptural Imperative
The promise of modernity was progress, and so our default orientation is often to the present and future and away from the past, which can be seen as either irrelevant or even benighted. But it is uncanny how often the Bible instructs us to remember the great story, to meditate upon it, ponder it, write it in our heart, dwell on it, and never forget.
In this conversation, Margaret Bendroth invites us to reflect on our own stories, to see our lives as the product of a long choosing linked to the generations that have come before. And then to be willing to examine our family and spiritual histories as part of knowing ourselves and our place in God's story.
Righteous Remembrance Means Extending Grace to our Ancestors
And while she acknowledges the potential for discomfort in looking back, Bendroth encourages us to a posture of “righteous remembrance,” extending the charity to our ancestors that we hope will be extended to us. In doing so, we open up the door to healing not only of our own past, but also to gain access to resources and wisdom from previous generations.
May this conversation inspire you to reflect on your own history and its place within the great story.
Learn more about Margareth Bendroth.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Miroslav Volf
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Devotions by John Donne and paraphrased by Philip Yancey
The Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine of Hippo, Introduced by James K.A. Smith
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
God’s Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
A Spiritual Pilgrimage by Malcolm Muggeridge
Related Conversations:
Liturgy of the Ordinary in Extraordinary Times with Tish Harrison Warren
Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies with Marilyn McEntyre
Invitation to Solitude and Silence with Ruth Haley Barton
On the Road with Saint Augustine with James K.A. Smith and Elizabeth Bruenig
The Habit Podcast, Episode 26: Tish Harrison Warren with Doug McKelvey
The Spiritual Practice of Remembering with Margaret Bendroth
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org, and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, visit ttf.org/join.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
On this episode of our special Lenten podcast series we explore the spiritual practice of writing by listening to a conversation between authors, Tish Harrison Warren, Doug McKelvey and Jonathan Rogers.
The Spiritual Practice of Writing
As these three authors explore the craft of writing, what becomes clear is that the creativity and spiritual insight that marks their work is predicated on the discipline of showing up, to sit in the quiet with tools in hand and to attend to the wonder and mystery of their own lives. The very ordinary disciplines surrounding writing have become for these authors a liturgy by which they come into contact with the divine, writing things and expressing truths they didn't know that they knew.
The Habit: Conversations with Writers about Writing
This conversation originally appeared on the Habit Podcast, a production of the Rabbit Room podcast network, and a portion of it is used here with their generous permission and goodwill. To listen to more of the Habit visit Rabbitroom.com/podcast.
It's our hope that this conversation will inspire your own practice of writing during Lent and help you to enter into the mystery and grace of the Father's love.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Charlie Peacock
James Bryant Smith
Walker Percy
Jessica Hooten Wilson
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Devotions by John Donne and paraphrased by Philip Yancey
The Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine of Hippo, Introduced by James K.A. Smith
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
God’s Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
A Spiritual Pilgrimage by Malcolm Muggeridge
Related Conversations:
Liturgy of the Ordinary in Extraordinary Times with Tish Harrison Warren
Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies with Marilyn McEntyre
Invitation to Solitude and Silence with Ruth Haley Barton
On the Road with Saint Augustine with James K.A. Smith and Elizabeth Bruenig
The Habit Podcast, Episode 26: Tish Harrison Warren with Doug McKelvey
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org, and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, visit ttf.org/join.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
Repentance and St. Augustine
We continue our Lenten podcast series by considering the spiritual practice of repentance with author, philosophy professor, and Trinity Forum Senior Fellow, James K.A. Smith.
Few figures cast as long a shadow over church history as Saint Augustine of Hippo, regarded by many as second only to St. Paul in terms of his extraordinary contributions to theology and philosophy. For his part, James K.A. Smith takes a different approach, describing Augustine as an AA sponsor for the soul.
Disordered Desire and the Role of Repentance
In Augustine’s book, Confessions, he offers us a searingly honest glimpse into the human heart and it’s Augustine’s refusal to look away from his own disordered loves, but instead to confess and repent at the level of his deepest desires, that makes Confessions one of the most enduring works of Christian spiritual writing of all time.
Learn more about James K.A. Smith.
Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Confessions by St. Augustine
On The Road With Saint Augustine by James. K.A. Smith
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Devotions by John Donne and paraphrased by Philip Yancey
The Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine of Hippo, Introduced by James K.A. Smith
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
God’s Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
A Spiritual Pilgrimage by Malcolm Muggeridge.
Related Conversations:
Liturgy of the Ordinary in Extraordinary Times with Tish Harrison Warren
Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies with Marilyn McEntyre
Invitation to Solitude and Silence with Ruth Haley Barton
The Second Mountain with David Brooks
On the Road with Saint Augustine with James K.A. Smith and Elizabeth Bruenig
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org, and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, visit ttf.org/join.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
Generosity with Marilyn McEntyre
We continue our Lenten podcast series this week by looking at the spiritual practice of generosity with professor, author, and poet, Marilyn McEntyre. Generosity, or to use more ancient language, charity or almsgiving, was a practice Christians historically emphasized during Lent. And while providing material support to those in need is certainly a vital part of charity and love of neighbor, in this episode, Marilyn challenges us to broaden our understanding of what generosity can mean.
Caring for our Words is Part of Caring for our Neighbor
The book of Proverbs teaches us that death and life are in the power of the tongue and, in this conversation, Dr. McEntyre argues that caring for language is inextricably bound up with our caring for others. It's our hope that the conversation which follows stretches your categories of generosity and caregiving this week, as we consider together what it means to attend to our language and to practice charity with our words.
To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org, and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, visit ttf.org/join.
Learn more about Dr. Marilyn McEntyre.
Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies by Marilyn McEntyre
Jane Austen
David Brooks
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Devotions by John Donne and paraphrased by Philip Yancey
The Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine of Hippo, Introduced by James K.A. Smith
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
God’s Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
A Spiritual Pilgrimage by Malcolm Muggeridge
Related Conversations:
Liturgy of the Ordinary in Extraordinary Times with Tish Harrison Warren
Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies with Marilyn McEntyre
Invitation to Solitude and Silence with Ruth Haley Barton
The Second Mountain with David Brooks
On the Road with Saint Augustine with James K.A. Smith and Elizabeth Bruenig
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
Silence and Solitude
We continue our special Lenten podcast series with author and spiritual director, Ruth Haley Barton, and this brief introduction to the spiritual disciplines of silence and solitude. Ruth considers the unique gift these practices offer us, why they can be so challenging, and the way that these practices look different depending on your season of life.
Where We Encounter God
"Solitude and silence in particular is where we encounter God, but it is also the place that's most challenging for us on so many different levels." - Ruth Haley Barton
We hope you're encouraged to start right where you are, even if that's just a minute or two of silence in the morning before the day begins, or at night to allow the sediment of the day to settle and to see more clearly what's most important.
Learn more about Ruth Haley Barton.
Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Richard Rohr
Dallas Willard
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Devotions by John Donne and paraphrased by Philip Yancey
The Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine of Hippo, Introduced by James K.A. Smith
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
God’s Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
A Spiritual Pilgrimage by Malcolm Muggeridge
Related Conversations:
Liturgy of the Ordinary in Extraordinary Times with Tish Harrison Warren
Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies with Marilyn McEntyre
Invitation to Solitude and Silence with Ruth Haley Barton
On the Road with Saint Augustine with James K.A. Smith and Elizabeth Bruenig
Listen to this or any of our conversations in full at ttf.org, and to join the Trinity Forum Society and help make content like this possible, visit https://ttf.org/join.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
Formation and Habit with Tish Harrison Warren
In our first Lenten podcast, we're turning to author and Anglican priest Tish Harrison Warren to help us frame our thinking about how we're formed spiritually and what the goal of formation is. Tish helps make us conscious of the habits, practices, and liturgies that are present and forming us in our everyday lives.
Practices are a Response to Love
She does a beautiful job of recasting spiritual disciplines not as an effort to make ourselves worthy of God's love, but as a response to God's declaration that we are already his beloved. We hope this conversation inspires you to consider anew the formative power of your habits, and to join us weekly in exploring spiritual disciplines, not out of obligation, but out of a deep and growing sense of your own belovedness before God.
To listen to this or any of our conversations in full, visit https://ttf.org, and to join the Trinity Forum Society to help make more content like this possible, visit https://ttf.org/join.
Learn more about Tish Harrison Warren.
Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:Liturgy of the Ordinary by Tish Harrison Warren
John Mark Comer
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Devotions by John Donne and paraphrased by Philip Yancey
The Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine of Hippo, Introduced by James K.A. Smith
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie Dillard
Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan
God’s Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
A Spiritual Pilgrimage by Malcolm Muggeridge
Related Conversations:
Liturgy of the Ordinary in Extraordinary Times with Tish Harrison Warren
Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies with Marilyn McEntyre
Invitation to Solitude and Silence with Ruth Haley Barton
On the Road with Saint Augustine with James K.A. Smith and Elizabeth Bruenig
For 2000 years, Lent has been a season of spiritual preparation in which you reflect on Christ's temptation suffering and death. Beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending with Easter, the 40 days of lent have historically been a time for Christians to draw closer to God through prayer, fasting, repentance, and self-denial.
Of course, that's a hard sell in our time. Embracing spiritual disciplines has never been easy, but in a cultural context where denying ourselves our desires is seen not just as odd, but repressive, or even harmful, humbling ourselves through spiritual disciplines and walking in these ancient paths can seem more daunting than ever.
But far from being the exclusive province of medieval monks or cloistered mystics of some far away place and time, these disciplines are for everyone, and offer through embodied practices, a path to more deeply and joyfully following in the ways of Jesus. So this Lenten season, we ask you to join us as we explore seven different spiritual disciplines through this special podcast series.
Each week we'll release a new conversation that considers a practice to help you draw closer to God in mind, body and spirit. The point is not to master any particular spiritual discipline, but to simply start where you are. It's our hope that these conversations will inspire you to take a step into a new practice of learning to better know, love, and enjoy the Lord who died for us as we remember his passion, and anticipate the joy of his resurrection.
Listen to or watch any of our conversations in full at TTF.org, or to help support this podcast and our ongoing work, visit: TTF.org/join.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
On Friday, December 18, 2020, in partnership with Regent College, The Rabbit Room, and The C.S. Lewis Foundation we were delighted to host the renowned poet, singer-songwriter, and Anglican priest Malcom Guite for a conversation about his work of poetry, Waiting on the Word.
Learn more about Malcolm Guite.
Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript from December 2020.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Waiting on the Word, Malcolm Guite
As You Like It, Shakespeare
John Milton
Robert Louis Stevenson
C.S. Lewis
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
Christmas, by John Betjeman
North, by Seamus Heaney
St. John of the Cross
A Midsummer Night's Dream, Shakespeare
The Forge, by Seamus Heaney
O Sapientia, Malcolm Guite
Thomas Clarkson
George Herbert
The Apologist's Evening Prayer, C.S. Lewis
The Agonie, by George Herbert
John Donne
Gerard Manley Hopkins
Station Island XI, Seamus Heaney and St. John of the Cross
Adam Crothers
The Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. Lewis
In the Bleak Midwinter, Christina Rossetti
In Drear Nighted December, by John Keats
Alfred, Lord Tennyson
William Wordsworth
Steve Bell
Jack Redford
T.S. Eliot
Hebrew Melodies, Lord Byron
Percy Bysshe Shelley
Geoffrey Chaucer
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Devotions, by John Donne and paraphrased by Philip Yancey
God’s Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins
Four Quartets, by T.S. Eliot with an introduction by Makoto Fujimura
Related Conversations:
Lecture given by Malcolm for the C.S. Lewis Foundation
Laing Lectures given by Malcolm at Regent College
Steve Bell & Malcolm Guite: Live at the West End
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
On Friday, May 1 The Trinity Forum hosted from Former Chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, and Poet Laureate of California, Dana Gioia. Dana shared his unique insights about beauty, poetry, and solitude. Dana encourages us to use this time of quarantine to begin afresh.
Learn more about Dana Gioia.
Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript from May 2020.
Authors, artists, and books mentioned in the conversation:
T.S. Eliot
Wallace Stevens
Jacques Maritain
Thomas Acquinas
A Portrait of An Artist as a Young Man, by James Joyce
Georgia O'Keeffe
Étienne Mallarmé
Edgar Allen Poe
Friedrich Nietzsche
Horace
Catullus
Virgil
W.H. Auden
Philip Larkin
Robert Frost
Emily Dickinson
A.E. Stallings
Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
John Greenleaf Whittier
King Lear, by William Shakespeare
The Idiot, by Fyodor Dostoevsky
C.S. Lewis
Immanuel Kant
Frederick Turner
Makoto Fujimura
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
God’s Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins with introduction by Dana Gioia
Bulletins From Immortality: Poems by Emily Dickinson
Devotions by John Donne (paraphrased by Philip Yancey)
Sacred & Profane Love, John Donne with an introduction by Dana Gioia
Four Quartets! By T.S. Eliot with an introduction by Mako Fujimura
Related Conversations:
Waiting on the Word with Malcolm Guite
Dana Gioia - Beauty
“Poetry, Imagination, and Spiritual Formation” an Evening Conversation in with Dana Gioia, September 11, 2019
“Why Poetry Matters” an Evening Conversation with Dana Gioia, April 20, 2016
“Why Beauty Matters: The Significance of Beauty in Art, Faith, and Politics” an Evening Conversation with Dana Gioia, April 1, 2014
“Poetry, Prayer, and Passion” an Evening Conversation with Dana Gioia, October 18, 2012
“Art + Faith: A Theology of Making” an Online Conversation with Makoto Fujimura, January 29, 2021
“Culture Care: Mending to Make New” an Online Conversation with Makoto Fujimura, August 7, 2020
“Culture Care” an Evening Conversation in with Makoto Fujimura, September 19, 2017
“Culture Care in a Fragmented Modern World” an Evening Conversation with Makoto Fujimura, November 4, 2016
“Beauty in a Broken World” an Evening Conversation with Makoto Fujimura, March 31, 2016
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
On November 19th, 2019 the Trinity Forum, Regent College, and Reformed Theological Seminary hosted an Evening Conversation with modern hymn writers Keith and Kristyn Getty. They discussed “Beauty, Music, and Spiritual Formation” as the second in our series on Art, Faith, and Formation in which we aim to discuss the ways in which the literary, musical, and visual arts speak to spiritual hunger and shape our sense of beauty, truth, and purpose.
Learn more about the Gettys.
Watch our Evening Conversation.
Authors, artists, and books mentioned in the conversation:
Peter Kreeft
The Republic, by Plato
Damon of Athens
Sing: How Worship Transforms your Life, Family, and Church, by Keith and Kristyn Getty
Unwearied Praises: Exploring Christian Faith Through Classic Hymns, by Dr. Jeff Greenman
The Pedagogy of Praise, by Dr. Jeff Greenman
John Lennox
Lucy Shaw
Eugene Peters
J.I. Packer
Martin Luther
Leonard Bernstein
Amy Carmichael
Cecil Frances Alexander
Os Guinness
Charles Spurgeon
Lloyd Jones
D.L. Moody
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Handel’s Messiah
Related Conversations:
Waiting on the Word with Malcolm Guite
Poetry & Beauty in Solitude with Dana Gioia
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
On February 19th, 2021, we were delighted to welcome social psychologist and bestselling author, Jonathan Haidt, along with widely published speechwriter and author, Peter Wehner. Wehner is a New York Times columnist, a contributing editor for The Atlantic, and a Trinity Forum Senior Fellow with a deep interest in healing our divided nation. Haidt has done extensive research examining the intuitive foundations of morality and how morality varies across cultures. His books address these topics and provide insights into how to cultivate meaningful, moral conversations across cultural divides.
We hope you enjoy this conversation on the impact of hyper-politicization and polarization, the temptations of illiberalism, the natural tendency towards bias and blind spots in our thinking, and the role of faith in bringing healing and hope to a hurting culture. Especially in our ongoing season of isolation and social restrictions, we hope this will inspire you to reach out and connect with those around you and think about how you can grow culture-shaping friendships and communities.
Learn more about Jonathan Haidt and Pete Wehner.
Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript from February 19, 2021.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
The Happiness Hypothesis: Finding Modern Truth in Ancient Wisdom, by Jonathan Haidt
The Coddling of the American Mind: How Good Intentions and Bad Ideas Are Setting Up a Generation for Failure, by Jonathan Haidt and Greg Lukainoff
The Righteous Mind: Why Good People are Divided by Politics and Religion, by Jonathan Haidt
City of Man: Religion and Politics in a New Era, by Peter Wehner and Michael Gerson
The Death of Politics: How to Heal Our Frayed Republic After Trump, by Peter Wehner
A Time to Build: From Family and Community to Congress and the Campus, How Recommitting to Our Institutions Can Revive the American Dream, by Yuval Levin
Why We’re Polarized, by Ezra Klein
Blaise Pascal
John McWhorter
Francis Collins
C.S. Lewis
Owen Barfield
David Brooks
On Liberty, by John Stuart Mill
Ibram X. Kendi
Richard Reeves, Brookings Institution
How To Think: A Guide for the Perplexed, by Alan Jacobs
The Enigma of Reason, by Hugo Mercier and Dan Sperber
My Bright Abyss: Meditation of a Modern Believer, by Christian Wiman
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Politics in the English Language, by George Orwell
Politics, Morality, and Civility, by Václav Havel
Democracy in America, by Alexis de Tocqueville
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
Related Conversations:
Rebuilding our Common Life, with Yuval Levin
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
In this podcast, edited from an Evening Conversation in 2018 titled "The Lonely American: Rootedness and Reconciliation in a Riven Land" with Senator Ben Sasse and Russell Moore in Washington, DC, we discuss the growing problem of loneliness in the country — the ways in which our alienation from each other is destroying individual lives and the fabric of society — and what can be done about it.
Learn more about Senator Ben Sasse and Dr. Russell Moore.
Watch the full Evening Conversation from November 2018.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
The Vanishing American Adult: Our Coming-of-Age Crisis--and How to Rebuild a Culture of Self-Reliance, by Ben Sasse
Them: Why We Hate Each Other--and How to Heal, by Ben Sasse
James K.A. Smith
Daniel Patrick Moynihan
Robert Putnam
Charles Murray
Ten Arguments for Deleting Your Social Media Accounts Right Now, by Jason Lanier
Marilynne Robinson
The Screwtape Letters, by C.S. Lewis
The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis, by Alan Jacobs
Elie Wiesel
Related Conversations:
Strong and Weak, with Andy Crouch
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
On February 12th, 2021, we were delighted to welcome award-winning author and professor Diana Glyer. Glyer is intrigued by the creative process, particularly how creativity thrives within small groups and creative clusters. She has written extensively on the lives and work of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and their beloved community known as the Inklings.
We hope you enjoy this conversation on the importance of collaboration and the necessity of friendship to the creative process, and we hope you’ll be inspired to think imaginatively about how you can cultivate generative and culture-shaping friendships and communities.
Learn more about Diana Glyer.
Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript from February 12, 2021.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
The Company They Keep: C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien as Writers in Community, by Diana Glyer
Bandersnatch: C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien, and the Creative Collaboration of the Inklings, by Diana Glyer
The Lord of the Rings, by J.R.R. Tolkien
Charles Williams
C.S. Lewis
Shakespeare
Owen Barfield
Hugo Dyson
Out of the Silent Planet, by C.S. Lewis
Jerry Root
The Weight of Glory, by C.S. Lewis
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
On Friendship, by Cicero
The Golden Key, by George MacDonald
The Oracle of the Dog, by G.K. Chesterton
The Lost Tools of Learning, by Dorothy Sayers
Related Conversations:
Suffering, Friendship, and Courage: What Lewis & Tolkien Teach us about Resilience & Imagination, an Online Conversation with Joe Loconte
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
On Friday, November 6th, 2021, we were delighted to partner again with our friends at Coracle to present Speaking Peace and Seeking Reconciliation in a Fractured Culture, an Online Conversation with David Bailey and Marilyn McEntyre. Recorded at the end of the election week, we spoke with David and Marilyn, exemplars of peace and reconciliation both in word and action, and discussed what we can do, as individuals and as the Church, to walk in the way of true shalom, love of neighbor, and truth telling.
Learn more about David Bailey and Dr. Marilyn McEntyre.
Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript from November 6, 2020.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Arrabon: Learning Reconciliation Through Community & Worship Music, by David Bailey
Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, by Marilyn McEntyre
Speaking Peace in a Climate of Conflict, by Marilyn McEntyre
Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling, by Andy Crouch
Ezra Pound
The Peacemaker: A Biblical Guide to Resolving Personal Conflict, by Ken Sande
G.K. Chesterton
A Book of Uncommon Prayer: 100 Celebrations of the Miracle & Muddle of the Ordinary, by Brian Doyle
Oscar Romero
T.S. Eliot
Middlemarch, by George Eliot
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Politics and the English Language, by George Orwell
Abraham Lincoln: The Spiritual Growth of a Public Man
Long Walk to Freedom, by Nelson Mandela
Related Conversations:
Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies, with Marilyn McEntyre
Creating Cultural Artifacts that Build New Legacies | David Bailey | TEDxRVA
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
On Friday, April 23rd, 2021 we were delighted to launch a new series on “Discovery and Doxology” in partnership with BioLogos and Church of the Advent. This series brings together leading scientists and theologians to discuss the relationship between science and faith. In this, our first event in the series, we hosted author and theologian, Philip Yancey, and Dr. Julia Wattacheril, discussing suffering, healing, and meaning. Yancey and Wattacheril help us to think through the meaning of our personal and national pain and how knowing the God who suffers with us can redeem such suffering, even transform it.
This event was made possible through the support of a grant from Templeton Religion Trust. The opinions expressed in this program do not necessarily reflect the views of Templeton Religion Trust.
Learn more about Philip Yancey and Dr. Julia Wattacheril.
Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript from April 23, 2021.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
The Jesus I Never Knew
Where Is God When It Hurts?
Disappointment with God
What's So Amazing about Grace?
A Companion in Crisis
C.S. Lewis
John Donne
Dr. Paul Brand
Time Magazine
N.T. Wright
G.K. Chesterton
Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr.
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Devotions, a Trinity Forum Reading by John Donne and introduced and paraphrased by Philip Yancey
Wrestling with God, a Trinity Forum Reading by Simon Weil
The Purchase of a Soul, a Trinity Forum Reading by Victor Hugo
Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music!
On March 19, 2021 we were delighted to host Christian author, leader, and teacher, Ruth Haley Barton. Barton is founding President/CEO of the Transforming Center, a ministry dedicated to strengthening the souls of Christian leaders and the congregations and organizations they serve. Ruth is the author of numerous books and resources on the spiritual life, including Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership and Sacred Rhythms. She reflects regularly on spirituality and leadership in her blog, Beyond Words, and on her podcast Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership.
We hope you enjoy this conversation around her book, Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God’s Transforming Presence. Our attention, Barton believes, has become a commodity that we must protect if we are to avoid being swept away by our distracted age. She invites listeners to engage in these ancient biblical practices to find the rest for our souls that Jesus promises. In this Lenten season, we hope this will inspire you to pursue God’s transforming presence in new ways and contemplatively sit in solitude and silence with the Author and Perfecter of our faith.
Learn more about Ruth Haley Barton.
Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript from March 19, 2021.
Related reading:
A Shocking Lack of Solitude, Cherie Harder
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Blaise Pascal
John Milton
C.S. Lewis
Richard Rohr
Dallas Willard
Henry Nouwen
Shop Class as Soulcraft, by Matthew B. Crawford
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel
Julian of Norwich
Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God's Transforming Presence, by Ruth Haley Barton
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Confessions | A Trinity Forum Reading by St. Augustine, introduced by James K.A. Smith.
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek | A Trinity Forum Reading by Annie Dillard, introduced by Tish Harrison Warren.
Devotions | A Trinity Forum Reading by John Donne, introduced and paraphrased by Philip Yancey.
The Long Loneliness | A Trinity Forum Reading by Dorothy Day, introduced by Anne and David Brooks.
Wrestling with God | A Trinity Forum Reading by Simone Weil, introduced by Alonzo McDonald.
The Pilgrim's Progress | A Trinity Forum Reading by John Bunyan, introduced by Alonzo McDonald.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
On Friday, May 15th, 2020 we were delighted to welcome Trinity Forum founder, author, and social-critic, Os Guinness, and Dean of Pepperdine’s School of Public Policy, Pete Peterson, to discuss calling and community in the aftermath of this global crisis.
Learn more about Os Guinness, and Pete Peterson.
Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript from May 15, 2020.
Mentioned authors and books:
The Call, by Os Guinness
John Stott
A Treatise on Vocations, William Perkins
Patrick Deneen
Søren Kierkegaard
Dr. James Houston
Range, by Jeffrey Epstein
The City of God, by St. Augustine
Strong and Weak, by Andy Crouch
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
“William Wilberforce: A Man Who Changed His Times,” by John Pollock, A Trinity Forum Reading
“Why Work?” by Dorothy Sayers, A Trinity Forum Reading
“How Much Land Does a Man Need?” by Leo Tolstoy, A Trinity Forum Reading
“Letters from Vincent Van Gogh,” by Vincent Van Gogh, A Trinity Forum Reading
Related viewing:
Pete Peterson’s webinar on calling
Our Evening Conversation with Andy Crouch on Strong and Weak
Trinity Forum Evening Conversations with Os Guinness:
https://www.ttf.org/?portfolio=evening-conversation-with-os-guinness
https://www.ttf.org/?portfolio=evening-conversation-with-os-guinness-on-celebrating-the-500th-anniversary-of-the-reformation
https://www.ttf.org/?portfolio=evening-conversation-with-os-guinness-february-4-2014
https://www.ttf.org/?portfolio=evening-conversation-with-os-guiness-september-5-2013
Entrepreneurs of Life
On Friday, June 11th, we were pleased to welcome author and cultural analyst, Andy Crouch, and his daughter, Amy Crouch, to discuss their book entitled My Tech-Wise Life: Growing Up and Making Choices in a World of Devices. In it they explore how to navigate the possibilities and pitfalls of technology and its influence in one’s life. Andy and Amy believe there is a wise path we can walk with our technology, a different and better way to imagine our lives together. We hope you enjoy this conversation.
Learn more about Andy Crouch and Amy Crouch.
Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript from June 11, 2021.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Annie Dillard
My Tech-Wise Life: Growing Up and Making Choices in a World of Devices
Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling
Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power
Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing
The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place
Marshal McLuhan
Neil Postman
Albert Borgman
Bowling Alone, by Robert Putnam
Augustine of Hippo
James K.A. Smith
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Brave New World, a Trinity Forum Reading by Aldous Huxley
The Confessions of St. Augustine, a Trinity Forum Reading
On Happiness, a Trinity Forum Reading by Thomas Aquinas, introduced by Fr. Dominic Legge
Related conversations:
Online Conversation with Andy Crouch on “Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power” in 2013.
Online Conversation with Andy Crouch on his book “Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing” in 2016.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
This episode features a conversation that took place on May 28, 2019 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. with New York Times columnist and author David Brooks on “The Second Mountain.” Brooks offers the fascinating argument that we are, paradoxically, most fulfilled, and even most ourselves, in the context of commitment to community, family, vocation, and faith. The Second Mountain is an examination of how putting commitment-making at the center of our lives can repair the social fabric of our communities and ourselves.
Watch the full Evening Conversation from May 14, 2021.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Jayber Crow, by Wendell Berry
Mere Christianity, by C.S. Lewis
Alasdair MacIntyre
Richard Rohr
Dorothy Day
John Stott
Vaclav Havel
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
- Confessions, a Trinity Forum Reading by St. Augustine
- God's Grandeur , a Trinity Forum Reading by Gerard Manley Hopkins
- Pilgrim's Progress, a Trinity Forum Reading by John Bunyan
David Brooks is an Op-Ed columnist for The New York Times a commentator on “PBS NewsHour,” NPR’s “All Things Considered” and NBC’s “Meet the Press.” He is the author of numerous books including “The Road to Character,” and “The Second Mountain.” Mr. Brooks also teaches at Yale University, and is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music.
This episode features a conversation we hosted on Friday, May 21st with author and Trinity Forum Senior Fellow Karen Swallow prior on Jane Austen and her novel approach to virtue. Speaking of Austen’s Christian faith, Prior says, “Hers was the restrained, quiet, and personal faith of her Anglican tradition. Her novels are less altar calls than liturgies of ordinary life.” Austen’s world may feel quite removed from ours, but her focus on such everyday liturgies illustrate the importance of the seemingly mundane and illuminate the path towards repaired and rightly ordered relationships.
We hope you enjoy this conversation!
Learn more about Karen Swallow Prior
Watch the full Evening Conversation and read the transcript from May 21st, 2021.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Pride and Prejudice, Sense and Sensibility, by Jane Austen
Amusing Ourselves to Death, by Neil Postman
Praying with Jane, by Rachel Dodge
Alasdair MacIntyre
William Shakespeare
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
- Pride and Prejudice, a Trinity Forum Reading by Jane Austen
- Bulletins from Immortality, a Trinity Forum Reading by Emily Dickinson
- Revelation, a Trinity Forum Reading by Flannery O’Connor
- God's Grandeur , a Trinity Forum Reading by Gerard Manley Hopkins
Dr. Karen Swallow Prior is Professor of English at Liberty University, where she has won multiple teaching awards. She writes frequently on literature, culture, ethics, and ideas. Her writing appears at Christianity Today, The Atlantic, The Washington Post, First Things, Vox, Think Christian, The Gospel Coalition, Books and Culture and other places. She is the author of Booked: Literature in the Soul of Me, Fierce Convictions: The Extraordinary Life of Hannah More—Poet, Reformer, Abolitionist , and On Reading Well: Finding the Good Life through Great Literature, and her most recent work Sense and Sensibility: A Guide to Reading and Reflecting.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music!
This episode features a conversation we hosted on Friday, May 14th with artist and author Sho Baraka for a conversation around his new book He Saw That It Was Good: Reimagining Your Creative Life To Repair A Broken World. Baraka says, “The command to love—in all the fullness and justice of that word—is laid on all, from politician to painter. With every policy pushed, every stroke of the brush, we put forth what we believe about God and about good. With what we make, we affect the world. For better or for worse.” In this conversation we explore how our creative gifts and good works can contribute to the care and repair of our hurting world. We hope you enjoy!
Learn more about Sho Baraka
Watch the full Evening Conversation and read the transcript from May 14, 2021.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
100 Years of Solitude, by Gabriel García Márquez
Frederick Douglass
Flannery O’Connor
G.K. Chesterton
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
- Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, a Trinity Forum Reading by Frederick Douglass
- Revelation, a Trinity Forum Reading by Flannery O’Connor
- The Strangest Story Ever Told, a Trinity Forum Reading by G.K. Chesterton.
- Telling Truth to Kings, a Trinity Forum Reading by Reinhold Schneider
Sho Baraka is a globally recognized recording artist, performer, culture curator, activist, and writer. His work combines his artistic platform with his academic history to contribute a unique perspective, elevating the contemporary conversation on faith, art, and culture. An alumnus of Tuskegee University and the University of North Texas, Baraka is a cofounder of Forth District and the AND Campaign, and he has served as an adjunct professor at Wake Forest School of Divinity. He was also an original member of influential hip-hop consortium 116 Clique, recording with Reach Records. Baraka lives in Atlanta with his wife Patreece and their three children.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music!
This episode features a conversation we originally hosted on Friday, January 29th with artist and author Makoto Fujimura on his recent book Art + Faith: A Theology of Making. Mako says, “I now consider what I do in the studio to be theological work as much as aesthetic work. I experience God, my Maker, in the studio. I am immersed in the art of creating, and I have come to understand this dimension of life as the most profound way of grasping human experience and the nature of our existence in the world. I call it the “Theology of Making.”
We hope you enjoy this conversation exploring the theological work of creating.
Learn more about Makoto Fujimura.
Watch the full Evening Conversation and read the transcript from January 29th, 2021.
Thanks to Windrider Productions and The Rabbit Room for their partnership on the event with Mako on January 29.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
William Blake
N.T. Wright
Esther Meek
The Gift, by Lewis Hyde
Bruce Herman
T.S. Eliot
Amanda Gorman
David Brooks
Richard Mouw
Learn more about Kintsugi.
Related Trinity Forum Readings and Resources:
- God's Grandeur , a Trinity Forum Reading by Gerard Manley Hopkins
- Revelation, a Trinity Forum Reading by Flannery O’Connor
- Letters from Vincent van Gogh, a Trinity Forum Reading by Vincent van Gogh
- Hannah and Nathan, a Trinity Forum Reading by Wendell Berry
- Culture Care: Mending to Make New, an Online Conversation with Mako Fujimura on August 7, 2020.
- Culture Care, an Evening Conversation with Mako Fujimura on September 19, 2017.
- Soul Care, an Evening Conversation with Mako Fujimura on March 31, 2016.
Makoto Fujimura is a leading contemporary artist whose process driven, refractive “slow art” has been described by David Brooks of New York Times as “a small rebellion against the quickening of time”. In addition to his work as an artist Mako is an author whose works include Refractions: A Journey of Faith, Art, and Culture and his just released work Art + Faith: A Theology of Making. Mako is also a senior fellow of the Trinity forum.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music!
This conversation took place on February 24, 2016 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C. We welcomed scholars and theologians N.T. Wright and Richard B. Hays to discuss The Good News and The Good Life. In this eastertide season we hope this conversation will encourage and inspire us to live as resurrection people.
Learn more about Richard Hays and N.T. Wright.
Watch the full Evening Conversation and read the transcript from February 24, 2016.
Learn more about our partners:
Duke Divinity School — https://divinity.duke.edu
Baylor University Press — https://www.baylorpress.com/
McDonald Agape Fund — https://www.mcdonaldagape.org/agape/mcdonald-agape-foundation.html
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Who Is This Man, by John Ortberg
To Change the World, by James Davison Hunter
The Cost of Discipleship, by Dietrich Bonhoeffer
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
- The Strangest Story Ever Told, a Trinity Forum Reading by G.K. Chesterton.
- Who Stands Fast, a Trinity Forum Reading by Dietrich Bonhoeffer.
- Devotions, a Trinity Forum Reading by John Donne, introduced and paraphrased by Philip Yancey.
Richard Hayes is internationally recognized as one of the foremost biblical scholars bridging the disciplines between biblical criticism and literary studies. He served for many years, both as the Dean and the George Washington IB Professor of New Testament at Duke Divinity School. Prior to coming to Duke, he served on the faculty of Yale Divinity School and his many books include, 'The Faith of Jesus Christ,' 'Echos of Scripture and the Letters of Paul,' 'The Moral Vision of the New Testament,' which was selected by Christianity Today as one of the hundred most important books of the 20th century, 'The Art of Reading Scripture,' and most recently, 'Reading Backwards.'
He's also an ordained minister in the United Methodist Church and has preached in settings ranging from rural Oklahoma to Westminster Abbey, as well as serving on the editorial boards of numerous scholarly journals, he holds a PhD from Emory, an honorary doctorate from Gerta University, and degrees from Yale.
N.T. Wright is a theologian academic author and minister who has been called by such sources as Time and Newsweek as one of the world's leading New Testament scholars and the most formidable figure in the world of Christian thought. He serves as the research professor of New Testament, the University of St. Andrews in Scotland and previously taught New Testament at Cambridge, McGill and Oxford Universities for over 20 years, and then held various posts in the Church of England, most recently as the Bishop of Durham. Dr. Wright is the author of over 80 different books, including 'Simply Good News,' 'How God Became King,' 'Simply Jesus,' 'Surprised by Scripture,' and many others and holds honorary doctorates from over a dozen different universities.
On Friday, July 10th we welcomed distinguished professor, author, and scholar Alan Jacobs to discuss his ever-timely book The Year of Our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis. In his book, Jacobs describes how after the second World War, five Christian intellectuals presented strikingly similar visions for the moral and spiritual renewal of their countries.
Jacques Maritain, T. S. Eliot, C. S. Lewis, W. H. Auden, and Simone Weil all believed the renewal of their respective societies in the aftermath of World War II would come through education that was grounded in a Christian understanding of the power and limitations of human beings. Alan helped us consider the ways our world is changing due to our current crisis, and look back to these Christian intellectuals and their vision for cultivating a flourishing society and rebuilding a shared sense of the common good after world-wide disruption. We hope you enjoy this conversation!
Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript here.
Learn more about Alan Jacobs.
Alan Jacobs’ Books:
Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader’s Guide to a more Tranquil Mind, The Year of our Lord 1943: Christian Humanism in an Age of Crisis, How to Think: A Survival Guide for a World at Odds, The Book of Common Prayer: A Biography.
Baylor University Great Texts Program
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Education at the Crossroads by Jacques Maritain
The Abolition of Man by C.S. Lewis
Vocation and Society, a lecture given at Swarthmore College by W.H. Auden
Christianity and Culture by T.S. Elliot
Between Past and Future, by Hannah Arendt
Rationalism in Politics, by Michael Oakeshott
Roberts Coles - Harvard Professor.
Bleak House, by Charles Dickens
C.S. Lewis - “The Inner Ring,” “Membership,” Abolition of Man, That Hideous Strength.
Leszek Kolakowski
George Eliot
Søren Kierkegaard
Related Trinity Forum Readings and Resources:
- Wrestling with God, by Simone Weil
- Origins of Totalitarianism, by Hannah Arendt
- Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
- Politics and the English Language, by George Orwell
- How Much Land Does A Man Need, by Leo Tolstoy
- A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens
- Poetry, Imagination, and Spiritual Formation, an Evening Conversation with Dana Gioia featuring the poetry of W.H. Auden.
- The Decadent Society, an Evening Conversation with Ross Douthat and Christine Emba.
Alan Jacobs is a scholar, English literature, a writer, a literary critic. He's a distinguished professor of the humanities and the honors college at Baylor university and previously taught for nearly 30 years at Wheaton college in Illinois, a prolific author and a wide ranging thinker. He's written for such publications as The Atlantic, Harper's, Comment, The New Yorker, the Weekly Standard and the Hedgehog Review and has published more than 15 different books on a wide range of topics from literature, technology theology and cognitive psychology, including How to Think, The Book of Common Prayer, the book we're discussing today, The Year of our Lord 1943, which was named by the Wall Street Journal is one of their best books on politics for the year of 2018 and many more, including the forthcoming book, Breaking Bread with the Dead: A Reader's Guide to a more Tranquil Mind, which is available now.
On Friday, July 24th we were honored to host award-winning and much-beloved novelist and essayist, Marilynne Robinson for a wide-ranging conversation on the art of writing as a means of exploring truth and engaging the questions around learning to live well, to love others, and to create a home and community in an often fractious world. Robinson, known for her keen observations on humanity and religion has plumbed the depths of the human spirit in her novels, including the National Book Critics Circle Award-winning Lila, and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Gilead. We hope you enjoy this conversation on “Story, Culture, and the Common Good.”
Watch the full Online Conversation and read the transcript here.
Marilynne Robinson's Novels | Housekeeping, Gilead, Home, Lila
Article in Breaking Ground from our event.
Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Marcel Proust
Ralph Waldo Emmerson
Paul Harding
Walt Witman
William Faulkner
John Calvin
Jonathan Edwards
Moby Dick, by Herman Mellville
Piers Plowman, by William Langland
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
- Sacred and Profane Love | A Trinity Forum Reading by John Donne
- Bulletins from Immortality| A Trinity Forum Reading by Emily Dickinson
- Confessions| A Trinity Forum Reading by Saint Augustine
- Brave New World| A Trinity Forum Reading by Aldous Huxley
Marilynne Robinson is a novelist, essayist, and teacher, one of the most renowned and revered of living writers. Her novels Housekeeping, Gilead, Lila, and Home have been variously honored with the Pulitzer Prize, National Books Critics Circle Award (twice), a Hemingway Foundation Award, an Orange Prize, The Library of Congress Prize for American Fiction, and the Ambassador Book Award. She's also the author of many essays and non-fiction works, including her work, “Mother Country”, and her essay collections, “Death of Adam,” “Absence of Mind,” “When I was a Child I Read Books,” “The Givenness of Things,” and “What Are We Doing Here?”. She's the recipient of the National Humanities Medal and an elected fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. In addition to her writing has spent over 20 years teaching at the Iowa Writers Workshop, as well as several universities.
On Friday, July 17, 2020 we welcomed writer, poet, and professor Marilyn McEntyre for an Online Conversation to discuss her provocative book, Caring for Words in a Culture of Lies. The book focuses on the morality, power, and importance of caring for language. She notes that caring for one another is not entirely separable from caring for words. Words are entrusted to us as equipment for our life together, to help us survive, guide, and nourish one another. If language is to retain its power to nourish and sustain our common life, we have to care for it the way good farmers care for the earth.
- Learn more about Marilyn McEntyre
- Watch the full Online Conversation video and read the transcript
- Watch our Online Conversation with Marilyn McEntyre and David Bailey on “Speaking Peace and Seeking Reconciliation.”
- Check out her brand new book called Where the Eye Alights: Reflections for the Forty Days of Lent.
Authors mentioned in the conversation:
- Jane Austen
- Ezra Pound - “Go in fear of abstractions.”
- George Steiner - Real Presences
- Theodor Adorno
- William Faulkner
- Wendell Berry
Books mentioned in the conversation:
- The Road to Character, by David Brooks
- Blind Spot, by Mahzarin R. Banaji and Anthony G. Greenwald
- Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne
- Little Women, by Louis May Alcott
- The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne
- Moby Dick, by Herman Melville
- Middlemarch, by George Eliot
- Prayers of the Cosmos and The Hidden Gospel by Neil Douglass Klutz
BBC Radio Program - My Word
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
- Politics and the English Language, by George Orwell
- Bulletins from Immortality, by Emily Dickinson
- Letters from Van Gogh, by Vincent Van Gogh
- Hannah and Nathan, by Wendell Berry
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music!
On Good Friday, April 10, 2020 The Trinity Forum hosted psychiatrist Curt Thompson for an Online Conversation to discuss his insights on suffering, shame, and isolation, which are felt acutely in the COVID-19 pandemic. Curt’s word for us in this time is to be of good cheer—our King is coming!
Dr. Curt Thompson is a psychiatrist, author and speaker who specializes in connecting our intrinsic desire to be known with the need to tell truer stories about ourselves — showing us how to form deep relationships, discover meaning and live integrated, creative lives. Curt Thompson’s books Anatomy of the Souland The Soul of Shame speak to the innermost desires of our hearts and souls, bringing together a dialect of interpersonal neurobiology and a Christian anthropology to uncover the key to living life fully: being known. To do that, we need genuine relationships, which can only be found when we tell the whole truth about who we are — to ourselves and others.
- Curt Thompson is a Trinity Forum Senior Fellow
- Learn more about Curt Thompson
- Curt’s reflection mentioned in the conversation
- Watch the full Online Conversation with Curt
- Watch our Evening Conversation with Curt on his book The Soul of Shame from October 2015Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music!
On Friday, September 25 we had the privilege of hosting best-selling author, thought leader, and Harvard Business and Kennedy School professor Arthur Brooks for an Online Conversation on “Redeeming a Culture of Contempt.” In his book, Love Your Enemies Brooks blends cutting-edge behavioral research and ancient wisdom to offer a better way to bridge divides and mend relationships. Brooks helps us to think about practical ways we can choose to love those we disagree with—to will their good and be agents of redemption and reconciliation amidst a divisive time.
Learn more about Arthur Brooks
Watch the full video and read the transcript of our conversation with Arthur
Resources mentioned during the conversation:
- Martin Luther King Jr. Sermon on Matthew 5:44
- Robert Putnam, Bowling Alone
- Letter from Birmingham Jail, a Trinity Forum Reading by Martin Luther King Jr.
- Long Walk to Freedom, a Trinity Forum Reading by Nelson Mandela
- David Brooks, The Social Animal
- Trinity Forum Evening Conversation with Robert George and Cornel West in Nashville, TN
- Trinity Forum Evening Conversation with Arthur Brooks and Justin Giboney in Washington, D.C.
Special thanks to Ned Bustard for the artwork and Andrew Peterson for the music!