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.