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.

Reading for Virtue

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.

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The relentless pull and pressure of partisan antagonisms and tribalism have fractured friendships, families, communities — and churches. In a time of conflict over what is good and confusion over what is true, what can church leaders do to cultivate a more faithful form of civic engagement? How can we learn to discern the call to love and justice amidst the clamor of political wars? 
 On our latest podcast, three wise men, as Cherie affectionately calls them, address these pressing questions. Curtis Chang, David French, and Russell Moore are each writers, scholars, and thinkers who have made courageous and insightful contributions towards a better Christian politics and we’re delighted to share their comments from an evening conversation in 2023 with you: 
 “Be of great hope. Because the after party is coming…It's the wedding feast of the lamb when Jesus returns to cleanse his church, made spotless. And in that moment, the restoration not of the church, but of the world at war where the swords are beaten into plowshares, the spears into pruning hooks. That's the after party that's coming. So if you know how the story ends, how can we not have great hope? - Curtis Chang 
 This podcast is an edited version of an evening conversation recorded in early 2023. Watch the full video of the conversation here, and learn more about Curtis Chang, David French, and Russell Moore. 
 Authors and books mentioned in the conversation: Divided We Fall, by David French The Courage to Stand, Facing Your Fear Without Losing Your Soul, by Russell Moore Onward: Engaging the Culture without Losing the Gospel, by Russell Moore The Storm Tossed Family: How the Cross Reshapes the Home, by Russell Moore Losing our Religion: An Altar Call for Evangelical Christians, by Russell Moore The Anxiety Opportunity, by Curtis Chang Ernest Hemmingway The Big Sort, by Bill Bishop Cass Sunstein Constitution of Knowledge, by Jonathan Rauch The Moviegoer, by Walker Percy The Righteous Mind, by Jonathan Haidt High Conflict, by Amanda Ripley 
 Related Trinity Forum Readings: The Federalist Papers City of God, by Augustine of Hippo 

Towards a Better Christian Politics

A Life Worth Living What makes a good life? What habits of attention, reflection, and action orient us towards knowing, desiring, and doing what is good, true, and beautiful? Such “big questions” may seem unanswerable and intimidating — but their exploration is at the heart of the human quest for meaning. Drawing on his popular Yale course, theologian Miroslav Volf joined us to reflect on what makes for a flourishing life in our times:“You realize that there are things that are much more important. I mean this is the life of fullness. This is his life of weight. [It is the] arduous life that is, in fact, the truly happy life.Despite the real challenge of human suffering and pain, Volf argues that happiness is possible and that an examined life that grapples with the good in our emotions, circumstances, and actions is a life worth living. This podcast is an edited version of an online conversation recorded in early 2024. Watch the full video of the conversation here, and learn more about Miroslav Volf. Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:
Exclusion and Embrace, by Miroslav Volf
Life Worth Living: A Guide to What Matters Most, by Miroslav Volf, Matthew Croasmun, and Ryan McAnnally-Linz
Friedrich Nietzsche Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl
On Happiness, by Thomas Aquinas
Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley
How Much Land Does a Man Need, by Leo Tolstoy
Wrestling with God, by Simone Weil Related Conversations:
A New Year With The Word with Malcolm Guite
Music, Creativity & Justice with Ruth Naomi Floyd
Pursuing Humility with Richard Foster and Brenda Quinn
Reading as a Spiritual Practice with Jessica Hooten Wilson
Walking as a Spiritual Practice with Mark Buchanan
Making as a Spiritual Practice with Makoto Fujimura
Connecting Spiritual Formation & Public Life with Michael Wear
The Kingdom, the Power & The Glory with Tim Alberta 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.

A Life Worth Living with Miroslav Volf

The Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory with Tim Alberta 
 American Christians are certainly not immune to the anger, division, and fear that characterize our political moment. For many, the prospect of another election year is a source of dread or of numb exhaustion; others have responded with aggression or defensiveness. On our podcast, author and journalist Tim Alberta encourages us toward a better media diet, and to remember where our true allegiance lies:“I would pray alongside of you that in our political and civic engagement, no matter who it is that we ultimately vote for, no matter what policies we support, that our allegiance is never to the Donkeys or to the Republicans. Our allegiance is never to a political figure.“We have a king, we have a kingdom, and the best way for us to retain our saltiness is to prioritize that allegiance and that allegiance alone.” We hope this conversation, coming in a heated election year and at a time of great political import for our nation, is, in fact, a kind of spiritual balm to you. May Tim’s guidance help us to retain our distinctiveness as we engage in the public square for the common good. 
 This podcast is an edited version of an online conversation recorded in early 2024. Watch the full video of the conversation here, and learn more about Tim Alberta. 
 Authors and books mentioned in the conversation: American Carnage, by Tim Alberta The Kingdom, the Power and the Glory, American Evangelicals in an Age of Extremism, by Tim Alberta Rush Limbaugh Robert Jeffress 
 Related Trinity Forum Readings: Children of Light and The Children of Darkness, by Reinhold Niebuhr City of God, by Augustine Politics, Morality and Civility, by Václav Havel 
Related Conversations:
A New Year With The Word with Malcolm Guite
Music, Creativity & Justice with Ruth Naomi Floyd
Pursuing Humility with Richard Foster and Brenda Quinn
Reading as a Spiritual Practice with Jessica Hooten Wilson
Walking as a Spiritual Practice with Mark Buchanan
Making as a Spiritual Practice with Makoto Fujimura
Connecting Spiritual Formation & Public Life with Michael Wear 
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 Kingdom, The Power, and The Glory with Tim Alberta

Connecting Spiritual Formation and Public Life with Michael Wear 
 In the midst of what is proving to be a frustrating, fractious, and even frightening election year, how can Christians best respond to the situation in front of us, and how can we offer a positive contribution to our common life? 
 Drawing on the life and work of the late philosopher Dallas Willard, Michael Wear helps us explore what true spiritual formation could mean for the reformation of our polarized political life:“We need to retrieve a sense that we live in a moral universe in which moral decisions are not optional. We make moral decisions all of the time, and our politics is actually not absent of moral assertion. “You could say our politics today is actually more robustly full of moral assertions than it has been at any other time this century.” We trust that you’ll be encouraged by Michael’s call to gentleness in our politics and his practical suggestions of Christian practices that help orient our hearts in the midst of cultural confusion and political fractiousness. 
 This podcast is an edited version of an online conversation recorded in early 2024. Watch the full video of the conversation here, and learn more about Michael Wear. 
 Authors and books mentioned in the conversation: The Divine Conspiracy, by Dallas Willard Reclaiming Hope, by Michael Wear The Spirit of our Politics, by Michael Wear Christian Smith American Grace, by David Campbell and Robert Putnam The Allure of Gentleness, by Dallas Willard Eitan Hersh The Spirit of the Disciplines, by Dallas Willard 
Related Trinity Forum Readings: Abraham Lincoln: The Spiritual Growth of a Public Man Letter from Birmingham Jail, by Martin Luther King Jr. City of God, by Augustine Politics, Morality and Civility, by Václav Havel 
 Related Conversations:
A New Year With The Word with Malcolm Guite
Music, Creativity & Justice with Ruth Naomi Floyd
Pursuing Humility with Richard Foster and Brenda Quinn
Reading as a Spiritual Practice with Jessica Hooten Wilson
Walking as a Spiritual Practice with Mark Buchanan
Making as a Spiritual Practice with Makoto Fujimura 
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.

Connecting Spiritual Formation and Public Life with Michael Wear

Making as a Spiritual Practice with Makoto Fujimura If at the center of reality is a God whose love is a generative, creative force, how do humans made in God’s image begin to reflect this beauty and love in a world rent by brokenness and ugliness? As Mako argues on our latest podcast, it’s in the act of making that we are able to experience the depth of God’s being and grace, and to realize an integral part of our humanity:“Love, by definition, is something that goes way outside of utilitarian values and efficiencies and industrial bottom lines. It has to…and when we love, I think we make.  That's just the way we are made, and we respond to that making. So we make, and then when we receive that making, we make again.”Artistry and creativity are not just formative, but even liturgical in that they shape our understanding of, orientation towards, and love for, both the great creator and his creation. 
 We hope you’re encouraged in your making this Lenten season that the God who created you in his image delights in your delight. 
 If this podcast inspires you, and you’re so inclined, we’d love to see what you create, be that a painting, a meal, a poem, or some other loving, artistic expression. Feel free to share it with us by tagging us on your favorite social platform. 
 This podcast is an edited version of an online conversation recorded in 2021. Watch the full video of the conversation here, and learn more about Makoto Fujimura. 
 Authors and books mentioned in the conversation: Art + Faith: A Theology of Making, by Makoto Fujimura William Blake Vincent VanGogh N. T. Wright Esther Meek Jaques Pépin Bruce Herman Martin Luther King Jr. The Gift, byLewis Hyde Amanda Goldman T. S. Eliot Calvin Silve David Brooks 
Related Trinity Forum Readings:
Babette's Feast, by Isak Dinesen Four Quartets, by T.S. Eliot Pilgrim’s Progress, by John Bunyan Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard God’s Grandeur, by Gerard Manley Hopkins 
Related Conversations:
A New Year With The Word with Malcolm Guite
Music, Creativity & Justice with Ruth Naomi Floyd
Pursuing Humility with Richard Foster and Brenda Quinn
Reading as a Spiritual Practice with Jessica Hooten Wilson
Walking as a Spiritual Practice with Mark Buchanan 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.

Reading for Virtue

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