US foreign aid is unexpectedly in the news in 2025 as never before. What do Christians need to know, to help us be part of the dialogue?

America's history of foreign aid dates back at least to the Marshall Plan that followed World War II. Many Christians have been involved. How have these believers thought about the appropriate roles of government and of faith-based institutions? What has the US been doing, with what impact? And what is the situation on the ground now?

Three believers knowledgeable about this work join us for this episode to illustrate the scope of how faith-based foreign aid has impacted regions worldwide, share their perspectives on what a Christ-like spirit looks like in this field, and discuss where they see aid is most needed—now more than ever.

• Ambassador Mark Lagon has served as the US Ambassador to combat human trafficking, and is now focused on the fight against malaria, tuberculosis, and HIV/AIDS.
• Nicole Bibbins Sedaca has held leadership roles in the government, academic and NGO sectors working and teaching on democracy, human rights and religious freedom.
• Myal Greene leads World Relief, the development arm of the National Association of Evangelicals; while serving in Rwanda, he developed its church-based programming model.

This podcast is an edited version of our Online Conversation from April 2025. You can access the full conversation with transcript here.

Related Trinity Forum Readings:

• A Man Who Changed His Times; William Wilberforce
• This Child Will Be Great; Ellen Sirleaf Johnson
• Out of My Life and Thought; Albert Schweitzer 
• Cry, the Beloved Country; Alan Paton
• Sphere Sovereignty; Abraham Kuyper
• Politics, Morality, and Civility; Václav Havel

Related Conversations:

Abraham Kuyper’s Sphere Sovereignty with Vincent Bacote

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.

As we emerge from the Lenten season, freshly renewed by the triumph of the Resurrection, beauty and wonder are particularly present for Christians. In this episode, 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.

Throughout Lent, we've been releasing weekly episodes focused on spiritual practices.

In the final episode of the series, this Holy Week we're considering the discipline of waiting: how we can prepare ourselves to receive good news. 

Our guide today is N.T. Wright, the Anglican Bishop and New Testament scholar. He describes how Jesus invited his hearers into a new way of understanding Israel’s ancient story of waiting, the cosmic significance of its sudden fulfillment, and its meaning for us in this in-between time of preparation to receive good news: 

We hope that this conversation will help you as you wait and prepare to receive this good news.

The podcast is drawn from an evening conversation we hosted back in 2016. You can find our shownotes and much more at ttf.org. 

Thank you for journeying with us through Lent.

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.

Throughout the season of Lent, we're releasing weekly episodes focused on spiritual practices.

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 Makoto Fujimura 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:

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 Van Gogh

N.T. Wright

Esther Meek

Jaques Pépin

Bruce Herman

Martin Luther King Jr.

The Gift, by Lewis 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.

Throughout the season of Lent, we're releasing weekly episodes focused on spiritual practices.

We live in an age of speed and overwhelm, where we often feel we are expected to do more, move faster, work harder, brush past boundaries and limits, and shave margins. When we inevitably fail to meet all demands, we are left feeling not only exhausted, but often diminished.

But what if, instead of seeing our limitations as an impediment, we could learn to view them as a blessing, even a gift? In You’re Only Human, theologian and scholar Kelly Kapic provides a theologically grounded approach to understanding and receiving the gift of our human finitude.

He offers us a way to find joy and relief in our incarnational limits and use them to foster greater freedom, spiritual growth, and deeper community.

This podcast is drawn from our Online Conversation from December 2022. You can access the full conversation with transcript here.

Learn more about Kelly Kapic.

Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:

You’re Only Human, by Kelly Kapic

Embodied Hope, by  Kelly Kapic

The God Who Gives, by Kelly Kapic

The Devoted Life, by Kelly Kapic

Becoming Whole, by Kelly Kapic

Wendell Berry

The Sabbath, by Abram Joshua Heschel

Robert Emmons

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
Beauty and Wonder with Andrew Peterson
Time and Hope with James K.A. Smith
Beauty from Darkness with 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

Pursuing Humility, with Richard Foster and Brenda Quinn

Throughout the season of Lent, we're releasing weekly episodes focused on spiritual practices.

In an age when self-promotion is often celebrated as a sign of leadership and strength, humility may seem a lost virtue. In his work Learning Humility, theologian Richard Foster argues that humility is actually strength, releasing us from a preoccupation with self, and allowing us to live a life of freedom:

May Foster’s call to humility, and pastor and writer Brenda Quinn’s practical insights on living it out in leadership and community, inspire you this Lenten season to contemplate the humility of Jesus and the way of the cross.

This podcast is an edited version of a conversation recorded in 2022. Watch the full video of the conversation here, and learn more about Richard Foster and Brenda Quinn.

Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:

Learning Humility, by Richard Foster

Celebration of Discipline, by Richard Foster

Streams of Living Water, by Richard Foster

Sanctuary of the Soul, by Richard Foster

The Life With God Bible, contributed to by Richard Foster
C.S. Lewis

Timothy Keller

The Frenzy of Renown

Related Trinity Forum Readings:

The Long Loneliness, by Dorothy Day

Brave New World, by Aldous Huxley

Who Stands Fast, featuring Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Babette's Feast, by Isak Dinesen

Wrestling with God, by Simone Weil 

Related Conversations:
A New Year With The Word with Malcolm Guite
Music, Creativity & Justice with Ruth Naomi Floyd

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

Throughout the season of Lent, we'll be releasing weekly episodes focused on themes of reflection, prayer, and contemplation. As you listen to this episode, we invite you to take a moment to slow down, quiet your heart, and hear what God may be saying to you.

What if we viewed reading as not just a personal hobby or a pleasurable indulgence but as a spiritual practice that deepens our faith?

In her book, Reading for the Love of God, award-winning author and Trinity Forum Senior Fellow Jessica Hooten Wilson explores how Christian thinkers—including Augustine, Julian of Norwich, Frederick Douglass, and Dorothy Sayers—approached the act of reading.

She argues that reading deeply and well can not only open a portal to a broader imagination, but is akin to acquiring travel supplies for the good life:

We hope you’re encouraged this Lenten season as you learn to read as a spiritual practice, finding grace and wisdom for living well along the way.

This podcast is an edited version of an online conversation recorded in 2023. Watch the full video of the conversation here, and learn more about Jessica Hooten Wilson.

Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:

Learning the Good Life: Wisdom from the Great Hearts and Minds That Came Before, by Jessica Hooten Wilson

Giving the Devil His Due, by Jessica Hooten Wilson

The Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints, by Jessica Hooten Wilson

Reading for the Love of God: How to Read as a Spiritual Practice,, by Jessica Hooten Wilson

Walker Percy

In the first episode of our weekly Lenten series, we invite you to take a moment to slow down, quiet your heart, and hear what God may be saying to you. Throughout the season of Lent, we'll be releasing weekly episodes focused on themes of reflection, prayer, and contemplation.

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.

How Christianity Remade the World

In the context of the pagan classical world, the Christian faith was a shocking, even unfathomable inversion of the values systems and structures of the time. In that embattled context, its explosive growth was unimaginable. Today, however, Christianity is often considered boring or backwards.

How might we better discern and understand the radicalism of Christianity’s origins, its impact through the centuries, and its enduring formational power? 

Historian Tom Holland’s landmark book Dominion: How the Christian Revolution Remade the World, calls attention to these puzzles and paradoxes:

We trust this conversation will fire your imagination anew, and help you see with new eyes how the inverted values and priorities of God’s kingdom continue to disrupt the patterns of the world, and shape our cultural assumptions.

This podcast is an edited version of our Online Conversation recorded in February, 2025. You can access the full conversation with transcript here.

Learn more about Tom Holland.

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

Episode Outline

00:00 Introduction to Dominion and Tom Holland

03:09 Tom Holland's Journey to Writing Dominion

03:48 The Alien World of Classical Antiquity

06:32 The Impact of Christianity on Western Civilization

07:33 The Crucifixion and its Historical Significance

10:42 The Uncanny Character of Jesus

13:13 Early Christian Persecution and Martyrdom

16:59 Paul's Radical Teachings and their Legacy

21:37 The Doctrine of Original Sin and Human Dignity

27:51 Christianity's Influence on Modern Politics

32:17 Tom Holland's Personal Reflections on Christianity

36:38 Viewer Questions on American Politics and Christianity’s Influence on the Family, Modern Politics, and More

49:50 Tom’s Closing Thoughts and White Tiger, by Poet RS Thomas

Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:

The Rest is History (podcast)
The Histories by Herodotus, translation by Tom Holland
Rubicon, Millennium, Persian Fire, Pax, Dominion, by Tom Holland
The City of God, by St. Augustine of Hippo

Related Trinity Forum Readings:
City of God, by St. Augustine of Hippo
 The Strangest Story in the World, by GK Chesterton
Why God Became Man, by Anselm of Canterbury
A Practical View of Real Christianity, by William Wilberforce

Related Conversations:

Suffering, Wayfaring & Hope with Curt Thompson and Warren Kinghorn

Anxiety, depression, and other mental health challenges are surging among both young and old. By some estimates, more than one in five American adults struggle with some form of mental illness each year. There are few untouched – either directly or through loved ones – with the suffering that attends such struggles. What does faith offer those in the midst of such challenges?

Warren Kinghorn and Curt Thompson, both practicing Christian psychiatrists, join our podcast to help explore these questions.

Warren’s book, Wayfaring: A Christian Approach to Mental Health Care, draws from the theology of Thomas Aquinas as well as the science of today. Curt’s latest book, The Deepest Place: Suffering and the Formation of Hope, draws from the Apostle Paul’s experience to show us how we can flourish in the midst of suffering. Together, they help us to reframe our understanding of mental health care from fixing machines to accompanying fellow wayfarers on the way to the Lord’s feast:

We trust this podcast will give you new language, compassion, and tools to address mental health challenges, and to wayfare alongside loved ones who may also be struggling.

This podcast is an edited version of our Online Conversation recorded in January, 2025. You can access the full conversation with transcript here.

Learn more about Warren Kinghorn and Curt Thompson.

Episode Outline
0:00 Introduction: The Mental Health Crisis
00:51 Meet the Experts: Curt Thompson and Warren Kinghorn
03:58 The Power of Stories in Mental Health
07:13 Reframing Mental Health: From Machines to Wayfarers
15:55 The Role of Community in Healing
35:50 Q&A: Addressing Shame, Community, and Healing
55:36 The Last Word from Warren Kinghorn and Curt Thompson

Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:

 The Deepest Place, by Curt Thompson
Wayfaring, by Warren Kinghorn
St. Thomas Aquinas
 Anatomy of the Soul, by Curt Thompson
The Soul of Shame, by Curt Thompson
The Soul of Desire: Discovering the Neuroscience of Longing, Beauty, and Community, by Curt Thompson
Thompson
Wendell Berry
John C. Polanyi
Julianne Holt-Lunstad

Related Trinity Forum Readings:
On Happiness, St. Thomas Aquinas
Man's Search for Meaning, by Viktor Frankl,
Confessions, by St. Augustine
The Long Loneliness, by Dorothy Day
Pilgrim's Progress, by John Bunyan
Pilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie Dillard

Related Conversations:
The Soul of Desire with Curt Thompson
Hope and Healing in Hard Times with 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.