Trinity Forum Conversations

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 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.