Trinity Forum Conversations

Afleveringen

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  Practices of Hope: Antidotes to Confusion, Cynicism and Nihilism, with Curt Thompson and David French 21.07.2026 26min

  We are subjected to the temptations of confusion, cynicism, and nihilism like never before. So many pressures, including new ones, seemingly by the day, push us in these directions. What formative things can we do to help ourselves and our society be a part of a hopeful story instead? Two of our Trinity Forum Senior Fellows, psychiatrist Curt Thompson and columnist David French, come from different disciplines, but in this episode, they provide complementary insights into the hopeful practices of thought and action we're all looking for. This episode was recorded live at the 2025 gathering of the Trinity Forum Senior Fellows in Washington, DC. The moderator is Trinity Forum President Cherie Harder.Go deeper into the topics discussed with these Trinity Forum Readings:The Federalist Papers (with an introduction by David French)The Purchase of a Soul by Victor HugoPolitics, Morality, & Civility by Václav HavelOn Friendship by Marcus Tullius Cicero
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  Beauty + Justice: Why We Need Both, with Makoto and Haejin Fujimura 07.07.2026 57min

  Beauty is often dismissed as a luxury—something secondary to the urgent work of repair. But what if beauty is not peripheral, but essential to healing what is broken?Trinity Forum Senior Fellow Makoto Fujimura and Haejin Shim Fujimura will be our guides on this question, discussing their new book, Beauty and Justice: Creating a Life of Abundance and Courage. Drawing on their work in the arts and global advocacy, they will consider how cultivating beauty can help us to sustain courage, foster resilience, and contribute to the pursuit of justice.This episode is drawn from an Online Conversation in 2026. You can view the transcript and other resources here.Go deeper into the issues discussed in yesterday's Online Conversation with these Trinity Forum Readings:Babette's Feast; Isak Dinesen  (Introduction by Makoto Fujimura)Four Quartets; T.S. Eliot (Also introduced by Makoto Fujimura)Letters of Vincent Van GoghRevelations of Divine Love; Julian of NorwichPainting as a Pasttime; Winston Churchill
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  Cultivating Christian Resilience 23.06.2026 47min

  How can we cultivate a faith that endures and flourishes?Author, Anglican priest, and Trinity Forum Senior Fellow Tish Harrison Warren shows us how lasting and beautiful things can take root and grow in our lives. By drawing on themes from her new book, What Grows in Weary Lands: On Christian Resilience, we will explore how habits rooted in the historic church—prayer, liturgy, Sabbath, and community—can anchor us in a stormy age.This episode is drawn from an Online Conversation in 2026. You can view the transcript and other resources here.Go deeper into the issues discussed in this episode with these Trinity Forum Readings:Pilgrim of Tinker Creek; Annie Dillard (Introduction by Tish Harrison Warren)Confessions; Saint AugustineWrestling With God; Simone WeilRevelations of Divine Love; Julian of NorwichRevelation; Flannery O'Connor
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  A Conversation With Ben Sasse 09.06.2026 1u 6min

  In a culture shaped by distraction, anxiety, and constant noise, how do we focus on what matters most?In this special episode, we're sharing a conversation from a recent Trinity Forum event featuring Ben Sasse—former U.S. Senator, university president, husband, and father. Following a terminal cancer diagnosis, Ben has embraced a new vocation: helping us think more clearly about the questions that matter most, and the things that endure. In this conversation with Cherie Harder, our Trinity Forum president who’s known him since their undergrad days at Harvard, Ben joins a room full of family, friends, and colleagues to reflect on mortality, friendship, family, faith, and the kind of attention required for a flourishing life.What follows is a lightly edited version of that conversation. If you'd like to watch the full video of the interview, you can find a link to the YouTube livestream here.Recommended Trinity Forum ReadingsDemocracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville (with an introduction by Ben Sasse)Brave New World by Aldous Huxley The Federalist PapersThe Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah ArendtHere are Cherie and Ben from the live recording at National Community Church in Washington, DC: 
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  From Wasteland to Grail: Stories that Shape Our Lives, with Malcolm Guite 26.05.2026 54min

  In March, we welcomed Malcolm Guite for an in-person event to celebrate his new book, Galahad and the Grail, which is the first in his Merlin’s Isle trilogy published through Rabbit Room Press. While he was with us, Malcolm sat for this podcast interview in which he described his vision in creating this epic ballad, along with offering a deep exploration of what brought him to poetry in the first place. Since the book’s release, Galahad and the Grail has topped bestselling charts and received numerous accolades, demonstrating that its ancient stories find renewal in our modern era. You can watch the video of the full conversation on our Youtube Channel hereRecommended Trinity Forum Readings: God’s Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley HopkinsFour Quartets, by T.S. Eliot with an introduction by Makoto FujimuraThe Pardoner’s Tale, by Geoffrey Chaucer
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  Forgiveness in an Outraged World, with Amy Orr-Ewing 12.05.2026 53min

  We live in an unforgiving age. Even as we know that Jesus commanded forgiveness, extending it can seem impossible, impractical, self-harming, even unjust. In these times of outrage and fear, what can help us become forgiving people?Author Amy Orr-Ewing joined us for a recent online conversation, where we explored these questions for a live audience:"The church needs to recapture the vision of forgiveness as an actuality. This is something real rooted in the sacrifice of Jesus at the cross. And it's that that has actually been the animating force of the Christian faith throughout history."This episode is drawn from an Online Conversation in 2026. You can view the transcript and other resources here.Recommended Trinity Forum Readings: Confessions; AugustineWrestling With God; Simone WeilPurchase of a Soul; Victor HugoRevelations of Divine Love; Julian of Norwich
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  Living a Non-Anxious Life, with Alan Fadling 28.04.2026 52min

  We are a culture well acquainted with anxiety. Recent years have shown it rising dramatically, particularly among Generation Z and Millennials, but affecting all of us. In the Sermon on the Mount, however, Jesus urges us not to be anxious. We wonder: is that actually possible today?Author Alan Fadling joined us for a recent online conversation, where we explored these questions for a live audience:"Maybe Peace, and its friends like Hope and Joy, maybe that's a better engine, maybe that's a better source of energy and motivation than my anxiety ever has been. And if my anxiety is fuel, then it's fuel that burns dirty."This episode is from a conversation from February 2026. You can view the transcript and other resources here.Recommended Trinity Forum Readings: Confessions; AugustineBrave New World; Aldous HuxleyThe Long Loneliness; Dorothy DayWrestling With God; Simone Weil
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  Practicing Slow Theology with Nijay Gupta 14.04.2026 53min

  In a culture shaped by speed, outrage, and constant distraction, many find it difficult to cultivate a resilient Christian faith. Is slowing down a key to renewing our love of God and neighbor, and sustaining a more durable, authentic faith in a restless age? And how, in practical terms, can we tune out the noise and hear the “still, small voice”?Drawing on the themes of his book Slow Theology, its co-author, theologian Nijay Gupta, joined us for an online conversation in 2026, where we explored these questions for a live audience: "There's a journey that we have to take of striving after God, not because God is a cosmic killjoy, but because we have growth that needs to take place. And that happens slowly."This episode is from a conversation from March 2026. You can view the transcript and other resources here.We hope you’ll consider becoming a member of our community, the Trinity Forum Society. Join us in exploring timeless Christian wisdom together, so you gain clarity and courage for your own life, and help cultivate a renewed culture of hope.Related Trinity Forum Readings:Confessions; AugustineWrestling With God; Simone WeilMan's Search for Meaning; Viktor FranklWho Stands Fast? Dietrich BonhoefferWhy God Became Man; Anselm of Canterbury
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  Discovering a Life Worth Living, with Miroslav Volf 31.03.2026 57min

  What makes a good life? In the fragmented and harried age we inhabit, what habits of attention, reflection, and action orient us toward what is good, true, and beautiful? The season of Lent is a good time for us to tackle such “big questions.” Drawing on his popular course at Yale, theologian and author Miroslav Volf joined us for an online conversation in 2024, where we explored these questions for a live audience."What is the treasure for which you would be willing to sell everything that you have? And if you know what the treasure is, are you willing ... to risk everything to have that treasure?"Miroslav Volf is the Henry B. Wright Professor of Theology at Yale Divinity School and founding director of the Yale Center for Faith and Culture in New Haven, Connecticut. He has written or edited more than two dozen books, including the New York Times bestseller Life Worth Living, A Public Faith, Public Faith in Action, and Exclusion and Embrace (winner of the Grawemeyer Award in Religion and selected as among the 100 best religious books of the twentieth century by Christianity Today). Educated in his native Croatia, the United States, and Germany, Volf regularly lectures around the world.Related Trinity Forum Readings:Man's Search for Meaning; Viktor FranklOn Happiness; Thomas Aquinas Brave New World; Aldous HuxleyHow Much Land Does a Man Need? Leo TolstoyWrestling with God; Simone Weil
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  Hope in the Darkness with Curt Thompson 17.03.2026 55min

  As we continue our journey through the season of Lent, we’re offering a series to help each of us prepare the way of the Lord. As we go deeper in our spiritual practices during these days, our guide today is the author and psychiatrist Dr. Curt Thompson. In this conversation, Curt talks about the virtue, and discipline, of pursuing hope, even amid the darkness of a broken world:"While I am working to move toward Jesus, while I'm moving to be further in the dance of the Trinity, I continue to suffer because evil is not about to go quietly into the night ... [we must] posture ourselves with our suffering in the same way that the Holy Trinity does when it comes to the suffering that Jesus experienced, such that we can join him in that."This episode is drawn from an online conversation recorded in 2023. View the transcript and other resources there.Related Trinity Forum Readings:Confessions; St AugustineGod's Grandeur; Gerard Manley HopkinsBulletins from Immortality; Emily DickinsonOn Friendship; CiceroOn Happiness; AquinasMan's Search for Meaning; Viktor Frankl
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  Affirming God's Goodness Amidst Suffering, with Alan Noble 03.03.2026 29min

  Welcome to the Trinity Forum Conversations podcast. As we move through the season of Lent, we’re offering a series to help each of us prepare the way of the Lord. It’s a good time to take stock of our spiritual practices, and our guide today is the author and professor Alan Noble. In his book, On Getting Out of Bed: The Burden & Gift of Living, Alan contends that simply deciding to engage with the world each day constitutes a declaration of the goodness of God:“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.”This episode is drawn from an Online Conversation recorded in 2023. We hope you enjoy the conversation.
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  Habits of the Way with John Mark Comer 17.02.2026 35min

  As we move into the season of Lent, we’re offering a series to help each of us prepare the way of the Lord. It’s a good time to take stock of our spiritual practices, and today’s guide is the author John Mark Comer. In his book Practicing the Way, John Mark explores the practical realities of what it means to be an apprentice of Jesus:“It seems to me that the telos of the spiritual journey in the Christian way is becoming a person of love through deepening union with the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit…It’s the two greatest commandments: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbor as yourself, that Jesus put at the center of apprenticeship to him.” This episode is drawn from an online conversation recorded in 2024. 
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  America's Vanishing Church, with Ryan Burge 03.02.2026 58min

  Many of us have been grieved by the polarization we see rending so many churches. What role has this played in America’s growing secularization and what our guest has called “the great dechurching”? And is that dechurching now actually in reverse? Fundamentally, what can we do to pursue the flourishing of both the church and the nation?In this episode, our guide is Ryan Burge, an ordained minister, best-selling author and professor of practice at the Danforth Center on Religion and Politics at Washington University. His book The Vanishing Church draws upon his scholarship as a data scientist, and his experience as a pastor, to explore how the church has been harmed by, and can offer healing from, the excesses of political combat and division:"[Attending church] is just good for your soul. It's just good for you as a person to be part of a community like that ... I think it's actually going to be good for democracy for you to realize what it's like to go ... get in the real world and realize it's actually a cool place to hang out, and there's value in that."This episode is drawn from an online conversation recorded in 2026. Please subscribe to this podcast - it helps people find us.And we hope you’ll consider becoming a member of our community, the Trinity Forum Society. Join us in exploring timeless Christian wisdom together, so you gain clarity and courage for your own life, and help cultivate a renewed culture of hope. You can do this at our website, ttf.org.
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  Charisma in Leaders: The Hidden Dynamic with Molly Worthen 20.01.2026 59min

  Charisma in leaders is a mysterious phenomenon. Maybe even baffling, if you’re the one left cold by a leader others see as charismatic. How has this mysterious word charisma, coined by the Apostle Paul but now applied widely, shaped us? How can this concept help us to understand our world?Our guide in understanding it is the University of North Carolina historian Molly Worthen, who’s also one of our Senior Fellows at the Trinity Forum. She’s written widely on her unexpected turn to Christian faith. In this conversation, drawing on her book Spellbound, Molly will guide us in understanding the powerful effects of charisma in leadership on religious and political life in America, all the way from the Puritans to the 21st century:"We are not that different from humans four centuries ago. The advance of democracy, the rise of the internet, scientific literacy, all of this has not really severed us from the deep past and from this, this fundamental desire to connect with a transcendent story about the universe."This podcast is an edited version of an Online Conversation recorded in 2025. It’ll help people find us if you subscribe to this podcast wherever you listen.And we hope you’ll consider becoming a member of our community, the Trinity Forum Society. Join us in exploring timeless Christian wisdom together, so you gain clarity and courage for your own life, and help cultivate a renewed culture of hope. You can do this at our website, ttf.org.
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  On Epic Beginnings with Malcolm Guite 06.01.2026 1u 20min

  As we celebrate the new year, there’s no better guide than the poet, Anglican priest, and scholar, Malcolm Guite. Through the years, Malcolm has written beautifully on how poetic language can help our imaginations apprehend truth that our reason cannot fully comprehend.In this episode he describes Merlin’s Isle: An Arthuriad, his forthcoming four-volume epic poem on the legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table, which will be published over several years by Rabbit Room Press. He has described his purpose: making a poem that restores the spiritual elements that have been shorn away from these legends and renews their deepest meaning for our time:"You don’t have to invent yourself because somebody else who loves you has already done it. You from the beginning, the real heart of who you are, deeper and more beautiful than you could ever know, has simmered in the Divine mind since before the beginning of time. And now he’s speaking to you."With this work, Malcolm brings into the 21st century the epic tradition that includes Lewis, Tolkien, Milton and many others. This podcast is an edited version of an Evening Conversation recorded in 2025. You can find the full video on our website, ttf.org. While there, please consider becoming a Trinity Forum Society member too. Join us in exploring timeless Christian wisdom together, so you gain clarity and courage for your own life, and help cultivate a renewed culture of hope.We hope you enjoy the conversation.
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  Singing at Christmas and How it Forms us 23.12.2025 29min

  Singing during Christmastime—and at all times—has deep formative power, shaping our minds and our spirits. In times of distraction and anxiety, how can we access this formation? And how can caroling at Christmas aid us in keeping Christ at the center of our hearts?Our guide is Keith Getty, an extraordinary hymn writer, musician, and catalyst for the modern hymn movement. In a special Christmastime conversation, we explored music, formation, and beauty:“We’re fearfully and wonderfully made. We remember tunes and we forget sermons, not because we’re bad people, but it’s because of how God made us. The carols are special because repetition is a form of liturgy. And each Christmas, the liturgy of singing provides such an opportunity for us.” – Keith GettyThis podcast is an edited version of an Online Conversation recorded in 2023. You can find the full video on our website, ttf.org. While there, please consider becoming a Trinity Forum Society member too. Join us in exploring timeless Christian wisdom together, so you gain clarity and courage for your own life, and help cultivate a renewed culture of hope.
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  The Duty of the Writer: A conversation from the Michael J. Gerson Memorial Prize event 09.12.2025 56min

  This special episode is taken from the launch of the inaugural Michael J. Gerson Prize for Excellence in Writing on Faith and Public Life. Through this conversation, held at Washington National Cathedral in November 2025, you’ll learn a lot about Michael, and what his legacy means for us now. What you’ll hear in this episode is a conversation moderated by Trinity Forum President Cherie Harder on “Conscience, Courage and Craft: The Duty of the Writer in an Age of Confusion.” The all-star panelists are Peter Wehner, David Brooks, Christine Emba, Russell Moore, and Karen Swallow Prior. You’ll also hear videos provided in Michael’s memory by two of his friends – President Bush, and Bono.“Our responsibility [as writers] is to … remind our readers and our audiences of the good, the true, the beautiful, the virtuous … to show that those things can be lovely, actually, to redefine those words in ways that don't make them smell of just old books and past lectures that we've moved past, but something that can be alive in this moment.” —Christine EmbaLater that evening, Matthew Loftus was named as the inaugural winner of the award. You can find writings by Matthew, and by Michael Gerson, at TTF.org. You can also find the full YouTube video of the evening there. While you’re there, why not consider becoming a member of the Trinity Forum? Join us in exploring timeless Christian wisdom together, so you gain clarity and courage for your own life, and help cultivate a renewed culture of hope - including through next year’s Michael Gerson Prize.
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  Thanksgiving is a Practice, with Cornelius Plantinga 25.11.2025 58min

  Thanksgiving is much more than a holiday. The practice of gratitude is a biblical command, it’s a Christian virtue, and it’s even one of the best predictors of personal well-being. But what does the practice of thanks-giving require? How can we cultivate a spirit and habit of thankfulness with the burdens we bear as individuals, and amidst the sorrows and injustices of a fallen world?Join us in this episode in discovering formative practices from our Christian tradition that can help each of us cultivate a deeply thankful heart. Together we’ll be guided by Cornelius (Neal) Plantinga, theologian and author of Gratitude: Why Giving Thanks Is the Key to Our Well-Being. “Gratitude makes me content because gratitude makes what I have enough.”This episode is drawn from an online conversation held in 2025. You can find the full video of the conversation on our website, ttf.org. You can become a Trinity Forum Society member there too. Join us in exploring timeless Christian wisdom together, so you gain clarity and courage for your own life, and help cultivate a renewed culture of hope.
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  Remembering Michael Gerson: Who Is My Neighbor? 18.11.2025 23min

  This is a special episode in memory of Michael Gerson. Michael J. Gerson was a White House speechwriter and senior policy adviser, a Washington Post columnist and one of America’s most influential and eloquent commentators. Michael was shaped by his deep Christian faith, and his writing drew from the Christian tradition to call America to greater justice. In particular, he’s remembered for linking that tradition to the global health efforts he championed, including the President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief, or PEPFAR.  To mark the three years since Michael passed away due to cancer on November 17, 2022, we’re presenting this edited version of his comments at a Trinity Forum evening conversation held in 2016. Hearing him again reminds us of Michael’s extraordinary mind, as well as his heart. “You can never be too careful when you travel. You can go in search of disease and poverty and stumble upon holy ground, and you can find resilience, courage, and faithfulness that will inspire you and challenge you for the rest of your life.”You can find the full video of the conversation on our Trinity Forum website, ttf.org. You can become a member there too. Join us in exploring timeless Christian wisdom together, so you gain clarity and courage for your own life, and help cultivate a renewed culture of hope.
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  Can Character Be Taught? with William Inboden 04.11.2025 57min

  Does character matter? In the last century, our society shifted away from teaching character in schools in order to focus on different forms of learning. How has that change shaped the world we live in now? Should cultivating character be a focus of education, and can character even be effectively taught in a pluralistic society?Our guest on today’s podcast is Dr. William Inboden, provost of the University of Texas, and one of our Senior Fellows here at the Trinity Forum. He’ll be our guide as we explore the roles of education, community, and faith in forming people of wisdom and integrity.What does it mean to be in community? What are the implications of your character for that? Loyalty, honesty. Those are fundamental to building friendships. Integrity, self sacrifice. Those are also fundamental to living for something greater than yourself.This episode is drawn from an Online Conversation held in 2025. It’ll give you a sense of what the Trinity Forum is about: a community of people renewing our culture by applying wisdom from the Christian tradition, and nurturing its growth.