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.