Trinity Forum Conversations

Diana Glyer, an author and professor specializing in C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, discusses the enchanting world of the Inklings. She highlights how small communities of like-minded individuals foster creativity and collaboration, transforming rivalry into deep friendships. Glyer explores the necessity of thoughtful inquiry and active listening in bridging differences, and the lasting impact of their literary contributions. Her insights illuminate how nurturing connections can inspire culture-shaping creativity in our own lives.

Our Summer 2025 series, Beside Still Waters, focuses on the places where creativity brings life into a world fatigued by brokenness and division. From jazz to Jane Austen and in between, this season we’ll focus on the ways literature and the arts can refresh and challenge our inner lives—and connect us with the Creator of the good, the true, and the beautiful.How should we live faithfully within a world created to be good and beautiful, and yet everywhere marred by ugliness and injustice? Jazz vocalist and composer Ruth Naomi Floyd will guide us in bringing together music, creativity, and justice, and help us think about our roles in repairing, re-envisioning, and creating new places of beauty and flourishing:We know that art shapes and reshapes us and that it’s there in the cross of Jesus, I believe, where beauty and violence collided and beauty won. And so that act of loving someone…purposely trying to love someone, especially those that seem or are viewed or deemed unlovable, is…directly connected and intrinsically connected to our art making.We hope you are encouraged by Ruth’s artistic journey, as she helps us to find beauty in the midst of suffering, and to express love through creativity.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 Ruth Naomi Floyd.Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:The Frederick Douglass Jazz WorksIt Was Good, Making Music to the Glory of God, by Ruth Naomi FloydThe Problem of Good, by Ruth Naomi FloydDr. John NunezToni MorrisonMartin Luther King Jr.Vincent van GoghHans Christian AndersenMiles DavisFrancis SchaefferJoshua StamperRelated Trinity Forum Readings:A Narrative of the Life of Frederick DouglassLetters from Vincent van GoghLetter from Birmingham Jail, by Martin Luther King Jr.Revelation, by Flannery O’ConnorBulletins from Immortality, by Emily DickinsonRelated Conversations:A New Year With The Word with Malcolm GuiteTo 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

In this episode we’re joined by theologian and bestselling author Miroslav Volf of Yale Divinity School. His latest book is The Cost of Ambition: How Striving to Be Better Than Others is Making Us Worse.  The question he explores is one that relates to all of us: how can we find a way to strive for excellence, rather than for superiority over those around us? Finding new insights in familiar Biblical passages and the Christian tradition, he’ll help us to defy our culture of merciless ambition:Let’s dare trust in the God who comes down to serve those who are a refuse of society. And let’s trust in that unconditional love of God that takes those of us who are nothing and places us to become sharers of the community of those who are God’s beloved children.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 working to keep the Christian intellectual tradition alive, and to nurture new growth in it in our time, for the renewal of our culture.  If that resonates with you, please join the Trinity Forum as a member at ttf.org. We hope you enjoy the conversation.

Lydia Dugdale, a physician and medical ethicist in NYC, dives deep into the complexities of life and death through the lens of the Christian tradition. She champions open discussions about death, emphasizing its significance in our lives. The conversation touches on the decline of historical practices surrounding dying, the role of faith communities in end-of-life decisions, and how modern technology intersects with compassionate care. Ultimately, Lydia encourages embracing life fully while holding a profound understanding of mortality's place in our journey.

Ross Douthat, a New York Times columnist and author of 'Believe: Why Everyone Should Be Religious,' discusses the importance of belief in an increasingly secular world. He argues that traditional faith offers essential truth and purpose, pushing back against materialism. The conversation explores the obligation of faith and the complexities of navigating spiritual landscapes today. Douthat addresses contemporary paganism and the fragmentation of belief while emphasizing that doubt and faith coexist, inviting listeners to rethink their spiritual journeys.

In this engaging discussion, Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist known for his insights into morality and politics, teams up with culture expert Andy Crouch, whose work bridges creativity and faith. They delve into the seductive grasp of technology on human connection, arguing that it distorts relationships and community. The duo critiques social media's role in undermining democracy and mental health while championing the need for trust and ancient wisdom in overcoming modern challenges. Their conversation illuminates the path to reclaiming authentic relationships in a tech-dominated world.

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."Jesus calls on us to help the poor, your neighbor, the stranger, the sick, the shunned, the scorned, the stigmatized. Think of Jesus embracing those in poverty, prostitution, leprosy ... the US ... is not a savior. That’s Jesus’s job. But it can be an enabler of human flourishing so that people can survive and thrive." — Mark LagonAmbassador 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 WilberforceThis Child Will Be Great; Ellen Sirleaf JohnsonOut of My Life and Thought; Albert Schweitzer Cry, the Beloved Country; Alan PatonSphere Sovereignty; Abraham KuyperPolitics, Morality, and Civility; Václav HavelRelated Conversations:Abraham Kuyper’s Sphere Sovereignty with Vincent BacoteTo 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.

In this discussion, Andrew Peterson, an acclaimed author and songwriter, shares his profound insights on the intersection of gardening, spirituality, and personal growth. He emphasizes how attentiveness to beauty in our environments can awaken wisdom and wonder. Andrew reflects on the importance of community and memory in shaping identity, and the transformative power of poetry and nature. With a focus on creation care, he advocates for urban spaces that foster connection, encouraging listeners to engage meaningfully with their surroundings.

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: "The ultimate life after death is not a platonic disembodied immortality, but resurrection life in God‘s new creation. And that new world began when Jesus came out of the tomb on Easter morning. That’s the good news. Something happened then as a result of which the world is a different place. And we are summoned, not just to enjoy its benefits, but to take up our own vocations as new creation people, as spirit-filled and spirit-led Jesus followers, bringing his kingdom into reality in our world."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 YanceyThe Confessions of St. Augustine by Augustine of Hippo, Introduced by James K.A. SmithPilgrim at Tinker Creek by Annie DillardPilgrim’s Progress by John BunyanGod’s Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley HopkinsA Spiritual Pilgrimage by Malcolm Muggeridge Related Conversations:Liturgy of the Ordinary in Extraordinary Times with Tish Harrison WarrenCaring for Words in a Culture of Lies with Marilyn McEntyreInvitation to Solitude and Silence with Ruth Haley BartonOn the Road with Saint Augustine with James K.A. Smith and Elizabeth BruenigThe Habit Podcast, Episode 26: Tish Harrison Warren with Doug McKelveyThe 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:“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 FujimuraWilliam BlakeVincent Van GoghN.T. WrightEsther MeekJaques PépinBruce HermanMartin Luther King Jr.The Gift, by Lewis HydeAmanda GoldmanT. S. EliotCalvin SilveDavid BrooksRelated Trinity Forum Readings:Babette's Feast, by Isak DinesenFour Quartets, by T.S. EliotPilgrim’s Progress, by John BunyanPilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie DillardGod’s Grandeur, by Gerard Manley HopkinsRelated Conversations:A New Year With The Word with Malcolm GuiteMusic, Creativity & Justice with Ruth Naomi FloydPursuing Humility with Richard Foster and Brenda QuinnReading as a Spiritual Practice with Jessica Hooten WilsonWalking as a Spiritual Practice with Mark BuchananTo 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.