Trinity Forum Conversations

Making as a Spiritual Practice with Makoto FujimuraIf 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 Mako 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 VanGoghN. T. WrightEsther MeekJaques PépinBruce HermanMartin Luther King Jr.The Gift, byLewis 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 SocietySpecial thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.

What does it mean to walk with God? The spiritual life is so often described as a walk, journey, or pilgrimage that it can be easy to dismiss the practice of walking as a mere metaphor.But in God Walk, author, pastor, and professor Mark Buchanan explores the way that the act of walking has profound implications for followers of the Way.Buchanan reflects on the ways in which walking can be both a spiritual practice and a means by which we can deepen our connection to the earth beneath us, our fellow travelers, and the God we worship:“Hurry is the enemy of attentiveness. And so love as attentiveness is listening and caring and noticing, cherishing, savoring, being awestruck, these things that we feel in a relationship. I am deeply loved by this person because they notice me. I think that that’s how God’s built it. And we can’t get that if we’re moving too fast, if we’re in a hurry.”We hope you’re encouraged this Lenten season as you learn to walk at godspeed, seeing this embodied act as a profoundly spiritual practice.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 Mark Buchanan.Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:AristotleSøren KierkegaardJean-Jacques RousseauGod Walk, by Mark BuchananSimone WeilThe Three Mile an Hour God, by Kosaku KoyamaWanderlust: A History of Walking, by Rebecca SolnitKnowing God, J.I. PackerKai MillerRelated Trinity Forum Readings:Pilgrim’s Progress, by John BunyanPilgrim at Tinker Creek, by Annie DillardGod’s Grandeur, by Gerard Manley HopkinsLong Walk to Freedom, by Nelson MandelaBrave New World, by Alduous HuxleyRelated 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 WilsonTo 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.

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:“What I'm hoping to see more of is that the church becomes again those people of the book that really try to make others belong and strive for a deeper connection, versus the party atmosphere that our world always is tempting us to do.”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 WilsonGiving the Devil His Due, by Jessica Hooten WilsonThe Scandal of Holiness: Renewing Your Imagination in the Company of Literary Saints, by Jessica Hooten WilsonReading for the Love of God: How to Read as a Spiritual Practice,, by Jessica Hooten WilsonWalker PercyThe Life you Save May Be Your Own, by Flannery O'ConnorFyodor DostoevskyBoethiusAugustineMystery and Manners, by Flannery O’ConnorSt. BasilOrigenPeople of the Book, by David L. JeffreyA History of Reading, by Alberto ManguelJeromeAndy CrouchDana GioiaDorothy SayersRoss DouthatLife Together, by Dietrich BonhoefferJulian of NorwichDante AlighieriEugene PetersonRelated Trinity Forum Readings:Revelation, Flannery O'ConnorThe Narrative of the Life of Frederick DouglassAugustine's ConfessionsThe Grand Inquisitor, by Fyodor DostoyevskyMoses Man of the Mountain, by Zora Neale HurstonGod's Grandeur: the Poems of 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 QuinnTo 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 SocietySpecial thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.

Pursuing Humility, with Richard Foster and Brenda QuinnIn an age when self-promotion is often celebrated as a sign of leadership and strength, humility may seem a lost virtue. Or alternatively, a form of moral condolence for the less successful.In his recent work, Learning Humility, theologian Richard Foster argues that humility is actually strength, and that learning humility is more needed than ever. As Foster explains, humility releases us from a preoccupation with self, and allows us to live a life of freedom:“One of the dangers among religious folks is that they can become stuffy bores. And it is hilarity that frees us from that. We don't take ourselves so seriously. We can laugh at our own foibles. If you look carefully… it's not hard to identify humble people. You'll find the freedom that they have to just enjoy life and enjoy other people, enjoy the successes of another person rather than being envious of it. Things like that. And so that's why humility, the most basic of the virtues, opens us up to 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 an online 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 FosterCelebration of Discipline, by Richard FosterStreams of Living Water, by Richard FosterSanctuary of the Soul, by Richard FosterThe Life With God Bible, contributed to by Richard FosterC.S. LewisTimothy KellerThe Frenzy of RenownRelated Trinity Forum Readings:The Long Loneliness, by Dorothy DayBrave New World, by Aldous HuxleyWho stands Fast, featuring Dietrich BonhoefferBabette's Feast, by Isak DinesenWrestling with God, by Simone Weil Related Conversations:A New Year With The Word with Malcolm GuiteMusic, Creativity & Justice with Ruth Naomi FloydTo 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 SocietySpecial thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.

Word Beneath the Words with Malcolm GuiteWe’re joined on our podcast by poet, priest and songwriter, Malcolm Guite. With grace and insight, Malcolm has written of the mystery, beauty and imaginative force of language and the ways in which our imaginations apprehend truth that our reason cannot fully comprehend:“Jesus says, love the Lord your God with all your heart, and all your soul, and all your strength, and all your mind. And somewhere in all those ‘alls’ is all your imagination.  And in fact, when we look at the teaching of Jesus, it's mostly an appeal to the imagination as a way of perceiving truth in a fresh way. He tells stories and parables.”We trust that you’ll be inspired by the beauty of Guite’s poetry, and by the ways in which the poetic imagination brings healing to the false divide between the subjective and the objective.04:44 The Connection Between the Priestly and Poetic Vocations12:02 The Role of Imagination in Apprehending Truth17:48 The Responsibility of Language and the Power of Words23:24 The Idea of Being Spoken into Being32:25 The Destructive Power of Words36:23 The Importance of Intellectual HospitalityThis podcast is an edited version of an online conversation recorded in 2024. Watch the full video of the conversation here, and learn more about Malcolm Guite.Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:John DonneLove, Remember, by Malcolm GuiteParable and Paradox, by Malcolm GuiteTheology and the Poetic Imagination, by Malcolm GuiteThe Singing Bowl, by Malcolm GuiteWaiting on the Word, by Malcolm GuiteLifting the Veil, by Malcolm GuiteSounding the Seasons, by Malcolm GuiteThe Word Within the Words, by Malcolm GuiteGerard Manley HopkinsGeorge HerbertR.S. ThomasSeamus HeaneyJohn KeatsSamuel Taylor ColeridgeWiliiam WordsworthWilliam ShakespeareC. S. LewisSir AndrewsMere Christianity, by C.S. LewisThe Chronicles of Narnia, by C.S. LewisJohn MiltonEdmund SpenserThomas ClarksonPilgrim's ProgressDiana GlyerDavid's Crown, by Malcolm GuiteRelated Trinity Forum Readings:Spirit and Imagination, selections from Samuel Taylor Coleridge with an introduction by Malcolm GuiteBulletins from Immortality: Poems by Emily DickinsonGod's Grandeur: The Poems of Gerard Manley HopkinsSacred and Profane Love, featuring the poetry of John DonneRelated Conversations:A New Year With The Word with Malcolm GuiteMusic, Creativity & Justice with Ruth Naomi FloydTo 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 SocietySpecial thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.

Music, Creativity & Justice with Ruth Naomi FloydHow should we think about work within, and live faithfully within a world that was called and created to be good and beautiful, and yet everywhere is marred by ugliness and injustice? Jazz vocalist and composer Ruth Naomi Floyd joins our podcast to discuss the intersection of music, creativity, and justice, and to help us think deeply about our role in repairing, re-envisioning, and creating new places of beauty, justice, 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 enjoy and are encouraged by Floyd’s artistic journey, how she finds beauty in the midst of suffering, and her vision for the role of love in 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'Connor, Bulletins from Immortality, by Emily Dickinson.Related 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 SocietySpecial thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.

Joe Loconte, Tolkien and Lewis scholar, discusses the friendship and legacy of C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien. They resisted totalitarianism and defended the role of the individual through their writings. Their wartime experiences shaped their response to the war and influenced their literary works. The formation and impact of the Inklings, a group that shaped moral and literary imagination, is explored. Lewis and Tolkien discuss the significance of myth, storytelling, and friendship in relation to faith.

We are in an anxious age. By some estimates, a third of all Americans will struggle with anxiety in their lives, and nearly 20% currently suffer from an anxiety disorder. For those suffering the mental distortions of anxiety, life can be difficult, and hope elusive. And for many Christians who have tried and failed to stop their slide into fear and worry by simply “laying down their burdens,” they may feel an added sense of spiritual failure as well.We’re joined on our podcast by psychiatrist Curt Thopmson and theologian Curtis Chang who help us explore a counterintuitive approach to understanding our anxiety:I believe the Bible and Jesus's own life invites us to treat [anxiety] not as a problem to make go away, but precisely as a signal. A signal, an invitation, what I call an opportunity, an invitation to walk through anxiety, to actually experience it in the way that actually we were designed to by God for spiritual growth in Jesus, where we actually meet Jesus more deeply, precisely in our anxiety.It's not that we have to make anxiety go away, and then finally, then we're like qualified to somehow be with Jesus. It's that actually in our experience of anxiety, that's where we encounter Jesus most deeply and encounter the truths about ourselves most deeply.This podcast is an edited version of an online conversation recorded in 2023. Watch the full video of the conversation here. Learn more about Curt Thopmson and Curtis Chang.Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:The Anxiety Opportunity: How Worry is the Doorway to Your Best Self, by Curtis ChangThe Age of Anxiety, by W.H. AudenThe Anatomy of the Soul, The Soul of Shame, The Soul of Desire, by Curt ThompsonJonathan HaidtRichard SchwartzRelated Trinity Forum Readings:Man’s Search for Meaning, by Viktor FranklWrestling with God, by Simone WeilAugustine's ConfessionsBrave New World, by Aldous HuxleyThe Long Loneliness, by Dorothy DayRelated Conversations:Rebuilding our Common Life with Yuval LevinThe Challenge of Christian Nationalism with Mark Noll and Vincent BacoteThe Decadent Society with Ross DouthatScience, Faith, Trust and Truth with Francis CollinsBeyond Ideology with Peter Kreeft and Eugene RiversJustice, Mercy, and Overcoming Racial Division with Claude Alexander and Mac PierHealing a Divided Culture with Arthur BrooksAfter Babel with Andy Crouch and Johnathan HaidtHow to Know a Person with David BrooksTrust, Truth, and The Knowledge Crisis with Bonnie KristianHope in an Age of Anxiety with Curtis Chang & Curt ThompsonTo 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 SocietySpecial thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.

Keith Getty, a musician known for his Christmas carols, discusses the formative power of music, the role of repetition in teaching deep truths, and how carols cultivate joy and unite people in praise. He emphasizes the significance of singing together as a community and encourages those lacking musical abilities. The chapter also includes personal reflections on life and Christmas.

"Advent: The Season of Hope" features Tish Harrison Warren, a priest and author, discussing the transformative power of waiting and anticipation during the Advent season. The podcast covers topics such as the significance of preparation, the importance of solitude and slowness, and the countercultural call to waiting in a culture obsessed with productivity. Warren emphasizes the trustworthiness of the one we are waiting for and the value of what we are waiting for. The conversation also explores the concept of time in Advent and the need to slow down and resist the consumeristic pace of the Christmas season.