Trinity Forum Conversations

The American Revolution took place against a backdrop of long religious conflict in both Europe and the colonies. Yet despite their personal flaws and their varied faith views, the Founders embraced the radical principle of freedom of conscience and religious expression, instilling it not only in our Constitution, but in the fabric of our society. What is the story behind this extraordinary development? And what does this legacy of religious pluralism mean for Christians in the much more complex America of 2026?As we celebrate America’s founding in this 250th anniversary year, we’ll discuss this story and what it means for us today with Trinity Forum Senior Fellow David French. As a longtime religious freedom litigator before becoming a New York Times columnist, he’ll guide us in considering the discussions during the founding, and their implications for today.As background for the conversation, check out our recent Trinity Forum Reading: George Washington and the First Freedom, featuring the first President’s powerful statements on freedom of conscience. This episode was recorded as a Trinity Forum Online Conversation in 2026. You can view the transcript and other resources here.Special thanks to Interfaith America for supporting this episode.

How do we live a life of meaning, in a time when so many competing voices tell us who to be, what to want, and how to live? Told to construct meaning for ourselves, we find anxiety instead of wisdom, and exhaustion instead of clarity. For the decisions we face each day, we need insight.In this episode we’re joined by Alan Noble. “Practical Wisdom for Moving Through Chaotic Times” is the subtitle of his new book, To Live Well. Alan will help us locate answers for our lives today – and for those we love – by exploring seven virtues: prudence, justice, fortitude, temperance, faith, hope, and love.This episode was recorded as a Trinity Forum Online Conversation in 2026. You can view the transcript and other resources hereGo deeper into the issues discussed in this Podcast with these Trinity Forum Readings:Why Work Dorothy L. Sayers How Much Land Does a Man Need? Leo TolstoyBrave New World Aldous HuxleyTwo Old Men Leo Tolstoy

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.