Slow Down!

FeatureTue 09 Feb 2010 • Responses: 4 • by T. M. Moore

photo by Marilylle Soveran

Maximizing the Moments of Life

In the first of a series, T. M. Moore looks at the ways poetry can help us pay attention to the individual moments of our too-hurried lives and see the beauty and truth we would otherwise miss.

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The Spaces We Inhabit

Sat 09 Jan 2010 by Keely Latcham

photo by Zach Stern, CC license

In thinking about the importance of the spaces we inhabit, I recently read The Architecture of Happiness by Swiss philosopher and author Alain de Botton. An interesting read accompanied by many beautiful photographs, the book encouraged me to think further about the connection between space and identity—and virtue. We are not just spirits; we are more than our online presences. We have bodies and we live in spaces that help shape our experience of life.

One of de Botton’s central ideas is that of an alignment between the visual and ethical realms. That is to say, we find architecture beautiful because it corresponds to our ideas about “the good life.” Beautiful buildings, de Botton suggests, correspond to virtuous and happy people. Of course this is not always the case, nor is it a causal relationship; while architecture may suggest such ideals, it doesn’t necessarily bring them about. De Botton notes, “Not only do beautiful houses falter as guarantors of happiness, they can also [fail] to improve the characters of those who live in them.” While architecture undeniably possesses moral messages, he says, it “simply has no power to enforce them.”

However, de Botton insists that beautiful buildings convey a moral attitude, which recalls the claim of the great nineteenth-century critic John Ruskin that buildings speak to us “both of what we find important and what we need to be reminded of.” De Botton writes that architecture invites us to emulate its spirit, offering values it encourages us to adopt as our own. “It is architecture’s task,” de Botton says, “to render vivid to us who we might ideally be.”

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Forgiving Enemies in Northern Ireland

FeatureWed 06 Jan 2010 by Nigel Biggar

Photo PPCC Antifa, Flickr, CC

Spiritual Self-preservation, Absolution, and Compassion

Professor Nigel Biggar presented this talk on his understanding of reconciliation and its specific application at an evening event for the Westminster Forum of Trinity Forum Europe in December 2009.

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A Comeback for Faith in the UK

FeatureTue 05 Jan 2010 by Jonathan Aitken

Photo by Lawrence Lew OP, Flickr CC

New spiritual interest emerging from the rubble of arrogant materialism

Jonathan Aitken, Executive Director of the Trinity Forum in Europe, reports on a rise of faith to deal with an age of anxiety in this piece written for the Daily Mail.

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The Gift and the Warning

FeatureTue 24 Nov 2009 by Al Sikes

Lessons from the Bees

Trinity Forum Chairman Al Sikes reflects on his role as a beekeeper. True gratitude for God’s gift of nature includes learning to respect nature’s lessons.

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Before Clapham

FeatureFri 30 Oct 2009 • Responses: 2 • by Cherie Harder and Peter Edman

Photo: Colin Smith [Wikipedia], CC License

The Legacy of Margaret Middleton

Lady Margaret Middleton is a nearly forgotten hero of abolition and a critical early influence on William Wilberforce through her networking, hospitality, and passion for justice.

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Secularism’s Special Pleading

FeatureMon 05 Oct 2009 • Responses: 3 • by Hunter Baker

Wishing for the Naked Public Square

Hunter Baker looks at efforts to enforce a strict secularism in public discourse. Why would we need to prohibit people from using any public argument they wish to offer?

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The Importance of Gratitude

FeatureWed 02 Sep 2009 • Responses: 1 • by Roger Scruton

Roger Scruton

Moving from charity to justice—from gift to rights—has social costs

Senior Fellow Roger Scruton reflects on the nature of gratitude and the cultural costs of ingratitude. When gifts are replaced by rights, so is gratitude replaced by claims.

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The courage of faith

FeatureFri 28 Aug 2009 • Responses: 2 • by Al Sikes

photo by ironchefbalara, CC-BY

Reflections on the rise of Corazon Aquino

Trinity Forum Chairman Al Sikes remembers Corazon Aquino and the faith under fire that helped bring her to power.

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On Forswearing Greed

FeatureFri 24 Jul 2009 • Responses: 2 • by Al Sikes

peacock, photo by Peter Edman

Oaths and the Greater Good

Trinity Forum Chairman Al Sikes reflects on the pledge taken by members of the Harvard Business School class of 2009.

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The question is not whether the end justifies the means. The question is whether the means are worthy of the end.

Greg Slade

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Frank Boswell on “Slow Down!”: I echo Hal's comments about Trinity Forum being one of the few ministries I MAKE time to read. I "get"…

David Powlison on “Slow Down!”: Here is another poem -- a summer's poem on this winter's day -- for slow perusal. I thank You God…

Robbie Pruitt on “Slow Down!”: This time of being snowed in in Northern Virginia has been great. It has been a forced sabbath, if you…

Hal Farnsworth on “Slow Down!”: I will put into practice what I happily read this morning. So, I take this moment to be a good…

Recent Features

Slow Down!
T. M. Moore 

Forgiving Enemies in Northern Ireland
Nigel Biggar 

A Comeback for Faith in the UK
Jonathan Aitken 

The Gift and the Warning
Al Sikes 

Before Clapham
Cherie Harder and Peter Edman 

Secularism’s Special Pleading
Hunter Baker 

The Importance of Gratitude
Roger Scruton 

The courage of faith
Al Sikes 

Other Recent Entries

The Spaces We Inhabit

Gollum as Everyman

Guroian and Guptara on Speaking of Faith

Miller interviewed on Corporate Morality

A useful exercise for leaders

‘I Have Got the Courage’

Are Thoughts Material?

McClay on Lincoln

Citizens of the World Unite?

Seed Corn and Spiritual Capital

Obama’s Challenges Overseas

Secrets Buried in Platitudes

Aitken on McDonald in the American Spectator

Let all mortal flesh keep silence

Loconte on Niebuhr in Books & Culture

Gleanings Quick Links

President Obama’s Proposals for a Second Fiscal Stimulus: Senior Fellow Prabhu Guptara: “Is there anything short of divine miracles which will be good for job creation, good for the small business sector, good for the economy as a whole, and good for President Obama?” (Renaissance: Insights for Action in Today’s World • 2010 02 09)

How the Victoria and Albert Museum dealt with the dying of Christianity: “This situation is unprecedented in western civilisation: even 50 years ago, when these galleries of one of the richest collections in the world were last displayed in the V&A, they could assume that everyone was familiar with the rudiments of Christianity. Now, in a twinkling of an eye, 2,000 years of culture in the profoundest meaning of the word have been largely forgotten.” (Anna Somers Cocks, The Art Newspaper, December 2009 • 2010 01 05)

The God that Fails: David Brooks: “Many people seem to be in the middle of a religious crisis of faith. All the gods they believe in — technology, technocracy, centralized government control — have failed them in this instance.” (New York Times, December 31, 2009 • 2010 01 05)

From Winchester to Westminster: Jonathan Aitken discusses Sir John Templeton recently in the American Spectator; here’s a quote from the late philanthropist on gratitude: “Thanksgiving opens the door to spiritual growth. If there is any day in our life which is not thanksgiving day, then we are not fully alive. Counting our blessing attracts blessings. Counting our blessings each morning starts a day full of blessings. Thanksgiving brings God’s bounty. From gratitude comes riches—from complaints, poverty. Thankfulness opens the door to happiness. Thanksgiving causes giving. Thanksgiving puts our mind in tune with the Infinite. Continual gratitude dissolves our worries.” (The American Spectator • 2009 09 11)

Welcome, National Affairs (2009 09 08)
Looking for an Honest Man (2009 09 08)
Why AI is a dangerous dream (2009 09 08)
Restoring the Fresco of Progress (2009 08 28)
The Case for Working With Your Hands (2009 06 04)

more . . .

Other Resources from the Fellows

Cover image via AmazonThe Meaning of Marriage: Family, State, Market, and Morals by Jean Bethke Elshtain, et al.

A thorough discussion of the case for marriage as an intrinsically good institution.
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