The Trinity Forum :: Resources :: The Question of God

A Life

By Jonathan Aitken
(Regnery, 1994)

633 pages

About the author

Category: Books by Staff

Building a Community of Citizens

Civil Society in the 21st Century

By Don Eberly, editor
(University Press of America, 1994)

Sets forth and examines the challenge of restoring health to society and its democratic institutions.

Featuring twenty-three different essays.

paperback, 550 pages.

The Grand Inquisitor

By Fyodor Dostoyevsky
Foreword by Alonzo L. McDonald
(1994)

Endlessly thought-provoking, “The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor” is the world’s greatest novelist’s answer to humanity’s greatest riddle—its own existence.

Is there a solution to the everlasting craving of humanity? Is faith in God worth its price? Why is freedom so easy to assert but so unbearable to sustain? Why do human beings so openly prefer to be fed than to be free? Why do institutions so often become the enemies of their original mission? Why do our responses to three words, “miracle, mystery, and authority,” sum up “the whole future history of the world and of humanity”?

Fyodor Dostoyevsky’s “The Grand Inquisitor,” a prose poem from The Brothers Karamazov, poses these ageless dilemmas with a shocking frankness and a passionate intensity. Dostoyevsky provides no easy answers, but his powerful tale is a searching examination for all for whom “the unexamined life is not worth living.”

Steering Through Chaos

Vice and Virtue in an Age of Moral Confusion

By Edited by Os Guinness with Virginia Mooney
(1994)

Steering Through Chaos brings back the classical tradition of the virtues and vices to modern discussions of ethics. In an age that whitewashes evil and ridicules “sin,” this tradition suggests that before asking “What sort of action should I take?” the proper question is “What sort of person should I be?”

The readings in this curriculum reintroduce the seven deadly sins (pride, envy, anger, sloth, avarice, lust, and gluttony) and contrast them with their opposites, the beatitudes of Jesus. Using sources ranging from the Bible and Aristotle to the New York Times, the texts raise questions about the consequences of the deadly sins for a generation that has come to minimize any notion of sin. The vices and virtues, they suggest, offer us a true moral compass by which we can steer through the chaos of modern society.

The goal of the readings is to help us recover a more realistic view of the human inclination to evil—both as individuals and in societies—which is the urgent precursor to the necessity and wonder of redemption.

Classic Texts and the Nature of Authority

By Donald and Louise Cowan, eds.
(Dallas Inst Humanities & Culture, 1993)

This volume of essays from The Principals' Institute, together with texts of the subject works, constitutes a guidebook for the study of classic texts, crucial reading for learning the skills of interpretation necessary for strong leadership.

The World of Epictetus

By James Stockdale
Foreword by Os Guinness
(1993)

Download this Reading as a PDF (208K) (see note below)
Download PDF Discussion Guide; Also included in the full PDF.

How much of a veneer is civilization and technology? What resources would you draw on if they were stripped away?

An essay on integrity, leadership, adversity, and education by James Bond Stockdale (1923–2005). Stockdale was a philosopher, professor, U.S. vice-presidential candidate, Navy admiral, prisoner of war, and recipient of the Medal of Honor.

Abraham Lincoln

The Spiritual Growth of a Public Man

By D. Elton Trueblood
Foreword by Alonzo L. McDonald
(1993)

Current edition includes discussion questions; Discussion Guide available here (PDF)

Many books have been written on Lincoln, but few cover his spiritual journey.

Our Reading features excerpts from Abraham Lincoln: Theologian of American Anguish by Elton Trueblood, along with the Gettysburg Address and Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address.

Trueblood’s excerpts document how Lincoln’s faith deepened through the intense trials of his presidency. McDonald’s Foreword helps raise related questions for all those in positions of leadership.

Culture Wars

The Struggle To Control The Family, Art, Education, Law, And Politics In America

By James Davison Hunter
(Basic Books, 1992)

A riveting account of how Christian fundamentalists, Orthodox Jews, and conservative Catholics have joined forces in a battle against their progressive counterparts for control of American secular culture.

The Oak and the Calf

By Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Foreword by Alonzo L. McDonald
(1992)

Group Discussion Guide available here as a PDF download.

Excerpts from Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn’s 1975 autobiographical book provide lessons not only on the tragedy of oppression but on the human spirit and matters of the soul. His writing inspires us to reflect on our own unique missions in this world.

When No One Sees

The Importance of Character in an Age of Image

By Edited by Os Guinness with Virginia Mooney
(1992)

In a day when public life is a searching crucible for personal character, this topic is one that crisscrosses both biblical and classical discussions in ways that are burningly practical in contemporary society. The “character issue” was largely ignored in the public life of the past generation, but a mounting series of crises and scandals has forcefully reminded Western society of its proper, central place.

When No One Sees offers a series of readings that help us explore, in very practical ways for each level of society, the issues that surround character—the reality of the core of our being, who and what we are when no one else sees. Few issues in our time are more important for individuals and society; few Christian contributions are more decisive and timely; few subjects are more searching for each one of us.

The Divine Dramatist

George Whitefield and the Rise of Modern Evangelicalism

By Harry S. Stout
(Eerdmans Pub Co, 1991)

Harry Stout provides an insightful biography of George Whitfield, who he argues was America's first popular hero and uniting force between the colonies.

Two Old Men

By Leo Tolstoy
Foreword by Alonzo L. McDonald
(1991)

Group discussion guide available for download here (PDF)

“Two Old Men” is a challenging and delightful story of the pilgrimage of two neighbors. It is filled with rich lessons and insights—from personal habits to family relationships and how we manage our affairs.

This, our first Reading, is a perennial best-seller.

Entrepreneurs of Life

Faith and the Venture of Purposeful Living

By Edited by Os Guinness with Ginger Koloszyc
(1991)

The original Trinity Forum seminar curriculum covers themes of personal purpose and calling.

“Making a difference.” “Leaving a legacy.” “Moving from success to significance.” Few recurring themes in modern Western society are more powerful than the contemporary search for purpose and fulfillment. Our primary trouble is that, as modern people, we have too much to live with and too little to live for. Most of us in fact live, in the midst of material plenty, in spiritual poverty.

This curriculum explores this powerful human desire for purpose and significance. In the process, the readings examine the opportunities, challenges, and seasons of life that provide the backdrop of our individual life journeys in this world. At once inspiring and incisive, Entrepreneurs of Life will challenge each of us in setting our priorities and assessing our progress.

The Spirit of the Disciplines

Understanding How God Changes Lives

By Dallas Willard
(HarperOne, 1990)

Dallas Willard presents a way of living that enables ordinary men and women to enjoy the fruit of the Christian life and reveals how the key to self-transformation resides in the practice of the spiritual disciplines.

Dictionary of Christianity in America

By Harry S. Stout, et al
(Intervarsity Press, 1990)

2600 cross-referenced articles by 430 contributors evenhandedly describe the key institutions, movements, churches, and persons in American religious history.