The Trinity Forum :: Resources :: A Faith and Culture Devotional

The Classic Essays

By Don Eberly
(Rowman & Littlefield, 2000)

Download a PDF version of “A World Safe for Diversity” here

A World Safe for Diversity

Religious Liberty and the Rebuilding of the Public Philosophy

By Os Guinness
(2000)

In this transcript of a 2000 lecture, Guinness makes a case for the public role of faith as necessary for preserving diversity against tyranny and argues for ways to live together with our deepest differences.

Read “A World Safe for Diversity” online here.

The Sunflower

By Simon Wiesenthal
Foreword by Os Guinness
(2000)

A Jewish concentration camp inmate is pulled from work detail at a makeshift hospital to listen to a dying Nazi soldier’s confession. The SS soldier asks him for forgiveness that he might die in peace. In the Jew’s place, what would have you have done?

In this Reading, Simon Wiesenthal gives his account of this incident that happened in Poland during World War II, challenging readers with the moral question of forgiveness. If a murderer is truly repentant, should he be forgiven? Are some actions too horrible to forgive? Can you forgive someone for something done to someone else? Or can you forgive, as a member of a larger community?

These tough questions are relevant for us today. Pope John Paul II publicly asked God’s forgiveness for sins committed by the Roman Catholic Church in history. “We forgive, and we ask forgiveness,” he said. Although obvious the sins he was referring to--the Crusades, the Inquisition, silence in the face of the Holocaust--some criticized the pope for not being specific enough. What would be enough?

As Senior Fellow Os Guinness points out in the foreword, forgiveness is tricky business, and should not be taken for granted or issued flippantly. Forgiveness too quickly given can easily become cheap grace, somehow dismissing the wounds of the inflicted or justifying the behavior of the wrongdoer. True forgiveness is costly, where the wronged relinquishes the right for retribution. And yet, through forgiveness, both the wronged and the wrongdoer find release, freedom, and the power to move on.

In an age of increasing violence and political unrest throughout the world, the issue of forgiveness is one that modern people need to consider and better understand.

Jesus: A Layman’s Primer

By Alonzo L. McDonald
Foreword by Steve Haas
(2000)

Who was, who is, Jesus of Nazareth?

Born in obscurity, raised a carpenter, executed as a criminal, 2000 years later Jesus stands as the most captivating and influential figure in history and is worshipped by members of the most diverse community on earth. But who is he really, and why does it matter to us today?

In this Trinity Forum Reading, Senior Fellow Alonzo McDonald gives a layman’s perspective of Jesus based on his own serious investigations. Chairman and CEO of Avenir Group, a former U.S. Ambassador and White House staff director, and a more recent follower of Jesus, McDonald answers questions posed to him over the years by friends and associates regarding his faith.

Given the reach and endurance of his influence, Jesus is a figure to be grappled with by thoughtful people. McDonald provides a launching pad for further investigation into the man who has left an indelible mark on the world.

The Machine Stops

By E. M. Forster
Foreword by Dan Russ
(2000)

Discussion Guide Available Here (PDF Download)

Technology has afforded humankind such tremendous advances over the last 125 years—the telephone, the airplane, and the personal computer, to name a few, it is difficult to imagine life without them. But as great as some of the innovations have been for society, technology also has presented its distinct challenges with which we are grappling today: social isolation, physical inactivity, and dependency on machines.

This Reading features a story written in 1909 that is eerily prophetic, anticipating airplanes, videophones, and even the Internet. Written by E. M. Forster (author of Room with a View and Passage to India), “The Machine Stops” depicts a future society utterly reliant on one large mechanical system that feeds, bathes, transports, entertains, and educates its citizens. The Machine is so revered that to speak against it or go against its ways, could mean certain exile.

Unriddling Our Times

Reflections on the Gathering Cultural Crisis

By Os Guinness, ed.
(Baker Books, 1999)

A convenient compilation of three of our Readings booklets on the growing erosion of truth facing modern Western society—and the prophets who warn us against it

Contents:

Telling Truth to Kings,
One Word of Truth, and
The Lottery/The Lottery Revisited

A new introduction by Os Guinness sets the stage for these insightful and prophetic selections.

Character Counts

To Bigotry No Sanction,
Abraham Lincoln: Theologian of American Anguish,
William Wilberforce: A Man Who Changed His Times, and
The Oak and the Calf.

Leadership Qualities in Washington, Wilberforce, Lincoln, and Solzhenitsyn

By Os Guinness, ed.
(Baker Books, 1999)

A compilation of four of our Readings booklets on historical cases where private character has made a public difference.

Contents:

It includes an original introduction by Os Guinness that makes clear the relation of character to leadership for a society where leadership is reduced to image management and spin control, shows how leaders of character from our past have changed their times—and raises hope that even today modern leaders could do the same.

Hearing God

Developing a Conversational Relationship With God

By Dallas Willard
(InterVarsity Press, 1999)

In this updated classic, Dallas Willard provides rich spiritual insight into how we can hear God's voice clearly and develop an intimate partnership with him in the work of his kingdom.

An Intelligent Person’s Guide to Philosophy

By Roger Scruton
(Penguin, 1999)

Taking the discipline beyond theory and "intellectualism," Scruton presents philosophy in an empirical, accessible, and practical light. The result is not a history of the field but a vivid, energetic, and personal account to guide the reader making his or her own venture into philosophy.

Inheriting Paradise

Meditations on Gardening

By Vigen Guroian
(Eerdmans Pub Co, 1999)

In Inheriting Paradise Vigen Guroian offers an abundant vision of the spiritual life found in the cultivation of God's good creation by bringing together the experience of space and time through the cycle of the seasons in the garden and the church year.

The Faith Factor in Fatherhood

Renewing the Sacred Vocation of Fathering

By Don Eberly
(Lexington Books, 1999)

"The Faith Factor in Fatherhood" addresses the key role that religious institutions can play in reviving what Eberly calls the "sacred vocation of fatherhood."

The Man that Corrupted Hadleyburg

By Mark Twain
Foreword by J. McDonald Williams
(1999)

Download a PDF version of this Reading (See note below)

We are starting to see, in our public life, the consequences of failing to resist the erosion of character, truth, and ethics.

This fascinating and humorous short story by Mark Twain is a great way to open discussion about corruption in today’s international business culture and in society at large.

Poor Man’s Earl

an introduction to Lord Shaftesbury, the great reformer

By John Pollock
Foreword by Os Guinness
(1999)

This Reading is currently out of print—but is available here as an audio CD.

Our situation at the dawn of the twenty-first century is often compared with that of the nineteenth-century industrial revolution. Rapid change, progress, and prosperity comes at the cost of intense social dislocation and human suffering. Back then it was one man, Lord Shaftesbury, who decisively led the necessary reforms. His enduring legacy is his demonstration of the essential link between privilege and responsibility in a prosperous society.

This Reading—an original, fresh, and accessible introduction to the life and work of the seventh Earl of Shaftesbury—is a Trinity Forum exclusive. The foreword highlights the connections between Shaftesbury’s times and our own. This is an ideal companion piece to our bestselling Reading on William Wilberforce, also by John Pollock.

Reflections on the Millennium

By Alonzo L. McDonald
(1999)

As we enter the third millennium, responsible leaders at all levels of society will do well to take stock of where we have been and where we are now.

We need to consider the many factors that will influence where we are going as an increasingly global society. This Reading departs from our regular pattern of selections from classic texts to assist in that process. Adapted from a speech by Senior Fellow and founding Chairman of The Trinity Forum Alonzo L. McDonald, the reading is informed by insights drawn from his long and distinguished international career in business, government, and academia.

In his Reflections on the Millennium, Mr. McDonald primarily considers the business, economic, and political dimensions of life that we face as we begin a new millennium. He finishes by addressing the spiritual concerns that underlie these factors and raises some hard questions about the roles and responsibilities of leaders in a changing world.