The Trinity Forum Update

“In a word, there is intrinsic motivation for intellectual seriousness, intellectual integrity, and intellectual gravity in a religion that is fixed on Jesus Christ.” —Mark Noll

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In this Update we highlight our Senior Fellows, including a report of the recent lecture by Mark Noll on the state of Christian intellectual engagement and influence in the academic world. We also have a new article on Senior Fellow James Davison Hunter’s work explaining how cultures change. And we note some resources that will help you and your friends put current political and economic changes into perspective.  

Dinner and Reception Honors Senior Fellows

Senior Fellow Mark A. Noll, the Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, was the keynote speaker at a recent reception and dinner held at the Evermay estate in Georgetown in conjunction with the annual meeting of our Senior Fellows. The theme of the evening was Christian intellectual engagement, an area critical to the mission of the Trinity Forum. As one Fellow said, the evening meeting helped “connect leading thinkers and thinking leaders.”

Senior Fellows in attendance included David Aikman, Francis S. Collins, E. David Cook, Michael Cromartie, William Edgar, Douglas M. Johnston, Wilfred M. McClay, Alonzo L. McDonald, Mark A. Noll, Dan Russ, Jody Hassett Sanchez, Roger Scruton, Luder Whitlock, and P. Douglas Wilson. Other Trustees and Advisory Board members also participated.

Dr. Noll spoke to a capacity crowd on the state of Christian contributions in the academic and intellectual arenas, reprising themes from his critically acclaimed 1994 book, The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind. He acknowledged a continuing lack of influence from Christians in the academy and public discussions, driven in large part by continuing cultural challenges within the Christian communities. Noll did note several signs of progress in recent years and offered encouragement from within the Christian tradition to continue the long-term task of systematic, rigorous, and institutionalized engagement with the created world.

His friend and former colleague Dr. Nathan O. Hatch, now president of Wake Forest University, provided a response with strategies and insights from the perspective of an academic administrator and his own work as a historian.

A transcript of the evening will be released shortly. Trinity Forum President Cherie Harder expressed appreciation to the John Templeton Foundation, Socrates in the City, and the Belin family for their support in making the event possible.

Recently on our Provocations Journal

We welcome your responses on these and other Provocations pieces.

• How Does Culture Change? John Seel explains Senior Fellow James Davison Hunter’s developing thesis on how cultural change happens—which also explains why religion is still at the margins of contemporary culture.
• Tragic or Comic: Two Visions of Life and Leadership. Senior Fellow Dan Russ calls us to look to the Odyssey and the Iliad for a renewed vision for leadership. “Culture wars” may be a good description of contemporary conflicts in our societies, but it is a poor strategy to pursue.
• A Task Before Him. Trinity Forum Chairman Al Sikes welcomes President-Elect Obama and recalls another president from Illinois—Abraham Lincoln.

Institutionalization of Greed Audio Now Available!

We have released an MP3 audio recording with highlights from the October 16 Trinity Forum Conversation, “The Institutionalization of Greed” with Senior Fellows Prabhu Guptara and Doug Wilson. You can download it at no charge at this link (50 minutes, 17.3 MB). We have also posted a longer article from Professor Guptara that further develops his thinking on the topic. We are confident that you will find his remarks fascinating and provocative, and we welcome your own comments and perspectives on Provocations.

Timely Resources from the Senior Fellows

Our new Audio Readings make great Christmas gifts! Lively narration from Trinity Forum Senior Fellow David Aikman and others makes for an enjoyable listening experience, and the forewords from past and current Senior Fellows help you get the most out of each selection.

In a season of economic unrest, three in particular feature characters who offer themselves as gentle reminders that life calls us to be far more than mere consumers:

• Leo Tolstoy’s classic story “How Much Land Does a Man Need?” (foreword by Os Guinness) and his entrepreneurial peasant Pahóm;
• Victor Hugo’s “The Purchase of a Soul” (foreword by Alonzo L. McDonald) and the kindly Bishop of Digne; and
• John Pollock’s biography “Poor Man’s Earl” (foreword by Os Guinness), on the life and reforms of the Earl of Shaftesbury.

And as the world’s political climate changes, Russell Kirk’s ghostly tale “Ex Tenebris” (foreword by Senior Fellow Vigen Guroian) helps us reconsider the role of government and the effects of our chosen policies on individual people like the widowed protagonist Mrs. Oliver.

Speaking of policy, our recent print Reading from Woodrow Wilson, with a foreword from Senior Fellow David Aikman, takes on additional currency with the approaching transition in the U.S. Presidency. Wilson was a follower of Christ from the progressive tradition. His upbeat thinking in “On Being Human” on the nature of the human person and the role of government and community offers us an opportunity to reflect on the relationship of worldview and policy and to discuss likely trends for the upcoming administration. An attached discussion guide will help you explore the central themes of the Reading.

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