Words Against Despair with Christian Wiman

Words Against Despair with Christian Wiman

Words Against Despair with Christian Wiman


As poet Christian Wiman explains on our podcast, despair is part of the human condition: “I deal with despair because…I don't know how not to, and it would be an evasion not to. And I think if you don't feel it, then you're not paying attention.”


In his new book, Zero at the Bone: Fifty Entries Against Despair, the acclaimed poet chases meaning through words, including memoir and poetry. And in this conversation he explains how he has found relief from despair in poetry, even and especially when poets grapple honestly with despair, “they speak of [despair] as a thing that can be spoken of.”

Wiman returned to Christian faith in part through a terminal cancer diagnosis–one that he has, to his astonishment, now lived with for over 18 years. His work explores themes of illness, love, faith, and the “almost spiritual joy” of encountering a deadly coral snake. We trust you will find in his poetry, and in this conversation with Trinity Forum’s guest host, Tom Wash, a great tonic against despair.


This podcast is an edited version of an online conversation recorded in April 2024. Watch the full video of the conversation here, and learn more about Christian Wiman.


Authors and books mentioned in the conversation:

Zero at the Bone: Fifty Entries Against Despair, by Christian Wiman

Marilynne Robinson

Danielle Chapman

William Bronk

William Wordsworth

Every Riven Thing, by Christian Wiman

My Bright Abyss: Meditations of a Modern Believer, by Christian Wiman

Prayer, by Carol Ann Duffy

The Bible and Poetry, by Michael Edwards

Augustine of Hippo

Bittersweet, by George Herbert

Surprised by Joy, by C.S. Lewis

Richard Wilbur

Jürgen Moltmann

When the Time’s Toxins, by Christian Wiman


Related Trinity Forum Readings:

Augustine’s Confessions

Devotions by John Donne, paraphrased by Philip Yancey

God’s Grandeur: the Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins

Bulletins from Immortality, by Emily Dickinson

Wrestling with God, by Simone Weil


Related Conversations:
Connecting Spiritual Formation & Public Life with Michael Wear
The Kingdom, the Power & The Glory with Tim Alberta
A Life Worth Living with Miroslav Volf
Towards a Better Christian Politics
Christian Pluralism: Living Faithfully in a World of Difference
What Really Matters with Charlie Peacock and Andi Ashworth
Scripture and the Public Square

How to be a Patriotic Christian

Life, Death, Poetry & Peace with Philip Yancey

The Fall, the Founding, and the Future of American Democracy

Fear and Conspiracy with David French


To listen to this or any of our episodes in full, visit ttf.org/podcast and to help make content like this possible, join the Trinity Forum Society


Special thanks to Ned Bustard for our podcast artwork.

Tämä jakso on lisätty Podme-palveluun avoimen RSS-syötteen kautta eikä se ole Podmen omaa tuotantoa. Siksi jakso saattaa sisältää mainontaa.

Jaksot(147)

Baptizing Our Imaginations, with Mia Chung and Malcolm Guite

Baptizing Our Imaginations, with Mia Chung and Malcolm Guite

The term “baptized imagination” has come to the fore of Christian discussion in recent years, and this recent episode considers what a baptized imagination can actually look like.In the Christian trad...

4 Elo 33min

Practices of Hope: Antidotes to Confusion, Cynicism and Nihilism, with Curt Thompson and David French

Practices of Hope: Antidotes to Confusion, Cynicism and Nihilism, with Curt Thompson and David French

We are subjected to the temptations of confusion, cynicism, and nihilism like never before. So many pressures, including new ones, seemingly by the day, push us in these directions. What formative thi...

21 Heinä 26min

Beauty + Justice: Why We Need Both, with Makoto and Haejin Fujimura

Beauty + Justice: Why We Need Both, with Makoto and Haejin Fujimura

Beauty is often dismissed as a luxury—something secondary to the urgent work of repair. But what if beauty is not peripheral, but essential to healing what is broken?Trinity Forum Senior Fellow Makoto...

7 Heinä 57min

Cultivating Christian Resilience

Cultivating Christian Resilience

How can we cultivate a faith that endures and flourishes?Author, Anglican priest, and Trinity Forum Senior Fellow Tish Harrison Warren shows us how lasting and beautiful things can take root and grow ...

23 Kesä 47min

A Conversation With Ben Sasse

A Conversation With Ben Sasse

In a culture shaped by distraction, anxiety, and constant noise, how do we focus on what matters most?In this special episode, we're sharing a conversation from a recent Trinity Forum event featuring ...

9 Kesä 1h 6min

From Wasteland to Grail: Stories that Shape Our Lives, with Malcolm Guite

From Wasteland to Grail: Stories that Shape Our Lives, with Malcolm Guite

In March, we welcomed Malcolm Guite for an in-person event to celebrate his new book, Galahad and the Grail, which is the first in his Merlin’s Isle trilogy published through Rabbit Room Press. While ...

26 Touko 54min

Forgiveness in an Outraged World, with Amy Orr-Ewing

Forgiveness in an Outraged World, with Amy Orr-Ewing

We live in an unforgiving age. Even as we know that Jesus commanded forgiveness, extending it can seem impossible, impractical, self-harming, even unjust. In these times of outrage and fear, what can ...

12 Touko 53min

Living a Non-Anxious Life, with Alan Fadling

Living a Non-Anxious Life, with Alan Fadling

We are a culture well acquainted with anxiety. Recent years have shown it rising dramatically, particularly among Generation Z and Millennials, but affecting all of us. In the Sermon on the Mount, how...

28 Huhti 52min

Suosittua kategoriassa Yhteiskunta

olipa-kerran-otsikko
i-dont-like-mondays
seitseman
siita-on-vaikea-puhua
hupiklubi
uutiscast
sita
poks
antin-palautepalvelu
gogin-ja-janin-maailmanhistoria
mamma-mia
kaksi-aitia
kolme-kaannekohtaa
yopuolen-tarinoita-2
rss-palmujen-varjoissa
meidan-pitais-puhua
lahko
aikalisa
loukussa
ihme-ja-kumma