In collaboration with the Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Comission, The Faith & Politics Institute facilitated a prelude retreat program to the National Opening Ceremonies of the Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration on February 10th and 11th, 2008. Dr. Ron White, author of Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural and professor at San Francisco Theological Seminary, facilitated the retreat sessions at the historic Brown Hotel in Louisville, Kentucky. The sessions were open to all Bicentennial Ceremony participants.

Using Lincoln as a lens, participants explored the ways in which faith has guided leaders in history and considered the question, “What should be the shape of faith in public life?” Dr. White highlighted Lincoln’s presidency as a model of leadership that bridged the world of faith and politics in guiding the nation toward community and transformation. On Sunday evening, discussion focused on Lincoln’s Second Inaugural Address, and Monday morning's session centered around the "Meditation on the Divine Will". Dr. White also facilitated an open discussion of other topics of interest on Monday afternoon.

See photographs from the retreat.

Read Dr. White's talk on the Second Inaugural Address. 

Dr. Ronald C. White Jr. is the author of Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural and The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words. He is a Fellow at the Huntington Library, Visiting Professor of History at UCLA, and Professor Emeritus of American Religious History at San Francisco Theological Seminary. He is working on a biography of Abraham Lincoln which will be published by Random House in January, 2009.