C. Terry Warner is an American academic, author and business consultant. He wrote the book Bonds That Make Us Free and founded Arbinger Consulting and Training based on his academic work on the foundations of human behavior. In writings and seminars, Warner argues that we are responsible for our own actions and even negative emotions which we often use to accuse others rather than responding to their needs. We therefore have the power to free our relationships with others from negativity.
Warner holds a Ph.D. from Yale University and is a professor of philosophy at Brigham Young University. In 1967 he joined the faculty at Brigham Young University, where he has served as chair of the Philosophy Department, director of the Honors Program, and dean of the College of General Studies. He was a visiting senior member of Linacre College, Oxford University.
Warner's book Bonds that Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationships, Coming to Ourselves is a self-help book that focuses on repairing damaged relationships and finding joy. In a review in Journal of Marital and Family Therapy, Tom Milholland says that Warner "uses an amazing blend of philosophy, theology, and psychology to provide insight and solutions..." The key concept underlying the book is faith-based..."to do exactly what we sense is right toward all living creatures, including God...pursuing a life of goodness." (p. 319) Warner says that individuals must reconcile conflicts between their beliefs and their actions to find peace within themselves and reconciliation with others. When people respond openly to the needs of others, rather than justifying their own position, these new bonds make them free.
Bonds That Make Us Free: Healing Our Relationships, Coming to Ourselves, Salt Lake City, UT:Shadow Mountain Press, 2001. Online serialized version of the book at Meridian magazine.
Arm the Children: Faith's Response to a Violent World, BYU Studies Monographs with Arthur Henry King and Daryl Hague. September 1998.
Oxford Papers. 1997.
The Possibility of Language: A Discussion of the Nature of Language, With Implications for Human and Machine Translation (Benjamins Translation Library, Vol 14) with Alan K. Melby. December 1995.
Bonds of Anguish, Bonds of Love 1995.
Honest, Simple, Solid, True, a speech given on 16 January 1996. HTML Version MP3 Version
Dr. Warner is currently the exhibit director of the Education in Zion project at Brigham Young University. The project traces the history of education in the LDS Church, beginning with the spiritual and secular education of Joseph Smith, and continuing through the foundation of educational institutions throughout Church's Kirtland and Nauvoo years, its migration to the Mountain West, and its ultimate worldwide expansion.