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Finding God Beyond Harvard: The Quest for Veritas

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Kelly Monroe Kullberg's latest book, Finding God Beyond Harvard: The Quest for Veritas is a follow-up to Finding God at Harvard: Spiritual Journeys of Thinking Christians, which Monroe (sans Kullberg) edited a decade ago.

Harvard, now best known as the flagship of the Ivy League schools, was founded in 1636 so that, according to Kullberg, "students might be free to know truth and life in relation to Jesus Christ." A 1643 brochure quoted in the Harvard Guide indicates Harvard existed "`[t]o advance Learning and perpetuate it to Posterity; dreading to leave an illiterate Ministry to the Churches.'"

But by the last decade of the 20th century when Monroe arrived at Harvard to research and write a thesis entitled `The Gospel in the Information Age,' the gospel of Jesus Christ seemed nowhere to be found. At Harvard Divinity School, of all places, Kullberg was disillusioned to discover that pretty much any belief was welcome, from paganism to eco-feminism--except belief in Jesus Christ.

But in the midst of her disillusionment, God showed Kullberg, as he had Elijah after Elijah's confrontation with Jezebel's priests, that she was not the only believer still left in the land. A friend connected her with the Harvard Graduate School Christian Fellowship, and she discovered a place where "the gospel was passionately discussed by students in the Schools of Law, Business, Medicine, Government, Design, Arts and Sciences. For the first time since coming to Harvard," Kullberg writes, "I saw joy." Out of this small beginning grew not only the book, Finding God at Harvard, a compilation of the stories of many of the believers Kullberg came to know at Harvard, but also the Veritas Forum, a ministry that, along with Kullberg's personal faith journey, is the subject of Finding God Beyond Harvard.

With passion, honesty, and a humble spirit, Kullberg recounts the story of the Veritas Forum's beginning. "It is thrilling," as Phillip E. Johnson writes in the January/February 2007 issue of Touchstone, "to read about how the Veritas movement began . . . how it grew from a novel lecture series to a way of life." But it is equally thrilling to read of Kullberg's own faith journey and how God brought her through the `dark night of the soul' that afflicts so many thinking Christians, ultimately restoring her to both spiritual and physical health.

Take the time to read Finding God Beyond Harvard: The Quest for Veritas. Read Finding God at Harvard, too. Together, these two books demonstrate that intellect doesn't have to be an impediment to belief. And Kullberg's sense of wonder and spirit of gratitude when she speaks of the Creator of the universe will strengthen your own faith and bring a blessing to your life. - Linda Whitlock, Christian Book Previews.com

"The Word of God falls like a seed on our heart, but sometimes He must break our heart for the seed to fall in and grow." Kelley Monroe Kullberg's reference to a quote by Madeleine L'Engle is a symbol for Kullberg's life. In an honest, but humble fashion, Kullberg recounts the miracle of how God used her to help establish the Veritas Forum on campuses across America. This Christ-centered breakthrough into the minds of some of America's leading scholars was not without its price. An unfulfilled love, deep questioning, a deferred family were part of the struggles Kullberg endured. Yet she recounts these things not in a maudlin or self-promoting fashion, but simply as part of the work of God. Her refreshing spititual autobiography shows that God is interested in the heart even as He seeks to shape the mind. I am glad that Kullberg was willing to endure the breaking of her heart and to write about it so beautifully. I think the seeds God planted there will bear fruit for years to come.

Kelly Monroe Kullberg's, Finding God Beyond Harvard, InterVarsity Press (2006), gives voice to the heart of Christian life in community with a power like that with which Dallas Winslow trumpets the intellectual force of the Gospel. It reveals the love of Christ experienced in a community of Christian friends that began at Harvard and that has spread across the continent and around the world. It manifests the power and beauty of Christian fellowship among an ever widening circle of men and women who burn brightly with the love of Christ. What a book!

Its power and beauty cannot be captured in a few quotations. Nonetheless, one small example gives a peek at its heart:

"By sacrificing his body, Jesus created a new form of community - the body of Christ around the world. There are people like my friends, stories like our stories, everywhere he is believed and obeyed. His sacrifice reconnects us to reality, to truth, to who God is, to a clear vision of who we are without him and who we are with him" Finding God Beyond Harvard, p. 177.

Such lofty sentiments arise from a story that reveals the gritty reality of real life friendships in the author's day to day personal experience. That experience is unfolded in a way that makes the reader feel like a participant.

One such group of Christian friends she has identified is a thirty-year circle that includes Luci Shaw, Phillip Yancey, Eugene Peterson, Madeleine L'Engle, Walter Wangerin, Richard Foster and John Hoyt. Speaking of that circle, Luci Shaw told Kelly that, "If not for not for one another, no one would have heard of any of us. Our lives are bound together." Ibid, p. 189.

This is one book, however, where the whole is far more than its parts. Wow!

This book is mainly about the beginning of the Veritas forum, a group that promotes dialog within university about questions of faith, meaning, and purpose from a Christian perspective. It's difficult to classify in any one genre because the book is partly autobiographical, partly historical (regarding the Veritas forum), and partly religious. Ms. Monroe-Kullberg has traveled widely and garnered a tremendous amount of life experience, which quickly comes through in the book.

The strengths of the book are hearing about Monroe-Kullberg's life -- a profound heartbreak after a potential marriage relationship failed, her struggles with depression, her finding meaning for her own life, and the emergence of the Veritas forum. She nicely instills hope for those struggling to find meaning and purpose. Ultimately she makes her best case for believing in Christ and his teachings as recorded through the Bible. She does this by often drawing from material that various speakers at the Veritas forum have presented. Several of the quotations are true gems, worth ruminating on carefully. And interspersed throughout the book are several interesting stories. The account of her speaking to an extremely hostile classroom at SUNY Albany is particularly interesting!

The weaknesses of the book are: some readers may find that the book is written in an ornate style, and also at times quite repetitious. Monroe-Kullberg goes to great lengths to describe beauty and joy, sometimes in stylized journal entries. For example, "Waking at Deanna's under a glass dome ceiling in winter. Silent but for birds and wind. A January hike down the valley, ending up at Snowmass Lodge where I swam alone in a heated pool in the snow. Stroking the white and blue reflection of the mountains, water like liquid sky. The pines my friends in that moment... Water and snow, wood smoke and steam, pine and eucalyptus, the best of creation pouring into me in those hours. Remember the lesson of the skis, 'Trust the fall line, center, and go.' Freedom and form. As my Cambridge housemate Heather used to say, 'Relax and accelerate.' " (p. 113) A person's response to the style of this writing (which is quite common in the book) may strongly affect your response to the entire book.

Early in the book, the author duly notes how Harvard Divinity School is not even neutral to Christianity, but quite hostile. Many will be surprised to see just how anti-Christianity most secular universities are today, and they show no real signs of changing that direction. Thus, I wish the author had much more explored a sentiment by Tolkien briefly noted near the end of the book. Apparently he questioned whether the university would come to a point of no return and "believers will be called to abandon the university to itself, to its idols and self-deceptions, to its self-worship." (p. 173) Given the direction of universities today and the inability for various Christian efforts to fundamentally turn the tide, I wonder whether or not that time has come. This is a hard question, and one that few reflect on, but perhaps would have brought a whole new dimension to the book.

Kelly Monroe Kullberg's new book draws the reader immediately into a story of

hope and wonder at God's love and drawing power even at our country's citadels of

academic secularism. Beautifully and thoughtfully written by a woman who has

lived out what she believes, this book should be read by all those in campus ministries.

When I started reading this, I was unable to put it down, drawn in by Kelly's extraordinary writing style and crystal clear depiction of the heart status of today's university students.

Tale after tale of how God is using Christians in and around academia to fill the emptiness in our secularized universities, provide a joyous sense of hope and inspiration. Her style is wonderfully light and vulnerable and laugh out loud funny while speaking insightfully into why things are as they are today

and how the Veritas movement (and others)on campuses is making a sizeable dent in the culture.

Her personal journey along with the incredible story of how The Veritas Forum was founded at Harvard and has spread to over 60 other campuses, make for delightful reading.

This picks up where all the critiques leave off -- the book is a treasure hunt into a world of truth, beauty, and goodness, against all odds. A warm and enthusiastic circle of creative young friends changing the world. Veritas welcomes us into the story. Thanks to the Author!

Kelly Monroe Kullberg, one of the principle founders of the Veritas Forum, a grass roots Christian apologist organization committed to the dialogue of God and Christian ideas in a secular, specifically university system, has written an anecdotal book about the forum, her faith and certain struggles, both religious and professional, and the many lives the forum has touched over the years.

Her book is interesting and fun, but it is not as clear of an apologist book as I thought it would be. The strengths of this book are her stories about certain college events such as her lecture, or more properly stated, her dialogue with many hostile students at SUNY, Albany. Her approach to dialogue with the hostile crowd showed great Christian maturity and wisdom. I wish there were more stories in this book like that one.

I think her personal struggles will help many readers in college, particularly schools that are more secular, even if they were once founded on Christian principles. I bought this book for my daughter as she will be a freshman in college this fall and I think she is one of the intended audiences. This book is a help to Christian college students by giving them a foretaste of secular college life with an assurance of the correctness of the Christian viewpoint.

A satisfying blend of memoir and theology follows author Kelly Kullberg's search for God in Finding God Beyond Harvard: The Quest for Veritas. The Veritas Forum brings Christian principles to universities: it follows the author's love of God to the highest levels of understanding, identifying a group of Christian friends and scholars who are speakers, scientists, authors and lecturers. An absorbing and moving discourse blends Christian insights with university analysis.

Diane C. Donovan

California Bookwatch

"Finding God Beyond Harvard" captures the wonder, design, and beauty of life. With grace and depth Ms. Kullberg tells of the exciting journey of life. Reading the book is like breathing clear, fresh air again.