Many today pursue knowledge and even wisdom. But what about truth? In an age that disputes whether truth can be universalized beyond one's own personal experience, it seems quaint to speak of finding truth. But whether in the ivory towers of the academy or in the midst of our everyday lives, we continue to seek after the true, the beautiful and the good. Since its founding at Harvard in 1992, The Veritas Forum has provided a place for the university world to explore the deepest questions of truth and life. What does it mean to be human? Does history have a purpose? Is life meaningful? Can rational people believe in God? Now gathered in one volume are some of The Veritas Forum's most notable presentations, with contributions from Francis Collins, Tim Keller, N. T. Wright, Mary Poplin and more. Volume editor Dallas Willard introduces each presentation, highlighting its significance and putting it in context for us today. Also included are selected question and answer sessions with the speakers from the original forum experiences. Come eavesdrop on some of today's leading Christian thinkers and their dialogue partners. And consider how truth might find a place in your own life.
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For almost 20 years,Veritas Forums have convened on some of the most prestigious college campuses in America, e.g., Harvard, Yale, UCLA, Penn State. Characteristic of each is an unashamedly Christian perspective on matters of truth, worldview, ethics, and related topics. The present volume represents 15 highlights from this long line of faith-based presentations, given by some of the most profound thinkers alive, Christian or otherwise. Included are notables like Richard John Neuhaus, N. T. Wright, Alister McGrath, and Dallas Willard. Among the book’s six sections are several devoted to atheism, faith and science, the nature of humanity, and social justice. Considering that each lecture was given in a university classroom or auditorium, the tone is only moderately academic. In fact, several of the presentations function more as a dialogue than a straightforward lecture, including one with controversial Princeton ethicist Peter Singer. At least a third of the presentations have their accompanying Q&A sessions. A book that truly seems to scratch where many postmodern people itch. --Wade Osburn
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"These essays, mostly by Christian thinkers, are serious dialogue about important questions. Whether you find in them enlightenment and encouragement, or much to challenge, I hope you will agree that The Veritas Forum has done a service to the academy by encouraging the discussions." (from the foreword by Harry Lewis, former dean, Harvard College, and author of Excellence Without a Soul )
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43 of 44 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Veritas Forum's Timely Contribution to Thoughtful Discourse about Faith: Review of "A Place for Truth," edited by Dallas Willard,
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This review is from: A Place for Truth: Leading Thinkers Explore Life's Hardest Questions (Paperback)
Since The Veritas Forum was born in 1992, I have watched with great interest its ever-expanding influence on university campuses across the United States and the world. The Forum grew out of the landmark book by Kelly Monroe Kullberg, "Finding God at Harvard." I read the book with fascination as it recounted the storied of Harvard students, faculty, staff and alumni who shared how they found themselves drawn to faith while within the gravitational field of Harvard University. While originally founded as a training ground for ministers to serve in the parishes of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, Harvard University has wandered far from its original vision and religious roots. So, it was a breath of fresh air for me to read about and then to meet women and men whose faith flourished in what others have found to be a spiritual desert.
For almost twenty years, The Veritas Forum staff have worked with campus leaders to sponsor events that promote open, honest and civil dialogue between Christian intellectuals and those who do not share that same faith. "A Place for Truth," captures excerpts from some of the most impactful of the addresses and dialogues that have taken place during Veritas Forum events. I found it encouraging and significant that the Foreword to the book was penned by Dr. Harry Lewis, former Dean of Harvard College. He states very eloquently the need for a book such as this: "The essays in this book are based on talks about some of the big questions of life. The discussions took place in universities, not as part of the daily life of the academic family but instead at events sponsored by The Veritas Forum. It is awkward to take up sch questions within the academy itself, unless they can be reduced to matters of psychology or cultural study. And yet students ask questions when they are alone under starry skies or in the blaze of city lights, when they confront decisions affecting the lives of their loved ones, and when they are faced with pivotal decisions about their own lives. The discomforts attendant on this search for the truth are afflictions of the young for which college education offers little aid. I am not among those who regret the departure of God from the academy. I join the atheists in their skepticism about scientific proof of the existence of God or of any meaningful argument for God's existence that is not subject to scientific verification. Yet I regret the extent to which God took with him, when he left the classroom, questions of values and morals and purposes with which young people struggle today as they always have. As much as ever, a good education owes students guidance on examining their own lives." (pages 8-9) And so it is that The Veritas Forum - in its events and its publications - seeks to fill the vacuum of reasonable discourse on issues of faith that was created when God was summarily expelled from much of the realm of academia - its campuses and classrooms. I found the tone of the essays and conversations offered in this book to be refreshing. These are respectful and civil conversations - not those of zealots screaming at one another across a vast chasm of divergent beliefs and contradictory cosmologies. Instead, respected and learned scholars such as Os Guiness, Richard John Neuhaus, Tim Keller, Francis Collins, Mary Polin, Ron Sider, et al. offer their carefully reasoned arguments for embracing faith or rejecting it. The subtitle of the book lets us know exactly what to expect to find between the covers: "Leading Thinkers Explore Life's Hardest Questions." This is exactly the kind of book which I will stockpile on my book shelf and give to those I meet who are open to thinking deeply and critically about issues of faith. We owe Kelly Monroe Kullberg, Dallas Willard, Dan Cho and Sarah Park a debt of gratitude for gleaning from the best thinkers their thoughts on these critical issues such as Truth, Faith and Science, Atheism, Meaning and Humanity, Christian Worldview and Social Justice. Whether you are someone in the early stages of wrestling with these issues or you are further along the road and still refining your thoughts and beliefs, you will find great value in this book. Enjoy. Al
47 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Displays the Christian Mind at Work for a Wide Audience,
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This review is from: A Place for Truth: Leading Thinkers Explore Life's Hardest Questions (Paperback)
I eagerly awaited this book, A Place for Truth, edited by Dallas Willard, and I immediately set to devouring it. On the whole, I thoroughly enjoyed the book and its presentation of Christian Truth but thought that it displayed weaknesses in certain places.
The title, A Place for Truth, comes from Harvard University's motto, "Veritas," which is Latin for "Truth." This volume is a collection of 15 presentations made before the Veritas Forum, a group originally started at Harvard to help restore to the American university its age-old character as "a place for truth." The chapters in the book reflect the oral nature of the original presentations, which helps make the articles relatively easy to read (considering the complexity of the topics) which but also presents certain limitations. Because of the blend of learning and readability, I find A Place for Truth to be a very welcome book. It is a book that is simple without being simplistic, profound without being indigestible, and which asks and answers some of the most important questions of life for all. One of the unexpected things I experienced in the book was the large number of narratives that were included as a means of presenting Christian Truth. This is a book well-suited to our postmodern age. The first three chapters focus on arguments that focus on Truth itself, and they help set the tone and direction for the remainder of the volume. Chapters 4-6 relate to Faith and Science, Chapters 7 and 8 to Atheism, Chapters 9-11 on Meaning and Humanity, Chapter 12 on the Christian Worldview, and Chapters 13-15 on Social Justice. Overall, it was immensely encouraging to read chapter after chapter of intelligent Christian (most actively engaged in teaching at universities and all of them highly educated) from a variety of universities speaking convincingly and intelligently about Truth and especially Christian Truth. A Place for Truth is a book that can and should be widely read. While containing the thought of Christian intellectuals, the chapters are, for the most part, very readable, largely because of the oral nature of the original presentations. It makes an excellent introduction for Christian college students who want to learn more about how to integrate their faith with their learning, and I can even see it being used in Christian high schools. The educated Christian laymen will also benefit from this book, as well as pastors who might want to read a collection of brief works on relevant contemporary topics. One of the audiences I think the book might serve best is those who are not Christians but want to see a more articulate and informed Christian mind at work. The chapters, however, are not of equal value or quality. Of the three chapters addressing Truth, I found the one by Tim Keller, "Reason for God: The Exclusivity of Truth," to be the best. In fact, it's one of the 3 best chapters in the entire book. Richard John Neuhas' chapter was not particularly enlightening, while the chapter by Os Guinness presented a lot of good material but, it turns out, too much for so little space. Keller, in his chapter, does a masterful job of presenting 5 ways that people today tend to deal with the exclusive truth claims of religion in order to avoid them. It is a primer on how modern and postmodern people want to do away with Truth, and Keller provides brief but powerful arguments against each of the 5 attacks on Truth. The 3 chapters on Faith and Science each contain much helpful material, but each has its own weakness. Collins' chapter spends too much time dealing with background and biography and is not as focused as it could have been, while the exchange between McGrath and Helfand (Christian and atheist) involves an interchange that works better when there is a lot of time and not only a few pages to deal with such complex issues. Ross' is a fascinating chapter that weaves scientific thought into the story of his conversion to Christ. Vitz's look at the Psychology of Atheism is fascinating and deals with the theory of the defective father as a cause of atheism but is a fairly limited look at the psychology of atheism. Dallas Willard's chapter on "Nietzsche Versus Jesus Christ" is one of the 3 best chapters. In explaining Nietzsche's philosophy, Willard not only explains much of the foundation for contemporary secular thought but also a stinging indictment of an ostensibly Christian culture that isn't very Christian. If you want to understand more about why modern and postmodern man thinks and acts the way he does, Willard's chapter is as good a place to start as any. The other chapter that I found to be one of the 3 best was the one by N.T. Wright, "Simply Christian," which is an executive summary of his new book by the same name. "Echoes of a Voice," deals with kinds of evidence for the God of the Bible; "Staring at the Sun," is about talking wisely about God; and "Reflecting the Image" concerns how to be a genuine human being. Wright says a lot in the little space allotted him. I found many of the remaining chapters less valuable (though still worth reading), either because they were on a relatively narrow topic (such as the chapter on Can Robots Become Humans?) or because they didn't go as deeply into the subject as they might have (such as Sider's chapter on "The Whole Gospel for the Whole Person"). Poplin's chapter, "Radical Marxist, Radical Womanist, Radical Love" is a fine reflection on the love of Mother Teresa but the title is sensationalist and not very relevant to Poplin's discussion. The one other chapter I thought wonderfully provocative and joyful was Begbie's "The Sense of an Ending," which artfully presents the Christian story in an unusual way: the sense of ending we expect in music. While containing some weak spots, A Place for Truth is, on the whole, a wonderful introduction to how Christian Truth can be brought with power to a dying world which is dying nowhere more than at its universities. Here is an outline of the chapters in the book so the reader can more easily apprehend the scope and sequence of A Place for Truth. Truth 1. Is There Life After Truth? - Richard John Neuhas 2. Time for Truth - Os Guinness 3. Reason for God: The Exclusivity of Truth - Timothy Keller Faith and Science 4. The Language of God: A Scientist Presents Evidence for Belief - Francis Collins 5. The New Atheists and the Meaning of Life - Alister McGrath and David Helfand 6. A Scientist Who Looked and Was Found - Hugh Ross Atheism 7. The Psychology of Atheism - Paul C. Vitz 8. Nietzsche Versus Jesus Christ - Dallas Willard Meaning and Humanity 9. Moral Mammals: Does Atheism or Theism Provide the Best Foundation for Human Worth and Morality - Peter Singer and John Hare 10. Living Machines: Can Robots Become Human? - Rodney Brooks and Rosalind Picard 11. The Sense of an Ending - Jeremy S. Begbie Christian Worldview 12. Simply Christian - N.T. Wright Social Justice 13. Why Human Rights Are Impossible Without Religion - John Warwick Montgomery 14. "Radical Marxist, Radical Womanist, Radical Love: What Mother Teresa Taught Me About Social Justice" - Mary Poplin 15. The Whole Gospel for the Whole Person - Ronald J. Sider You can find out more about the Veritas Forum at their website.
9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Collection of thoughts and ideas from Veritas Forum,
This review is from: A Place for Truth: Leading Thinkers Explore Life's Hardest Questions (Paperback)
"A Place for Truth" is a remarkably compelling and coherent collection of chapters based on The Veritas Forum events on university campuses for the past 15 years. As one who has attended many Veritas Forum events, I appreciated reading this book.
Collections like this are usually cobbled together and suffer from a lack of cohesion, but this volume is different. Reading through it, one has a real sense of moving through some of the big questions facing our society today. Moreover, the context for each chapter reminds us that these are not just abstract, theoretical questions, but ones that real people have grappled with on these campuses. Also, the introduction from Dallas Willard frames the book beautifully. I highly recommend this for anyone involved with the university, or just anyone interested in the implications of ideas.
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