Customer Reviews

The Veritas Conflict

5 star:		(37)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

If you want a window into the experience of Christians in America's secular colleges, read this book. The author, a graduate of Harvard's John F. Kennedy school of government, has obviously done her homework. As I read the tales of mockery, condescension and anger directed at Christians on campus, it brought me back to my own law school experiences. While the story is obviously fictional, it communicates a real truth -- there is a massive, ongoing spiritual battle for the soul of our nation's university students, and Christians are seriously outnumbered.

Although the book is full of accurate information regarding the challenges Christian college students face, this is not a dry academic tome. Philosophical arguments are woven within a story that is full of excitement, danger and a dash of romance. You will find yourself caring for the fate of even the side characters in this novel. The Christian characters are real, revealing self-doubt and persistent flaws. Individuals every Christian can identify with fight a battle only God can win.

Excellent book. Buy it (don't borrow, even Christian authors need to eat) and enjoy.

"Veritas, Christo et Ecclesiae" means "Truth for Christ and the Church". Believe it or not it was the original motto of none other than Harvard University.

In this novelization, we look behind the scenes and through the lens of two sides of a story involving the change of Harvard into a secular University, and the foundational views held today. The story is of Claire Rivers, a freshman at Harvard. Unknowingly she is to become involved in the middle of a battle for the spirituality of Harvard University. The other look we get is from the perspective of the spiritual battle waging behind the scenes between good and evil, angels and demons.

The book starts with the beginning of this battle which takes place some two hundred years ago, and sets the foundation for what is occurring today. The book tackles openly subjects like moral relativism, abortion, free speech, and secular humanism, and how prevalent and one sided today's University settings are. The book is decidedly from a Christian perspective, and at times the solutions are a bit too pat and the characters a bit too one dimensional. The most accurate portrayals are the every day arguments that take place in University classrooms today on the subjects of Philosophy, Sociology, History and so on.

The novel is fast paced, and written exceptionally well. The moving back and forth between the spiritual plane and the physical is done well, although Frank Perretti's book "This Present Darkness" set the standard on that. It is a great story and as such was hard to put down.

I recommend this book to anyone curious about the duality between the physical world and the spiritual plane, as these depictions challenge the imagination. While many may find some of the plot lines too easily wrapped up, it is a good novel to enjoy and some thought provoking material and statements about spirituality, morality and philosophy.

The plot is rather complicated, but here's the gist: Claire Rivers is a Christian student who begins attending Harvard. She is ill-prepared for the secular environment, and the hostile attacks against her Christian faith, and the "tolerant" society that rejects and criticizes her views violently. She manages to make friends with other Christians on campus, including Brad, a member of the Christian fellowship group at Harvard, and Professor Mansfield, the lovable teacher of history, and a fellow Christian. Although she is a freshman, she is drawn by God into difficult deeds: assisting Mansfield and his TA Ian in a special research project that may reveal results devastating to the secular, humanist faculty at Harvard. Trying to be the accountability "officer" to her roommate Sherry, who first welcomes and requests the effort, then grows angry with, and rejects them. Things get shaky when some attempts are made to stop the research project. Claire came to Harvard to study, but finds herself chosen as one of God's front soldiers in . . . The Veritas Conflict.

In the world that Claire cannot see, angels chosen by God protect her against the enemy territory of the demon spirits.

The book is an excellent read. It took me a while to finish it, but it was worth it. The message of Christ shines clearly through the book without anyone having to preach at the reader; it merely takes place in the "everyday" life of the Harvard students. The debates that Claire and her friends find themselves engaged in are incredibly well-crafted, realistic, and enjoyable to read.

Are there any bad points? Well, just in case there are parents wanting to know, I'd rate this book PG, because there are some death scenes (one of `em will have you cryin' your eyes out) and a kidnapping, and vague descriptions of Satanic practices. There's also a few sexual references: one point where a man visits a porn magazine headquarters and views the girl while she is being photographed, and one point where a young girl caves to pressure and sleeps with her boyfriend. All this, of course, is painted in the BAD light as it should be, but it's all still rather suggestive to the imagination.

My advice is, take your time on this book. It's 446 pages long, and the print is nice and SMALL. It'll take you a little while to get through it, but it will be worth it in the end. And besides, who could resist a book by an author with such a cool name as Shaunti Feldhahn?

I loved this book. Sure, some of the dialogue and ideas are simplistic. But current christian fiction rarely has this books combination of history, charachters living out the love of Christ, facing the realities of the secular world, and recognizing spiritual warfare. The theology in the book is solid-not often a trait of christian fiction. Her other book The Lights of Tenth Street is great too. I can't wait till she writes more!

For a novice novelist - with background as a financial analyst, no less! - Feldhahn is one terrific writer. She creates believable characters you care about, has a deft hand with both narrative and dialogue, weaves numerous plot threads into a well-organized, suspenseful story, and uses humor with sensitivity. It's a remarkable book.

It is NOT light reading. Claire Rivers, a devout Christian teenager, copes with the challenges of Harvard, and finds herself in a serious battle with the forces of evil. The battle is played out in the minds and beliefs of the characters, which means that the characters have some heavy discussions of religious and moral issues, both in and outside of the classroom. Their moral and philosophical development isn't a digression from the plot, largely because it *is* the plot. And since such discussions are a major occupation of college students, the debates seem very natural.

There are too many of them, though. The first half of the book drags, since some of the debates (notably an after-class discussion about wifely submission) aren't really relevant to the plot. Feldhahn clearly has a goal to present an Christian apologist viewpoint, and she's a great spokesman, articulate and compassionate. But she doesn't really need to try to cover every single issue in one book!

The second half picks up pace, as Claire and her friends begin to uncover an ugly conspiracy and the shadowy organization behind it. The book is thought-provoking, and while its fundamentalist point of view might aggravate some liberals beyond endurance, it's recommended not just for conservative Christians who want an intelligent story, but for liberals who are willing to hear and consider, or at least learn more about, where fundamentalists are coming from.

This book demonstrates both the best and the worst features of current Christian fiction. Because it has a big flaw. Like some other Christian novelists, notably Peretti, Feldhahn creates angels and demons as characters. She often cuts away from the human scene to present an angelic take on the situation, or a strategy-conference among the demons. It doesn't work. Angels are so purely good -- with their valiance and Godly fervor -- and the demons so utterly despicable, as they lob temptations at the human characters and "rub [their] hands together with eager relish" like Jack Nicholson playing The Joker, that these passages resemble a Christian comic book geared toward 12-year-olds.

The angel/demon passages also dampen the suspense. They sometimes answer important questions that should have unfolded with the plot. Is Claire following God's plan for her, by choosing Harvard over a Christian school? It's an issue with major consequences, but the angels settle it on page 34!

Do Christian publishers or writers think that readers won't understand the forces at work "behind the veil" if the battle is shown only through the actions of human characters? That's certainly not true in Feldhahn's skilled hands. Small things -- such as a student delayed in registering for a class because of a strangely recalcitrant bicycle lock -- change lives, and as the story comes together, intervention by both good and evil forces becomes obvious. The angel-or-demon scene is a literary device that Christian fiction needs to outgrow.

Too slow and philosophical to quite be called a thriller, the book is still suspenseful and very involving, as well as thought-provoking. Try it.

Having just finished this book in it's entirety, I have to say that this author is on the right track. I found myself going through this 400+ page book faster than many books I have read. The author knows how to keep you reading.
You can, however, tell that this indeed her first work of fiction. She tries too hard to get a complex plot going. By the first 100 pages my mind was nearly whirrling due to the fact that there were so many plot lines to keep track of and I was wondering how on earth she was going to draw them all together. She does a decent job at the end, but next time, she should maybe have less subplots. At the end of the book, the main character, Claire, seems to me to still be just a normal Christian with no "special calling" on her life and she was just "lucky" that God got her out of the situation; which is not what the author leads you to believe will happen, but that could just be my view.
Overall, you can tell that she did her homework for this book. This book gives you SO much more information that you think it would in the area of philosophy, apologetics, basic theology, and Christian love. If you are at all interested in these subjects, it can be an informative, well spent part of the book. If these topics bore you or you don't wish to know anything about them, this book will drive you crazy. I was personally thrilled at the information she gave on the topics, at times a little too much information was given (which slowed the action of the book), but was overall very helpful. It's pretty obvious that she is trying to teach her readers the same skills as the characters themselves learn them, which is an idea that I have never come across in reading fiction. This is probably pretty annoying to readers who just read for a good story line, but I found it encouraging.
I did think this book could be better, but I don't think that I could have done a better job with my first piece of fiction. I can't wait to read her next book; this author will be going places.

I found this book fascinating! While reading it, I realized that the plot was definitely FICTIONAL, but the speach in the book was extremely helpful. I am attending a secular college this year, and am nervous about the stronghold Satan has over the campus. This book was very encouraging to me! It made me realize how much God loves prayer and provided very useful arguments for defending your faith! :) This is a must-read for every Christian college student, and wonderful for everyone else as well! :)

The battle for Truth which Shaunti so realistically describes in her great new book is being waged daily at almost every school, and at ALL levels, not just at Harvard.
Through the experiences and inner conflicts of several well drawn characters, Shaunti clearly depicts how it is hard even to engage in a discussion on Truth when one major worldview is not even let on the field, in the name of "tolerance" and "diversity". The Spiritual foundations of life, which led people at great cost to found and then defend the freedoms which we take for granted, are not even allowed to be discussed in the Public Square, at Harvard in this case, because the faculty and administration largely consider Spiritual matters to be unscientific and irrelevant.
I found some of the dialogue to be so well conceived that I copied several pages and gave them to the headmaster at our son's high school.
Through the special power of well written fiction, this book exposes the lie of "political correctness" and, without condemning anyone, cries out for a truly level playing field for ALL opinions, faiths, beliefs and points of view.
Shaunti, please keep writing!

This book ROCKS! I was so enraptured by this book I could not put it down. The story was woven together so intimately I was cheering for the glory of God and finding myself praying intensely at all hours of the day. This book is so interesting with the history so wonderfully woven with fiction to produce a hook-line-and sinker story for everyone.

I reccommend this book for anyone who has the time to sit down and get caught up ina great book. Also good for anyone who loves to read.

This is without a doubt one of the best intellectual novels about spiritual warfare. Very well articulated especially related to emotions such as dispair, depression,alternative lifestyles and challenges to a Christian belief system. As a mother of teenagers, I would recommend this to parents and students prior to or in college to address the challenges they will undergo related to some of the key difficulties in the college experience. I intend to give it as graduation gifts.