

The Veritas Forum
The Veritas Forum
At the Veritas Forum, we believe we were made to seek truth and be changed by it. We are a community of students, faculty, campus ministers, and more, who are pursuing a vision of the university that seeks and stewards truth and invites people of all backgrounds to explore the ideas that shape our lives. Since 1992, we’ve shared lectures and conversations with a firm belief that generous dialogue is essential for universities and the Christian faith alike.
In this podcast, we're pulling from our archives of recorded events. Learn more about each episode in the show notes and visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and join us as we explore the ideas that shape our lives.
In this podcast, we're pulling from our archives of recorded events. Learn more about each episode in the show notes and visit veritas.org to learn more about the mission of the Veritas Forum and join us as we explore the ideas that shape our lives.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Aug 12, 2017 • 20min
The Psychology of Finding Yourself | Ross Douthat & Nancy Hill
This week on The Veritas Forum podcast, we’re featuring a conversation with New York Times columnist Ross Douthat and Nancy Hill, a developmental psychologist and professor of Education at Harvard. Nancy’s work focuses on the relationship between adolescents and their parents, and specifically, how the beliefs of adolescents are shaped by their parents’ beliefs. In this conversation, Nancy shares how the development of her religious and ethnic identity has influenced her vocational pursuits and the person she is today.
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Jul 25, 2017 • 1h 23min
Faith, Race, and (Non)Violence | Andra Gillespie, Na’ilah Suad Nasir, Claudia May
In 2015, during the fallout of Ferguson, three Black women took the stage at UC Berkley to discuss faith, race and non-violence. Andra Gillespie, associate professor of political science at Emory, Na’ilah Suad Nasir, professor in the graduate school of education at UC Berkley, and Claudia May, who, at the time of this Forum, was a Visiting Scholar in the Department of African American Studies and African Diaspora Studies at UC Berkley.
The opening line from our moderator, Claudia May— “Injustice finds no solace in denial”— served as both a framework for this conversation and an provocative invitation for others—an invitation to move past tensions and listen to three powerful perspectives on race in America.
This Veritas Forum is deeply personal, but it also explores systemic issues that are increasingly relevant today. We invite you to listen carefully, reflect thoughtfully, and even learn how to model this conversation in your own lives.
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If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each month, you'll receive thoughtful content about the ideas that shape our lives, updates from our student and faculty partners, and other Veritas news and events. Sign up here!

Jul 1, 2017 • 29min
The Multiverse, the Polygraph, and the Resurrection | Tom Rudelius
Our latest podcast episode features an interview with rising physicist Tom Rudelius. We discuss String Theory, polygraph tests, fine-tuning, and our place in the cosmos.
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If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each month, you'll receive thoughtful content about the ideas that shape our lives, updates from our student and faculty partners, and other Veritas news and events. Sign up here!

Jun 11, 2017 • 54min
Is Belief in God irrational? | Meghan Sullivan
Notre Dame philosophy professor, Meghan Sullivan, shares the journey by which—to her own surprise—she became convinced by the truth-claims of the Christian faith, and explores the top three questions she has wrestled with in terms of the rationality of holding to a “thick” and complex belief-system.
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Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you!
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If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each month, you'll receive thoughtful content about the ideas that shape our lives, updates from our student and faculty partners, and other Veritas news and events. Sign up here!

Jun 3, 2017 • 1h 33min
Christianity and the Tooth Fairy | John Lennox at UCLA
Children believe in the tooth fairy until their reasoning capabilities mature and they recognize this belief is neither grounded nor relevant. Does belief in Jesus Christ require a similar suspension of logic? Can Christianity be proven to be true? UCLA law professor Daniel Lowenstein interviews Oxford mathematician John Lennox with honest questions about Christianity and the grounds for faith.
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Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you!
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If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each month, you'll receive thoughtful content about the ideas that shape our lives, updates from our student and faculty partners, and other Veritas news and events. Sign up here!

May 24, 2017 • 37min
Faith, Race, and Hip-Hop at Harvard | An Interview with Obasi Shaw
Obasi Shaw has recently hit the news as the first Harvard student to submit a rap album as his senior thesis. The album, entitled "Liminal Minds," represents a coming together of Obasi's interests, ranging from Chaucer, to hip-hop, to the pursuit of racial justice. But the key theme that connects all his thoughts and experiences is his passion for Jesus and for applying the gospel of the crucified God to the murky complexities of human life. In this interview, Obasi explores the album in relation to his faith.
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Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you!
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If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each month, you'll receive thoughtful content about the ideas that shape our lives, updates from our student and faculty partners, and other Veritas news and events. Sign up here!

May 12, 2017 • 1h 32min
The Bible: Gospel, Guide, or Garbage? | N.T. Wright & Sean Kelly at Harvard
How should we read the Bible? Our latest podcast features New Testament Scholar and Theologian NT Wright and Harvard Philosopher Sean Kelly, who discussed one of history's most influential books at The Veritas Forum at Harvard 2013.
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If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each month, you'll receive thoughtful content about the ideas that shape our lives, updates from our student and faculty partners, and other Veritas news and events. Sign up here!

Apr 28, 2017 • 1h 26min
Under God? | Michael Sandel & Jean Bethke Elshtain
Throughout our 25 year history, we've had the privilege of creating conversations between some of academia's giants and of modeling dialogue across difference at the heart of the university.
The 2013 Veritas Forum at Harvard was a stunning example of this: a dialogue between University of Chicago political scientist Jean Bethke Elshtain and Harvard philosopher Michael Sandel on the role of religion in public life.
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If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each month, you'll receive thoughtful content about the ideas that shape our lives, updates from our student and faculty partners, and other Veritas news and events. Sign up here!

Apr 14, 2017 • 1h 1min
Connecting Passion and Purpose | charity: water Founder Scott Harrison
In March, we launched our Veritas Cities Forums in Seattle, a series of events designed to foster a vibrant public square that invites globally-engaged leaders to confront life's biggest questions and pursue self-examined lives. We were fortunate enough to hear from charity: water founder, Scott Harrison. He shared his personal journey along with the journey of charity: water, one of the leading charities addressing the global water crisis. Scott understands the power of story at both a personal and an organizational level. And the following interview represents a beautifully composed story that examines the complexities of stepping into a broken world, as a broken person, in order to seek restoration. We hope you enjoy this conversation!
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Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you!
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If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each month, you'll receive thoughtful content about the ideas that shape our lives, updates from our student and faculty partners, and other Veritas news and events. Sign up here!

Mar 29, 2017 • 1h 19min
Disenchanted? | Tim Keller & Anthony Kronman at Yale
Two weeks ago, we hosted a Veritas Forum moderated by Willie Jennings at Yale with Tim Keller and Anthony Kronman, former Dean of the Yale Law School and author of Confessions of a Born-Again Pagan. Naturally, the pairing of Kronman and Keller held the potential for a timely and thought-provoking discussion. We were not disappointed. What unfolded at Yale struck us as a vitally important conversation for the university but also an invitation for more conversations like this in the public square.
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Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you!
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If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each month, you'll receive thoughtful content about the ideas that shape our lives, updates from our student and faculty partners, and other Veritas news and events. Sign up here!