Students, faculty and guests committed to seeking truth spent the evening in “Radical Conversations” at the Pepperdine Veritas Forum in Elkins Auditorium Jan 29 and 30.
The forum, sponsored by Student-led Ministries, featured speakers Randy Harris, Professor at Abilene Christian University, (ACU) on Sunday, and Dr. Richard Mouw, President of Fuller Theological Seminary, on Monday.
This year’s theme, “Radical Conversations: Engaging a Multi-Faith World,” sought to investigate the place of Christianity in an increasingly pluralistic world. Harris spoke on Christians finding conviction in their “stories” and sought to address the critiques of Christianity leveled by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche. A graduate of Harding and Syracuse University, Harris is the Spiritual Director in the Department of Bible, Missions and Ministry at ACU, and specializes in theology and philosophy.
Mouw based his talk on his book “Uncommon Decency: Christian Civility in an Uncivil World” and spoke on having inter-faith dialogue while still maintaining religious conviction. He shared his experiences participating in discussion forums and conferences with Mormons, Jews and Muslims, in particular.
“This should alert us to our complacency,” Veritas Forum committee chairperson Jack Murphy said. “Especially at a Christian university we can just get settled, and we start thinking we don’t have to ask these questions. In order to grow, we have to embrace this questioning and seek things out.”
The nights began with In-N-Out and Chick-fil-A for students before the speeches. Presentations were followed by a question and answer session where students could ask or text in their questions for the speakers and reflect on the subject of the night.
“As impressed as I was with our speakers, I was even more impressed with our thoughtful students who brought such great deep, intellectual questions that were reflective of their theological struggles,” said Jennifer Christy, associate chaplain for Student-led Ministries.
The forum will continue through a series of club convo discussion groups hosted by faculty and staff to further address the issues raised.
“Our hope for the discussion groups is that they would be a place where we can come together as a community and struggle through questions of faith and doubt,” Christy said.
According to the Veritas mission statement, “Veritas Forums are university events that engage students and faculty in discussions about life’s hardest questions and the relevance of Jesus Christ to all of life. We seek to inspire the shapers of tomorrow’s culture to connect their hardest questions with the person and story of Jesus Christ.” Typical Veritas Forum events feature keynote speakers or debates, as well as workshops and discussion groups.
The Veritas Forum first came to Pepperdine in 2003, bringing speakers Francis Collins, former Director of the National Human Genome Research Institute and Ian Hutchinson, Professor of Nuclear Science and Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology to talk about the intersections of Faith and Science in a series titled “Science: Christian and Natural.” After an absence for several years, the Veritas Forum returned in 2009 featuring author Os Guinness and Senior Pastor of Grace Community Church Cliffe Knechtle speaking on “The Journey: a Thinking Person’s Quest for Meaning.” Mary Poplin, Professor of Education at Claremont Graduate University, spoke at the 2010 forum about lessons from the life of Mother Theresa with the theme “Do you Have Eyes to See?” While no forum was held in 2011, this year’s event marked the third consecutive academic year with a Veritas event, and Murphy expects the events to continue in the future.
“I want this initiative to have solid footing on Pepperdine’s campus so that students can come each year and fearlessly bring their tough questions and doubts,” Murphy said.
Veritas Forum began at Harvard University in 1992 in an attempt to explore the relevancy of Jesus relating back to the founding of the University. The title was drawn from the Harvard motto “Veritas Christo et Ecclesiae” which in Latin means “Truth for Christ and the Church.” Since then, more than 300 forums have taken place at 122 different schools in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France and the Netherlands.
