Book Review for: A Place for Truth: Leading Thinkers Explore Life’s Hardest Questions (edited by Dallas Willard)

In 1992, a chaplain named Kelly Monroe led a small group of Christians at Harvard who were inspired by the idea that the school’s motto--Veritas (truth)—was more than a historical anomaly. The group hosted the university for a whole weekend of lectures and discussions that explored some of life’s most important questions. The goal was to restore the university as a setting for pondering deeper questions, searching for real answers, and developing community around the quest for truth. Thus the Veritas Forum was born.

Now twenty years later, more than one hundred universities in North America and Europe have hosted their own Veritas Forums. Thousands of students and faculty have participated in this quest for truth helping to restore meaning in the academy.

Daniel Cho remembers being a freshman sitting in the crowd at the first Harvard forum back in 1992. Now the Executive Director of the Veritas Forum, Daniel says his life was profoundly shaped by the coherence of life, truth, and beauty in Jesus Christ that he tasted over that weekend within the community of seekers.

In the book A Place for Truth (2010 InterVarsity Press) Dallas Willard, along with Cho, has collected some of these remarkable transcripts featuring outstanding Christian intellectuals that deal with questions about truth itself, and several truths in particular. “The Veritas Forum,” Willard writes in the book’s introduction, “is interested both in the current status of truth on campus, and in how the basic claims of Christianity are now treated there. Its aim is to restore the university to its age-old character as a “place for truth.”

When the Veritas Forum made its way to Yale University in 1996, it was Richard John Neuhaus’s turn to bring “light and truth” (appropriately enough, the English translation of the University’s motto: Lux et Veritas). Neuhaus, in a lecture entitled Is there Life after Truth?, poses the question “Why should God have become humanum, to become one of us?” He answers, “To assert truth in public. It’s the great task of our generation, to learn how to do it persuasively and winsomely, and in a manner that does not violate, but strengthens the bonds of civility.”

Os Guiness describes 1989—the year the Soviet Union fell—as the “Year of the Century.” He remembers some of his favorite scenes of that extraordinary time: the dismantling of the Berlin wall, Soviet gun barrels filled with flowers, and the knocking down of the statues of the men-gods—Marx, Lenin, Stalin. Guiness says his favorite image that year was the nightly scene in November, when more than three hundred thousand packed Wencelas Square in the Czech capital of Prague to listen to then-dissident Vaclev Havel as he painted the contrast between the “Velvet Revolutionaries” and the Soviets. As Guiness recounts, the very quick-witted Czech crowd chanted: “We are not like them. We are not like them.” Some of the contrast, he says, was in the fact that the Velvet Revolutionaries would not reply to violence with violence. Perhaps a more striking dissimilarity was that the Soviets, Guiness says, were people of propaganda and lies, whereas the revolutionaries were people of truth.

“We realize how they were aware that there were only two ways they could bring down the Soviets,” Guiness reports in the Veritas Forum at Stanford University in 2005. “Either they had to trump Soviet power with equal or more power—” (which would have been unthinkable as the Velvet Revolutionaries were only a handful of dissidents— “or they had to counter Soviet power with another type of power altogether.” The dissident counter to the muscle-power of the Soviets, according to Guiness, was the power of truth. And he tells the 2005 Vertias Forum attendees at Stanford University: “And the unthinkable happened. They won.”

But Guiness also says that while the West applauded the tremendous courage and principled stand of the Czech dissidents of 1989, in many parts of America there isn’t a similar solid view of truth on which anyone could make such a stand today.

He sums up the prevailing opinion on holding to a truth-based worldview this way: “Anyone who believes in an objective truth, or an absolute truth, is Neanderthal and reactionary.” To this opinion, Guiness arugues that, “far from being Neanderthal and reactionary, truth is a very simple, fundamental, human gift, without which we cannot negotiate reality and handle life.” He asserts that truth is absolutely essential for a good human life.

“Equally important,” argues Guiness, “truth is absolutely essential for freedom.”

Guiness says that he’s been on campuses where today it is simply worse to judge evil than to do evil. This outcome appears to be a result of what Guiness, in his Veritas Forum presentation, calls the two challenges of truth. “There are two ways we can go. And we’re always tempted by these two: One way is to shape the truth to our desires. The other way is to seek to shape our desires to the truth.”

Os Guiness and Richard John Neuhaus aren’t the only scholars A Place for Truth records from the various Veritas Forums that have taken place on campuses. Timothy Keller, popular speaker, author, and pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church in New York City, spoke on “The Exclusivity of Truth” at the University of Chicago, which hosted a Veritas Forum in 2008. Keller focuses on the exclusive truth claims in religion, and the five ordinary ways people deal with the subject.

Francis Collins, speaking at CalTech in 2009, presents “The Language of God,” a talk that deals with The Human Genome Project, DNA, and his reasons why scientific and spiritual worldviews don’t have to be mutually exclusive.

The book even showcases a debate called “Moral Mammals.” At this 2009 Veritas Forum held at MIT, Peter Singer and John Hare debate whether atheism or theism provides the best foundation for human worth and morality.

The “Sense of an Ending,” which the book clarifies was a multi-media lecture-performance with integrated images, sound clips, and illustrations at the piano, was given by Jeremy Begbie at UC Berkeley in 2001. The speaker admits that the title of the talk is purposely similar to a 1960s book by Frank Kermode. “In a lot of narrative fiction, the ending gives the whole story a unity, gathering the strands together, resolving the discord and dissonance into what [Kermode] calls a “grand temporal consonance.

N.T. Wright is also recorded giving his talk “Simply Christian” at the Veritas Forum at Georgetown University in 2006. “The Whole Gospel for the Whole Person” was the subject of Ronald Sider’s presentation in 1995 at Harvard (the university of the original Veritas Forum). Astronomy was the background of scientist Hugh Ross’s talk at Michigan in 1995.

A Place for Truth is available here.

David A. Horner’s Mind Your Faith Purports to be a Student’s Guide to Thinking and Living Well

David A. Horner (D.Phil, University of Oxford) says that his new book Mind Your Faith is the result of some fourteen years as a student in undergraduate and graduate university education.

It’s worth noting that he concurrently conducted thirty years of nearly continuous university ministry in the United States and Europe. His brother, and long-time Campus Crusade staff member, Bob Horner, has also devoted his entire life to engaging students in secular universities with the person of Jesus Christ in creative, winsome, and compelling ways. David says that growing up in the shadow of his older brother Bob, he developed a love of the university and a desire to influence it.

The university world, he writes, can be a confusing place, filled with many competing worldviews and perspectives. With his book, David Horner hopes to restore sanity to the collegiate experience and give students essential tools for thinking contextually, logically, and “worldviewishly.”

As president of the Illuminatio Project, David’s aim is to bring the light of a classical biblical vision of goodness, truth, and beauty into the thinking of the church and culture through strategic research and communication.

In the book Mind Your Faith, Horner discusses the impact of the Veritas Forum. Founded at Harvard University in 1992, Veritas (which happens to be the motto of Harvard—Latin for “truth”) sponsors public forums at secular universities to engage students and faculty in discussions about life’s hardest questions and the relevance of Jesus Christ to all life.

Apologetics, writes Horner, is based on a Greek word found in 1 Peter 3:15, apologia, which means “rational defense.” He says that Christian apologetics is the art and science of explaining and defending the truth claims of the Christian worldview.

As to why apologetics and general ministry on college campuses are so vital, the book points out this statistic: In 2010, 6.7 percent of the world’s population held college degrees—up from 5.9 percent in 2000. As of 2007, 40.4 percent of American adults aged 25-34 held at least a two-year degree or higher, which put the United States in the top 11 globally in post-secondary education.

As to the spiritual demographics of these American college students, Steve Henderson (author of the Christianity Today article “A Question of Price Versus Cost”) says: “More than 52 percent of incoming freshmen who identify themselves as born-again upon entering a public university will either no longer identify themselves as born-again four years later or, even if they do still claim that identification, will not have attended any religious service in over a year.”

According to Horner, part of the issue comes down to worldview. A worldview, he defines, is the set of beliefs, attitudes, and values that shapes the way we see the world and our life. “Your spiritual and moral well-being in the university and beyond, then depends crucially on how you think about what is real, about what is important and valuable, about how to live and why.”

Horner also says that college is a marketplace of ideas. “Our absence from the university disengages a thoughtful Christian presence from the give-and-take of the university’s marketplace of ideas.” Horner says this absence—and resulting disengagement—limits the perspectives to which students and faculty are exposed and the possible impact that biblical truth can have on them.

At the very outset, Horner seeks to clarify the target of his information. He states that Mind Your Faith is written primarily for those who are (1) university students or college-bound high school students, (2) followers of Jesus who aspire to grow and flourish as his followers while in college, and (3) attend a secular university.

Horner also addresses the question: Should I attend a Christian or secular university? He says that it depends on a number of factors, including what you want from your college experience and what opportunities are available. But Horner stresses in Mind Your Faith, that of prime importance are the ideas you embrace. “Ideas have consequences; what we believe will determine how we behave, and ultimately who we become.” He shares that to understand the nature of the Holocaust, we must see that it did not begin at the death camps, but in books and classrooms and courtrooms and cafes—in short, the marketplace of ideas. Horner soberly reminds us that the origin of this dark moment in history lay not in the activities of Nazi thugs but of bookish intellectuals and their students.

In a chapter somewhat circularly titled The Truth about Truth, Horner reminds the reader of the historical Christianity of many of the country’s oldest universities. “The most common epigraph over entrances to American university libraries is a statement by Jesus: ‘The truth shall set you free.’” Its Latin translation Veritas Vos Liberavit also serves as the motto of Johns Hopkins.

The way to find common ground: Think contextually.
Assumptions, writes Horner, are underlying ideas that are not explicitly stated but are crucial for understanding those that are. “Often the most important ideas are unarticulated.” Horner argues that thinking well involves being aware of this and asking good questions that can help bring them to the surface. He even astutely points out that in the Gospels, Jesus is asked 183 questions. He asks 307. Horner even insists that asking thoughtful questions is a general life skill, one that can help those who struggle with making friends to draw people in.

Horner also assigns to worldview the three big questions, which he says are: What is real? Who are we? What is good? He says that these big questions and their answers share certain connections. He also insists that each distinct worldview falls into one of three categories—theism, naturalism, and pantheism. But Horner adds that many thinkers today have added a fourth category of worldview: postmodernism. A leading thinker of postmodern thought, Lyotard, writes that he defines postmodern as "incredulity toward meta-narratives."

From part 1 of the book--Mind, Mind Your Faith moves to the equally large topics of Faith and Character, providing sound and cogent arguments that any college student should be able to employ when the temptation to waiver in his faith presents itself.

David Horner is professor of philosophy and biblical studies at Biola University in California. He also serves as a research scholar for Centers for Christian Study International, an effort to develop intellectual Christian communities within secular university contexts.

Resources to inspire, lead, and educate.

During an unprecedented 2010 study by America's Research Group, Christian colleges were polled on critical areas of Scripture and core faith questions . . . and the results are shocking! Discover how these institutions address the cultural battlefield of science, religion, and the accuracy of the Bible. Parents, get tips for choosing colleges, the relevant questions to ask, and whom you should ask. Already Compromised by Ken Ham and Greg Hall

When an atheist wants an answer, will you have one? Bestselling author Ray Comfort has collected some of the toughest questions people will face in defending their faith and offers sound biblical responses. Each issue addressed in the book is one that has been raised by genuine atheists. Ray is the co-host of an award-winning television program, with actor Kirk Cameron, and blogs daily to hundreds of unbelievers. The Defender's Guide for Life's Toughest Questions by Ray Comfort

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said it best over 45 years ago: "We must face the sad fact that at 11 o'clock on Sunday morning , when we stand to sing... we stand in the most segregated hour in America." What an unfortunate reality that many of us still have today! Have you heard the question, "is your church a white church or a black church?" No, it's God's church! Be part of this powerful movement to make everyone welcome in God's house. Church Diversity by Scott Williams

Shannon O'Dell believes no matter how small or low on finances, your church can become a relevant force transforming lives! He has witnessed the power of God transform churches from the inside out. Shannon and his family answered God's call to become part of a rural community church, which so far has sparked eight campuses and three satellite house churches. Transforming Church in Rural America by Shannon O'Dell.

Alex Chediak is a college professor who has the occasion to observe students and how they live their lives. He says that our culture promotes the idea of "prolonged adolescence. A typical twenty-two year old in our day is unstable, uncertain, and unreliable," Chediak says. He attributes this, in part, to a lack of clear guidance on the campus. At college, Chediak guarantees his readers that "nobody will tell you when to go to sleep, when to wake up, when to do your homework, when to turn off your Playstation, and when to say no to another late-night donut or movie." Yet he also writes that self-centered, workaholic professionalism can't satisfy either.

"Chasing money and prestige is a fool's errand," the author says in the preface of Thriving at College. "Its pleasure is fleeting, leaving you with an empty, gnawing hunger for more." Professor Chediak also says that his book is, as its title would indicate, about thriving at college. "It's about how to get there, how to avoid getting distracted along the way, how to launch in an awesome way, how to live with maximum impact, and how to change the world in whatever little corner you find yourself."

An associate professor of Engineering and Physics at California Baptist University, Alex Chediak earned graduate and doctorate degrees from University of California, Berkeley, and was once one of only two dozen apprentices  at The Bethlehem Institute, a masters-level theological training program overseen by Pastors John Piper and Tim Steller. He lives with his wife Marni and their three children in Riverside, California. His desire to help students and young adults develop their God-given potential gave rise to his most recent book Thriving at College.

The first character traits that Professor Chediak says are necessary for thriving at college is worldview and character, which he says, shapes attitudes and behaviors, which then shapes habits and destiny. The book goes on to display an interesting statistic about the slippery slope of underclassman responsibility. A typical college class average GPA, especially larger courses taken by freshmen and sophomores, is about 2.65 out of 4.00, or about a B-. It's also common for about thirty to forty percent of that class to earn a C+ or lower. However, when surveyed at the semester's start, about ninety percent of students think they'll get a B or A. And the statistics do no get much better when the students graduate. Chediak shares that forty percent of 2008 college graduates still live with their parents and that forty-two percent of 2006 grads said they are still living at home!

In a book that both addresses and seeks to correct these trends, Alex Chediak breaks down the challenges and opportunities of college into four parts--foundational matters, significant relationships, issues of character, and academics. The individual chapters are titled Common Mistake #... a rather negative opening that is always followed by a more positive "principle" in the chapter's subtitle.

In declaring Common Mistake #1 - Chucking Your Faith, Chediak warns college-bound students to "be prepared for an enormous opportunity to absolutely destroy your life through careless living." The biggies, he says, are sex and alcohol and that "they increasingly go together on the college campuses--sometimes even at Christian colleges." Regarding "intellectual" problems with the Christian faith that sometimes arise for students, Chediak states that sometimes they are "nothing more than a smoke screen for serious moral problems. People come up with objections to the faith in an attempt to rationalize behavior they know runs counter to God's moral law." The author then shares another disturbing statistic--that seventy percent of young adults who attended church regularly for at least a year during high school will stop attending regularly between the ages of eighteen and twenty-two. The question that Chediak believes that students should ask themselves once they've arrived at college is, Is God going to occupy a compartment of my life, or will he be central? He continues this theme in the same chapter, writing, "Consider every commitment you make, every activity you sign up for, every class you choose, in light of the greater purpose of why you are at college."

In Thriving at College, Alex Chediak warns that the second common mistake for students is treating college as if it were high school. In the second chapter, subtitled Maintain Healthy Habits and Balance, the professor shares that stress about school and life keeps sixty-eight percent of students awake at night and that only thirty percent of all students sleep at least eight hours a night. Things like getting enough sleep and other elements of college life are concerns that Chediak attributes to being away from home and the rules, guidelines, and boundaries that having parents at home provides. "Being busy," he claims, "is not the same as being diligent, faithful, or fruitful." The author even goes on to say that it is possible to be both busy and lazy. "As long as I'm doing stuff, I'm good," Chediak says he once thought until he realized that some of his busyness was procrastination in disguise. Regarding less justifiable forms of busyness and procrastination, Chediak reports that some researchers have found a direct correlation between the amount of Facebook use and a lower grade point average.

Some of the guidelines that the professor shares seem obvious. Attend class with your cell phone off. Make a good schedule, and then discipline yourself to keep it. But, in a letter to a physics/engineering student, Chediak addresses the problem of students who tend to be workaholics. "I err on that side myself," he confesses. "It also helps to step back and recognize that . . . it's also important to have significant life-sustaining relationships--the kind that spur us on to do the good, hard things that God calls us to do."

In parts two through four of Thriving at College Chediak continues to expose Common Mistakes such as: not being intentional, distorting dating and romance, refusing to grow up, being a flake, living out of balance, and more. In a very practical section toward the end of the book, Chediak even helps the student with the college selection process. His perspective, he says, is shaped by his own story. "I attended public school all my life, became a Christian in high school, and attended secular universities at both the undergraduate and graduate levels." As to finding the best way to assess a school's academic credentials, Chediak rightly warns that while indexes such as U.S. News and World Report can be helpful, "be aware that schools play plenty of games to artificially boost themselves on these kinds of scales." He also writes that entrance requirements like ACT and SAT scores are a more reliable metric than GPA since "high school grade point averages  are increasingly meaningless due to grade inflation trends." He also says to take note if the college accepts everyone who applies. "The success of the school's graduates," Chediak adds, "also speaks to the school's reputation."

Other practical tips shared by the Thriving at College author include measuring the quality of a school based on its percentage of adjunct professors. As opposed to full-time faculty, adjunct professors are hired on a term-to-term basis and aren't required to serve on committees, perform varying amounts of research in their academic discipline, or perform other kinds of service. "They," Chediak says of full-time faculty, "generally make better teachers than adjuncts, which is why they're offered their positions in the first place."

Issues like class size and whether a curriculum is research-driven or teaching-driven--and how it might matter to you--are other factors that Chediak declares as starting points when deciding on a college. In Thriving at College, Alex Chediak claims the book is ultimately, "about making your college years the best you've ever had and a launching pad for all that goes with responsible Christian adulthood."  

Released this year in paperback by Tyndale, Thriving at College by Alex Chediak is 328 pages long and available here.