Finding God Beyond Harvard: The Quest for Veritas

by Kelly Monroe Kullberg

Book Overview

The quest for truth is an adventure into real life. In her book Finding God at Harvard, Kelly Monroe brought together the stories of thinking Christians whose search for truth led them to Veritas--in the person of Jesus Christ. Now she tells the story of her own journey into wonder and discovery, which took her beyond the ivied walls of Harvard to universities across the country. In the midst of the arid skepticism of the academy, she found a vibrant,...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0830837205
• ISBN13: 9780830837205
• Release Date: May 2009
• Publisher: IVP Books
• Length: 248 Pages
• Weight: 0.97 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.0" x 8.9"

Customer Reviews

Intellect and belief don't have to clash

Kelly Monroe Kullberg's latest book, Finding God Beyond Harvard: The Quest for Veritas is a follow-up to Finding God at Harvard: Spiritual Journeys of Thinking Christians, which Monroe (sans Kullberg) edited a decade ago. Harvard, now best known as the flagship of the Ivy League schools, was founded in 1636 so that, according to Kullberg, "students might be free to know truth and life in relation to Jesus Christ." A 1643 brochure quoted in the Harvard Guide indicates Harvard existed "`[t]o advance Learning and perpetuate it to Posterity; dreading to leave an illiterate Ministry to the Churches.'" But by the last decade of the 20th century when Monroe arrived at Harvard to research and write a thesis entitled `The Gospel in the Information Age,' the gospel of Jesus Christ seemed nowhere to be found. At Harvard Divinity School, of all places, Kullberg was disillusioned to discover that pretty much any belief was welcome, from paganism to eco-feminism--except belief in Jesus Christ. But in the midst of her disillusionment, God showed Kullberg, as he had Elijah after Elijah's confrontation with Jezebel's priests, that she was not the only believer still left in the land. A friend connected her with the Harvard Graduate School Christian Fellowship, and she discovered a place where "the gospel was passionately discussed by students in the Schools of Law, Business, Medicine, Government, Design, Arts and Sciences. For the first time since coming to Harvard," Kullberg writes, "I saw joy." Out of this small beginning grew not only the book, Finding God at Harvard, a compilation of the stories of many of the believers Kullberg came to know at Harvard, but also the Veritas Forum, a ministry that, along with Kullberg's personal faith journey, is the subject of Finding God Beyond Harvard. With passion, honesty, and a humble spirit, Kullberg recounts the story of the Veritas Forum's beginning. "It is thrilling," as Phillip E. Johnson writes in the January/February 2007 issue of Touchstone, "to read about how the Veritas movement began . . . how it grew from a novel lecture series to a way of life." But it is equally thrilling to read of Kullberg's own faith journey and how God brought her through the `dark night of the soul' that afflicts so many thinking Christians, ultimately restoring her to both spiritual and physical health. Take the time to read Finding God Beyond Harvard: The Quest for Veritas. Read Finding God at Harvard, too. Together, these two books demonstrate that intellect doesn't have to be an impediment to belief. And Kullberg's sense of wonder and spirit of gratitude when she speaks of the Creator of the universe will strengthen your own faith and bring a blessing to your life. - Linda Whitlock, Christian Book Previews.com

The Beauty and Power of Christian Community

Kelly Monroe Kullberg's, Finding God Beyond Harvard, InterVarsity Press (2006), gives voice to the heart of Christian life in community with a power like that with which Dallas Winslow trumpets the intellectual force of the Gospel. It reveals the love of Christ experienced in a community of Christian friends that began at Harvard and that has spread across the continent and around the world. It manifests the power and beauty of Christian fellowship among an ever widening circle of men and women who burn brightly with the love of Christ. What a book! Its power and beauty cannot be captured in a few quotations. Nonetheless, one small example gives a peek at its heart: "By sacrificing his body, Jesus created a new form of community - the body of Christ around the world. There are people like my friends, stories like our stories, everywhere he is believed and obeyed. His sacrifice reconnects us to reality, to truth, to who God is, to a clear vision of who we are without him and who we are with him" Finding God Beyond Harvard, p. 177. Such lofty sentiments arise from a story that reveals the gritty reality of real life friendships in the author's day to day personal experience. That experience is unfolded in a way that makes the reader feel like a participant. One such group of Christian friends she has identified is a thirty-year circle that includes Luci Shaw, Phillip Yancey, Eugene Peterson, Madeleine L'Engle, Walter Wangerin, Richard Foster and John Hoyt. Speaking of that circle, Luci Shaw told Kelly that, "If not for not for one another, no one would have heard of any of us. Our lives are bound together." Ibid, p. 189. This is one book, however, where the whole is far more than its parts. Wow!

A Seed that Bore Much Fruit

"The Word of God falls like a seed on our heart, but sometimes He must break our heart for the seed to fall in and grow." Kelley Monroe Kullberg's reference to a quote by Madeleine L'Engle is a symbol for Kullberg's life. In an honest, but humble fashion, Kullberg recounts the miracle of how God used her to help establish the Veritas Forum on campuses across America. This Christ-centered breakthrough into the minds of some of America's leading scholars was not without its price. An unfulfilled love, deep questioning, a deferred family were part of the struggles Kullberg endured. Yet she recounts these things not in a maudlin or self-promoting fashion, but simply as part of the work of God. Her refreshing spititual autobiography shows that God is interested in the heart even as He seeks to shape the mind. I am glad that Kullberg was willing to endure the breaking of her heart and to write about it so beautifully. I think the seeds God planted there will bear fruit for years to come.

Hope and Wonder

Kelly Monroe Kullberg's new book draws the reader immediately into a story of hope and wonder at God's love and drawing power even at our country's citadels of academic secularism. Beautifully and thoughtfully written by a woman who has lived out what she believes, this book should be read by all those in campus ministries.

Extraordinary!

When I started reading this, I was unable to put it down, drawn in by Kelly's extraordinary writing style and crystal clear depiction of the heart status of today's university students. Tale after tale of how God is using Christians in and around academia to fill the emptiness in our secularized universities, provide a joyous sense of hope and inspiration. Her style is wonderfully light and vulnerable and laugh out loud funny while speaking insightfully into why things are as they are today and how the Veritas movement (and others)on campuses is making a sizeable dent in the culture. Her personal journey along with the incredible story of how The Veritas Forum was founded at Harvard and has spread to over 60 other campuses, make for delightful reading.