The Veritas Forum

Astronomer and Physicist Dr. Stephen Barr, University of Delaware, discusses the interplay between our modern understanding of the universe and the role our faith and the Bible plays in how we understand our lives. • Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you! • If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each month, you'll receive thoughtful conten...

Dr. Troy Van Voorhis, a chemist at MIT, speaks to an audience at the University of Florida about whether science is enough to give us the reason and certainty we seek in life. • Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you! • If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each month, you'll receive thoughtful content about the ideas that shape our lives,...

Dr. Ian Hutchinson, a nuclear scientist at MIT, takes to the stage at the University of Virginia to discuss the sometimes tense relationship between faith and science while challenging scientism; the belief that everything can be explained through science. • Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you! • If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each m...

Dr. David Lahti, Evolutionary Biologist of Queens College at the City University of New York and Dr. Andrew Berry, Evolutionary Biologist of Harvard University discuss the biological developments that make humans unique. Recorded from the stage at Harvard University in March 2019. • Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you! • If you love our podcast, sign up f...

Stanford neurobiologist William Hurlbut and MIT genetic biologist Rudolf Jaenisch discuss the ethics of gene editing at a Veritas Forum from MIT, moderated by Cullen Buie, MIT professor. • Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you! • If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each month, you'll receive thoughtful content about the ideas that shape...

In her recent book, Boundaries for Your Soul , therapist Kimberly Miller describes the process of turning your inner critic into your biggest champion. Instead of fighting or ignoring our feelings and anxieties, Kim wants us to befriend them. On our latest podcast episode, Kim discusses the approach that transformed her life and the lives of her clients. • Please like, share, subscribe t...

Theology professor Matthew Kaemingk's book " Christian Hospitality and Muslim Immigration in an Age of Fear " is a powerful synthesis of his life’s work. Combining his theological expertise with his lived experience in Europe, Kaemingk challenges Christians to respond differently to the political crisis surrounding Muslim immigration. Earlier this year, we sat down with Kaeming...

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 f...

At a Veritas Forum from Middlebury College, Notre Dame philosopher Meghan Sullivan explores the questions that defined her journey to the Christian faith. • Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you! • 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 stu...

A conversation with Rachael Denhollander, the brave woman and attorney who stopped the "greatest sex scandal in sports history." Hosted at New York University and moderated by Melissa Murray, Professor of Law at NYU. • Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you! • If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each month, you'll receive thoug...

Americans spend over $11 billion on self-help every year, but philosopher Jennifer Frey says that if you want to be happy, you should read philosophy instead. For Dr. Frey, if we want to uncover a more holistic vision of the good life, we need to go back to the classics—to Aristotle, Augustine, and Aquinas. When we do that, she says, we discover that happiness is less about feeling good...

73 years after his death in a Nazi Concentration Camp, Dietrich Bonhoeffer remains a fascinating and influential icon. A man who embodied his theology in both his life and death, he earnestly wrestled with the questions of his time and what they meant for his Christian faith. At a Veritas Forum from Hope College, Charles Marsh (UVA) reads excerpts from his biography on Bonhoeffer as he a...

How we care for our sick tells us much about who we are as a society. How should we view those who come to us for care? For Dr. Bob Cutillo, a physician at the Colorado Coalition for the Homeless, what we see depends on how we look. At a Veritas Forum from the Mayo Clinic, Dr. Cutillo draws on central themes from his book, "Pursuing Health in an Anxious Age" , and through examining ancie...

Whether or not we know what we believe, our worldview shapes our perception of the truth. At a Veritas Forum from UCLA, the late philosopher Dallas Willard helps us ask the right questions about how our picture of reality lines up with the truth. • Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you! • If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each month, you&...

The advances of neuroscience have given us unparalleled knowledge of the human brain, but as any neuroscientist will tell you, we’re just scratching the surface of the brain’s potential. At a Veritas Forum hosted by Stanford students, William Newsome (Stanford) and David Eagleman (Stanford) explore the depths of neuroscience and what it means for our understanding of human identity. &b...

For over 25 years, Ian Hutchinson (MIT) has been a speaker at Veritas Forums across the country. Throughout those years, he’s answered countless student questions about science, theology, and his Christian faith. In his latest book, " Can a Scientist Believe in Miracles? ", Hutchinson compiled every question asked of him at a Veritas Forum and set out to answer them. On our latest...

What would it look like for universities to take religion seriously? For New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, it starts with the recognition that religion will continue to influence the way we see the world. In fact, the data shows that the 21st century will be far more religious than the previous hundred years. At a Veritas Forum from the University of Michigan, Douthat explores the importance...

Alissa Wilkinson (Vox) is a film critic, professor, and cultural commentator, who works at the intersection of art, postmodernism, and theology. On our latest podcast episode, we sit down with Alissa to discuss film, secularism, and why religion keeps showing up in Hollywood. • Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you! • If you love our podcast, sign up for ou...

It’s the one universal on which we all agree: everyone dies. How we deal with death determines much of what we spend our lives trying to accomplish and become. At a Veritas Forum from Yale, theologian N.T. Wright (University of St. Andrews) and philosopher Shelly Kagan (Yale) discuss the reality of death and whether we should hope for something beyond it. • Please like, share, subscribe...

In January, The Veritas Forum convened 170 student writers to learn from leading Christian scholars and to write essays for their campus publications, and we devoted one writing track to the legacy of philosopher Alvin Plantinga. Widely credited with making belief in God credible in academic philosophy, Plantinga continues to influence the next generation of Christian thinkers—from philosoph...

Before we believe that Christianity is true, philosopher Greg Ganssle thinks that we should want it to be true. He says that our longings for beauty, goodness, and freedom, are “at home in the Christian story.” At a Veritas Forum from the University of California-Irvine, Ganssle examines how our desire to flourish can lead us to faith in Jesus. • Please like, share,...

We have computers in our pockets and we can 3-D print a house. But as our technology advances, are we better off? At a Veritas Forum from Caltech, Alana Ackerson, finance leader and entrepreneur, and Christopher Hitchcock, professor of philosophy at Caltech, explore the relationship between human progress, our technological capacity, and the role of religion in shaping conversations about the futu...

For the religious believer and atheist alike, the problem of evil is troubling. If there is a God, why does he allow evil? And if there isn’t a God, how we can say that anything is evil? At a Veritas Forum from Harvard Medical School, Oxford Mathematician John Lennox addresses one of the most challenging human questions: Why do we suffer? • Please like, share, subscribe to, and review t...

The Bible is the bestselling book of all time, but is it true? During a Veritas Forum at Harvard, New Testament scholar and theologian N.T. Wright and Harvard philosophy professor Sean Kelly, discuss history's most influential book. • Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you! • If you love our podcast, sign up for our newsletter! Each month, you'll rec...

Through the Veritas Forum at Harvard, we were fortunate enough to host Rachael Denhollander, the first woman to publicly accuse Larry Nasser of sexual abuse. Her story is one of immense courage, guided by an unwavering pursuit of justice and a hope in a God that will one day make all things right. • Please like, share, subscribe to, and review this podcast. Thank you! • If you love our p...