Our story began at Harvard University in 1992 when a visiting student at the Harvard Divinity School, Kelly Monroe, observed that many of her fellow students felt isolated in their search for meaning and truth. This sense of disconnection was particularly striking in contrast with what she learned about Harvard’s spiritual history. The mission of Harvard College at its founding in 1636 involved a pursuit of veritas, not as an abstraction, but in the person of Jesus Christ and with the purpose of encouraging growth of the community of God’s people. An early motto, In Christi gloriam (For the glory of Christ), evolved later to Veritas Christo et ecclesiae (Truth for Christ and the Church), and then became merely Veritas (Truth), unattached, it seemed, to anything in particular.

Kelly began to encourage Harvard students, alumni, and professors to write down how their life stories lead them to discover veritas in the person of Jesus Christ. Kelly collected these stories, first for her fellowship group, but eventually publishing them in one volume as Finding God at Harvard: Spiritual Journeys of Thinking Christians.

As she read these accounts of lives changed and true life found, Kelly wondered: Why not gather these humble and bright believers in person and invite the whole university to join in, exploring our questions in relation to veritas—knowable in and through the life of Jesus Christ?

With this vision, the first Veritas Forum welcomed the writers of the book along with other articulate believers from various disciplines and cultures, to share of their own questions, suffering, journeys, and discoveries with the Harvard community.

Expecting perhaps one hundred people to show up, this first Veritas Forum drew 700 people with a desire to explore true life. Students, faculty, and friends came together for a weekend of open lectures, discussions, films, and workshops to discuss how the pursuit of knowledge in the university related to the truth claims of Jesus Christ, and to experience the truth of God’s love in community.

This group of Christians challenged their community to move from the margins of culture to the middle and to face the hardest questions of the university, society and the human heart. Campus by campus the idea of Veritas continued to take root and inspire local communities to do the same.

Currently, over eighty campuses across the nation have responded to the desire to explore true life by creating their own Veritas Forums, involving hundreds of speakers and a quarter-million student and faculty participants.

If you are interested in becoming part of our ongoing story, find out how to start a forum on your campus or check out the Calendar of Events to get involved with a Veritas Forum near you.