Dear Friends and Partners,

In this issue of the Explorer we spotlight the birth of Veritas in Europe, and the kindred spirits there seeking to reconnect their cultures to the true Vine, casting a vision of hope for a post-Christian Europe.

In the U.K., Oxford and Cambridge Universities both created dynamic, first-time forums this spring, and Lille University hosted the first-ever French forum at the end of March. To give you a taste of these European adventures, we share below an excerpt of Alister McGrath’s Oxford presentation, “Are We Machines?” and interview two Oxford student leaders. Please visit www.veritas.org/forums for full schedules, and www.veritas.org/media for free recordings of each event.

The story of Veritas’ growing global presence is really the story of small seeds planted years ago. Who would have imagined in 1992 that two participants at the first Harvard forum would eventually study and teach in the U.K. and help create the first forum at Oxford? And would Harvard’s first benefactor, John Harvard, have believed that a movement started in Cambridge, Massachusetts would spread back to his alma mater in Cambridge, England? Stories like these leave us marveling at God’s intercontinental handiwork.

As invitations pour in from across the country and around the world, we are prayerfully seeking partners to keep pace with these requests. See our open job positions below and consider whether you may be called to join our team. And please pray with us that the seeds planted this semester will bear much fruit in the coming years.

With the Hope of Christ,

Dan Cho
Executive Director

Oxford Professor Alister McGrath was the concluding speaker for The Veritas Forum at Oxford. A distinguished theologian, Dr. McGrath holds first class honors degrees in both theology and chemistry, and a DPhil in natural sciences. He is the author of several books that explore the relationship between the natural sciences and the Christian faith, including The Dawkins Delusion: Atheist Fundamentalism and the Denial of the Divine. In his presentation at Oxford, he addressed the question often raised in light of our rapid technological advancement: “Are we machines?”

Very often—although scientists are meant to be people who observe and interpret—very often they impose preconceived metaphysical frameworks on what they actually observe. And the real difficulty is that very often they bring pre-suppositions to the interpretation of what you observe…

One scientist will look at a human being and they will see certain empirical things and say, “We are but machines,” whereas another will see the same thing and then interpret it in a very different way. I hope you understand the importance of interpretation…Many of you will know of the idea of empirical fit. We look at the world and we ask what way of looking at it makes the most sense? What big picture of reality offers the best account of what we experience? Which explanation is the most satisfying?

We look at humanity: how do we see it? How do we interpret it? Because the radical reductionist who says, “We are machines,” and someone like myself who says, “We are more than that,” are seeing the same empirical thing, but we are interpreting it and evaluating it in very different ways indeed…

So are we machines? Well I think that the simple answer is on one level we are…We are electromechanical, biological machines. But there is not a full stop at that point. That is simply saying something that is true but completely inadequate to describe either who we are or why we matter so much. What I want to say is that one exists biologically and then move on to something far more than that. However you think of us, there is something about humanity which says it is not enough to exist. It is not enough to eat bread and live from day to day, there is something more than that that needs to be added, and should be added. Not something to keep us going but to give us meaning and dignity. And not things that we’ve invented but rather something that is built into the very order of things.

Dr. McGrath engaged students and faculty in discussion after his lecture. A member of the audience raised a question about a “God-shaped vacuum,” to which Dr. McGrath responded:

The image of God is saying that we have a holy instinct…There is something massive missing in life unless there is something of transcendent significance…It’s not just enough to have facts, it has to be some understanding of who we are, what our identity is, what our purpose is. And actually we shall be incomplete unless we grasp that…The accumulation of knowledge is not sufficient. There is actually something more that we need which enables us to position ourselves in our map and say, “Here is who we are, this is what it’s all about,” and actually enables us to try to live life, knowing who we are, rather than just stumbling through from day to day…So if we’re made in God’s image it’s really in our relationality. That there’s something about us that enables us to establish a relationship with God. And certainly Pascal would say until that happens we haven’t really begun to live.

To listen to this presentation and discussion, please visit our media site. To read more of Dr. McGrath’s thoughts, check out his recent book, The Dawkins Delusion.

This January, the very first Veritas Forum in Europe was launched at Oxford University. Built around the theme “Blessed Are The Poor,” the forum attracted several hundred participants as it addressed the big questions of poverty and blessedness in this world. The forum closed with a discussion of the nature of our being by exploring the question, “Are We Machines?” with Alister McGrath. (see transcript of this talk above)

The Explorer caught up with forum planners and Oxford grad students, Mary and Wendy, to hear about their Veritas experience. Read on to hear how God is at work amidst the dreaming spires.

Explorer: How did the 2008 Veritas Forum begin at Oxford?

Wendy: Students who had been involved with Veritas in the States had been quietly sharing the vision with Christian faculty members for several years prior. It wasn’t until there was a sort of renaissance within the Graduate Christian Union in the 2006 – 2007 academic year though, that there seemed to be a large enough group of students that shared in the vision to actually get a forum going.

Explorer: Can you describe the particular needs you see on your campus, and why the good news of Veritas is relevant to them?

Mary: There is a lot of Christian activity that goes on in Oxford, and a lot of evangelism and apologetics. What hasn’t happened much until this academic year has been an engagement with the University and with the academy itself. That’s what we sought to do with the Forum. For both Christians and non-Christians, we felt it was important to demonstrate that Christianity is relevant to all of life – even our academic pursuits, and that Christianity adds a unique flavour to the way we approach our respective disciplines. That’s what the GCU tries to do, and the Veritas Forum was a way to “show case” this endeavour.

Wendy: The theme of poverty also gave us the chance to demonstrate the relevance of Christianity in action – we were able to fund raise for local and international charities, and our follow up includes encouraging students to continue seeking out ways to do their bit for poverty relief.

Explorer: How did the campus react to the forum?

Mary: Overall, I think the Forum was very well received. Because it was the first Forum ever at Oxford, and indeed the first in Europe, it was an unknown quantity to most people. From a long-term perspective, our goal was to give the Christian community a look at what Veritas was about and its potential. I think we achieved that and quite a bit more. Many non-Christians came too and were impressed, and we were able to network with many poverty relief organizations throughout the university.

Wendy: Oxford is a University town steeped in tradition. To do something “new” and unknown in Oxford took a lot of hard work, networking and consensus building. We certainly got the sense that a lot of people wanted to see what would happen with the forum before giving their approval. The forum afforded the opportunity to bring people together, so in one sense I think the forum served to bring unity and in other cases to build bridges with the academic community.

Explorer: Have you seen any changes at the university or among Christian fellowships as a result?

Wendy: It’s a bit early to say, but I think the churches and key Christian groups are excited about Veritas now. Some vicars are very keen to see a forum every year! And they’ve recognised that Veritas is different to the other activities going on in Oxford. And so we’re very hopeful.

Mary: Personally, it was an enormous privilege to have an Oxford vicar come up to me and say, thank you for doing this. I’ve been praying for something like this to come to Oxford for the last 20 years. It was sobering and yet thrilling to know that we have been an answer to prayer.

Join our team. Regional directors are responsible for expanding the breadth and depth of Veritas Forums by coaching existing planning teams and developing forums on new campuses in various regions of the country.

Positions are currently available in the Northeast, Southeast, Southwest and West Coast regions. For more details visit www.veritas.org/jobs.