Press Release

Religious Experts to Speak at Oglethorpe University

Atlanta – Oglethorpe University Senior Michelle Harrington is in search of the truth. As a social and political ethics major, she has organized “The Veritas Forum,” a week-long journey to find the Christian understanding of truth with the help of five distinguished speakers who will share their views and understandings of how Christ relates to different areas of academic and personal life, including science, gender roles, and literature.

The forum will explore questions that Kelly Monroe, founder of the original Veritas Forum at Harvard University, posed in her book “Finding God at Harvard” which include: “What was the role of Jesus Christ in fueling the Great Awakening, the abolition of slavery on several continents, women’s suffrage, civil rights, the liberation of Eastern Europe and South Africa? Did he really inspire excellence in universities and societies committed to philosophy, painting, music scientific inquiry, literature, architecture, and family life? Does he still?” Harrington believes her liberal arts education has enabled her to see the web of relationships between many different subjects and disciplines. “We envision a diverse community of humble and curious seekers engaged about the questions that matter, and hopeful that truth can be discovered and layed hold of,” said Harrington.

The Veritas Forum began at Harvard in 1992 and has been held at many colleges and universities across the nation and internationally. The weeklong forum will feature a different speaker each night at 7:30 p.m. in Lupton Auditorium in Lupton Hall located on the Oglethorpe campus at 4484 Peachtree Road, NE.  Speakers include:

• Monday, January 27: “My Search for the Historical Jesus” by Todd Lake
  
  Lake is a graduate of Harvard University and Princeton Theological Seminary. He is currently Dean for University Ministries at Baylor University.

• Tuesday, January 28: “Judeo-Christian Scholarship” by Harold J. Berman
  
  Harold Berman taught for 37 years at Harvard. He is currently the Woodruff Professor of Law at Emory University and is a Fellow in Russian Legal Studies at the Carter Center.

• Wednesday, January 29: “Twice Liberated: A Personal Journey Through Feminism” by Frederica Mathewes-Green
  
  Mathewes-Green is former president of Feminists for Life and a regular commentator on National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition.”
   

• Thursday, January 30: “Stephen Hawking, The Big Bang, and God” by Henry “Fritz” Schaefer
  
  Schaefer is currently the Graham Perdue Professor and Director of the Center for Computational Quantum Physics at the University of Georgia. Dr. Schaefer has been nominated multiple times for the Nobel Prize.
   

• Friday, January 31: “J.R.R. Tolkien’s Christian Humanism” by Bradley Birzer
  
  Birzer is professor of History at Hillsdale College and recently published a book entitled “J.R.R. Tolkien’s Sanctifying Myth: Understanding Middle-Earth.”

Free ample parking is available for all events.

The Oglethorpe Veritas forum is a grassroots, student-led endeavor and may not reflect the thoughts or views of Oglethorpe University.

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