Since 1992, we’ve hosted events with the firm belief that generous dialogue is essential for universities and the Christian faith alike. In this podcast, we share the best of our recorded conversations. Learn more about each episode in the show notes.
We’ve made it to the end of another amazing year on the podcast — all thanks to you, our listeners! We loved exploring the ideas that shape our lives with you this year! In this episode, Seth (our podcast host and video producer at The Veritas Forum) shares some stats from the podcast in 2024 and our top three episodes of the year. We feature excerpts from Molly Worthen (UNC), Jonathan Haidt (NYU), Andy Crouch (Praxis), Wendy Suzuki (NUY), and Arthur Brooks (Harvard). Links to the full episodes featured in this wrap-up episode are in the additional resources section below.
In today’s episode, a Christian and an atheist engage in a wide-ranging discussion about what makes humans special. Are we just advanced animals or part of a larger story with a beginning, middle, and end? You’ll hear from Joshua Swamidass, a professor of biomedical engineering at Washington University in St. Louis, and Peter Langland-Hassan, a philosopher at the University of Cincinnati. In this conversation, they discuss how their different worldviews influence their understanding of evolution, humanity, and moral choices. This virtual forum event was held at the University of Cincinnati in October 2021. Thank you to the forums team for making this event possible.
In today’s episode, two professors discuss this question: Why is it so hard to admit when we don’t know something? And why does it matter in the academic environment? You’ll hear from Cullen Buie, professor of biological engineering at MIT, and Marcelo Gleiser, professor of physics and astronomy at Dartmouth. In this conversation, moderated by Hannah Eagleson (Emerging Scholars Network, InterVarsity), they discuss the importance of intellectual humility, how they see its impact in their lives, and why their religious worldviews encourage it. This virtual forum was a Faculty Roundtable event hosted at MIT in August 2020. Thank you to the forums team for making this event possible. A link to the full conversation is in the episode description.
It’s not hard to figure out what to do with our phones. But what is hard to figure out is what our phones are doing to us. Today’s speakers have written a lot about this topic. The first speaker is Jonathan Haidt, a social psychologist at NYU and author of, The Anxious Generation, which has topped the New York Times bestseller list for 27 weeks in a row. In dialogue with Jon is Andy Crouch, a partner for theology and culture at Praxis Labs and author of the book, The Life We’re Looking For. In this conversation, Jon and Andy discuss the effects of technology on our personal and spiritual lives and whether flourishing is possible without our phones. Their discussion is moderated by Wendy Suzuki, the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, professor of neural science at NYU, and author of the book Good Anxiety.
In today’s episode, you’ll hear the story of Molly Worthen. As a journalist and historian at UNC, Molly has written about Christians for years as an outsider. But in this conversation, she shares how something unexpected happened to her recently: she became one. Molly talks with Lorien Foote, a history professor at Texas A&M. They explore Molly’s worldview before becoming a Christian, the evidence that led her to faith, and how changing her mind wasn’t as scary as she expected. This forum was held at Texas A&M in Spring 2024. Thank you to the forum planning team for making this event possible.
In today’s episode, you’ll hear from two scientists as they discuss the topic of knowledge. Is scientific knowledge the only true form of knowledge? Or are there other equally valid ways of knowing? You’ll hear from Praveen Sethupathy, professor of physiological genomics at Cornell, and David Rudge, professor of biological sciences at Western Michigan. Praveen and David discuss other forms of knowledge outside of science, how certainty is often misunderstood, and the role of faith in a curious life. This forum was held at Western Michigan University in February 2023 and was moderated by Western Michigan philosophy professor Tim McGrew. Thank you to the forum planning team at Western Michigan for making this event possible.
Advances in artificial intelligence and computing technology are happening at breakneck speed. Yet even the best A. I. today still falls short. Whether it's a frustratingly unhelpful chat bot, the uncanny valley of immersive virtual reality, or the nonsensical answers of ChatGPT. Are these glitches a short-term problem? Or is there something about human experiences that make them impossible to program? In today’s episode, a computer scientist and an experimental philosopher discuss just that. In this Forum event from 2013, you’ll hear from Rosalind Picard (MIT) and Joshua Knobe (Yale). In a conversation moderated by neuroscientist Nii Addy (Yale), Roz and Joshua attempt to define what it means to be human, discuss how agency and experience shape our view of others, and how we ought to fight against dehumanization. Thank you to the forum planning team at Yale for making this event possible.
The speakers in today’s forum engage with two main questions: What stories are you telling yourself? And how can you learn to tell better ones? You’ll hear today from practicing psychiatrist Curt Thompson and Health Behavior and Health Education professor Victor Strecher (UMichigan). Curt and Vic discuss what it looks like to tell better stories, the role community plays in storytelling, and what difference the Christian story can make in our lives. This forum was held at the University of Michigan in January of 2024 and was moderated by graduate student Annika From. Thank you to the Forum planning team at the University of Michigan for making this event possible.
For many of the key issues today, it’s challenging to simply agree to disagree. Not only do we have serious differences in opinion and belief, but how we choose to act in light of them can have profound consequences. How, then, should we live together? Is compromise a necessary component of community? In a forum originally titled “Can Truth and Tolerance Coexist,” theologian Mirsolav Volf (Yale) and Dean of Students Vijay Pendakur (Cornell) delve into the complexities of a diverse, democratic society. Volf and Pendakur discuss how we can go beyond simply agreeing to disagree, what the role of physical and emotional safety is on college campuses, and what speaking the truth in love really means. Their conversation was held at Cornell University in 2019. Thank you to the Forum planning team at Cornell university for making this event possible.
In college, it's common to feel the pressure to do everything—overload classes, join clubs, apply to internships, and more. But rarely do we stop to ask why. Behind all of our striving, what’s the purpose of our work anyway? The speakers in this episode ask this question. You'll hear from Lydia Dugdale, a primary care physician and director of the Center for Medical Ethics at Columbia University, and Mike Fontaine, professor of Classics at Cornell. They discuss our desire to cling to life, how to find a purpose that transcends the daily striving of school and career, and what ancient wisdom might offer us that the “grindset mindset” can’t. This forum was held at Cornell in Fall 2023. Thank you to the forums team at Cornell for making this event possible.
We spend — on average — 90,000 hours of our life working. So it’s no wonder we want our jobs to bring us happiness. Yet, all too often, work doesn’t make us happy. Why is that? And is there anything we can do about it?In this episode, we discuss just that.You’ll hear from social scientist and New York Times bestselling author, Arthur Brooks (Harvard). Arthur talks with Dean of Harvard Medical School, Bernard S. Chang, about happiness, vocation, faith, and physician burnout. They discuss Arthur’s empirical research on happiness, explore the role of transcendence in a happier life, and how to best set expectations about the role of work in our lives.This Forum was held at Harvard Medical School in February of 2024. Thank you to the Forum planning team at Harvard Medical School for making this event possible.
Meaning can be straightforward — a red octagon means “Stop!”, a hand wave with a smile means “Hello,” or adding two and two equals four. But meaning is often more complicated — a friend saying they’ll eat “whatever” for dinner or a significant other texting, “We need to talk.” In this episode, our speakers invite you into the messiness of meaning — and discuss how best we can search for it. You’ll hear a conversation between mathematician Satyan Devadoss (U San Diego) and biologist Stuart Firestein (Columbia). Satyan and Stuart bring their scientific backgrounds and religious perspectives as they explore the role of reason in the search for meaning, what can and can’t be taken at face value, and what strategies can help us find truth — from the scientific method to literary analysis to religious tradition. This Forum was held at Columbia University in 2014. Thanks to the forums planning team at Columbia for making this event possible.
While the beginning of the year often inspires a hopefulness and expectancy for life, New Years isn’t all excitement and courage. For you personally, this year may be a continuation of past sickness, relational strife, or financial uncertainty. For listeners in the United States, 2024 is an election year — which may mean fractured friendships, families, and even communities of faith ... none of which made your resolution list. Given all this, what is there to hope for in 2024? As we enter into the new year, the speakers in today’s episode meet you in this uncertainty through an invitation to consider who you are — from your genetic makeup, to your relationships, to your beliefs about life’s biggest questions. In their discussion, today’s speakers explore the limits of our wills, the role of reason, and where true hope can be found. You’ll hear from genomics researcher Praveen Sethupathy (Cornell), BioScience professor Yousif Shamoo (Rice), and moderators Rabbi Oren Hayon and Dr. Elaine Ecklund (Rice). This forum was hosted at Rice University in 2016, and a link to the full discussion is shared in the episode description. Thank you to our Forums planning team at Rice for making this event possible.
This year has been another incredible one for The Veritas Forum podcast — all thanks to you, our amazing listeners. Thanks for making The Veritas Forum podcast be in the top 1% of all podcasts worldwide. In this episode, host Carley and special guest Seth share some top stats from the podcast in 2023 (300,000 listens!), discuss the recent changes to our format and release schedule, and count down our top three episodes of 2023. Listen to hear excerpts from Praveen Sethupathy (Cornell), Ken Miller (Brown), and John Lennox (Oxford). Links to the full episodes featured in this wrap up episode are shared in the additional resources section below.
Sometimes belief can get you the job, secure the win, or help you make a difference. Other times, through, belief doesn't seem to help much at all. Can we know which beliefs are worth believing in? And when do we just need to take a leap of faith? In today’s episode, our speakers wrestle with these questions. Psychology professor Matthew Vess (Texas A&M) is in dialogue with Sean McDowell (Biola), a professor of Apologetics. They discuss how certainty and belief interact and whether the claims of Christianity could ever be worth dying for. This Forum event was held at Texas A&M in Spring 2023. Thank you to the Forum planning team who made this discussion possible!
In the US, more and more adults believe in “nothing in particular.” Recent surveys from Pew Research and the Associated Press suggest that around 30% of American adults are religiously unaffiliated, up 10% from a decade ago. Surveys like these are helpful for religious belief in the abstract. But, when it comes to the questions and doubts you hold about your faith — or lack thereof — you need a different tool: story. You'll hear two such stories today — and be invited to consider your own story, too. Hear Sam Mitchell (Mount Holyoke), an atheist philosopher, in dialogue with Christian philosopher, Meghan Sullivan (Notre Dame). They share how they developed their worldviews and discuss the challenges of belief in the particular. This Forum conversation was held in 2016 at Mount Holyoke College and is moderated by economics professor Jim Hartley. Thank you to the Forum planning team who made this event possible!
Today, you may be wrestling with what "progress" means — whether it's in relation to your own journey, your family’s, or your community’s. What do you want? And how will you get there? In this episode, two Harvard professors explore these questions. In this 40-minute Forum excerpt, you’ll hear first from Tyler VanderWeele, the director of Harvard’s Human Flourishing Program. Tyler is in dialogue with Steven Pinker, a cognitive psychologist at Harvard and author of the best-selling book, Enlightenment Now. Tyler and Steven discuss their differing beliefs about what it means to be human, the role of faith in human flourishing, and if humanity tends towards dystopia or utopia. Their discussion is moderated by Rosalind Picard, a professor at MIT’s Media Lab and an inventor. This Forum was held on MIT's campus in Spring 2023.
Today’s guest has some unexpected news for you: being happy isn’t possible. Instead, he says, work towards being happy-er. You'll hear today from social scientist, happiness scholar, and best-selling author Arthur Brooks (Harvard). We talk with Arthur about this journey towards happier-ness and discuss his new book with Oprah Winfrey called Build the Life That You Want: The Art and Science of Getting Happier. If you struggle with turning negative emotions into positive ones, if you're curious about the science behind the promises and claims of happiness scholarship, or if you simply want to live a happier life (and wonder if faith is a part of that), then this episode is for you.
Anthropologist Ernest Becker, in his Pulitzer Prize winning book, The Denial of Death, says that denying death is a necessary part of functioning in the world. It’s what inspires us to create culture, religion, and love, allowing us to avoid death and achieve immortality. But perhaps there is another way — besides denial — to relate to death. What should our relationship with death look like? And, how often — and to what degree — should we contemplate our mortality? Today's episode addresses these questions. You'll hear from philosophy professor Susanna Siegel (Harvard), and medical ethicist Lydia Dugdale (Columbia) in a Forum Event hosted at Harvard University in February 2023.
There’s a sort of spark to life — moments that stir up something inside of us that we can’t explain. Maybe you've experienced this while playing with your dog, or singing along at a concert, or seeing the Northern Lights. Perhaps these sparks are simply neurons firing, chemicals releasing, and muscles contracting. Or perhaps these sparks point to something like a soul, something transcendent. How do we know which it is? And what do we do when our evidence remains elusive? This episode is an excerpt from a Veritas Forum at MIT in 2016. You’ll hear from biologist Dr. Ken Miller (Brown University), and philosopher Dr. Alex Byrne (MIT), as they discuss the human soul, evidence, and what gods we do — or don’t — believe in. This vibrant conversation is moderated by nuclear physicist Dr. Ian Hutchinson (MIT).
If new and improved A.I. tools can write your next essay, create Picasso-style art, or produce a believable deep-fake, it’s fair to ask: Are we manufacturing human brains? In this episode, we dive into the complexity of the human brain — and what this means for morality, meaning, and purpose. You’ll hear from Dr. Rosalind Picard (MIT Media Lab) and Dr. Shahram Khoshbin (Harvard Medical School). This excerpt is from a Forum event at Harvard Medical School in 2016, and is moderated by Dr. Patrick Smith, a principal faculty member for the Initiative on Health, Religion, and Spirituality at Harvard Medical School.
A.I. is no longer the stuff of science fiction. From Siri and Alexa to Chat GPT, our world is now inundated with artificial intelligence. One senses that it’s time to think more deeply about A.I. — its implications and its assumptions. In this episode, you'll hear an excerpt from a Forum event at Iowa State University from March 2023. Josh Swamidass (WashU), a medical doctor and computer scientist, discusses the role of artificial intelligence today with Clark Wolf (Iowa State), a bioethicist and philosopher. Their conversation is moderatored by Alex Tuckness (Iowa State), a political science professor.
What matters isn't how much faith you have but what you're putting your faith in. In this forum episode, University of San Diego mathematics professor Satyan Devadoss talks about how he trusts in Christianity for the same reasons that he trusts in quantum mechanics — not because he is has zero doubt about its veracity, but because he has faith that it is the best explanation for what he sees in the world.
Want to be successful? You might need to get better at failing. In this episode, Charles Lee (Stanford) and Andy Van Schaack (Vanderbilt) explore what it takes to be failure-resilient. In this Forum from October 2022 at Vanderbilt, they discuss success, failure, and how we might find a resilient self-worth.
With the average college student graduating with about $40,000 of student debt, you may be wondering: Is college worth it? To answer that question, though, you have to ask another question first: What’s college for? In this Forum from April 2022, you’ll hear two Harvard professors — Nancy Hill and Rakesh Khurana — discuss the purpose of college, and whether or not the classroom is the only place where we learn.
“What’s my passion?” “What do I want to do for the rest of my life?” These aren’t great questions because they’re fixed; they assume you’ll only have one job or one passion for the rest of your life. But the reality is, both you and the world around you will change. You need a career decision-making tool that isn’t surprised by change but assumes it. In this Forum from CalTech in 2017, you'll learn about this tool. Hear from two Stanford professors — Dave Evans and Bill Burnett — as they discuss their New York Times bestselling book, Designing Your Life. They share about design thinking — and how its flexibility can help you navigate your career for years to come.
In today's world of misinformation and misrepresentation, it's wise to be skeptical. But has our skepticism gone too far? What does it look like not only to refute what is false — but also to follow what is true? In this episode, hear from two philosophy professors, Meghan Sullivan (Notre Dame) and Katja Vogt (Columbia). Their conversation from April 2022 draws from philosophers like Aristotle and Plato, and they discuss how truth can be appreciated and acted upon, what it means to pursue truth together, and how rediscovering the value of truth just might make our lives and society better.
In this Winterlude episode, we interview physician and medical ethicist Dr. Lydia Dugdale (Columbia). We discuss the historic medical pledge, the Hippocratic Oath, and how it is not required by medical schools in the United States. (Surprising, right?) Listen to hear what's replacing it, what the Christian tradition might offer medical ethics, and how you can become a better patient.
Is there truth beyond science? Mathematics professor John Lennox (Oxford) and philosophy professor Larry Shapiro (UW-Madison) explore whether truth can exist beyond what is scientifically observable. They discuss how science interacts with religion, the existence of different types of understanding, and whether there can be justified belief in the resurrection of Jesus Christ. This forum was held at UW-Madison in 2017. Thank you to the forums team for making this event possible.
Love this podcast!
I’ve found this podcast super insightful as I engage my friends, both Christian and non-Christians, on different topics of faith. It is also personally encouraging and I love the diverse discussion!
Veritas Forum is Awesome!
I love how Veritas provides a space for interfaith dialogue that is not commonly found on campus. I also love all the thoughts and questions that the conversations provoke in my mind that I don’t normally think about. One word: inspiration!
Veritas Forum is really the best
I really deeply believe in the mission of the Veritas Forum. Important ideas and fruitful conversation every time.
