For decades, Christian faculty at UCSB have been meeting regularly for discussion and prayer.  Over 40 years, Christian faculty, sometimes numbering up to 50, have published an annual Resurrection Proclamation in the Daily Nexus simply declaring their faith (by definition: a confident trust in a credible or reliable source) that "He is Risen."

This year, UCSB's Christian faculty have gone beyond the simple proclamation by offering the resources below to help answer some of life's most important questions:

Was the universe a cosmic accident or was it created for an ultimate purpose?

If God exists, why does evil and suffering exist?

Does my life have an ultimate purpose? If so, how can I best pursue it?

What does Jesus' life, death, and resurrection have to do with it all?

"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you." - Jesus

Ultimately, the message of the Bible is that although our best is none too good, the Creator of the Universe out of His mercy and undeserved love for us wants everyone to receive complete forgiveness and experience an abundant and fulfilling life: both now and forever.

"For it is by grace you have been saved, through faith — and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God — not by works, so that no one can boast. For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do." - Paul's letter to the Ephesians (Chapter 2: 8-10).

RESOURCES ON THE RESURRECTION

The Historical Evidence for the Resurrection that Even Skeptics Believe
Gary Habermas at UCSB

An Atheist and a Christian discuss the question:
"Did Jesus Rise From the Dead?"
Antony Flew and Gary Habermas

The Resurrection
An Interview with William Lane Craig at UCSB

Can a scientist believe in the resurrection? Three hypotheses.
Ian Hutchinson, MIT

Why is the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ the most important event in history?
Got Questions?

Why do so many atheist historians think that 1 Corinthians 15 is reliable history?
Wintery Knight

HOLY WEEK TIMELINE EXPLAINED

"THE CASE FOR CHRIST"

Lee Strobel, an investigative, award winning journalist with a Yale Law School Masters degree, was the Legal Editor of the Chicago Tribune.  As a spiritual skeptic, he embarked on an exhaustive personal journey to intellectually disprove the evidence for Jesus.  What he found changed his life.  This film takes us, specifically, through the four main points that shifted his mind and heart regarding the claims surrounding Jesus’ resurrection.

"The Road to Emmaus"

The Gospel of Luke provides one of the most mysterious accounts in the Bible: The resurrected Jesus shows up to two of his followers, hides his identity from them, and walks with them to a village called Emmaus. After interviewing them about himself and his recent crucifixion, he rebukes them for being “slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have declared” and admonishes: “Was it not necessary that the Messiah should suffer these things and then enter into his glory?” What happens next is incredible, and serves as the basis for the movie. Jesus “begins with Moses” and explains to his two doubting followers how “all the scriptures” point to Himself. Because we still have these (Old Testament) scriptures today, and several of them point in obvious ways to Jesus’ birth, life, calling, death, and resurrection, we can actually have a good idea about some of the verses Jesus likely shared along the road to Emmaus. The result? A cinematic wonder that leads from Creation to Christ.

Free eBook from Dr. Gary Habermas

PROPHECIES and PROMISES

John 10:10 Project

Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus: The Christian Testimony of Nabeel Qureshi Nabeel Asif Qureshi (1983-2017) was raised as a devout Ahmadi Muslim. After spending several years examining the evidence for Christianity and Islam with his friend David Wood, Nabeel became a Christian while attending Eastern Virginia Medical School. His ongoing studies took him to Biola University, Duke University, and Oxford University, and led to three books: "Seeking Allah, Finding Jesus," "No God But One," and "Answering Jihad."

'The Surprising Rebirth of Belief in God' presented by Justin Brierley, tells the story of why new atheism grew old and secular thinkers are considering Christianity again. Featuring interviews with secular and Christian thinkers such as Jordan Peterson, Richard Dawkins, Alex O'Connor, Louise Perry, Tom Holland, Dave Rubin, NT Wright, Alister McGrath, Douglas Murray, Bethel McGrew, William Lane Craig, Jana Harmon, Bishop Robert Barron, Jonathan Pageau, Ayaan Hirsi-Ali, Stephen Woodford, Sarah Irving-Stonebraker, Adam Coleman, Lisa Fields, Jon Mccray, Paul Kingsnorth, Francis Spufford and more.

THE CHIEF PURPOSE OF LIFE

"The chief purpose of life, for any one of us, is to increase according to our capacity our knowledge of God by all the means we have, and to be moved by it to praise and thanks." - J.R.R. Tolkien

FINDING WISDOM IN THE WORD

(aka Even Higher Education)

"So do not worry, saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them. But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself." (Jesus in Matthew 6:31-34).

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Got Questions?

THE VERITAS FORUM

The Veritas Forum on YouTube

Founded in 1992 at Harvard University, The Veritas Forum invites students and faculty to bring their whole selves to wrestle with life’s most confounding ideas and be changed by them.

Motivated by the historic Christian faith that seeks to love God and neighbor, we offer robust programs and events that encourage students and faculty from universities across the globe to engage their backgrounds, beliefs, and passions in a diverse community of exploration—one that puts the Christian faith in dialogue with other beliefs and invites participants from all backgrounds to seek truth together. Because we believe that an openness to discovery—and a posture of humility—are foundational to both the Christian story and a flourishing university.

The Founding Father of The Veritas Forum at UCSB was Dr. John Kennedy, Professor of Chemistry (now Emeritus), who was convinced that science was the study of God's creation. Check out his essay on origins here.

Comments or questions should be sent to:
Christian.Faculty.UCSB@gmail.com