Gather with fellow student leaders to explore the ideas that shape our lives.
Veritas Weekend is the flagship student leadership conference of the Veritas Forum. The annual conference connects Christian students from universities across the country and provides training and discussion around integrating faith, scholarship, and life.
The 2025 Veritas Weekend will take place at The Boston Hilton Park Plaza from Friday, February 7th to Sunday, February 9th.
This year's theme is "Loving God with Your Mind." Scholars, journalists, and other Christian leaders will explore with you how Christianity interacts with different dimensions of the modern academy, from specific disciplines (the sciences, the creative arts) to the various challenges facing higher ed.
Veritas Weekend includes opportunities to:
The Veritas Weekend consists of two tracks to allow you to customize your experience:
AC Students Track is designed for students who are involved in a student campus publication that is affiliated with the Augustine Collective, a program of the Veritas Forum.
Forums Leadership Track is designed for students who plan and run Veritas Forum events on their campuses.
Over the course of three days, our plenary speakers will address the theme "Loving God with Your Mind" from their specific areas of expertise. More speakers to be announced soon!
Duke University
Duke University
Jeremy Begbie is Thomas A. Langford Distinguished Professor in Theology at Duke Divinity
School and McDonald Agape Director and founder of Duke Initiatives in Theology and the
Arts. He teaches systematic theology, specializing in the interface between theology and
the arts. His particular interest is the interplay between music and theology.
Educated largely in Scotland, before studying theology at Aberdeen and Cambridge, he read
music and philosophy at Edinburgh University. Holding piano performing and teaching
qualifications, he is also an oboist, and a Fellow of the Royal School of Church Music.
He is author of numerous books, including A Peculiar Orthodoxy: Reflections on Theology
and the Arts, Redeeming Transcendence in the Arts: Bearing Witness to the Triune God,
Theology, Music and Time, Resounding Truth: Christian Wisdom in the World of Music, and
Music, Modernity, and God.
Praxis
Praxis
Andy Crouch is partner for theology and culture at Praxis, a venture-building ecosystem advancing redemptive entrepreneurship. His writing explores faith, culture, and the image of God in the domains of technology, power, leadership, and the arts. He is the author of five books (plus another with his daughter, Amy Crouch): The Life We're Looking For: Reclaiming Relationship in a Technological World, The Tech-Wise Family: Everyday Steps for Putting Technology in Its Proper Place, Strong and Weak: Embracing a Life of Love, Risk and True Flourishing, Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power, and Culture Making: Recovering Our Creative Calling.
Duke University
Duke University
Warren Kinghorn is Associate Professor of Psychiatry at Duke University Medical Center; Esther Colliflower Associate Professor of the Practice of Pastoral and Moral Theology at Duke Divinity School; co-director of the Theology, Medicine, and Culture Initiative at Duke Divinity School; and a staff psychiatrist at the Durham VA Medical Center. His work centers on the role of religious communities in caring for persons with mental health problems and on ways in which Christians engage practices of modern health care. He is author of Wayfaring: A Christian Approach to Mental Health Care (Eerdmans, 2024) and co-author with Abraham Nussbaum of Prescribing Together: A Relational Guide to Psychopharmacology (American Psychiatric Association Publishing 2021).
Gordon College
Gordon College
Australian violinist Sarita Kwok has distinguished herself as a charismatic and powerful performer whose passion for performing is matched only by her commitment to education, cultural leadership and academic innovation.
Frequently sought after as a chamber musician and soloist, Kwok is a founding member of the Arabella String Quartet, an ensemble that rapidly developed a reputation for its remarkable artistry. Their first recording, "In the Moment" (Naxos, 2017), was praised by The Strad magazine as “an artfully balanced mix of rarities … this is a fine disc, the Arabella digging deep to produce performances of great intensity and poise”. The quartet’s most recent recording of Six Concertante Quartets by Chevalier de Saint-Georges (Naxos, 2022) has also garnered extensive praise. BBC Music Magazine reported "there’s certainly no lack of prowess in these delightful performances ... This is wonderful advocacy of enchanting music".
Kwok has appeared on concert series and festivals throughout the United States including the Embassy Series (Washington, DC), Flagler Museum Series (Florida), Brooklyn Friends of Chamber Music, Rockport Chamber Music Festival and in performances at Weill and Zankel recital halls at Carnegie Hall. Abroad she has performed at the Aldeburgh festival, Aix-en-Provence festival, at Sapporo’s Kitara Hall (Japan), Villa Medici (Italy), the Théâtre du Jeu de Paume, and Salle Olivier Messaien (France), Melbourne Concert Hall and Sydney Opera House (Australia). She is an artist member of the Boston-based Mistral Music and also performs as a substitute player with the Boston Symphony Orchestra and Boston Pops during their regular season at Symphony Hall and at Tanglewood. A persuasive advocate of contemporary music, Kwok recorded Ezra Laderman’s last three string quartets with the Alianza Quartet for Albany Records to critical acclaim. More recently, her recording on Starkland records of Martin Bresnick’s Josephine the Singer for solo violin was described by Gramophone as “gorgeously executed”.
For eight years, Kwok served as Director of the undergraduate lessons program at Yale School of Music while concurrently serving on the faculty of the Yale Department of Music. She is the inaugural recipient of the Adams Endowed Chair in Music at Gordon College, Wenham, MA, and since 2014 has been Chair of the Department of Music and Professor of Music. A respected pedagogue, Kwok has given masterclasses at institutions such as the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, Longy School of Music at Bard College, MIT, Credo Festival Oberlin, and the Boston University Tanglewood Institute. Additionally she has presented at the American String Teacher Association National Conference (2022 and 2023) on topics of diversity, inclusion and equity in violin studio teaching.
Kwok received the Doctor of Musical Arts and Artist diploma degrees from the Yale School of Music, where she was a student of Syoko Aki and the Tokyo String Quartet. She performs on a violin from 1736 by Italian maker Johannes Florenus Guidantus and a bow by Joseph Arthur Vigneron.
Wheaton College
Wheaton College
Esau McCaulley, PhD is an author and The Jonathan Blanchard Associate Professor of New Testament and Public Theology at Wheaton College. His writing and speaking focus on New Testament Exegesis, African American Biblical Interpretation, and Public Theology. He has authored numerous books including, Reading While Black: African American Biblical Interpretation as an Exercise in Hope, which won numerous awards including Christianity Today’s Book of the Year. Esau also served as the editor of New Testament in Color: A Multi-Ethnic Commentary on the New Testament. On the popular level, Esau’s recent memoir, How Far to the Promised Land, was named by Amazon as a top five non-fiction book of 2023. He has also penned works for children, including Josey Johnson’s Hair and the Holy Spirit and Andy Johnson and the March for Justice. Esau is a contributing opinion writer for the New York Times. His writings have also appeared in places such as The Atlantic, Washington Post, and Christianity Today.
Harvard University
Harvard University
Karin Öberg is Professor of Astronomy at Harvard University. Her specialty is astrochemistry and her research aims to uncover how chemical processes affect the outcome of planet formation, especially the chemical habitability of nascent planets. Her research group approaches this question through laboratory experiments, simulating the exotic chemistry that gives rise to chemical complexity in space, through astrochemical modeling, and through astronomical observations of molecules in planet-forming disks around young stars. Dr. Öberg left Sweden for Caltech in 2001, where she graduated with a B.Sc. in chemistry in 2005. Four years later she obtained a Ph.D. in astronomy, with a thesis focused on laboratory astrochemistry. In 2009 she moved to the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics with a Hubble fellowship, focusing on millimeter observations of protoplanetary disks. In 2013 she became an assistant professor in astronomy, was promoted and named the Thomas D. Cabot Associate Professor in Astronomy in 2016, and promoted to full professor in 2017. Dr. Öberg’s research in astrochemistry has been recognized with a Sloan fellowship, a Packard fellowship. the AAS Newton Lacy Pierce Award, and a Simons fellowship.
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Molly Worthen is an associate professor of history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a freelance journalist. She received her PhD from Yale University. Her research focuses on North American religious and intellectual history. Her forthcoming book is Spellbound: How Charisma Shaped American History from the Puritans to Trump (Random House, 2025). Previous books include Apostles of Reason: The Crisis of Authority in American Evangelicalism (Oxford 2014). She has also created courses for Audible and The Great Courses on the history of global Christianity since the Reformation and on charismatic leaders in American history.
Worthen writes regularly about religion, politics, and higher education for the New York Times and has also written for the New Yorker, Slate, the Atlantic, and other publications.
The Veritas Weekend breakout sessions will offer a more intimate context to dive deeper into this year's theme and receive practical tips on running Forum events and publishing AC journals. More speakers to be announced soon!
DIRECTOR OF AUGUSTINE COLLECTIVE & VERITAS INSTITUTE, The Veritas Forum
DIRECTOR OF AUGUSTINE COLLECTIVE & VERITAS INSTITUTE, The Veritas Forum
Peter serves as the Director of the Augustine Collective and Veritas Institute at The Veritas Forum, helping to support student publications at universities across the country. While attending Dartmouth College, he was the third editor-in-chief of The Dartmouth Apologia, one of the first publications in the Augustine Collective network. After graduating, Peter served as a writer and an editor at The American Interest, a magazine of politics and culture in Washington, DC. He then joined Thomistic Institute, an academic institute in DC, where he was the Campus Program Coordinator. Peter occasionally writes on a freelance basis, and he tweets at @PeterAWBlair.
Director of Forums, The Veritas Forum
Director of Forums, The Veritas Forum
Ashley Byrd is the Director of Forums and leads the effort to support campus partners to design and host forums that model discourse about life’s biggest questions across different worldviews characterized by intellectual humility and rigor. Previously, Ashley served as Regional Director for Veritas, where he coached planning teams in New York and New Jersey.
As a graduate of Columbia University, he developed a love for the campus that led him to serve students and faculty there as a Religious Life Advisor through InterVarsity Christian Fellowship for 17 years. Ashley currently lives with his wife Carly and his daughters in Kailua, Hawaii.
Forums Program Manager
Forums Program Manager
Timothy serves as Forums Program Manager for The Veritas Forum. Before joining Veritas, he has pastored college students at Rice University, served as a worship leader and church musician, and directed operations for the Credo Festival. He holds a BMus in Viola Performance from Rice University and an MTS in Bible from Duke Divinity School.
Timothy and his wife Sophia now live near Ann Arbor, MI. They spend their free time cycling and kayaking around Southeast Michigan, reading (preferably with large mugs of tea or coffee in hand), and playing with their two cats, Clive and Staples.
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS & STRATEGIC INITIATIVES, The Veritas Forum
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS & STRATEGIC INITIATIVES, The Veritas Forum
Haley serves as the Director of Operations & Strategic Initiatives, where she facilitates strategic collaborative projects and works to implement the cohesion of Veritas Forum's operational systems. She brings experience as a Higher Education administrator and a consultant for nonprofit organizations. Haley holds a BA from Sarah Lawrence College and a MS in Nonprofit Management from Columbia University. She lives on Cape Cod with her husband and rescue dog Koda.
Augustine Collective Program Manager, The Veritas Forum
Augustine Collective Program Manager, The Veritas Forum
Moriah serves as Program Manager for the Augustine Collective at the Veritas Forum. Prior to joining Veritas, she was assistant editor at First Things, a journal of religion and public life in New York City. She holds a BA in English from Baylor University and an MAR in Religion and Literature from Yale Divinity School. Moriah currently lives in New Haven, Connecticut, where in her free time she enjoys kayaking in Connecticut’s many waterways.
University Engagement Director and Director of Student Development, The Veritas Forum
University Engagement Director and Director of Student Development, The Veritas Forum
Teal is University Engagement Director and Director of Student Development, Forums, for The Veritas Forum, jumping into Forum planning and student engagement with great excitement. After earning her BA in English at the University of Mary Washington, Teal earned her MA in Religion from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Teal spent a rewarding five years as a Ministry Fellow at Harvard University with Christian Union before joining the team. She lives with her husband Jeff north of Boston where they are always on the hunt for delicious coffee and new running routes.
We look forward to three meaningful days together. If you are not a current student, your schedule may look slightly different and you will receive your tailored schedule prior to the weekend. Please reach out to your main contact point at the Veritas Forum with any questions.
Please note that the below is the current schedule and some of the details may change before the weekend begins.
This year we are excited to announce that most programming will combine Augustine Collective and Forums students. Below you can find information relevant to you and your team as you plan to join us.
Veritas Weekend is The Veritas Forum’s flagship student leadership conference. It is a private, invitation-only event for students who are part of The Veritas Forum’s student community. This conference gathers invited students for a time of encouragement and equipping. During the conference, students interact with Christian scholars, writers, and artists, and share experiences with peers from other campuses.
Veritas Weekend is for two groups of students: The Augustine Collective students who are part of an AC journal and the Forums Leadership students who plan and execute Veritas Forum events on their campus.
Augustine Collective students are involved with a student publication that is officially affiliated with the Augustine Collective journal network, either as regular contributors or as official staff. Students who are not yet involved with an existing publication but are seriously exploring involvement are also welcome to register for Veritas Weekend—as are invited students who are seriously considering starting a journal on their campus.
MORE HERE on Forums Students.
To meet, think, discuss, and pray with your fellow Veritas students from across the country? To hear from and interact with fantastic speakers? To strategize with your teams for the future? To acquire or refine the skills necessary to help build a thriving publication? To be inspired as you plan a forum for your campus? To renew your vision for the work you’re doing? Pick your reason! Whatever brings you to the conference, we’re thrilled to see you.
Want to learn more? Check out this promo video from a previous conference.
The full schedule is still to come, but you can see the current schedule above. It will conclude by noon on Sunday the 9th. The weekend will consist of a mix of plenary sessions, breakout sessions, worship, time to connect as a team, and time for fellowship with students from publications across the country.
Check out our most up-to-date speaker list here.
The Boston Park Plaza Hotel will host this year’s conference. This 4-star hotel, located near the historic Boston Common, was recently renovated and features great meeting spaces for this growing event. Lodging at the Plaza will be guest rooms that hold two students with a separate bed for each.
The Park Plaza is a close walk from a few different T stops.
Park Plaza Hotel Address: 50 Park Plaza, Boston, MA 02116
- Monday, October 14, 2024: Registration Opens
- Monday, December 2, 2024 11:59 pm EST: Registration Closes
- ???Sunday, December 7, 2024 11:59 pm EST: Final Admissions off Waitlist Issued and Decisions On Applications for Additional Financial Assistance Released
- ???Monday, December 4, 2023 11:59 pm EST: Travel Receipts for Student Purchased Travel Due
-Friday, February 9, 2024: Conference Begins
The Veritas student community is deeply important to us and we are excited to invest in that community through covering the full cost of hosting Veritas Weekend and most of the costs of student attendance. We cover the full cost of registration, lodging at the Boston Park Plaza, ½ the cost of primary travel (up to $250 total reimbursement), breakfast on Saturday and Sunday, dinner on Saturday, and swag items.
All students are expected to pay for the other ½ the cost of their primary travel (and any travel insurance purchased), the full cost of any ground transportation, the cost of dinner on Friday evening, and, for Augustine Collective students, the cost of lunch on Saturday afternoon. Any meals, snacks, or coffee purchased while traveling, any meals not provided as part of the official schedule, and any souvenirs or other incidental costs you incur in Boston will not be covered.
We do not want finances to be a barrier to anyone's attendance at the 2025 Veritas Weekend, so all student attendees receive a subsidy from Veritas for half of their travel costs (up to $250). The link to apply for additional financial assistance is ???here. This is for those who need additional assistance for the remaining half of travel costs. You should apply at the time when you register for the conference.
Although registration is on a first come, first serve basis, financial assistance applications will not be reviewed until after the close of registration. If we do not grant you sufficient financial assistance and you are not able to attend as a result, you may cancel your registration. (Please apply for financial assistance even if you are on the waitlist after registration.)
The travel reimbursement process for students who receive additional financial assistance:
-Like the rest of your team, send the money to purchase your ticket to your EiC or team point person, who will purchase travel for the whole group by the ?? deadline.
-Veritas will reimburse the EiC or point person for 1/2 the cost of everyone's travel on the team immediately after the deadline to submit receipts for reimbursement. The EiC or point person will then send that 1/2 back to everyone coming from your journal or team, including you, immediately.
-Separately, Veritas will send you a check for the additional financial assistance you have been granted.
If you have any questions, please email us at augustine@veritas.org for AC students or timothy@veritas.org for Forums students. As we have limited funds available for financial assistance, this application is meant for students who truly cannot attend Veritas Weekend without additional financial support. Thank you for understanding.
Your team should all take the same transportation method if at all possible. Schools are required to research and take the cheapest possible method of transportation that is realistically available to them. However, this is on “the honor system”—we do not need to confirm the option before you arrange travel.
Please work through your EiCs or point person to arrange and book travel. The steps of the process are:
1. Students register for the conference by 12/2.
2. The EiC or other designated point person will then confirm the travel method and cost with students from their school.
3. Conference attendees will pay the point person from their school.
4. Point person will purchase travel for the whole group (this should wait until after Sunday, December 7 if you are expecting someone from your school may be admitted off the waitlist or someone is waiting a decision on additional financial assistance).
5. Point person will submit one reimbursement form for the group by 12/7 at ??? this link.
6. Veritas reimburses the point person for half of the total travel immediately after 12/7.
7. The point person reimburses each individual member for half the cost of their travel from the funds received from the Veritas team.
If no one in the group is willing to be the point person in terms of purchasing, we ask that one person remain our point of contact but we will work with your school to arrange for individual reimbursement. Please email augustine@veritas.org (or timothy@veritas.org for Forums students) if this is the case for your school. Please note that though the first method outlined above is our ideal process, we are certainly willing to be flexible. We want to make sure that we are serving you and your team in your preparation for the conference, so you can always feel free to be in touch with us if different arrangements need to be made.
Note: If you are driving and we are reimbursing you for gas and parking, those receipts do not need to be submitted by December 7. They can be submitted after the weekend for ½ reimbursement (up to $250 per person). Those who are driving should plan to park their vehicles in the Boston Common Parking Garage (clearance of 6'3").
Note: If you need to come to the conference from a location other than your school, please contact us at augustine@veritas.org (or timothy@veritas.org for Forums students) in order to confirm that this is possible. We reserve the right to exercise discretion, particularly if coming from your preferred location is more expensive than coming from your school.
Tip: If you are flying or taking a train or bus into the Boston airport, please plan accordingly. The T (subway) in Boston will be much cheaper than a taxi/Uber/Lyft. The Silver Line from the airport to South Station is free; for more details see here and note that it seems the reverse trip from South Station to the Boston airport upon departure is not free.
???Registration is on a first come, first serve basis. We have a limited number of spots for Augustine Collective students. Students who register in excess our limit will be placed on our waitlist in case of cancellations or other circumstances. In addition, there will be a cap of 12 people per school in our registration period. Anyone who registers from a school that already has 12 people registered to attend will be put on the waitlist as well. We will admit additional students over a school’s 12-person cap after the close of registration on a first come, first serve basis.
Once you register, we will contact you to confirm whether you have secured a spot or to inform you that you have been placed on the waitlist. Even if you are aware you will be put on the waitlist, we encourage you to register anyway as we expect to be able to admit at least some people off the waitlist.
The link to register is here.
Our general expectation is that student attendees stay for the entire duration of the weekend, arriving between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. on Friday, February 9th and departing after 11 a.m. on Sunday, February 11th. If you have any concerns about staying for the whole weekend, please do let us know at augustine@veritas.org (or timothy@veritas.org for Forums students) and we can discuss it with you further.
Before the close of registration you may cancel your registration at any time by emailing augustine@veritas.org. However, our expectation is that anyone still registered by the Dec. 2 deadline plans to attend the conference.
Please note that if you do cancel for any non-emergency reasons after purchasing your travel, we will not reimburse you for any travel you purchased and will ask you to return any money received for your travel reimbursement. If a true emergency arises, such as a medical or family situation, you should cancel and we will still reimburse your travel. Please email us at augustine@veritas.org (or timothy@veritas.org for Forums students) if this situation applies to you.
The dress code is smart casual (and warm). You should bring any toiletries you would normally bring for a hotel stay. You may also wish to bring a water bottle, a notebook, a Bible or other devotional items, and any other items you’d want for a program of this kind. The event may involve walking outside, so be sure to bring shoes that are comfortable to walk in outside. For AC teams, your journal should bring copies of your journal's latest issue (and optionally, back issues too!) to trade with other campuses—ideally at least 50 copies.
Yes. We will provide more details closer to the event.
Yes. Conference registration will include a place to note this information.
If you have any additional questions, please email the Augustine Collective Conference team at augustine@veritas.org or the Forums team at timothy@veritas.org.
If you are not a current student, your registration will be handled separately and you will receive your registration form shortly if you haven't already. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to reach out to your main contact point at The Veritas Forum.