Corinna Tu ('13) and Christopher Wood ('12), both Harvard Alumni, Have Something Significant in Common: They Both Discovered Their Faith During Their Time at the University.
Prominent universities like Harvard are often viewed as places where students, attracted by the freedom of a nonreligious lifestyle and besieged by temptations and radical secular teachings, lose what faith they may have had going in. This may regrettably be the case for a great many students, however there are some who earnestly seek God during their college years to develop a relationship with Him and a foundation of faith. Through deep intellectual curiosity and rigor in authentic Christian community, students like Corinne and Christopher experience moments that cause them to question, and eventually believe.
Corinne remembers having difficulty with her roommate freshman year, who suggested several times that she attend a church service with her. Eventually the persistence of Corinne’s roommate won her over. Intrigued by the inner peace her roommate seemed to possess, Corinne began attending Bible courses, which led her to further study the faith and historical evidence of Christ’s existence. It wasn’t long before she decided that becoming a Christian was the next logical step.
Christopher, on the other hand, grew up in a traditionally Christian home in Florida. “[Religion] was the kind of thing you did with your parents,” he explains. During his years at Harvard, however, he felt the pressure to fortify his beliefs. “Coming to college makes you decide what’s important to you.”
Students who find their faith at academically challenging universities like Harvard often develop such an intellectual and practical understanding of the principles of their ideology that their faith becomes resolute and eminently defendable. These are the types of Christians our culture urgently needs as the next generation of leaders, and why we at Christian Union are committed to intervening in the lives of students poised for high influence.
