By the Book: Fundamentalist Christians at Harvard

Early on most Friday evenings while many Harvard students are resting up for big nights of partying, a certain number of undergraduates gather together in a brightly colored room in the University Lutheran Church, a modern building next to Pinnochio's Pizza, for a somewhat less likely weekend activity. Every week, about 50 Harvard and Radcliffe students join together in that room to praise Jesus Christ.

They just call themselves Christians. Others at Harvard, like those who practice different religions, or who consider themselves Christians of a more conventional kind, might call them a "Born Again" or fundamentalist group. They have been "born again" because most of them feel they have been spiritually renewed by accepting Christ into their hearts. Their fundamentalism comes with a highly literal reading of the Bible, an unusual belief in a secular, scientific community such as Harvard. These Christians, who tend to group around the Harvard-Radcliffe Christian Fellowship (HRCF), often say they would use the term "born again," a phrase found in the Book of John, if it hadn't been distorted in recent years by misuse.

Even if they are somewhat unsure what to call themselves, there is one thing of which they are absolutely sure. They think they are the only true Christians, and although they try not to judge others harshly, they know that only those who have become followers of Christ will be saved.

It's difficult to tell how many "born again" Christians there are in pagan Harvard, although HRCF figures help a little. Fellowship executives estimate there are about 70 to 100 core members of the group. Since one of the strong corollaries of the Christians' creed is the desirability of sharing their faith with others, they are most likely to be found in one or another of the University religious organizations, like a new Christian athletes group, small Bible seminars, a "discipleship" organized by the Fellowship, or in a more diverse group like the Catholic Student Center.

Numbers of Christians at Harvard seem to be increasing along with the recent national publicity prompted by the election of Jimmy Carter, although given the nature of the Christian belief the two phenomena are unlikely to be related. Stephen Crist '78, this year's fellowship president, says that more freshmen than ever before are answering HRCF mass mailings and signing up at registration, although he notes there has been no astronomical growth in the realtively large organization.

The fundamentals of Harvard Christians' beliefs are clear and straight forward, and those who say they are following Christ have no hesitation in discussing them, despite occasional sneers from fellow students. John Duff '78 says it is particularly important to face the questions of non-Christians. "We are at Harvard and there are an awful lot of people who think what we believe is a lot of baloney and that we're backward. It's an atmosphere in which people are questioning our beliefs all the time and we have to face those questions," he says.

They believe in the deity and humanity of Jesus, the integrity and authority of the Bible, and the historic fact of the resurrection of Jesus, to paraphrase the HRCF constitution.

Christians live up to their self-assumed name in that they often seem to discuss Jesus as much as God. "Jesus is the best," as Kathryn Donovan '77, a Hollis Hall proctor, puts it. Crist says, "Truth is a person, not just a logical process."

Becoming a Christian means accepting Christ as a living presence and, Donovan says, making a "total commitment, becoming a tool for the kingdom." Many Christians also believe in the second coming of Christ, although Christians have differences of opinion about this. Daniel Pierce '78 explains his view on the second coming, which he characterizes as conservative and based directly on a reading of the Corinthians section of the Bible. First, there will be rapture, he says. "All the Christians on earth will disappear. We will be caught up to meet Him in the air." A seven year period of tribulation will follow the rapture. During that time, "a lot of Israelis will be converted to Christianity." At the end of seven years, great armies will attack Palestine, the bastion of Christianity--Pierce suggests the Soviet Union may be involved--and then Christ will reappear on earth with an army of saints to begin a thousand year reign. Pierce says, "It can take place at any moment. You can see the situation in the Middle East. It's by no means infeasible."

Pierce gets his information about the second coming directly from the Bible. Although Crist points out Christians understand much of the Bible is meant to be taken symbolically, these Harvard students tend to be like Donovan, who says she "lives out of the Bible." They accept it as the word of God and a factual, historical document.

The resurrection is the central theme. Crist says, "A lot of people are positive that science has disproved that man can rise from the dead. I don't rebutt that. Science only describes something the way it normally happens. A miracle isn't normal. You can also look at the New Testament as a historical document. I'm very impressed with the evidence for that. This summer I ran into somebody who believed the Bible was written years after the events to oppress the poor. That's not an informed opinion. The Book of John was written by an eyewitness."

Genesis is another potentially sore spot for Christians. If there's one thing most non-Christians at Harvard hold sacred, it's Darwin. Yet "born again" Christians have doubts. Donovan says the literal truth of the Adam and Eve story doesn't matter. "What matters is that man took his own path and departed from God." This is the source of the world's current misery.

Pierce, an Engineering concentrator, takes a somewhat harder line. He says, "I don't buy this stuff about man being descended from apes and monkeys. That's very dehumanizing. Evolution is only a theory and there's as much evidence for creation as for evolution."

Openmindedness about Genesis can cause problems at Harvard. Dwight Fletcher '79, who has started a Christian athletes discipleship group with his roommate Steve Brannan '79, says he occasionally found George Wald's lectures in Nat. Sci. 5, "The Nature of Living Things," offensive. "During one of his lectures last year he said God didn't create man, but man created God. I hissed him when he said that, but then immediately I felt bad about doing it."

An extension of the conviction that the Bible is the word of God, and of the complete truth of Christianity, is a belief in evangelism, the practice of spreading the word of Christ. Some shy away from the word because of its forceful connotation. "More people have been lost by a pushy evangelist than have been saved," Joanna Jones '79 says. Duff says the word connotes, "holider than thou, and my dumping my trip on you." He prefers to think of its as letting the good news be visible, and imitating Christ in one's own life.

Pierce also rejects street corner conversion tactics because "it's the kind of thing off-the-wall religions like the Moonies do, and I don't want to be identified with that." However, if force isn't the Christians' bag, carrying the message in other ways is. Last week's Christian Fellowship meeting presented a slide show with some tips about leading people to Christ. It advised that Christians first make friends with non-Christians, and then wait for an opportunity to discuss religion with these people and introduce them to Christ.

They believe it is the Christians' duty to share their faith with friends because Christ is the only way to salvation. Pierce quotes, "Nobody comes to the Father but through me." To Christians, hell exists because the Bible speaks of it, although conceptions range from fire and brimstone to the devastation of simply missing out on God when the possibility exists. Those who follow other religions have not found Christ and will not be saved.

Crist, who says he looked into a number of different religions during a period of adolescent searching before he found Jesus, says he thinks most religions have some elements of truth (Christianity) in them, but only partial truth. He says Judaism, out of which Christ came, is "the shadow of the truth."

Pierce says, "Jews believe in the true God. All the early Christians were Jews. However, nowadays Jews are aware of Jesus and should be aware of over 300 testimonies in the Old Testament relating to the first coming of Christ. They should realize Christ is the Messiah."

Besides talking to their friends about Christ, Harvard Christians do a great deal of praying to ask God to show their friends the right way. They pray for non-Christians by name in small discipleship groups, and often have lists of those they are particularly concerned to help. Nelia Worsley '79 sent a letter over the summer to fellow Winthrop House Christians saying "What the Lord's been teaching me lately" is that they should be more diligent in praying for non-Christians, "silently lift up" people at meals through prayer, and make it clear through their attitudes and actions that they are Christians, whether by being particularly helpful to others or by avoiding typical Harvard complaining and gossiping.

Prayer in general is an integral part of the Christian's life and can range from the purely material financial requests to vast cosmic thoughts, or simply to praising and thanking God. Crist says prayer and Bible reading are the highest priorities in his everyday life.

The spiritual rebirth through Christ often came to people who had been hostile or indifferent to religion before. Crist, Duff and Donovan all found Christ through high school friends, after long periods of skepticism. Each say they knowingly let Christ into their hearts with all the self-denial and possible hardship it might entail. Fletcher and Brannan both came from Texas towns where strong Christian organizations operated in their high schools. Brannan says he went to his first Fellowship of Christian Athletes meeting because it was being held at the house of a girl he wanted to see. Whatever the initial spark, it was a long thoughtful process of discovery for most of the current Harvard Christians.

In many cases it caused friction at home. People such as Brannan and Crist say they have talked long and intensely to parents who are non-Christians and who can't understand their children's new lives, nor why their children no longer view them as real Christians. Although in the short run the disapproval and sinfulness of those you love is enormously frustrating, in the long run Christians aren't worried, because, as Donovan puts it, Christ has already triumphed.

Donovan has run into another conflict, which has arisen more and more as the Christian movement broadens. She is a Roman Catholic, and says she found it somewhat difficult to reconcile her new Christian beliefs--beliefs long associated with some of the more fundamentalist forms of Protestantism--with her Catholicism. She now does consider herself a Catholic, after a long period of self-questioning, but still runs into difficulties with some Catholic dogma. Recently, she said, she tried to organize a Bible study group at the Catholic Student Center, where she is very active. The idea met with little enthusiasm, she said, because of the Catholic reliance on authorities mediating for the layman with God. The idea of a student-organized Bible study group was too Protestant to be acceptable to a Catholic group.

After coping with family and church tensions, the Harvard Christian still has to face the University itself, perhaps the hardest task of all. Many point to the intellectual questioning that goes on at Harvard as something people at other schools might not have to face. Crist says he personally has found it a problem at Harvard to avoid the kind of competitive trap students get into, a situation not reconcilable with a lifestyle whose highest priority is prayer and Bible study. Pierce mentions the "flagrant immorality" at Harvard that he often finds hard to take. All agree, however, that God wants Christians to live in the world, and that the Christians' lot is not meant to be an easy one anywhere.

Those who are not "born again" Christians often associate fundamentalism with belief in unusual happenings, such as the so-called speaking in tongues. This is justified to some extent. Donovan believes she has "spoken in tongues," that is, she has received the gift of the Holy Spirit from God and has spoken in an unrecognizable language of praise. This experience happened to her at the end of her junior year at Harvard, she says. "You feel it welling up inside of you. God is giving you perfect words to say. It's astoundingly beautiful."

Donovan is involved in the "Charismatic movement" made up of people in the Catholic Church who stress the "gift of the Holy Spirit." "The spirit wants to manifest himself in outward signs," she says, which leads to such phenomena as speaking in tongues. The equivalent Protestant movement is called Pentacostal.

Fletcher, who has witnessed people speaking in tongues, says someone always is able to interpret the language afterwards, whether it be some real language or unrecognizable sounds. He says this interpreter is also possessed of the Holy Spirit.

Fletcher also believes he was cured of back trouble he used to have, at a charismatic meeting of the kind where speaking in tongues takes place.

Perhaps the single most different thing about Christians is their attitude toward their own future careers. In a University full of people obsessed with medical or law school and with worldly success. Christians believe God will provide signs of what they are to do in their future lives and will take care of them. Brannan has recently begun considering the ministry, something he never did before, because he says God has provided certain signs that he might be right for that calling. Fletcher jokingly says, "I'm going to become a Christian bum," but adds seriously it may be best to be in a position to speak for Christ in some career other than the ministry. He points to the great impact Sam Ervin had when he quoted scripture during the Watergate hearings.

When the Harvard Christians get together on those Friday nights in the Lutheran church, they act much as any other undergraduate organization does. They sing, and talk with friends, and prepare to go on to parties afterwards. But they are there for the most important part of their lives--the service of Christ, Duff says, "Being a Christian means my own comfort or fun or even safety is not the greatest priority in my life. Christ literally gave up his whole life for us. I think we cannot follow Christ and rule out the possibility of giving up our lives."