From Atheist to Christian While Studying at Harvard University - Jordan Monge

Are atheists ever moved toward Christianity by serious intellectual engagement? In Jordan Monge's case, that's precisely what happened. Monge describes her early life as follows

𝘐 𝘥𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘧𝘪𝘳𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘬𝘦𝘱𝘵𝘪𝘤. 𝘐𝘵 𝘮𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘣𝘦𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘨𝘦 4, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘥 𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘣𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘩𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘺: ‘𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘥𝘰 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘣𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘪𝘴 𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘦?’ 𝘉𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘦 11, 𝘮𝘺 𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘴𝘮 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘴𝘰 𝘸𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘭𝘺 𝘬𝘯𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘪𝘯 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘪𝘥𝘥𝘭𝘦 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘰𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘢𝘯𝘥 ‘𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘴.’ 𝘔𝘺 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘧𝘳𝘪𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘪𝘯 𝘩𝘪𝘨𝘩 𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘰𝘰𝘭 𝘢𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘭𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘣𝘦𝘤𝘢𝘶𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘪𝘱𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘐 𝘸𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘵𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘥𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘪𝘳 𝘱𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘺 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘶𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘐 𝘥𝘪𝘥.

By the time Monge left for Harvard University, she was not a casual or uncertain skeptic — she was a sharp, practiced one. That makes what happened next even more striking.

At Harvard, Monge met a Christian who, for the first time in her life, could rationally explain to her why Christianity made sense. She describes the friendship she developed as follows:

𝘐𝘵 𝘸𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘬 𝘕𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘣𝘦𝘳 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘵 𝘑𝘰𝘩𝘯 𝘑𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘩 𝘗𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘦𝘳. 𝘖𝘶𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘴𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴 𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘭𝘭𝘺 𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘰𝘭𝘷𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘱𝘰𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘴, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘨𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘨𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘏𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘴𝘴𝘢𝘺 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘐𝘤𝘩𝘵𝘩𝘶𝘴, 𝘏𝘢𝘳𝘷𝘢𝘳𝘥’𝘴 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘫𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘯𝘢𝘭, 𝘥𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘎𝘰𝘥’𝘴 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦. 𝘐 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘵. 𝘖𝘯 𝘤𝘢𝘮𝘱𝘶𝘴, 𝘸𝘦’𝘥 𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘴; 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘯 𝘢𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵, 𝘸𝘦’𝘥 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘢𝘳𝘨𝘶𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦-𝘮𝘢𝘪𝘭.

Monge explained that Porter was not like the other Christians she had met. He didn’t shy away from her toughest questions and objections. In fact, he seemed to thrive on them.

𝘕𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘣𝘦𝘧𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘐 𝘮𝘦𝘵 𝘢 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘸𝘩𝘰 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘱𝘰𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘮𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘴𝘵 𝘣𝘢𝘴𝘪𝘤 𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘰𝘴𝘰𝘱𝘩𝘪𝘤𝘢𝘭 𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘴... 𝘛𝘰 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦, 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘯𝘰 𝘊𝘩𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬𝘨𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥, 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘰𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘢𝘯 𝘢𝘯𝘴𝘸𝘦𝘳 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 ‘𝘐𝘵 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘧𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘩’ 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘰𝘯𝘭𝘺 𝘣𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘶𝘢𝘭 𝘤𝘰𝘸𝘢𝘳𝘥𝘪𝘤𝘦. 𝘑𝘰𝘴𝘦𝘱𝘩 𝘥𝘪𝘥𝘯’𝘵 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵.

This distinction mattered enormously to Monge. She wasn't looking for someone to reassure her; she was looking for someone willing to actually engage the hardest version of her objections without flinching or retreating to platitudes. That kind of intellectual honesty, more than any single argument, seems to be what opened the door. After an extensive period of searching, questioning, and thinking, Monge's journey finally ended. On Easter Sunday in 2009, she surrendered her life to Christ and was baptized.

Do atheists ever change their minds? They certainly do. And Monge is but one example of that.

Learn More

Short Blog: Philosopher's Journey from Atheism to Theism - Edward Feser

External Website: https://jordanmonge.com/

Reference

Jordan Monge, “My Harvard Jesus Moment,” ChristianityToday.com, April 4, 2013, https://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2013/march/atheists-dilemma.html.