 In the hope that Giertz would follow his father as a surgeon, Knut Giertz encouraged him to enrol in medicine at Uppsala University.Perceiving a conflict between his atheism and his latent moral sense, and concerned at the immoral behavior he had observed among some of his atheist peers, he became involved with a Christian student association.After attending some lectures by Natanael Beskow, a non-ordained pacifist preacher who led "Förbundet för kristet samhällsliv" ("the Swedish association for Christian social life"), Giertz became convinced of the existence of God and the historicity of Jesus.