William Lane Craig UK Tour

November 14, 2011 — 5 Comments
Reasonable Faith

For an introduction to Dr. Craig pick up Reasonable Faith

It has been a couple of weeks since William Lane Craig visited the UK. I was privileged to catch Dr. Craig a number of times – twice in London and then at the Sheldonian Theatre, Oxford (see below for the full video of that evening).

Dr. Craig is one of the foremost Christian philosophers of his generation and argues in the Academy that belief in God is credible. It was fascinating to hear first hand from him of the ‘renaissance’ of Christian Philosophy in the last 40-50 years. For more on that take a look at God and the Philosophers edited by Thomas Morris.

Hype

Before Craig came to England an invitation was extended to Professor Richard Dawkins to a debate in Oxford. Dawkins declined the offer, blowing off the evening with contempt. He then penned an article in the Guardian the week prior to the event stating his reasons for not attending.

This article, laced with invective, drew responses from fellow Oxford academics and atheists. Daniel Came responded in the Guardian a couple of days later labelling Dawkins’ refusal to debate as “cynical and anti-intellectual”.

Tim Stanley added to the conversation in the Telegraph, who asks if Dawkins is a coward for his no-show.

Peter Hitchens, who attended the evening at the Sheldonian, sums up the evening from his eyes in An Evening Without Richard Dawkins.

It is encouraging to hear that Christianity is once more being taken seriously in philosophy departments across the world. It is becoming increasingly apparent that Professor Dawkins and his fellow ‘new atheists’ need to catch up to a conversation that is moving at a rapid pace and of a very high quality.

The Take Home

William Lane Craig has devoted his life to defending Christianity through his academic field and has committed to doing it at the highest level. It is a commitment spanning decades and with much toil. Academia is tough. The processes involved are rigorous and require skill and commitment.

His passion isn’t a fleeting feeling or a spur of the moment inspiration. It is born of conviction.

So I ask, what are you called to? What will you spend your life for?

For more on William Lane Craig check out his website. For more audio and video recordings check out Unbelievable? on Premier.

William Lane Craig at The Sheldonian

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Jonathan Sherwin

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Jonathan likes to write on the church, philosophy, culture and the mix of all three. A graduate of the Oxford Centre for Christian Apologetics, Jonathan lives and works in Oxford.
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  • steven

    As the person responsible for bringing Craig’s article to the eyes of Dawkins, and from thence to the eyes of the world, the tour was a public relations disaster for Craig, who will now be ever more known as the man who can think of soldiers killing women and children and take pity on the soldiers for the brutalising effect on them of obeying Craig’s god.

    Everywhere Craig goes, his words about murder being morally obligatory will surface.

    CRAIG
    Rather, since our moral duties are determined by God’s commands, it is commanding someone to do something which, in the absence of a divine command, would have been murder. The act was morally obligatory for the Israeli soldiers in virtue of God’s command, even though, had they undertaken it on their on initiative, it would have been wrong.On divine command theory, then, God has the right to command an act, which, in the absence of a divine command, would have been sin, but which is now morally obligatory in virtue of that command.

    • http://www.jonathansherwin.net Jonathan Sherwin

      Hi Steven. It was an interesting evening at the Sheldonian. The question over OT morality has been following Craig around for some time. Logically, Craig’s answer made sense but it did have an unpalatable edge to it.

      It would be good to spend an evening debating just that question, rather than having it come up in the Q&A session at the very end of the night.

      Thanks for your comments!

  • steven

    CRAIG
    We are so wedded to an earthly, naturalistic perspective that we forget that those who die are happy to quit this earth for heaven’s incomparable joy.

    CARR
    As the Bible says, greater love hath no man that that he is happy to quit this earth for heaven’s incomparable joy.

    Why all the big fuss about Jesus dying for our sins, when Craig assures us Jesus was happy to quit this earth for heaven’s incomparable joy?

    When Christians go on and on and on and on about Jesus dying for our sins they should read William Lane Craig who doesn’t forget that those who die are happy to quit this earth for heaven’s incomparable joy.

    • http://www.jonathansherwin.net Jonathan Sherwin

      Part of the “big fuss” is to do with the nature of Jesus’ torture and death. If you’re interested, there’s more too … Jesus experienced separation from God on the cross, something so awful that we can’t fully comprehend the nature of that separation. Be happy to post more if there’s interested.

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