Posts by William Lane Craig

William Lane Craig

William Lane Craig is a visiting scholar in philosophy at Talbot School of Theology. He lives in Atlanta, Ga., with his wife Jan and their two teenage children Charity and John. At age 16, while a junior in high school, he first heard the message of the Christian gospel and yielded his life to Christ. He has authored or edited over thirty books, including The Kalam Cosmological Argument; Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus; Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom; Theism, Atheism and Big Bang Cosmology; and God, Time and Eternity, as well as over a hundred articles in professional journals of philosophy and theology. In 2016, Craig was named by The Best Schools as one of the fifty most influential living philosophers.

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The Good Book Blog
Christus Victor Theory of the Atonement
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — February 16, 2018
This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig. Mr. Craig, Thank you very much for your ministry. It has helped me very much in deepening my understanding why we, as Christians, believe what we believe. I am an Orthodox Christian and although in our tradition, reason is secondary to the experience of the Divine through good works of unconditional love, I have benefited immensely from your work when talking to anyone who may not necessarily be open to claims of experience ...
The Good Book Blog
Original Sin
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — February 09, 2018
This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig. Salaam Dr. Craig. A Muslim reader here. Your public and private work in natural theology has, I think, saved a generation of believers from superstition and error. I thank you sincerely for your sacrifice and labor. My question regards the confusing connection between original sin and Christ's sacrifice.
The Good Book Blog
Fine Tuning and Different Laws of Nature
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — February 02, 2018
This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig. Hi Dr Craig, I have been watching your excursus on natural theology and am upto the part about teleology. You mention an objection to the argument, that we could have other natural laws and it could be more probable than not, with other sets of laws, that life permitting universes do exist just by chance. You say we just don't know the answer here ...
The Good Book Blog
How Will We Be Different in Heaven?
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — January 26, 2018
This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig. I have been asking questons about my next life in heaven with the Lord and have yet to find a pastor or sunday shool teacher willing to discuss the issues I want to tallk about. Take for instance the question of "will heaven be an extension of our earthly life? Will we have interactions with our family members and earthly friends? Do you believe we will be walking on "street of gold"? If so why will that be such a big deal? ...
The Good Book Blog
Intriguing Questions about Middle Knowledge
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — January 19, 2018
This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig. Dr. Craig, First, thank you very much for your monumental service to the cause of the Christ! I have some very troubled, agnostic family members and friends that I have either directed to your site or confronted with some of the arguments you present, and they have expressed some very positive feedback. My agnostic family member, for example, wrote me some time ago and said he is now a huge fan and enjoys listening to your input about "almost anything." It means a lot to me and to his immediate family to know that he is seeking truth and has found your ministry helpful. So I send my personal thanks! ...
The Good Book Blog
Atheistic Quagmire
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — January 12, 2018
This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig. Dear Dr. Craig I am a recent convert to Christianity, up until about 2 months ago I was a nihilistic atheist. Because of being an atheist most of my life, the majority of my friends are also atheist and are very eager to tell me how wrong I am about God using the writings of Hitchens, Dawkins, etc. It's because of you, Alvin Plantinga, Frank Turek, John Lennox, Ravi Zecharias and some C S Lewis that I've started to realize that Christianity might be true ...
The Good Book Blog
Middle Knowledge and Scriptural Inspiration Once More
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — January 05, 2018
This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig. ]Dear Dr. Craig: Your reply to last week's QOTW regarding the inspiration of the Epistles raised a very interesting metaphysical/modality question that I would love to hear you address ...
The Good Book Blog
Why Didn’t God Create Only Those who He Knew Would Believe in Him?
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — December 29, 2017
This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig. Dr. Craig, Thank you for taking the time to review my question and your tireless effort addressing many of the questions from Christians, Muslims, skeptics, etc. throughout the years. I realize your time is precious, so I'll try to keep my question brief and to the point ...
The Good Book Blog
Where Have Christian Academics Been Hiding?
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — December 22, 2017
This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig. Dear Dr. Craig, About two years ago I watched your debate with Michael Payton in which you made the startling remark that in the past half century a revolution had taken place regarding Christian philosophy in the Anglo-Saxon realm ...
The Good Book Blog
Inspiration and the Occasional NT Epistles
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — December 15, 2017
This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig. Dr. Craig, First I would like to thank you for your tireless efforts to propel Christianity toward intellectual relevance for so many of the lost. I have always found it so helpful and encouraging.
The Good Book Blog
Does God Have a Specific Marriage Partner for you?
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — December 08, 2017
This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig. Hi Dr. Craig, I'd like to probe you more on your views of divine providence and marriage in particular. I believe you've said that God has a specific marriage partner intended for each person (unless perhaps that person is somehow called to celibacy) ...
The Good Book Blog
Finding a Confident Christian Faith
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — December 01, 2017
This is the weekly Q & A blog post by our Research Professor in Philosophy, Dr. William Lane Craig. You make a distinction, which I accept, between “knowing” and “showing” that something is true. But the thing is that I don’t know that the Resurrection is true, therefore, assuming it is, I need to be shown this. The problem is that, from the standpoint of the skeptical but open-minded seeker, as I consider myself to be, when looked at dispassionately the historical evidence is, while perhaps sufficient for corroboration of what one already believes, for the rest of us fragmentary and unconvincing ...
The Good Book Blog
The Future of the North American Church?
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — November 24, 2017
... I take your question, Uli, not because I have much to say by way of answer to your desperate plea, but rather because your letter serves to warn Christian brothers and sisters of what awaits the church in North America if present trends continue unchecked ...
The Good Book Blog
Vilenkin on the Universe’s Coming into Being without a Cause
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — November 17, 2017
... While I do not wish for anyone to be a non-theist, I must confess that Alex Vilenkin’s being an agnostic about God is dialectically advantageous for the proponent of the kalām cosmological argument, since it pulls the rug from beneath anyone who claims that belief that the universe began to exist is due to one’s theological commitments or that dreaded disorder of “confirmation bias.” Vilenkin has no theological axe to grind concerning this scientific question and so can be ruthlessly objective ...
The Good Book Blog
Why Doesn’t the Bible Speak to Me?
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — November 10, 2017
... Before I address your questions, Marc, let me say how much I admire you for your willingness to allow your son to follow, if he desires, religious convictions different than your own and not to forbid him. What you would be “depriving him of exactly,” should you forbid him to follow the path of Christian discipleship, is freedom of conscience and freedom of religious expression, which, I’m sure you’ll agree, are pretty fundamental rights ...
The Good Book Blog
Must We Prove God’s Superlative Attributes?
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — November 03, 2017
... I take your question, Joe, because it embodies what seems to be a common confusion. Success in natural theology (i.e., arguments for God’s existence) is not determined by whether one’s argument proves all of the attributes of God (much less His omni- attributes!). The argument needs to raise the plausibility or probability that God exists to count as successful ...
The Good Book Blog
Is an All-Loving God Better?
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — October 27, 2017
... Thanks for your question, Raef! I don’t think I’ve ever taken a question from Jordan before! In determining what sort of being a morally perfect being would be, we must consult our moral intuitions. Is it better to be fair rather than prejudiced? Is it better to be a caring person rather than indifferent? Is it better to regard other persons as ends in themselves rather than as mere means to be used for one’s own ends? Usually, we can answer such questions by thinking about how people ought to treat one another or how we think others ought to treat us ...
The Good Book Blog
How to Cure Slow Thinking
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — October 20, 2017
... I can really sympathize with your plight, Daniel! I’m sure that everyone one of us has come away from a conversation with an unbeliever feeling defeated and discouraged and thinking, “Why didn’t I say this?” We admire people who have a mind like a steel trap, ready to spring instantly. I well remember as a young philosopher the awe I felt of George Mavrodes, a professor at the University of Michigan, who, sitting in some session at a philosophy conference and hearing a paper read for the first time, would ask the most penetrating questions from the floor. How I wished to have a mind like his! Well, there is hope. Such a mind is the product of training and development. It need not come naturally, nor is God apt to heal your slow thinking with prayer apart from diligent study and exercise. But my experience has been that with practice one can improve one’s ability to think acutely and quickly ...
The Good Book Blog
Jesus’ God
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — October 13, 2017
... A former Muslim (now Christian) friend once remarked to me, “Muslim evangelism is a crash course in Christian doctrine.” Your question, Abdullah, so well illustrates that remark. You have opened the door to discussion of some very profound doctrines about God and Christ. To begin with, you are quite right in inferring that if any human being regards someone as God, he must also regard that person as his Creator, since God is the Creator of all that exists apart from Himself. Since Christians regard Jesus as God, they also explicitly acknowledge him as the Creator (see Gospel of John 1.1-3; Colossians 1.15-17; Hebrews 1.1-3) ...
The Good Book Blog
Brute Facts and the Argument from Contingent Beings
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — October 06, 2017
... Your question, Austin, is about (1), which I call “a modest version of the Principle of Sufficient Reason” which “circumvents the typical objections to strong versions of that principle.” Leibniz’s own formulation of the Principle of Sufficient Reason in his treatise The Monadology was very strong: "no fact can be real or existent, no statement true, unless there be a sufficient reason why it is so and not otherwise." Notice that for Leibniz every fact, every true statement, must have an explanation. That entails that there are no brute facts, that is, facts without explanation. By contrast, as I explain in Reasonable Faith, my more modest formulation of the Principle “merely requires any existing thing to have an explanation of its existence. This premiss is compatible with there being brute facts about the world” (p. 107). My version of the Principle denies that there are beings which exist without any explanation. That’s all I need for the argument to go through ...
The Good Book Blog
How Can Christ’s Death Satisfy Divine Justice?
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — September 29, 2017
... For those who don’t remember, Lance Ito was the judge in the infamous O.J. Simpson murder trial. Simpson was actually acquitted, but you’re asking why, had he been found guilty, some other person might not have borne his sentence for him, given that Christ bore our sentence of death for us. I want to be very precise about your question, Tomislav. Your question is not about the morality of penal substitution. Rather your question is about the satisfaction of justice. How can the demands of retributive justice be met by punishing a substitute in one case but not the other? ...
The Good Book Blog
Worshiping a God Who Might Damn Your Children
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — September 22, 2017
... There are actually two different questions here which are being run together, the first a psychological question (“How can you love and worship a God who you believe would do that to your children?”) and the second a philosophical question (“How can you think that is a fair and reasonable thing for anyone or anything to do?”). The psychological question is nothing more than an emotionally loaded red herring. It is just an inquiry about one’s personal psychological state. It is a request for an autobiographical report about one’s subjective condition. As such, its answer will be person-relative and have nothing to do with objective truth ...
The Good Book Blog
Millennial Skepticism and Despair
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — September 15, 2017
Dear Dr. Craig, I am writing to you not as one academic to another, like most of the posters on Reasonable Faith, but as a concerned parent and Christ-follower seeking ways to reach disillusioned and disheartened millennials; my young adult son, in particular. Whatever one's political leanings, I think most thinking individuals can agree on the rampant corruption and degeneration of our modern civilization today, and I believe this is where much of the disillusionment and hopeless feeling of young adults comes in ...
The Good Book Blog
How Can Space Be Flat but Finite?
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — September 08, 2017
We have established using philosophical arguments the impossibility of an actual infinite (I'm referring to an infinite set of objects, not an Infinite God which is not impossible), but I have read again and again that "the majority and best supported by the data hypothesis in physics is that the universe is flat and spatially infinite". Does this mean our philosophy was wrong, or does it mean that physicists have got necessarily something wrong, since their conclusion is against clear and distinct philosophical facts? ...
The Good Book Blog
What is God's Purpose in Life?
Weekly Q & A with Dr. William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig — September 01, 2017
Hi Dr. Craig, I appreciate your work for the kingdom of Christ. You have been of great influence in my life as a Christian. I recently came across this piece by an unknown skeptic that was reviewing a book by Stewart Goetz ( The Purpose Of Life: A Theistic Perspective) "The first question that seems fitting when discussing the purpose of life from a theistic perspective is: what is the purpose of God's life? If our being/life is somehow derived from God's being/life, then any relevant discussion of human purpose must be contingent upon God's purpose. But since purpose necessarily entails an initial directive, a beginning-less being cannot have a purpose. A being that has no origin or beginning cannot exist for anything. Since it would follow that this supposed being's actions must derive from the nature of its existence, it would be hard to logically defend the existence of purposeful actions resulting from a being that must be categorically devoid of purpose. " I'm completely puzzle by this. Does God exist for something? Can it be said that if God had remain in eternity without creating he would be living a purposeless life? ...