For longer than I’d like to admit, I’ve been following the evangelical philosopher William Lane Craig around the country — to Atlanta, Chicago, Indiana, Los Angeles, and Atlanta again. I found out about him while working on my book, God in Proof, and couldn’t seem to get enough. Today, my profile of Craig appears as the cover story of The Chronicle of Higher Education‘s Chronicle Review. I tried to do for him what Time magazine did for C.S. Lewis in the 1940s, when it dubbed him “apostle to the skeptics.” Here’s a bit:
There’s a prophecy in the Book of Joel, paraphrased later in the New Testament: “Your young men will see visions, and your old men will dream dreams.” Maybe something of that is being fulfilled in the simultaneously tightening and loosening effect of Craig’s presence. One on one, the younger students err on the side of acting holier-than-thou, while the older ones let a mild curse word or two slip. For both, this philosophy is changing their lives.
Read the whole article at The Chronicle.
Also, check out my addendum at Killing the Buddha: “7 Habits of a Highly Effective Philosopher.”
Comments
2 responses to “The New Theist”
Actually, the debate is headed for philosophy of logic and other meta-theoretic issues, so Craig has been wise to delve into these areas for the last decade.
After all, the criteria for analyzing the issue of God’s existence is itself already God-level—an issue almost universally avoided by both sides in the God debate, even in academic philosophy.
Background criteria, self-reference, and general meta-theoretic issues are almost universally avoided in academia today (and not just in philosophy). Craig is apparently hip to the emerging call of philosophy’s bluff. although he’s been talking about self-referential issues for decades. For that, I salute him.
Great article, Nathan. I thought that it was well written, balanced and instead of the usual “will they / won’t they debate” question you offered us an insight into WLC the man.