Who is William Lane Craig?
Why he’s the scholar that tough-minded Christians admire the most. He has amazing academic credentials, and has authored many works in defense of Christianity. But that’s not the main reason why we like him. It’s mainly because he is has done more to defend Christianity against the strongest and most dangerous non-Christians in the world than anyone else.
How many debates?
There is actually a comprehensive list of a few of his debates maintained by ChristianJR4. There are many, many more that were not preserved.
Here are a few that I recommend:
- William Lane Craig vs Austin Dacey on God’s existence
- William Lane Craig vs James Crossley on the resurrection of Jesus
- William Lane Craig vs Paul Kurtz on God and morality
I would go so far as to say that anyone who is not familiar with Dr. Craig’s work should immediately drop what they are doing and pick up his latest book “On Guard”, with the new study guide, and start reading. But it might be more fun to just watch him in a debate first. You will not be sorry.
Feel free to leave a comment recommending your favorite debate with William Lane Craig, or telling a story about how one of his debates influenced your faith journey.
WINTERY KNIGHT 
I haven’t had time to watch that many of his debates, but hopefully I’ll be able to watch some more over the summer.
Out of the ones I have seen, I enjoyed WLC vs Lewis Wolpert, as it was the first one I saw and so the first time I had heard Craig’s amazing arguments, and the atheist has no response and gets beaten up completely!! That one doesn’t seem to be on your list though.
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One of my favorites is his debate against Frank Zindler. Zindler was the chosen champion of the American Atheists Association (may have that name wrong) and was expected to wipe the floor with Craig. Instead, Craig emerged the clear winner. What made this debate stand out in my mind is that Zindler threw out a number of criticisms of the Bible that were not directly on point with the subject of God’s existence. Craig dismissed these objections (as he usually does) as simply challenges to inerrancies rather than God’s existence, but then proceeded to give succinct but comprehensive rebuttals to each one. I was staggered by the breadth of Craig’s knowledge. He creds as a theologian as well as a philosopher really shined here and showed just how prepared he before going into any debate.
Another favorite is his debate against the arch-liberal, Bishop Shelby Spong. Spong is a good rhetorician and although he speaks elegantly and even persuasively (to some) in favor of a non-bodily resurrection, he ultimately he says very little. Craig demolishes Song’s vacuous claims by relying on logical arguments and evidence.
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Like many others here, I highly admire Dr. Craig. I’ve been reading up on him and listening to his podcasts and debates for about two years now, and I have really learned a lot from him, although there are still tons about his work in apologetics that I’m still trying to understand.
I live in the Philippines and his books are not available here, so I asked for help from the RF forum, because I really want to study his books in depth, and I’m also planning, with the help of my wife, to someday help start an apologetics study/ reading group here. Amazingly, someone volunteered to help and he sent me the following books: Reasonable Faith, Contending With Christianity’s Critics, including On Guard! I was blown away from his great generousity! The books are on the way and I can’t wait to read them.
He also sent me The Case For Christ (book and movie), and The Case For the Resurrection of Jesus!
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Hey, Dante. What province in the Philippines are you at? A number of my colleagues and I started 3 “schools” in the Visayas region to pursue apologetics and instilling a better understanding of the biblical worldview. I say “schools” with quotations are they are not official schools where people are going to get credentials. Instead the main aim is for Christians to know Christianity better and to help others understand it as well.
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Let me know if you guys want exchange e-mails! I have a good friend from the Philippines.
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Hello sir,
That’s great! Are you Filipino?
I’m from Cebu, which is part of the Visayas region.
Can you tell me more about your “school”? Do you study apologetics?
Thanks and nice to hear from you.
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@WK: Hi! Do you have Harold’s email add? Still haven’t heard from him. Thanks!
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Hey Dante, I’m William and from Manila… I also have your same sentiments… WLC’s books are not available here… That’s why I am just resorting to his debates and few scholarly articles.Do we have a Reasonable Faith chapter here in the Philippines, because I would really like to join and be an active member and I think that would be an awesome start so that Apologetics would flourish here in our country… please email me: williamellencuartel@yahoo.com
Thanks and good luck to all of us!
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