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2010 Year in Review

January 06, 2011     Time: 00:9:22
2010 Year in Review

Transcript 2010: Year in Review

 

Kevin Harris: Welcome to the Reasonable Faith podcast. I'm Kevin Harris, once again in studio with Dr. William Lance Craig. Bill, this has been an exciting year. And so many things – something like eight debates occurred this year?

Dr. Craig: Yes, that's right. I had eight debates this year, Kevin, some of which were with very significant opponents. People, for example, like the philosopher Micheal Tooley, who has enunciated what Alvin Plantinga has called the most sophisticated form of the problem of evil from any atheist philosopher to date, or the debate that I had in South Africa, partnered with Micheal Licona, against the liberal South African theologians Spangenberg and Vomerans; or the recent encounter with Richard Dawkins in Mexico City. Just a number of extraordinary debates this past year.

Kevin Harris: A lot of people thought that that exchange with Richard Dawkins was never going to happen.

Dr. Craig: Including me [laughter].

Kevin Harris: I know. Many people have said that the two of you need to have a dialogue and an exchange, and maybe there will be one in the future, maybe this will open it up. But we will talk about that very exciting event in Mexico in a podcast—so stay close because we want a full synopsis of that.

Dr. Craig: Okay. I've got a speaking trip that's in the works for 2011 back to England again where I'll be doing lectures and debates on British campuses and in central London. And I know the organizers are going to be trying to approach Richard Dawkins again, saying, “Well, now, you've done it once in Mexico City, why not do it again?” And we'll see if he's willing to participate.

Kevin Harris: Let's put this thing to rest, Richard. Let's have an exchange here. So there were significant debates, and also some conferences that I want to get into and detail, but talk about the conferences that you organized and spoke at.

Dr. Craig: Well, in 2010 I began to speak at apologetics conferences in a way that I really haven't in the past. In the past my focus has been on university evangelistic speaking, but I've come to see in recent years, Kevin, that training other Christians in the defense of their faith is really just as important as speaking myself to unbelievers. If I can train others to do what I'm doing then that will multiply the impact of our ministry even greater. So I've begun selectively to speak at some apologetics conferences. And in 2010 I spoke at three very significant apologetics conferences. One was out in the San Francisco Bay area at Bayside Church. We had over 1500 people at this conference at which I spoke. And then later in November at the Reasonable Faith Dallas Chapter apologetics conference at Denton Bible Church, we, again, had over 1500 people in attendance. And then most recently at the conference Set Forth Your Case held in Atlanta at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, and the attendance of that one was similarly over 1500 people. So with these major conferences I think Reasonable Faith is going to have a broad impact in helping to awaken people to the need for apologetics as part of Christian discipleship, and to train people to give an answer for the hope that's in them. So during the coming year, 2011, we're looking at doing some more of these apologetics conferences around the county.

Kevin Harris: Two things will help: one is to get a Reasonable Faith chapter started in your local community, and that will help in the organization of maybe bringing a Reasonable Faith conference—we call them On Guard.

Dr. Craig: Yes, that's really true. For example, the Dallas chapter, though it's very active, is not a huge chapter – I think they probably have around eighty people involved – and this was the first conference they ever put on. But Biola University, with which I'm associated, is willing to partner with Reasonable Faith in putting on these conferences. And so the Biola people really helped Chris Shannon in putting together this conference, and then the response was tremendous. So if there is anybody out there who's doing a Reasonable Faith local chapter kind of program they should think about partnering with Biola and Reasonable Faith to hold a major conference.

Kevin Harris: I think that apologetics and apologetics curriculum and education ought to be ongoing at our churches, in our Bible studies, in our home groups, and so on. But every once in a while it's good to have a conference where you can kind of put it all together, and hear some top notch speakers.

Dr. Craig: It really does gather momentum and fire the enthusiasm of the people who attend these large conferences. But I think you're absolutely right, Kevin, [1] this needs to be not just these one time events, but an ongoing part of one's discipleship. And that's where these local chapters are very helpful because it's a way in which people who are like-minded, and sometimes feel intellectually lonely, frankly, can come together with other folks to talk about these questions that are so stimulating, and to provoke each other, or one another, to think about these and to provide good answers. And so the chapters have continued to grow this year. We now have, at the end of 2010, about twenty-two active chapters, both here in the United States and abroad, and then quite a number of applications are in process, and hopefully these chapters will come online, then, during 2011.

Kevin Harris: 2011: you have some more events penciled in, and some firm commitments. One is an apologetics conference where you'll be speaking to young people – now that's exciting – to youth groups.

Dr. Craig: Yes, in Phoenix, Arizona, on the weekend of February 19th, Calvary Community Church in the Glendale area is putting on a major apologetics training conference that's geared towards students, not adults, they want to reach students. And so together with Sean McDowell and Steven Meyer I'll be speaking at this conference, and we hope that this will be a broad inter-church event for kids in the Phoenix area to help them understand that there are good reasons to be Christian, and that one is able to defend one's faith with good arguments and evidence when challenged.

Kevin Harris: If you want to see me get happy and dance a jig, is when a youth minister or a youth department gets excited about this area of Christian discipleship and apologetics, and make sure that their kids are equipped – very necessary – and so this is exciting, as well. Now, any debates lined up for 2011 so far?

Dr. Craig: There are some that are in the works, a couple that I have scheduled that are very exciting is one at North Carolina State University with Lawrence Krauss, the famous physicist. The topic isn't nailed down exactly, but it'll be dealing with something like 'has science eliminated the need for God?' or 'does a creator exist?', something of that nature. It'll be on God and cosmology. So that should be, I think, a very interesting dialogue. And then on April 7th I have been invited by the University of Notre Dame to participate in a debate on campus with Sam Harris, and so this will be the last of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse . . . well, not of the Apocalypse, but [laughter] . . . of the New Atheism that I will have had the chance to interact with, then, in person. So I'm really looking forward to that time with Sam Harris.

Kevin Harris: Very good—we'll talk about the topic as that's firmed up. Any idea on topics yet?

Dr. Craig: Not for certain – again, it's being discussed – but I've suggested we do it on something pertinent to Harris' new book The Moral Landscape and ask ourselves 'is the foundation for morality natural or supernatural?' – or something of that nature – 'can we be good without God?' or 'is goodness without God good enough?'—something of that nature. And Michael Rae, who is the philosopher on campus that's involved in the event liked that idea, and so we'll see what develops.

Kevin Harris: I want everyone to stand by because we are going to do a series of podcasts on these events that have taken place, on some things that are in the news right now – pertinent – answer some questions that you've sent to us at ReasonableFaith.org. By the way, get all the information you need at ReasonableFaith.org. We're going to talk more about Sam Harris—his apparent need for spirituality, even thought he's an atheist. His new book on morality—we'll deal with that a little bit. Roger Penrose and radiation rings: what does that say about the Big Bang, cosmology, the kalam cosmological argument, and so on? We will talk about your encounter with Richard Dawkins in Mexico—that's going to be coming up as well. Stand by, and thank you for joining us on Reasonable Faith. [2]