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The Third DegreeLane Craig to debate atheists in UK tourUCCF has historically been committed to communicating the unchanging gospel into a rapidly changing world. The challenges of this task can seem overwhelming — a culture that rejects the notion of truth, a society that turns its back on God, a church that seems all too willing to soft-pedal the hardest parts of the message. Yet for the thousands of students in Christian Unions around the country, communicating the gospel is an urgent task that must be done for the sake of those who know nothing of Jesus. The conundrum for gospel communicators today is to faithfully tell the ancient good news, but to do so in a way that is winsome and relevant to a culture in which Christianity is a distant and distorted memory; to be committed to truth while engaging authentically with what Flannery O’Connor called a ‘Christ-haunted world’. Much of that world is suspicious of truth-claims, unmoved by religion and cynical about personal faith. Equipping the churchIs faith reasonable? That’s the question that Dr. William Lane Craig is considering in his lectures and debates around the UK. Dr. Craig, Research Professor of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology in California, USA, is conducting debates with academics, giving public lectures, and speaking at campus lunch bar events. He has been invited to the UK by UCCF in a bid to help equip students and the wider church with the intellectual arguments for Christianity, and to teach them how to evangelise in our increasingly secular society. Dr. Craig is well-known as a debater and intellectual, who earned a doctorate in philosophy at Birmingham University and then a doctorate in theology at the University of Munich. He has a specialist interest in the philosophy of science. A popular international lecturer on university campuses, Dr. Craig has authored or edited over 30 books, including his signature work Reasonable Faith, as well as over 100 articles in professional journals of philosophy and theology. Many of his articles and debates are available online. The UCCF ‘Reasonable Faith Tour’ features four major debates, including two entitled ‘Is God a delusion?’ Although Richard Dawkins’s recent book clearly inspired the title, Professor Dawkins declined the opportunity to debate the topic with Dr. Craig at Westminster’s Central Hall. Professor Lewis Wolpert of University College London accepted an invitation to replace Dawkins, and John Humphrys, who recently presented Radio 4’s ‘The Search for God’, will chair the debate on Tuesday February 27. In addition to the debates, Dr. Craig is giving five lectures addressing topics such as ‘The Evidence for Christianity’ and the perennial ‘How Can a Good God Allow Suffering and Evil?’ All of these events convey Dr. Craig’s conviction that Christian faith is not only based on reason and evidence, but that it also answers the search for meaning in an otherwise absurd universe. Christianity is true, not just because it provides an answer to mankind’s deepest questions, but because evidence and reason support its claims. A significant opportunityDr. Peter May, the tour organiser and chairman of UCCF, said: ‘Bill Craig is a highly gifted communicator and one of Christianity’s foremost apologists. This is in no small part due to his breadth of expertise. He speaks with authority on issues ranging from science to ethics, from philosophy to biblical studies, from Islam to history. He is a very able debater, having formally debated with some of the world’s leading academic atheists. Bill studies their writings carefully and brings a freshness and an intellectual credibility to Christian evangelism, which this country urgently needs to hear. ‘Nowadays, evangelism has developed into a long-term, personal relationship strategy, and of course that’s important. But at the heart of most evangelism lay fundamental, intellectual questions about the Christian faith which, by and large, Christians struggle to answer. Bill Craig demonstrates the value of both hard work and courtesy in his dialogues with unbelievers.’ UCCF sees Dr. Craig’s visit as a strategically significant opportunity for the whole church in the UK. Here is a chance to expose friends and family to the reasonableness of Christianity, and to see local churches equipped to defend the faith robustly, with confidence in its intellectual credibility. These unique high-profile events provide a chance we should grasp with both hands by inviting friends, promoting, and attending. Daniel Hames,
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