Who Is William Lane Craig?

William Lane Craig is a Scholar of Philosophy, a well-respected apologist for the Christian faith, and a professor of Philosophy at Houston Baptist University. Craig has been a part of many influential debates and has written many books on various subjects, including the resurrection, the kalam cosmological argument, and free will.

Early Life

Craig was born on August 23, 1949, in Peoria, Illinois, to Mallory and Doris Craig. It didn’t take long for the young man to discover his passion for learning and speech. Throughout high school, he cultivated his skills in public speaking and debate. Over time he became an excellent presenter and won the oratory category at a local state championship.

As he got older, he began thinking about faith and the validity of Christianity. At 16, Craig heard the Gospel for the first time. The Gospel message profoundly impacted the young man, and in 1965 he committed his life to Christ. This event proved to be a pivotal moment that ignited a desire to study theology and philosophy.

In an interview with, Focus On The Family, Craig describes his journey like this.

“Well, I come from a non-Christian family, so, when I came to Christ in high school, I wanted to share my faith with my brother and with non-Christian friends in high school. So, I was immediately confronted with the necessity of providing reasons for my new-found faith…. This interest was sharpened as I went to Wheaton College, where I was taught to integrate my faith and learning. It was there that I felt the call to go into an area of evangelism that would appeal to the head as well as the heart.”

A Few Minutes With DR. William Lane Craig [1]

Education

In 1971 he graduated from Wheaton College with a B.A.; later, in 1974, he received an M.A. from Trinity Evangelical Divinity Scholl. However, despite all this academic success, he was not ready to call it a day. In 1977 he earned his PH.D. from Birmingham (England), and in 1984 he received a Doctorate in Theology from the University of Munich (Germany).

Career

As of 2022, Craig is a visiting scholar of Philosophy at Talbot School of Theology and a professor of Philosophy at Houston Baptist University. However, before he took these positions, Craig was a professor of The Philosophy of Religion at Trinity College. After working for the school for six years, he moved to Brussels, Belgium, to do research at the University of Louvain.

The Kalam Cosmological Argument

Although William Lane Craig has enjoyed a very successful academic career, he is most widely known for his work in apologetics. Specifically with the Kalam Cosmological argument. This argument was first constructed by a Muslim scholar named Al-Ghazali.

“Every being which begins has a cause for its beginning; now the world is a being which begins; therefore, it possesses a cause for its beginning.”

Craig, William Lane. Reasonable Faith [2]

Today, Craig and most modern philosophers formulate the Kalam Cosmological argument like this.

1. Everything that begins to exist has a cause.
2. The universe began to exist.
3. Therefore, the universe has a cause.

From this premises, Craig goes on to argue that the “cause” (or creator) of our universe is an uncaused, beginningless, changeless, immaterial, timeless, spaceless, enormously powerful, personal creator (i.e., the Judeo-Christian God).

Other Arguments From William Lane Craig

Craig has also worked on the Teleological or Design argument and the Objective Moral Values argument.

William Lane Craig Debates

Debate and public speaking have been a big part of his life and faith since the beginning.

“I remember when I first read the Gospels as an unbeliever I was so impressed with Jesus. He was so masterful in dialectic – as the way he says, “he maneuvered in conversation” or cut the ground from beneath his accusers by his skill in argument.”

How a French Atheist Became a Christian Theologian [3]

In 1982 he debated the existence of God with Kai Nielsen, a professor at the University of Calgary. The debate went well, and Craig began accepting other debate offers. Throughout his career, he has gone toe to toe with several intellectual heavy hitters, including Sam Harris, Shabir Ally, Christopher Hitchens, Lawrence M. Krauss, Lewis Wolpert, Antony Flew, Sean Carroll, Sir Roger Penrose, Peter Atkins, Bart Ehrman, Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Paul Draper, Gerd Lüdemann, and A. C. Grayling.

Here are some free William Lane Craig debates on YouTube.

1. Does God Exist? Christopher Hitchens
2. The God Debate II
3. Debating the Resurrection of Jesus: Peter Atkins
4. Austin Dacey, “Does God Exist?”
5. Does God Exist? Antony Flew
6. Keith Parsons, “Why I Am/Am Not A Christian”
7. Shabir Ally, “Did Jesus Rise from the Dead?”

Books By William Lane Craig

William Lane Craig is the author of over thirty books and has published articles in professional philosophy journals. Some of his works include:

See our collection of quotes from William Lane Craig.

Sources

• A Few Minutes With DR. [1]
• Craig, William Lane. Reasonable Faith [2]
• How a French Atheist Became a Christian Theologian [3]
• Famousphilosophers.org
• Reasonablefaith.org

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