William Lane Craig and Joseph E. Gorra. A Reasonable Response: Answers to Tough Questions on God, Christianity and the Bible. Chicago: Moody Publishers, 2013.
I would like to thank Moody Publishers for my review copy of this book. See here for Moody’s page about it.
I liked this book a lot more than I thought I would. I was expecting
a book in which questioners would ask the same stock questions about
God, Christianity, and the Bible, and William Lane Craig would give the
usual stock Christian apologetic answers. But, overall, I was impressed
by both the questions and the answers, whether I agreed with them or
not. Many of the questioners had thought about William Lane Craig’s
arguments, and there were times when the questions were as lengthy and
philosophical as some of Dr. Craig’s answers! And William Lane Craig in
his answers impressed me as one who is well-read and has a grasp of
nuance.
As one who is more on the liberal side of the religious spectrum, I
appreciated that Dr. Craig appeared open-minded, accepting, or at least
tolerant on such issues as biblical inerrancy, different
conceptualizations of the atonement, the use of methodological
naturalism in science, the question of whether the biblical Conquest
historically happened, and historical criticism of the Bible. I also
learned new things from the book, such as the philosophical debate about
whether or not time is tenseless (i.e., the past, present, and future
exist simultaneously). Moreover, Dr. Craig offered valuable insights on
Christian and practical living, and I appreciated the times when he
shared details about himself as a person (i.e., his Christian testimony,
his struggle with a neuromuscular disorder, his marriage, the times
when he was picked last for athletic teams as a child, etc.). Moreover,
Dr. Craig had beautiful things to say about humility in learning.
In terms of what I did not like about his responses, I thought that
there were times when he could have been more tactful rather than
putting down questioners’ statements or arguments, and I also did not
care for his advice to a Christian struggling with doubt that he not
read atheistic websites and that he let people more competent do so.
That struck me as a promotion of closed-mindedness. I also did not like
Dr. Craig’s sentiment that a number of atheists do not believe in God on
account of spiritual or moral problems rather than (primarily) for
intellectual reasons. But Dr. Craig may think that he has to believe
that way, since Romans 1 says that everyone knows that God exists, but
people choose to repress that knowledge.
If there was one issue in the book that especially stood out me, it
was that of not knowing. The first question in the book was about
skepticism: How can we be certain of anything (i.e., that the universe
has a cause), when there is so much that we do not know, and thus we are
unaware of so many possibilities? I got annoyed with how Dr. Craig
often argued against skepticism by saying that it is self-refuting:
that, if we cannot know anything, then that means that we cannot trust
the claim that we cannot know anything. That is a fairly decent point,
but it does not mean that all of the skeptics’ arguments are without
merit, on some level. It was interesting to me how Dr. Craig interacted
with the topic of not knowing throughout the book. Before he tried to
reconcile Gospel contradictions regarding Jesus’ crucifixion, he said
that there are things about history that we do not know, perhaps as a
way to warn skeptics of the Bible not to be too hasty when they claim
that the Bible is historically inaccurate. Dr. Craig explained why he
believes that an intelligent being caused the universe, rather than
accepting the argument that there are other possible causes that we may
not know about. And Dr. Craig affirmed that the inner witness of the
Holy Spirit is a better foundation for faith than resting it on the
latest issue of The Philosophical Issue or the most recent
archeological discoveries. These discussions highlighted to me how not
knowing can be used as an argument for and against Christianity, as well
as the limits of classical apologetics.
Joseph E. Gorra was the other author of this book. His contributions
included thoughtful essays about how study should have a goal beyond
satisfying curiosity; ways to bring apologetics into the family, home,
and workplace; and how to interact in online discussions. Although
Gorra did not say so explicitly, my impression was that he was
responding to popular criticisms of classical apologetics: that it
focuses on winning arguments, that it leads to pride, etc. Gorra was
promoting humility, a willingness to learn from others, wisdom and
prudence in interactions, and loving those with whom one disagrees.
Gorra also contributed little blurbs inside of a number of Dr. Craig’s
answers to questions, highlighting what one can learn from Dr. Craig’s
approach.
Finally, I appreciated the numerous references in the book to
sources. A number of the articles and debates that the book mentions
can be accessed online and for free, and the book provides readers with
web addresses. The book also refers to books on certain subjects,
labeling them according to their level of difficulty. This will be
valuable for those who want to learn more.