Part One: Questions on Knowing and Believing What Is Real
Part 1
QUESTIONS ON KNOWING AND BELIEVING WHAT IS REAL
Coming to understand the nature, role, and value of how beliefs and knowledge—indeed, “worldview”—operate in life is one of the most consequential lessons to learn as a human being. It is often the case that the prevailing pressures and attitudes of our society frustrate and even war against such self-understanding; for we are pressured into becoming mostly mindless, sensate, desire-fulfilling creatures of instinct. That’s how we are often expected to live and move and have our being. But one of the dignifying features of theism, and Christian theism specifically, is the acknowledgement that human beings are “more than” what our society pressures us into being. We have minds to know, hearts to grow in love and understanding, and beliefs to help order our ways in the world. Herein, the dignity of asking questions and discovering answers is given a hospitable home.
The seventeen questions in this part seek to reflect the value of knowing and believing what is real. Whether addressing the popular questions like “Does knowledge require certainty?” “Is there objective truth?” or topics that seek to grasp the role of the Holy Spirit in our belief formation and to understand how God is the basis for objective morality, this part offers a beneficial learning opportunity. In this part, questions regarding the authority of Scripture remind us of how all knowers and believers rely on testimony to some degree, but that the issue is whether such testimony is a reliable authority to trust. Many of the objections to the inspiration and inerrancy of Scripture are, ultimately, questions regarding authority.
By interacting with the questions and answers of Part One, you can benefit in the following ways.
In section 1, you can come to understand that
• “Certainty” is not a necessary condition in order to know something.
• It does matter whether someone does or does not believe in God, given the consequences of apathy and indifference.
• The distinction between knowing and showing is helpful for understanding how belief in God is “properly basic” and does not need to be swayed by merely changing evidences in order to be warranted.
• The Holy Spirit’s self-authenticating witness has real power to shape and justify our beliefs in God in view of de facto vs. de jure objections.
• Trusting our “common sense” and intuitions has a valuable role to play in knowing reality and meaningfully resisting a knowledge-assaulting skepticism.
In section 2, you can come to grasp
• The value of helping people reason to a conclusion in light of their premises.
• How arguments function.
• How to avoid formal and informal logical fallacies.
• How to think about what it means to make a good (apologetics) argument.
• How “thinking logically” is not merely an academic exercise or a way to manipulate people.
In section 3, you can come to discern
• How you can know there is objective morality.
• The value of appealing to one’s moral experience as a way of grasping objective moral values.
• How God is the basis for morality.
• Why it is important to distinguish between moral reality and knowing moral reality.
• Why atheism does not provide an adequate basis for objective moral values and duties.
In section 4, you can come to know
• How Scripture is a trustworthy source of knowledge of reality.
• The cost of “biblical errancy.”
• How specific facts about Jesus can be established without assuming the general reliability of the gospels.
• Why it is significant to make a deductive instead of an inductive argument for biblical inerrancy.
• How God could inspire the content of Scripture’s written text in light of human authors and human ways of communicating.
The above areas have a long history in the study of philosophy of religion, philosophical theology, natural theology, epistemology, metaphysics, systematic theology, apologetics, and ethics. You can discover further background to these issues, grow your understanding, and become even more skillful in your communication of what you learn by interacting with some of these valuable resources:
Dig Deeper into Dr. Craig’s Work
BEGINNER
Craig, William Lane. On Guard: Defending Your Faith with Reason and Precision. Colorado Springs: David C. Cook Publishers, 2010. Chapters 1–2.
Craig, William Lane. “In Intellectual Neutral.” Johnson Ferry Baptist Church, Marietta, Ga. January 3, 2010. http://bit.ly/IntellectuallyNeutral.
Craig, William Lane. “Apologetics in Pastoral Ministry,” Pastors Conference in North Carolina (2006). http://bit.ly/ApologeticsPastors.
Craig, William Lane. “Advice to Christian Apologists.” Calvin College, Grand Rapids (2004). http://bit.ly/ChristianApologistAdvice.
Craig, William Lane. “Advice to (European) Christian Apologists.” Budapest, Hungary. http://bit.ly/EuroApologists
Craig, William Lane. See the collection of “One Minute Apologist” interviews at ReasonableFaith.org (http://bit.ly/RFInterviews).
INTERMEDIATE
Craig, William Lane. Reasonable Faith: Christian Truth and Apologetics. 3rd ed. Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2008. Chapters 1–2.
Moreland, J. P. and William Lane Craig. Philosophical Foundations for a Christian Worldview. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2003. Chapters 2–7, 19–22.
“Craig v. Harris: Is the Foundation of Morality Natural or Supernatural?” University of Notre Dame, Notre Dame, Ind., debate, April 7, 2011. http://bit.ly/HarrisDebate.
“Craig vs. Antony: Is God Necessary for Morality?” University of Massachusetts, Amherst, Mass., debate, April 10, 2008. http://bit.ly/CraigAntony.
ADVANCED
Craig, William Lane. “‘Men Moved By The Holy Spirit Spoke From God’ (2 Peter 1.21): A Middle Knowledge Perspective on Biblical Inspiration.” Philosophia Christi 1:1 (1999): 45–82 (http://bit.ly/MolinismInspiration).
Craig, William Lane. “The Indispensability of Theological Meta-ethical Foundations for Morality.” Foundations 5 (1997): 9–12 (http://bit.ly/FoundationsOfMorality).
Supplemental Recommended Resources
BEGINNER
Copan, Paul. True for You, But Not for Me. Minneapolis: Bethany, 1998.
Copan, Paul. That’s Just Your Interpretation. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001.
Morris, Thomas V. Making Sense of It All: Pascal and the Meaning of Life. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1992.
INTERMEDIATE
Campbell-Jack, W. C. New Dictionary of Christian Apologetics. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2006.
Copan, Paul and William Lane Craig, eds. Come Let Us Reason: New Essays in Christian Apologetics. Nashville: B&H Publishers, 2012. Chapters 1, 3.
Cowan, Steven. Five Views on Apologetics. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000.
Craig, William Lane and Chad Meister, eds. God Is Great, God Is Good: Why Believing in God Is Reasonable and Responsible. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2009. Chapters 11, 14.
Dulles, Avery. A History of Apologetics. London: Hutchinson, 1971.
Groothuis, Douglas. Christian Apologetics. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2011. Chapters 1–3, 6, 8.
Sire, James W. Habits of the Mind. Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity, 2000.
Sweis, Khaldoun A. and Chad V. Meister. Christian Apologetics: An Anthology of Primary Sources. Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2012. Chapters 3, 29–32.
ADVANCED
Copan, Paul and Paul Moser. The Rationality of Theism. London: Routledge, 2003.
Garcia, Robert and Nathan King, eds. Is Goodness without God Good Enough? Lanham, Md.: Rowman & Littlefield, 2008.
Meister, Chad and James Stump, Christian Thought: A Historical Introduction. New York: Routledge, 2010.
Plantinga, Alvin. Warranted Christian Belief. New York: Oxford University Press, 2000.
Taliaferro, Charles. “The Project of Natural Theology.” In The Blackwell Companion to Natural Theology. William Lane Craig and J. P. Moreland, eds. Malden, Mass.: Wiley-Blackwell Publishing, 2009. Chapter 1.