podcast 376 – The Trinity, the Deity of Christ, and the Best Craig – Part 2

Trinities

This is the final part of my response to some recent podcast episodes by Dr. William Lane Craig here and here.

Dr. Craig accuses me of being disingenuous in claiming that his minimal, so-called “biblical” doctrine consisting of two sentences is not enough to count as a trinitarian theology. I stand by that claim, and point out that it is unclear why Dr. Craig thinks that those sentences say anything about a tripersonal God.

I also discuss his claim that his rival hypothesis, that the New Testament authors assumed those two sentences, explains the 20 facts I build my case on in the forthcoming debate book. I don’t discuss all 20 facts here, but I describe the 5 facts that I presented in the recent book panel session, and point out that Craig’s hypothesis in fact doesn’t explain any of those, in contrast to the hypothesis I call “U,” that the New Testament authors assume that the one God just is the Father and that neither the Son nor the Spirit are fully divine.

In his recent podcast Dr. Craig also seems to suggest that I think there is one doctrine of the Trinity, and that in the debate book I attacked a straw man theology which no trinitarian holds. I point out that both claims are mistaken. I also discuss the two different Trinity theories he has presented, pointing out that one could be true while the other is false.

Finally, I summarize the shortcomings of our recent interactions and I challenge Dr. Craig to a full-length, face to face public debate, suggesting four topics:

• The New Testament teaches that the one God is tripersonal.
• The Gospel According to John teaches that Jesus and the Father are equally divine.
• The Chalcedonian doctrine of a divine and human Jesus is coherent.
• The New Testament teaches that Jesus and the Father are equally divine.

Links for this episode:

podcast 375 – The Trinity, the Deity of Christ, and the Best Craig – Part 1

podcast 374 – Book Session Identity Crisis – Part 3

podcast 373 – Book Session Identity Crisis – Part 2

podcast 372 – Book Session Identity Crisis – Part 1

Reasonable Faith Podcast: Trinitarianism vs Unitarianism Part One

Reasonable Faith Podcast: Trinitarianism vs Unitarianism Part Two

“Craig’s Contradictory Christ”

“Trinity,” Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy

This week’s thinking music is “Hi as Hats” by Van Loon.