Leading Apologist William Lane Craig to Join Houston Baptist U's School of Christian Thought Faculty
Internationally known philosopher and theologian Dr. William Lane Craig will join the faculty at Houston Baptist University as a professor of Philosophy in the fall, school officials announced Tuesday.
Craig, considered one of today's leading Christian apologists, has authored or edited more than 40 books and over 150 journal articles, including his signature book Reasonable Faith.
"Bill Craig is among the preeminent Christian apologists in the world, and his addition helps cement HBU as a world-class center for apologetics, philosophy and evangelism," author Lee Strobel, who joined the faculty at HBU last year as a Professor of Christian Thought, told The Christian Post in an email. "I'm thrilled to have him as a colleague and look forward to how God will use HBU to bring the Gospel to an increasingly skeptical and diverse world."
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Recognized for his groundbreaking work in philosophy of time and in philosophy of religion, Craig is also well known as a teacher and debater. HBU officials point out that he has successfully debated prominent atheists such as Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, and the late Christopher Hitchens.
Through his Web-based ministry ReasonableFaith.org, Craig offers scholarly and popular resources to persons across the faith spectrum from atheism to Christianity, university officials stated.
Craig, who will still remain as a professor of philosophy at Biola's Talbot School of Theology in the apologetics program, will go to the Houston-based campus twice a year to teach courses primarily to graduate students studying philosophy in the School of Christian Thought. He will also present one HBU-sponsored public event each semester for the benefit of the broader Houston community.
"William Lane Craig is a formidable proponent of the Christian faith, and his scholarly expertise is surpassed only by his love for Jesus Christ. We are thrilled to have him join our already exceptional cadre of nationally and internationally known School of Christian Thought faculty," said HBU President Robert B. Sloan, Jr.
Author and apologist Mark Mittelberg told CP in an email that he believes "God is up to something."
"Unbelief and skepticism are growing in the Western world – but so are efforts by Christians, churches, and universities to answer the objections and present powerful cases for the truth of Christianity," said Mittelberg. "Schools like Biola, Liberty University, Denver Seminary, Southern Evangelical Seminary, and others have been pioneers in these efforts – and Houston Baptist University has arisen as a major player.
"Adding William Lane Craig – one of the foremost thinkers and defenders of Christianity in our day – only reinforces that mantle of leadership at HBU. As a result, more and more students and future church leaders are emerging with a confident faith and an urgency, as the apostle Paul puts it, to 'take every thought captive … and make it obedient to Christ.'"
School officials said Craig is the latest in a succession of recent hires designed to position HBU as a premier center for the academic study of philosophy, apologetics, and theology within its School of Christian Thought. In addition to Strobel, other faculty include Nancy Pearcey, called "America's pre-eminent evangelical Protestant female intellectual" by The Economist magazine; and Dr. Michael Ward, the world's foremost expert on imaginative apologetics and C. S. Lewis.
"Notable faculty appointments are only part of the momentum building at HBU; the University recently unveiled a Master Plan for development of the academic, residential and retail zones on its campus, and celebrated an all-time-high enrollment of freshman and total students in the fall semester of 2013," the university stated. "Additionally, fall of 2014 will mark the newly formed Husky football team's first official season of NCAA Division I play."
