William Lane Craig and Catholicism
If any of you have watched or listened to debates on atheism, you will have, no doubt, come across William Lane Craig. He is an analytic philosopher, Christian apologist and the driving force behind ReasonableFaith.org.
If you’ve ever heard him debate, you’ll know that he’s very clear, calm and persuasive. In fact, noted Atheist Sam Harris described him as “the one Christian apologist who seems to have put the fear of God into many of my fellow atheists”.
It was therefore with great curiosity that I listened to an interview where he discusses Catholicism:
The interview was rather interesting. Catholics were praised for seeming to read the Bible more these days, and Craig spoke about Catholic liturgy in exalted terms. On the whole he was pretty positive about Catholicism, although he of course still disagrees on certain points, otherwise he wouldn’t still belong to a Protestant denomination.
Objections
In the interview he raises two objections to Catholicism. The first is a classic, Justification. When speaking about this topic, Craig fails to understand how Catholics can speak about the involvement of works in salvation, yet at the same time assert that we are justified by grace.
The other issue raised was another old favourite, the Blessed Virgin. The interviewer, Kevin Harris, tripped up early on, saying “There was a move a while back to really elevate Mary, to almost equality with Christ, co-redemtrix. I don’t think that ever got off the ground in the Catholic Church, but there was a move there…”. This is misleading on two points. Firstly, although it’s not dogma, you’ll still find that title used a lot in reference to Mary, even although it isn’t as established as other titles, such as Mother Of God. Secondly, co-redemtrix does not indicate equality with Christ, simply that Mary has a role in redemption, much in the same way a pastor who leads a person to Christ participates in that person’s redemption.
On both of these issues, Craig seems to find a gap between official Church teaching and the belief of the Catholic faithful, some of which I find understandable.
I’d invite you to have a listen. What do you think of the interview?
Dr. Craig is definitely my favorite creation apologist. Whether one agrees with him or not I could listen to anyone agree or disagree who argues with love, respect, and calmness.
Video wouldn’t play (May be my device) but I believe I listened to this years ago.
As someone struggling with ecclesial nomadism, I get to some extent what he is saying in regards to mariology. The doctrine itself isn’t that alarming(to the extent that I understand it) but it is the practice I think that is hard to swallow. I honestly have a really difficult time with seemingly extreme Marian devotion. I have heard some writings from church fathers that make me uncomfortable, pair that with some practices, especially Philippines and Mexico, and it does become sort of scandalous to non Catholics.
If I remember correctly this interview, I think he’s pretty fair in his response to Mary. But this from me who is admittedly struggling with these concepts.
Zeke
>Whether one agrees with him or not I could listen to anyone agree or disagree who argues with love, respect, and calmness.
Yes, I very much like the way he debates too.
>The doctrine itself isn’t that alarming…but it is the practice I think that is hard to swallow.
I can also appreciate the unease with certain Marian devotions. It was something of an obstacle to my own reconciliation with Mary.
In the end, I simply stuck to what the Church officially teaches and officially prays and choose to just leave everything else to people’s private devotions. If it leads them closer to Jesus, great, but I think personally I’ll give it a miss.
Hi Zeke,
Which Mexican practices are considered scandalous? Thanks.
Hey Alexandra, just saw this. At work but will respond later.
Thanks, Zeke
Ok. Thanks.
Contrasts that with a Calvinist response to Dr. Craig’s statement from Puritan boards, “but that typically happens when you believe that God loves people who are consigned to hell”
Wow.
Zeke
Yeah, I can’t imagine they were too pleased by his comments. That’s why it’s important to always hug Calvinists 😉
Friday, January 17th’s second hour of Catholic Answers Live has some good discussions about Mary.
http://www.catholic.com/radio/shows/making-sense-of-mary-10560
Thanks Joe 🙂