Reasonable Faith Podcast

Francis Collins and N.T. Wright recently fielded audience questions after a public conversation, several of which centered on the historicity of Adam and Eve. Collins argues that population genetics rules out a single ancestral couple, and lays out the model he finds most plausible: a couple selected out of an existing population and given something new. Wright suggests Genesis 2–3 might work the way Genesis 12 does, with Adam and Eve chosen out of a larger population the way Abraham and Sarah were chosen out of everyone else. Dr. William Lane Craig addresses both claims, including recent population-genetics research on ancient human bottlenecks, the Apostle Paul's treatment of Adam in Romans 5, and how Collins's view compares to the argument Craig makes in his own book, In Quest of the Historical Adam.

A listener from Morocco argues that beauty is like an emotion and not a property of objects, but says that doesn't make it subjective, since he considers emotions like fear objective too. Dr. William Lane Craig agrees aesthetic properties don't inhere in physical things (a chair isn't beautiful viewed from below; a piece of music's beauty isn't in the notes on a page), but rejects the "emotion in the mind" comparison itself. For Dr. Craig, fear actually is subjective, so equating beauty with it would make beauty subjective too. Instead, he holds aesthetic value is objective the same way moral value is: apprehended, not a property we find in things.

A new school year means a new round of hard questions for your kids about evolution, evil, supposed contradictions in the Bible, whether Jesus really rose from the dead, and why there are so many religions in the world. Kevin and Dr. William Lane Craig talk through ten questions students run into most, in class and out, and share some practical advice for parents who want their kids ready to think it through, not just get through it.

A listener asks Dr. William Lane Craig how Christianity's dependence on a historical resurrection (unlike Hinduism's Krishna) can be defended, then raises three questions that arise in evangelism: that "eternal life" can't be historically verified, that the NT accounts were written too late to trust, and that no clear OT prophecy points to a risen Messiah. Dr. Craig affirms Anil's core insight, that Christianity's rootedness in history is a strength, not a weakness, while showing that the empty tomb, appearances, and disciples' transformation are historically well-attested, that historians still trust ancient biographies (like those of Alexander the Great) written centuries after their subjects' deaths, and that the disciples' unexpected belief in the resurrection is itself evidence for it, precisely because it ran against Jewish expectations.

A viral graphic accuses Dr. Craig of seven heresies. From Neo-Apollinarian Christology, his rejection of limited atonement and Calvinism, to his defense of Molinism. Dr. Craig and Kevin go through the list charge by charge, separating genuine ancient heresies from disagreements, and explain what actually crosses the line into heresy versus faithful, if debated, Christian doctrine.