As a college student at the University of North Carolina I was exposed to two world class scholars on two different ends of the theological spectrum. One was an evangelical Christian, the other a skeptical historian of ancient Christianity who taught New Testament studies at UNC.
The first, William Lane Craig hold two doctoral degrees. One in philosophy from The University of Birmingham (England) and the other in theology from The University of Munich (Germany) where his dissertation was on teh resurrection of Jesus. A few highlights from his Vita:
He has authored or edited over thirty books, including The Kalam Cosmological Argument; Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus; Divine Foreknowledge and Human Freedom; Theism, Atheism and Big Bang Cosmology; and God, Time and Eternity, as well as over a hundred articles in professional journals of philosophy and theology, including The Journal of Philosophy, New Testament Studies, Journal for the Study of the New Testament, American Philosophical Quarterly, Philosophical Studies, Philosophy, and British Journal for Philosophy of Science.
The second scholar, Bart D. Ehrman, is one of the preminent secular scholars of early Christianity in the world. Dr. Ehrman did his Phd at Princeton University. A few highlights from his Vita:
He has published extensively in the fields of New Testament and Early Christianity, having written or edited nineteen books, numerous articles, and dozens of book reviews. Among his most recent books are a college-level textbook on the New Testament, two anthologies of early Christian writings, a study of the historical Jesus as an apocalyptic prophet (Oxford Univesity Press), and a Greek-English Edition of the Apostolic Fathers for the Loeb Classical Library (Harvard University Press).
In short, these two guys are all stars in their circles, both scholars of immense capability and intellect.
I heard Dr. Craig speak as a student at UNC and Dr. Ehrman was well known on campus to the Christians. At this point Craig was an established debater but to my knowledge Ehrman was not engaging in public debates. I always wanted to hear a guy like Ehrman debate a guy like Craig.
For this reason I was so interested to find the following document: Is There Historical Evidence for the Resurrection of Jesus? A Debate between William Lane Craig and Bart D. Ehrman
This is two big time dudes from differing perspectives debating what, in my view, is the most important topic one can imagine. Jesus of Nazareth rose from the dead - the culminating miracle of all history - this truth validates God's action in the person of Christ and vindicates the truth of his identity of the Son of God.
The text of the debate is available at the above site and is well worth your time to read. On last interesting fact. Both these men had a saving faith experience as teenagers. Both ended up attending Wheaton, an evangelical college. However, one left faith in his doctoral studies, one became one of its most influential defenders in our day. Where will your life land on the issue of Jesus - it is of utmost importance. For he is the true All-Star and unique Savior of the world.
Reality
