Kalam cosmological argument Craig has written and spoken in defense of a version of the
cosmological argument called the
Kalam cosmological argument. While the Kalam originated in
medieval Islamic philosophy, Craig added appeals to scientific and philosophical ideas in the argument's defense. which he offers several arguments for. For example, Craig appeals to
Hilbert's example of an infinite hotel to argue that
actually infinite collections are impossible, and thus the past is finite and has a beginning. In another argument, Craig says that the series of events in time is formed by a process in which each moment is added to history in succession. According to Craig, this process can never produce an actually infinite collection of events, but at best a potentially infinite one. On this basis, he argues that the past is finite and has a beginning. Craig also appeals to various
physical theories to support the argument's second premise, such as the standard
Big Bang model of cosmic origins and certain implications of the
second law of thermodynamics. including
Adolf Grünbaum,
Quentin Smith, Wes Morriston,
Graham Oppy,
Andrew Loke,
Robert C. Koons, and
Alexander Pruss. Many of these papers are contained in the two-volume anthology
The Kalām Cosmological Argument (2017), volume 1 covering philosophical arguments for the finitude of the past and volume 2 the scientific evidence for the beginning of the universe.
Divine omniscience Craig is a proponent of
Molinism, an idea first formulated by the
Jesuit theologian
Luis de Molina according to which God possesses foreknowledge of which free actions each person would perform under every possible circumstance, a kind of knowledge that is sometimes termed "middle knowledge". Protestant-Molinism, such as Craig's, first entered Protestant theology through two anti-Calvinist thinkers:
Jacobus Arminius and
Conrad Vorstius. Molinists such as Craig appeal to this idea to reconcile the perceived conflict between God's providence and foreknowledge with human free will. The idea is that, by relying on middle knowledge, God does not interfere with anyone's free will, instead choosing which circumstances to actualize given a complete understanding of how people would freely choose to act in response. Craig also appeals to Molinism in his discussions of the
inspiration of scripture,
Christian exclusivism, the
perseverance of the Saints, and missionary
evangelism.
Resurrection of Jesus Craig has written two volumes arguing for the historicity of the
resurrection of Jesus,
The Historical Argument for the Resurrection of Jesus (1985) and
Assessing the New Testament Evidence for the Historicity of the Resurrection of Jesus (3rd ed., 2002). In the former volume, Craig describes the
history of the discussion, including
David Hume's arguments against the identification of
miracles. The latter volume is an
exegetical study of the
New Testament material pertinent to the
resurrection. Craig structures his arguments for the historicity of the resurrection under 3 headings: • The
tomb of Jesus was found empty by a group of
his female followers on the Sunday after his
crucifixion. • Various individuals and groups experienced appearances of Jesus alive after his death. • The earliest
disciples came to believe that God had raised
Jesus from the dead despite strong predispositions to the contrary. Craig argues that the best explanation of these three events is a literal resurrection. He applies an evaluative framework developed by philosopher of history C. Behan McCullagh to examine various theoretical explanations proposed for these events. From that framework, he rejects alternative theories such as
Gerd Lüdemann's hallucination hypothesis, the conspiracy hypothesis, and
Heinrich Paulus or
Friedrich Schleiermacher's apparent death hypothesis as lacking explanatory scope, explanatory power, and sufficient historical plausibility. In 1996 Craig participated in the
Resurrection Summit, a meeting held at
St. Joseph's Seminary, New York, in order to discuss the resurrection of Jesus. Papers from the summit were later compiled and published in the book
The Resurrection. An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Resurrection of Jesus, edited by S.T Davis, D. Kendall and G. O'Collins.
Philosophy of time Craig defends a
presentist version of the
A-theory of time. According to this theory, the present exists, but the past and future do not. Additionally, he holds that there are tensed facts, such as
it is now lunchtime, which cannot be reduced to or identified with tenseless facts of the form
it is lunchtime at noon on February 10, 2020. According to this theory, presentness is a real aspect of time, and not merely a projection of our thought and talk about time. He raises several defenses of this theory, two of which are especially notable. First, he criticizes
J. M. E. McTaggart's argument that the A-theory is incoherent, suggesting that McTaggart's argument begs the question by covertly presupposing the
B-theory. Second, he defends the A-theory from empirical challenges arising from the standard interpretation of Einstein's
special theory of relativity (SR). He responds to this challenge by advocating a neo-Lorentzian interpretation of SR which is empirically equivalent to the standard interpretation, and which is consistent with the A-theory and with absolute simultaneity. Craig criticizes the standard interpretation of SR on the grounds that it is based on a discredited positivist epistemology. Moreover, he claims that the assumption of positivism invalidates the appeal to SR made by opponents of the A-theory.
Divine eternity Craig argues that God existed in a timeless state causally prior to creation, He gives two arguments in support of that view. First, he says that, given his tensed view of time, God cannot be timeless once He has created a temporal universe, since, after that point, He is related to time through his interactions and through causing events in time.
Divine aseity Craig has published on the challenge posed by
platonism to
divine aseity or self-existence. Craig rejects both the view that God creates
abstract objects and that they exist independently of God. Rather, he defends a
nominalistic perspective that abstract objects are not ontologically real objects. Stating that the
Quine–Putnam indispensability argument is the chief support of platonism, Craig criticizes the neo-Quinean criterion of ontological commitment, according to which the existential quantifier of first order logic and singular terms are devices of ontological commitment. Craig favors a neutral interpretation of the quantifiers of
first-order logic, so that a statement can be true, even if there is not an object being quantified over. Moreover, he defends a deflationary theory of reference based on the intentionality of agents, so that a person can successfully refer to something even in the absence of some extra-mental thing. Craig gives the example of the statement "the price of the ticket is ten dollars" which he argues can still be a true statement even if there is not an actual object called a "price". He defines these references as a
speech act rather than a word-world relation, so that singular terms may be used in true sentences without commitment to corresponding objects in the world. Craig has additionally argued that even if one were to grant that these references were being used as in a word-world relation, that
fictionalism is a viable explanation of their use; in particular pretense theory, according to which statements about abstract objects are expressions of make-believe, imagined to be true, even if literally false.
Atonement In preparation for writing a systematic philosophical theology, Craig undertook a study of the doctrine of the atonement which resulted in two books,
The Atonement (2019) and
Atonement and the Death of Christ (2020).
Historical Adam Also as a preliminary study for his systematic philosophical theology Craig explored the biblical commitment to and scientific credibility of an
original human pair who were the universal progenitors of mankind. Following the Assyriologist Thorkild Jacobsen, Craig argues on the basis of various family resemblances that Genesis 1-11 plausibly belongs to the genre of mytho-history, which aims to recount historical persons and events in the figurative and often fantastic language of myth. Most recently Craig has begun writing a projected multi-volume systematic philosophical theology.
Other views Craig is a critic of
metaphysical naturalism,
New Atheism, and
prosperity theology, as well as a defender of
Reformed epistemology. He also states that a confessing Christian should not engage in homosexual acts. Craig maintains that the theory of
evolution is compatible with Christianity. He is a fellow of the
Discovery Institute's
Center for Science and Culture and was a fellow of the
International Society for Complexity, Information, and Design. In his debate with
Paul Helm, Craig explains that he would call himself an "
Arminian" "in the proper sense." As a non-voluntaristic
divine command theorist, Craig believes God had the moral right to command the
killing of the Canaanites if they refused to leave their land, as depicted in the
Book of Deuteronomy. This has led to some controversy, as seen in a critique by Wes Morriston. Craig has also proposed a
neo-Apollinarian Christology in which the divine logos stands in for the human soul of Christ and completes his human nature. ==Reception==