A chuckle from William Lane Craig

Some of you know William Lane Craig as the evangelical Christian theologian from Biola University who often speaks favorably of “intelligent design” creationism. It happens that I just read one of his criticisms of the Jesus Seminar, a large group that gauged the historicity of the sayings and acts of Jesus reported in the four canonical gospels and the Gospel of Thomas:

Of the 74 [scholars] listed in their publication The Five Gospels, only 14 would be leading figures in the field of New Testament studies. More than half are basically unknowns, who have published only two or three articles. Eighteen of the fellows have published nothing at all in New Testament studies. Most have relatively undistinguished academic positions, for example, teaching at a community college.

Prof. Craig, you really should spend some time with Confucius. Not one leading figure in the field of biology has ever contributed to the “theory” of intelligent design.

Whatever the Jesus Seminar got wrong, something it got right was to place the burden of proof on those who would claim historicity of a gospel passage. Obviously, most scholars delving into the matter are Christians seeking to demonstrate the truth of what they believe. Sound familiar? This is not to suggest that traditional New Testament scholars are no better than ID creationists. The New Testament scholars truly know the subject matter, while ID creationists demonstrate time and again their execrable ignorance of the relevant science.

The three Isaac Newtons of Ypsilanti

Back on August 5, Clive Hayden, the moderator at Uncommon Descent, exclaimed, “Robert Jackson Marks II is THE CHARLES DARWIN OF INTELLIGENT DESIGN!” The occasion was the inclusion of Marks among The 20 Most Influential Christian Scholars at Superscholar.org:

Robert J. Marks II (b. 1950), Baylor University’s leading research professor, has emerged as the public face of intelligent design. As the movement’s premier scientist, he has been dubbed “the Charles Darwin of intelligent design.”

That hyperbole is old news. But the site’s list of 15 Professors Who Were Also Criminals just caught my eye:

Alan Turing was the Isaac Newton of the 20th century, and is seen by many to be the father of the Information Age.

Given that Superscholar.org is the absolute authority on such matters, what are we to make of the claim that Bill Dembski is the Isaac Newton of Information Theory?

The superabundance of Isaac Newtons has me thinking of The Three Christs of Ypsilanti:

To study the basis for delusional belief systems, Rokeach [a psychiatrist] brought together three men who each claimed to be Jesus Christ and confronted them with each other's conflicting claims, while encouraging them to interact personally as a support group. Rokeach also attempted to manipulate other aspects of their delusions by inventing messages from imaginary characters. He did not, as he had hoped, provoke any lessening of the patients' delusions, but did document a number of changes in their beliefs.

I suspect that, although he occasionally retreats from particular errors with “not-pologies,” Dembski will never give up the delusion that he is the Isaac Newton of his day.

The identity of the Designer

The elusive Kilroy has left his mark in exceedingly improbable places, all around the world. The only reasonable inference is....

Image copyright: Patrick Tillery