The Value of Public Debates

There can be no doubt that public debates about Christianity draw large crowds.

In 2007, over 2000 people heard William Craig debate with Lewis Wolpert in London, with many more turned away. 800 attended a debate with Craig in Bristol and 900 heard his debate in Liverpool. A huge radio audience heard Richard Dawkins debate with John Lennox In Alabama. This year, 900 heard Gary Habermas debate Ken Humphries in Edinburgh and in August this year, as part of the Edinburgh Fringe, over 1000 heard John Lennox debate with Christopher Hitchens. Dawkins, who was in the audience in Edinburgh, is scheduled to have a second debate with Lennox in Oxford on October 21st. Tickets sold out very quickly.

These events have something of the razzmatazz of Heavyweight Boxing contests. But are these celebrity events good for the gospel?

In the New Testament, we are told about an African called Apollos, who was an educated man with a thorough knowledge of the Scriptures, and had been ‘instructed in the way of the Lord’. He spoke with great fervour and taught about Jesus accurately. Despite this, he still needed further study and instruction, and Priscilla and Aquila provided this tuition in their home. When he went on to Achaia, ‘the brethren’ encouraged him and wrote a letter of commendation so that he had a warm welcome. Once there, he proved a great help to the believers, for he vigorously refuted the Jews in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah (Acts 18:24-28).

While Apollos was at Corinth, Paul arrived at Ephesus. Initially he got involved at the synagogue, where for 3 months he “argued persuasively about the kingdom of God.” Subsequently, he engaged in daily, public discussions in the lecture hall of Tyrannus, and this went on for two years (Acts 19:1, 8-10).

The word most commonly used to describe Paul’s method of evangelism in Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth and Ephesus is that he “reasoned” with people, but the Greek word for ‘reason’ actually means ‘dialogue’. Paul and Apollos were doing their evangelism by public dialogue.

Better than Tennis!

One of the key attractions of the debate format is that the audience can come as spectators, with or without their own strong opinions. They can hear the case set forward and then hear what an informed opponent can say to refute it. As they hear the arguments go back and forth, they think “Well said!”, “Good reply!”, “How will he answer that?” Inevitably they become engaged with the subject matter and move forward in their own thinking. It is much more interesting and personally involving than tennis!

A second feature of the debate is that anyone can be invited. This is not shallow propaganda – for if it is, it will be exposed as such. The format presents a level ground, where neither side should be at a disadvantage.

For Christian people, sadly, they rarely hear Christian leaders and teachers face penetrating, analytic questioning. To find that Christianity stacks up in the market place of ideas can lead to a life changing experience.

Poor old Paul and Apollos laboured away day after day in vigorous, and no doubt exhausting, debates. In this way, whole populations were able to hear the issues and decide for themselves – and clearly very large numbers were converted.

In Thessalonica, we are told that ‘some Jews, a large number of Greeks and not a few prominent women’ become Christians after just three Sabbaths of debate. It was enough to make the Jews violently jealous (Acts 17:2-5).

At Berea, after studying the scriptures every day, many of the Jews believed along with many Greek men and a number of prominent Greek women (Acts 17:10-12).

In Athens, after daily ‘dialogue’ in the market place, the philosophers got involved. They were much harder to win over. Some sneered, others wanted to hear more but a few men and a number of women were converted (Acts 17:17-21, 32-34).

In Corinth, Paul stayed for 18 months “and many of the Corinthians who heard him believed and were baptised.” He was eventually hauled up before the pro-consul Gallio and charged with “persuading the people to worship God in ways contrary to the law” (Acts 18:4, 8, 11-13).

At Ephesus, as a result of his two years’ public debate in the lecture hall, “all the Jews and Greeks, who lived in the province of Asia, heard the word of the Lord”. Quite extraordinary!

Those public dialogues in the first century were enormously effective. The great advantage for us today, however, is that our debates are being recorded, often on DVD film. We can not only pass them on to unbelieving friends, but we can also trawl over these presentations, making sure we really understand the points being made. We can examine the logic of the arguments, think through how we might have answered certain objections, and be stimulated to pursue further study so that we in our turn might engage in effective dialogue wherever the opportunities arise.

We might note for instance, that neither Lewis Wolpert nor John Humphries were able to understand the significance of Craig’s presentation of the Moral Argument. We might note the way Dawkins contends that evolution will ultimately explain all design in the universe, while Lennox maintains that evolution can never explain why the universe exists. Nor can it explain how life first began. We will note the withering scorn shown by Dawkins, when Lennox mentioned the Resurrection in his concluding remarks in Alabama. It was just the same for Paul at Athens (Acts 17:32). We should not be discouraged if we get the same treatment. We are in good company!

If these debates are seen as sophisticated Christian intellectual entertainment, their value will be greatly limited. If we see them as opportunities to study good arguments and learn from bad ones, we might see a whole new generation of persuasive evangelists, who take their task seriously and give sound reasons why sceptical unbelievers might put their trust in Christ. Who knows how great a fire might start from these small flames. We know that Christianity is spreading rapidly in China, Africa and South America. Might Europe once again be ignited by the Gospel?

To view a selection of recent debates, click here.

© 2008 Peter May