Gary Habermas

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This article is about the theologian. For the critical theorist, see Jürgen Habermas.

Gary Robert Habermas (born in 1950 in Michigan) is an American Christian apologist, theologian, and philosopher of religion.

Habermas is Distinguished Professor of Apologetics and Philosophy and chairman of the department of philosophy and theology at Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. He holds a Ph.D. (1976) from Michigan State University in the area of History and Philosophy of Religion; and an M.A. (1973) from the University of Detroit in Philosophical Theology. He is a prolific author, lecturer, and debater on the topic of the Resurrection of Jesus. His work defending the resurrection is often cited in the area of Christian apologetics. He has also specialized in cataloging and communicating trends among scholars in the field of historical Jesus and New Testament studies. Habermas has authored twenty-one books on religious and philosophical subjects. He continues to do research, publish popular and academic papers, give debates, and he frequently appears on television.

[edit] Gary Habermas and Antony Flew

In 1985, Dr. Gary Habermas and Antony Flew debated the question of Jesus' resurrection as a literal and historical/physical event, before a crowd of three thousand people. Five philosophers and five professional debate judges judged the debate. Of the philosophers, who judged on the content of the debate, four voted that Habermas won, and the other was undecided. Of the debate judges, who voted on debate technique, three voted for Habermas while two voted for Flew.[1] The debate was published as a book under the title Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? The Resurrection Debate (Harper & Row).


In 2004, Habermas conducted an interview with Antony Flew published in Biola University's Philosophia Christi journal, in which Flew reversed his long-standing espousal of atheism by endorsing deistic theism [2]. This interview has been the source of some minor controversy, centering on claims made in the interview's preface regarding the scope and nature of Flew's beliefs, and his subsequent contradictory statements endorsing atheism, the latter being a misnomer, for Flew clearly no longer supports the inference or verdict of atheism, but rather the evidential method or route by which one may secure such a verdict, i.e., the "Presumption of Atheism" is default, nullified only on the condition that the degree of proof is met[3].

[edit] Books

  • Resurrected? : An Atheist and Theist Dialogue, 2005
  • with Licona, Michael The Case for the Resurrection of Jesus, Kregel, 2004
  • with Moreland, J.P. Beyond Death: Exploring the Evidence for Immortality, 2004
  • The Risen Jesus & Future Hope, 2003
  • The Historical Jesus: Ancient Evidence for the Life of Christ (College Press: Joplin, MI 1996).
  • Ancient Evidence for the Life of Jesus: Historical Records of His Death and Resurrection
  • Dealing With Doubt
  • The Thomas Factor: Using Your Doubts to Draw Closer to God
  • Gary R. Habermas and Antony G. N. Flew, Did Jesus Rise from the Dead? The Resurrection Debate, ed. Terry L. Miethe (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1987; Eugene, OR: Wipf and Stock, 2003).

[edit] External links