APOLOGETICS / THE DEBATE ROOM
Ideas meet in the open.
Great questions deserve a careful hearing. Explore Christian debates, hear the objections and follow the reasoning wherever it needs to be examined.
WHAT A DEBATE OFFERS
An argument under examination.
Debates put convictions into conversation. Their real value comes when we slow down enough to distinguish a persuasive performance from a sound argument.
See a claim take shape.
A debate asks someone to state a case, give reasons and explain how the conclusion follows.
Hear the strongest challenge.
Rebuttals reveal disputed premises, competing explanations and questions an opening speech can leave unanswered.
Find your next question.
Use the exchange to identify a source to check, an idea to study or a question to carry into conversation.
THREE WAYS INTO THE ROOM
Choose an exchange to begin.
The God Delusion debate
Science, belief and the claims of The God Delusion. Read the argument alongside the recording.
Historical evidence for the resurrection
What can historical method establish about a miracle? Follow the disagreement over evidence and explanation.
The great debate: Does God exist?
A different approach: ask what each worldview must assume before the debate can even begin.
FOLLOW A QUESTION
Topics are a way in.
Start with the question that matters to you. Some exchanges belong to more than one conversation.
Does God exist?
Reason, evidence and the foundations of belief.
Science & faith
The universe, explanation and the reach of science.
Jesus & the resurrection
Historical testimony, miracles and rival explanations.
Evil & suffering
Moral judgment, human pain and the goodness of God.
Christianity & Islam
The identity of Jesus, the Trinity and the oneness of God.
PEOPLE & APPROACHES
Meet the Christian debaters.
Three voices represented in this collection, with different ways of approaching the questions. Explore their exchanges and examine each case on its merits.
William Lane Craig
Arguments, history & explanation
Follow arguments for God, the historical case for the resurrection, and exchanges about Christian and Islamic belief.
John Lennox
Science, belief & the human question
Explore whether scientific explanation leaves room for God, then turn to the moral and personal questions raised by suffering.
Greg Bahnsen
The foundations of reasoning
Examine the assumptions beneath an argument: logic, morality and what makes a rational exchange possible.
Across the conversation
Meet the other voices in these exchanges.
THE COMPLETE COLLECTION
Find your next debate.
Every guide connects the question, the speakers, a transcript source and a YouTube recording, with prompts for your own study.
9 of 9 debates
THEISM & ATHEISM
Does God exist?
Compare arguments for God's existence with challenges to religious belief and its moral implications.
RESURRECTION & ISLAM
Hoax or history?
Examine an actual exchange about Jesus' death, resurrection and the competing interpretations of the sources.
TRINITY & TAWHID
The concept of God
Follow a Christian–Muslim exchange about God's unity, nature and character.
SCIENCE & CHRISTIAN BELIEF
The God Delusion debate
Read and watch two Oxford colleagues examine science, faith, morality and the claims of Christianity.
REASON & PRESUPPOSITIONS
The great debate: Does God exist?
Examine the dispute over God, evidence and the foundations of logic, science and morality.
RESURRECTION & HISTORICAL METHOD
Historical evidence for the resurrection
Compare arguments about the resurrection with objections about what historical methods can establish.
COSMOLOGY & EVIDENCE
Is there evidence for God?
Explore what counts as evidence when cosmology, philosophy and Christian claims meet.
EVIL & SUFFERING
Belief in God in light of tsunamis
Study how natural suffering challenges belief in a good and powerful God.
SUFFERING & MORAL EXPLANATION
The nature of evil and suffering
Follow a moderated exchange on evil, moral judgment and Christian hope amid suffering.
Read with the source in view.
Read supplied transcripts on this site, or follow the linked publisher where an on-site copy is not yet available. Each guide records known coverage limits. Use the recording to check the exchange in context.
Transcripts and recordings preserve the speakers’ arguments. Sources include participant organizations and independent transcript publishers; each page names its host and notes known coverage limits. These records are not Reformed teaching authorities. The connected guides state our scriptural and confessional position.
A PRACTICE WORTH DEVELOPING
Listen with a pencil in hand.
Let the exchange become a study. These four habits help you follow both speakers fairly and decide what to examine next.
Name the question.
Write down the actual motion and define the key terms. Notice when either speaker moves to a different question.
Map both cases.
List each speaker’s premises and conclusion. Try to restate the other person’s position in words they would recognise.
Check the hinge.
Find the premise or source on which the disagreement turns. Pause the recording and open the transcript or cited text.
Form a measured response.
Distinguish what was established from what still needs work. Record your question in the guide’s reflection box.
CARRY THE LEARNING FORWARD
From the debate to a conversation.
A public exchange can sharpen a question. Patient, truthful conversation gives you a place to explore it with someone.
Conviction with an open Bible. Scripture first. Reformed convictions. Sources you can examine.
Rooted in Scripture. Open for discovery.
A place to read slowly, ask deeply, and follow the connections. Scripture, study and the voices of Christian history, brought together for a lifetime of learning.
SPEND TIME IN THE WORD
- Open the reader
- Books & reading progress
- Compare Scripture editions
- Find a passage
FOLLOW YOUR QUESTIONS
- Study collections
- People & places
- Faith & apologetics
- Stories of faith
A library with a paper trail.
Meet the authors. Explore the collection. Trace each work to its source.
Download the code.
Open source on GitHub.