I was watching a couple classic debates recently from the 1970s: the Warren/Flew 8 hour (!) debate on the existence of God, and the Deedat/McDowell debate on the Resurrection.
It was interesting to watch how the arguments have changed since then, and how debating styles have changed along with them. The overall level of scholarly citation today has deepened considerably. Compare, for example, the Warren/Flew debate with Craig vs. Millican, or the Deedat/McDowell debate with Ally vs. Licona. The modern debaters throw around a lot more ammunition from peer-reviewed publications in Biblical studies, science, and philosophy than the disputants had in the 1970s. (Though I think I actually prefer the oratorical skills of the 1970s disputants, with the exception of Flew.) I'm not confident that the top people from the 1970s would be able to perform nearly as well today as they did back then. At least, not without a lot of extra research.
(For those who are curious, Deedat vs. McDowell is here:
. The Flew vs. Warren debate is here: Warren-Flew Debate on the Existence of God.)
Anyway, after watching those debates, I started wondering who the other big names from the 1970s were, and whether any of their debates have survived.
Does anyone know?
It was interesting to watch how the arguments have changed since then, and how debating styles have changed along with them. The overall level of scholarly citation today has deepened considerably. Compare, for example, the Warren/Flew debate with Craig vs. Millican, or the Deedat/McDowell debate with Ally vs. Licona. The modern debaters throw around a lot more ammunition from peer-reviewed publications in Biblical studies, science, and philosophy than the disputants had in the 1970s. (Though I think I actually prefer the oratorical skills of the 1970s disputants, with the exception of Flew.) I'm not confident that the top people from the 1970s would be able to perform nearly as well today as they did back then. At least, not without a lot of extra research.
(For those who are curious, Deedat vs. McDowell is here:
Anyway, after watching those debates, I started wondering who the other big names from the 1970s were, and whether any of their debates have survived.
Does anyone know?
