Re: Statement from Gary Habermas

This is frankly rather sad, accepting an honorary DD from an unknown and
probably uncredited institution (though I am not sure what the accreditation
of the proper Oxford University is and I am sure that for nearly a
millennium it had no accreditation of any kind and simply awarded its own
degrees without reference to anyone else!!! Harvard did that for less than
two hundred years).
I have never heard of anyone in England or the rest of Britain being giving
a DD for the publication of what was only a good quality popular book. About
6 of my theological profs gained DDs from British universities eg Barrett,
Cranfield, Turner, Parker as a result of considerable academic publications.
Arthur Peacocke was given an Oxford DD for his 1978 Bampton lectures
Creation and the World of Science.

I would still like to know what this "Emmanuel College, Oxford " is or was.
Whatever else one may think all this is highly misleading as most would not
know that there is no Emmanuel College as a constituent college of the
University of Oxford, which is a fairly good university.

This all makes me cynical

Regards

Michael
----- Original Message -----
From: "Denyse O'Leary" <oleary@sympatico.ca>
To: "'ASA list'" <asa@calvin.edu>
Cc: <ghabermas@liberty.edu>; "'Ted Davis'" <tdavis@messiah.edu>; "'Del
Ratzsch'" <dratzsch@calvin.edu>
Sent: Monday, October 17, 2005 10:09 PM
Subject: Statement from Gary Habermas

> Gary Habermas has asked me to post this statement to the ASA list,
> regarding
> various speculations* re his DD degree:
>
> - 0 -
>
> Here are the details as I recall them. Years ago, my 1988 copyright book
> from Thomas Nelson, The Historical Jesus, was published in England by
> Monarch Publications of Eastbourne, East Sussex, England. Sometime later,
> still many years ago, I was given the D.D. certificate & the person who
> contacted me said that it was awarded for the publication of that book and
> that this was occasionally practiced in England. Subsequently, sometimes
> I
> listed it & sometimes I did not. With several people, I specifically
> called
> it an honorary degree. But in answer to my original question, the
> representative made it very clear that they were NOT part of Oxford
> University but simply located in Oxford, England (Emmanuel College), at
> least back then. Today is the second time that I recall hearing
> questions.
> After the first occasion, I simply quit listing the D.D., which I think
> was
> at least a year or more ago. In fact, completely apart from seeing this
> email this morning, I had already removed it from my resume, from the
> Liberty University catalog, and from the Liberty University bio that LU
> had
> published about me. So I took these steps without any pressure from the
> current discussion that you mentioned.
>
> As far as "questioning my credentials" I do have an earned Ph.D. from
> Michigan State University.
>
> Several times recently when I have heard people use the D.D., I have tried
> to correct it. Beyond the earlier examples listed above, just this
> morning,
> after seeing it mentioned in the emails, I called Southern Evangelical
> Seminary & asked that they remove it from their website/online catalog, or
> wherever it is listed. Please pass this information on to the folks you
> mention & I'd appreciate it! I just wish that people had contacted me to
> ask their question before guessing about these matters.
>
> - 0 -
>
> * As an alternative to speculating, I contacted him. As a journalist, I
> believe that that is a sound practice, and would encourage its use. -
> cheers, Denyse
>
> --
> Read brief excerpts from my book, By Design or by Chance?: The Growing
> Controversy On the Origins of Life in the Universe (Augsburg Fortress,
> 2004)
> at
>
> http://www.designorchance.com/press.html
>
> Study Guide:
> http://www.arn.org/arnproducts/books/b088sk.htm
>
> Amazon:
> http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0806651776/qid=1109790930/sr=8
> -1/ref=pd_csp_1/104-8617533-8799957?v=glance&s=books&n=507846
> My blog:
>
> http://post-darwinist.blogspot.com/
> (go to other blogs from here)
>
> Denyse O'Leary
> Tel: 416 485-2392
> Fax: 416 485-2392
> oleary@sympatico.ca
> www.designorchance.com
>
>
>
Received on Tue Oct 18 05:24:05 2005