Christopher Weaver: Another Case Study in Not-So-Real Apologetics

As many of you know, I’ve been scheduled to debate Christopher Weaver on apologetic method in August via Skype. Chris claims to be a Christian, is a proud Ph.D candidate in Rutger’s philosophy program, and has told countless people about his official publications in the field of philosophy. Everyone knows how seriously Weaver takes scholarship, integrity, and high standards of academic credibility…at least on the surface.

As many of you also know, Chris has recently been spamming my blog under various pseudonyms, rashly-created gmail accounts, and often the same location/computer (comments posted to wordpress makes public one’s ip address). Here’s a brief summary (in chronological order from oldest to most recent):

Rocksteady dangerclose@gmail.com“I have have three doctorates from the University of Phoenix (Online University). I got them in only 3 years [sarcasm]…Ergun Caner at least has a real doctorate….and a real measurable impact to the field of Theology in an actual (real) PhD dissertation.” 128.135.96.141. 2010/06/18 at 1:45 PM

Leonardo whatwhat@gmail.com “I’ve read the Ergun Caner’s Dmin was honorary, but his Doctor of Theology degree from the University of South Africa was in fact an ACTUAL doctrate.” 98.228.144.173. 2010/06/18 at 4:38 PM

Donatello whatwhat@gmail.com “So we all agree…..Ergun Caner has an actual earned doctorate which involved (as a degree requirement) the completion of a dissertation. James White does not have an actual earned doctoate.” 98.228.144.173. 2010/06/20 at 10:25 AM

Rapheal dudeImleet@yahoo.com“What does it mean to say that: “Bible being self-verifying”?” 128.135.55.191. 2010/06/20 at 3:24 PM

Beebop dudeImleet@yahoo.com “i think Frame should have finished his PhD.” 128.135.55.191. 2010/06/20 at 3:25 PM

Beebop dudeImleet@yahoo.com “I heard Chris Weaver is debating some guy on sexual ethics tonight around 11:00pm CST on urban philosophy’s ventrilo” 128.135.55.191. 2010/06/20 at 6:28 PM

Brain deeter@gmail.com “Jamin Said: “Third and finally, traditional apologetics fails to see…” This broke my wtf-meter. As my colleague at Cambridge summarized this: wibble wibble, jabbawocky! riffle wip wob. Therefore the triune God exists.” 128.135.55.191. 2010/06/20 at 6:37 PM

Shredder derekjeeter@hotmail.com “Who’s chris?”  128.135.55.191. 2010/06/20 at 7:03 PM

Beebop dudeImleet@yahoo.com “ROFL Wait, the “problem” of the “one and the many” is the most mind-boggling issue of ontology….I mean….why are you saying this type of stuff? Can you even coherently and clearly present what this supposed problem is? I mean, I can’t even discern what’s going in your post here.” 128.135.55.191 2010/06/20 at 7:08 PM

As many close to my generation know, “Rocksteady,” “Leonardo,” “Donatello,” “Rapheal,” “Beebop” and the villian “Shredder” are all characters from the cartoon Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Why a Ph.D student in philosophy (“the love of wisdom”?) is pretending to be such characters on a public apologetics blog is simply beyond me.

Maybe all of this is just common practice for Ph.D students of philosophy at Rutgers. Maybe student orientation or “admission to Ph.D program” involves creating 5 random gmail accounts, posting comments with typos from 3 different IP locations under 7  different names all before mid-term exams. I really don’t know.

But, the short story is this: cartoons, fake identification, and debates over gay sex. That’s apparently today’s standards for Christian scholarship folks! At least according to Christopher Weaver.

Sigh. I don’t know a single person on earth who would consider such behavior high standards of integrity or scholarship in any sense. Perhaps those at Urban Philosophy and elsewhere can begin to encourage Chris not to stoop so low. He’s not making a good name for Christianity, let alone “philosophy,” if it is even connected with wisdom at all these days.

UPDATE: Weaver emailed me from his UChicago.edu email address (server smtp02.uchicago.edu) saying, “I do not post at realapologetics.org,” (Mon, Jun 21, 2010 at 2:22 AM). Of course, guess where all of the IP addresses listed above (except 1) are from? Yep. University of Chicago.

Now, I suppose it is possible that another person from Urban Philosophy from the University of Chicago who has a University of Chicago email address was spamming my blog under these IP addresses with names from a 1990s cartoon. But, we all know what the chances of that are. It seems more likely that Mr. Weaver is lying in public, and should come clean.