Last year, we posted a clip of Glenn Beck claiming that his good friend, right-wing pseudo-historian David Barton of WallBuilders, possessed a Ph.D. in history and education. As we noted at the time, that must have come as a surprise to Barton himself, since just months earlier he had admitted that he does not have a Ph.D.
It seems that Beck is not the only one confused about this issue, as Barton appeared on TheDove TV’s “Focus Today” program earlier this week and asserted that he both does and does not have a Ph.D. In fact, Barton only has bachelor’s degree in Christian education from Oral Roberts University.
Barton was promoting the re-release of his book “The Jefferson Lies,” which was pulled by its original publisher back in 2012 due to concerns to its factual inaccuracies, when he was asked by host Perry Atkinson how academics react to his work.
“Usually they say, ‘You haven’t been trained in history, you don’t have a Ph.D.,'” Barton replied. “Well, that’s true. All I’ve got is the original documents. I’m sorry, I don’t have a Ph.D.; actually, I do have a Ph.D. but I’ve got the original documents as well. I just don’t consider myself an academic; I consider myself a lover of truth.”
As far as we know, the only “Ph.D.” that Barton possess is an Honorary Doctorate of Letters he received several years ago from Pensacola Christian College.
