Apologetics
Encyclopedia
Apologetics is the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers (c. 120-220) who defended their faith against critics and recommended their faith to outsiders were called apologists.
This Classical Greek term appears in the Koine (i.e. common) Greek of the New Testament. The Apostle Paul employs the term apologia in his trial speech to Festus
and Agrippa when he says "I make my defense" . A cognate
term appears in Paul's Letter to the Philippians as he is "defending the gospel" ( & 16), and in believers must be ready to give an "answer" for their faith. The word also appears in the negative in : unbelievers are αναπολόγητοι (anapologētoi) (without excuse, defense, or apology) for rejecting the revelation of God in creation.
The legal nuance of apologetics was reframed in a more specific sense to refer to the study of the defense of a doctrine or belief. In this context it most commonly refers to philosophical reconciliation. Religious apologetics is the effort to show that the preferred faith is not irrational, that believing in it is not against human reason, and that in fact the religion contains values and promotes ways of life more in accord with human nature than other faiths or beliefs.
In the English language
, the word apology is derived from the Greek word, but its use has changed; its primary sense now refers to a plea for forgiveness for a wrong act. Implicit in this is an admission of guilt, thus turning on its head the "speaking in defense" aspect of the original concept. An uncommon secondary sense refers to a speech or writing that defends the speaker or author's position.
; others are pure defence.
that presents a rational basis for the Christian faith, to defend the faith against objections and misrepresentation, and to expose error within other religion
s and world view
s. Christian apologetics have taken many forms over the centuries, starting with Saul of Tarsus, Justin Martyr
and Irenaeus
, and continuing today with the efforts of many authors and speakers from various Christian traditions, such as Cornelius Van Til
, Gordon Clark
, Greg Bahnsen
, James White
, John F. MacArthur
, Hank Hanegraaff
, Ravi Zacharias
, Lee Strobel
, Josh McDowell
, C.S. Lewis, Ken Ham
, Kent Hovind
, William Lane Craig
, J. P. Moreland
, Ray Comfort
, Kirk Cameron
, Hugh Ross
snd Scott Hahn
. Apologists base their defense of Christianity on historical and archaeological evidence, theological and philosophical argument
s and scientific investigation.
While there are various types of arguments including ontological, cosmological and teleological, it is the opinion of many Christian apologists that the Gospel is the best defense and living a life according to the tenets of Jesus' teachings is the best argument
. To quote one Christian apologist, "the best argument is one that is made without words."
, though some discern in the works of Demetrius the chronographer (3rd.century BCE) traces of the style of 'questions' and solutions' typical of the genre. Aristobulus was a Jewish philosopher of Alexandria
and author of an apologetic work addressed to Ptolemy VI Philometor
. Josephus
's Contra Apion is a wide-ranging defense of Judaism against many charges laid against Judaism at that time.
have defended the Quran using rationalist and empiricist arguments, and using cosmological and embryological arguments in an attempt to prove God's existence
. Islamic apologists have also challenged both Jewish and Christian beliefs. The late South African Islamic apologist, Ahmed Deedat
, was a prolific popular writer who debated Christian evangelists by arguing over discrepancies in the Bible.
, which deals with ethical and intellectual problems. In the British colonial era, Buddhists in Sri Lanka
wrote tracts that rejected Christianity. In the mid-19th century, encounters between Buddhists and Christians in Japan
prompted the formation of a Buddhist Propagation Society. In recent times A. L. De Silva, an Australian convert to Buddhism, has written a book, Beyond Belief, designed to refute the arguments of Christian evangelists. Gunapala Dharmasiri has challenged the Christian concept of God
from a Theravadan Buddhist
perspective.
, were galvanized to examine the roots of the religion as well as to study its vast arcana and corpus in an analytical fashion. This endeavor drove the deciphering and preservation of Sanskrit
. Many translations of Hindu texts were produced which made them accessible to a broader reading audience.
A range of Indian philosophers, including Swami Vivekananda
and Aurobindo Ghose, have written rational explanations regarding the values of the Hindu religious tradition. More modern proponents such as the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
have also tried to correlate recent developments from quantum physics and consciousness research with Hindu concepts. The late Reverend Pandurang Shastri Athavale
has given a plethora of discourses regarding the symbolism and rational basis for many principles in the Vedic tradition. In his book The Cradle of Civilization, David Frawley, an American who has embraced the Vedic tradition, has characterized the ancient texts of the Hindu heritage as being like "pyramids of the spirit". Such individuals have tried to construct an intellectual defense of Hinduism during a phase when the fundamentalistic elements of other faiths have sought to denigrate the ancient religion in an effort to gain converts.
The publication, Hinduism Today, was founded on January 5, 1979, by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. It is a nonprofit educational activity of the Himalayan Academy. Based on its website, one of its chief aims is to dispel the misinformation and misrepresentation of Hinduism and to preserve the true essence of its teachings. It also endeavors to nurture the renaissance which appears to be transpiring within Hindus worldwide. As a publication written in English, it has also served to unify the disparate branches of the Hindu diaspora. The archives of the Hinduism Today publication appear to be a solid and faithful storehouse of Hindu theory and practice; they seem to be an ideal starting point for those interested in this ancient religious tradition. Moreover, the publication also seems to be energetically carrying the torch of Hindu apologetics in the field of comparative religion
.
, such as the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies
(a group of scholars at Brigham Young University
) and the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research
(an independent, not-for-profit group), which have formed to defend the doctrines and history of the Latter Day Saint movement in general and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in particular.
and Universal Pantheist Society
to promote and logically defend belief in pantheism.
and dedications
, which proceed many Early Modern
plays, novels, and poems. Eighteenth century authors such as Colley Cibber
, Frances Burney, and William Congreve
, to name but a few, prefaced the majority of their poetic work with such apologies. In addition to the desire to defend their work, the apologetic preface often suggests the author's attempt to humble his- or herself before the audience.
was a notable early Christian
apologist. He was born, lived and died in Carthage
. He is sometimes known as the "Father of the Latin Church
". He introduced the term Trinity
(Latin
trinitas) to the Christian vocabulary and also probably the formula "three Persons, one Substance" as the Latin "tres Persona
e, una Substantia" (itself from the Koine Greek
"treis Hypostaseis
, Homoousios"), and also the terms Vetus Testamentum (Old Testament
) and Novum Testamentum (New Testament
).
In his Apologeticus
, he was the first who qualified Christianity as the vera religio ("true religion"), and symmetrically relegated the classical Empire religion and other accepted cults to the position of mere 'superstitions'.
Early uses of the term (in the first sense) include Plato's Apology
(the defense speech of Socrates
from his trial) and some works of early Christian apologists, such as St. Justin Martyr
's two Apologies addressed to the emperor Antoninus Pius
and the Roman Senate.
An additional early use of the term, is Augustus
Caesar's apologia or defense of his accomplishments as Roman Emperor
inscribed outside of his tomb, at his death in 14 AD on pillars of bronze, called The Deeds of the Divine Augustus (in Latin: Res Gestae Divi Augusti
). They were widely copied and distributed throughout the Roman Empire
. It is regarded as one of the more important apologias of the ancient world.
Arngrímur Jónsson
was an Iceland
ic scholar who wrote the book Brevis commentarius de Islandia
in Latin as a "defense of Iceland" where he criticized the works of numerous authors who had written about the people and the country of Iceland.
John Henry Newman (February 21, 1801 – August 11, 1890) was an English convert to Roman Catholicism
, later made a cardinal
, and beatified in 2010. In early life he was a major figure in the Oxford Movement
to bring the Church of England
back to its Catholic roots. Eventually his studies in history persuaded him to become a Roman Catholic. When John Henry Newman entitled his spiritual autobiography Apologia Pro Vita Sua
in 1864, he was playing upon both this connotation, and the more commonly understood meaning of an expression of contrition or regret.
They included Simon Newcomb
at Johns Hopkins, John Bates Clark
at Columbia, James Laurence Laughlin
at Chicago, Charles F Dunbar and Frank William Taussig
at Harvard, Arthur T. Hadley and William Graham Sumner
at Yale, and controlled the American university system in the East. This was backed by the cleansing of socialist reformers from American higher education after the Haymarket affair
, an 1886 incident in Chicago.
is a lawyer and author of Making the Crooked Straight; and prominent Bahá'í apologetic.
gave an apologist argument for native American
religion.
Etymology
The term apologetics etymologically derives from the Classical Greek word apologia. In the Classical Greek legal system two key technical terms were employed: the prosecution delivered the kategoria (κατηγορία), and the defendant replied with an apologia. To deliver an apologia meant making a formal speech or giving an explanation to reply and rebut the charges, as in the case of Socrates' defense.This Classical Greek term appears in the Koine (i.e. common) Greek of the New Testament. The Apostle Paul employs the term apologia in his trial speech to Festus
Porcius Festus
Porcius Festus was procurator of Judea from about AD 59 to 62, succeeding Antonius Felix. His exact time in office is not known. The earliest proposed date for the start of his term is c. A.D. 55-6, while the latest is A.D. 61. These extremes have not gained much support and most scholars opt...
and Agrippa when he says "I make my defense" . A cognate
Cognate
In linguistics, cognates are words that have a common etymological origin. This learned term derives from the Latin cognatus . Cognates within the same language are called doublets. Strictly speaking, loanwords from another language are usually not meant by the term, e.g...
term appears in Paul's Letter to the Philippians as he is "defending the gospel" ( & 16), and in believers must be ready to give an "answer" for their faith. The word also appears in the negative in : unbelievers are αναπολόγητοι (anapologētoi) (without excuse, defense, or apology) for rejecting the revelation of God in creation.
The legal nuance of apologetics was reframed in a more specific sense to refer to the study of the defense of a doctrine or belief. In this context it most commonly refers to philosophical reconciliation. Religious apologetics is the effort to show that the preferred faith is not irrational, that believing in it is not against human reason, and that in fact the religion contains values and promotes ways of life more in accord with human nature than other faiths or beliefs.
In the English language
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...
, the word apology is derived from the Greek word, but its use has changed; its primary sense now refers to a plea for forgiveness for a wrong act. Implicit in this is an admission of guilt, thus turning on its head the "speaking in defense" aspect of the original concept. An uncommon secondary sense refers to a speech or writing that defends the speaker or author's position.
Apologetics in religions
As the world's religions have encountered one another, apologetics and apologists from within their respective faiths have emerged. Some of these apologetics respond to or fight back against the arguments of religions and secularismSecularism
Secularism is the principle of separation between government institutions and the persons mandated to represent the State from religious institutions and religious dignitaries...
; others are pure defence.
Christian
Christian apologetics is a field of Christian theologyChristian theology
- Divisions of Christian theology :There are many methods of categorizing different approaches to Christian theology. For a historical analysis, see the main article on the History of Christian theology.- Sub-disciplines :...
that presents a rational basis for the Christian faith, to defend the faith against objections and misrepresentation, and to expose error within other religion
Religion
Religion is a collection of cultural systems, belief systems, and worldviews that establishes symbols that relate humanity to spirituality and, sometimes, to moral values. Many religions have narratives, symbols, traditions and sacred histories that are intended to give meaning to life or to...
s and world view
World view
A comprehensive world view is the fundamental cognitive orientation of an individual or society encompassing the entirety of the individual or society's knowledge and point-of-view, including natural philosophy; fundamental, existential, and normative postulates; or themes, values, emotions, and...
s. Christian apologetics have taken many forms over the centuries, starting with Saul of Tarsus, Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr, also known as just Saint Justin , was an early Christian apologist. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and a dialogue survive. He is considered a saint by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church....
and Irenaeus
Irenaeus
Saint Irenaeus , was Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul, then a part of the Roman Empire . He was an early church father and apologist, and his writings were formative in the early development of Christian theology...
, and continuing today with the efforts of many authors and speakers from various Christian traditions, such as Cornelius Van Til
Cornelius Van Til
Cornelius Van Til , born in Grootegast, the Netherlands, was a Christian philosopher, Reformed theologian, and presuppositional apologist.-Biography:...
, Gordon Clark
Gordon Clark
Gordon Haddon Clark was an American philosopher and Calvinist theologian. He was a primary advocate for the idea of presuppositional apologetics and was chairman of the Philosophy Department at Butler University for 28 years...
, Greg Bahnsen
Greg Bahnsen
Greg L. Bahnsen was an influential Calvinist philosopher, apologist, and debater. He was an ordained minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and a full time Scholar in Residence for the Southern California Center for Christian Studies.-Early life and education:He was the first born of two...
, James White
James White (theologian)
James Robert White is the director of Alpha and Omega Ministries, an evangelical Reformed Christian apologetics organization based in Phoenix, Arizona. He is the author of more than twenty books and has engaged in numerous moderated debates...
, John F. MacArthur
John F. MacArthur
John Fullerton MacArthur, Jr. is a United States evangelical writer and minister noted for his internationally known and broadcast radio program titled Grace to You...
, Hank Hanegraaff
Hank Hanegraaff
Hendrik "Hank" Hanegraaff also known as the Bible Answer Man is an American author, radio talk-show host and advocate of evangelical Christianity. He was born in the Netherlands and raised in the United States since childhood. He is married with 12 children...
, Ravi Zacharias
Ravi Zacharias
Frederick Antony Ravi Kumar Zacharias is an Indian-born, Canadian-American evangelical Christian apologist. Zacharias is the author of numerous Christian books, including Gold Medallion Book Award winner Can Man Live Without God? and bestsellers Light in the Shadow of Jihad and The Grand Weaver...
, Lee Strobel
Lee Strobel
Lee Patrick Strobel is a writer, creationist, former journalist and former megachurch pastor. He is the author of several books, including four which received ECPA Christian Book Awards and a series which addresses challenges to a Biblically inerrant view of Christianity...
, Josh McDowell
Josh McDowell
Joslin "Josh" McDowell is a Christian apologist, evangelist, and writer. He is within the Evangelical tradition of Protestant Christianity, and is the author or co-author of some 77 books. His best-known book is Evidence That Demands a Verdict, which was ranked 13th in Christianity Today's list of...
, C.S. Lewis, Ken Ham
Ken Ham
Kenneth Alfred Ham is the Australian President/CEO of Answers in Genesis USA. He is a vocal advocate for a young Earth and a literal interpretation of the Book of Genesis, and his cross-country speaking tours and many books make him one of the better known young-Earth...
, Kent Hovind
Kent Hovind
Kent E. Hovind is an American young earth creationist. Hovind speaks on creation science and aims to convince listeners to reject theories of evolution, geophysics, and cosmology in favor of the Genesis creation narrative as found in the Bible...
, William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig
William Lane Craig is an American analytic philosopher, philosophical theologian, and Christian apologist. He is known for his work on the philosophy of time and the philosophy of religion, specifically the existence of God and the defense of Christian theism...
, J. P. Moreland
J. P. Moreland
James Porter Moreland , better known as J. P. Moreland, is an American philosopher, theologian, and Christian apologist...
, Ray Comfort
Ray Comfort
Ray Comfort is a New Zealand-born Christian minister and evangelist. Comfort started Living Waters Publications and The Way of the Master in Bellflower, California and has written a number of books.-Early life and career:...
, Kirk Cameron
Kirk Cameron
Kirk Thomas Cameron is an American actor best known for his role as Mike Seaver on the television situation comedy Growing Pains , as well as several other television and film appearances as a child actor...
, Hugh Ross
Hugh Ross (creationist)
Hugh Norman Ross is a Canadian-born astrophysicist and creationist Christian apologist.He has a PhD in astronomy and astrophysics, and later established his own ministry called Reasons To Believe, that promotes progressive and day-age forms of old Earth creationism...
snd Scott Hahn
Scott Hahn
Scott Hahn is a contemporary author, theologian, and Catholic apologist. His works include Rome Sweet Home and The Lamb's Supper: The Mass as Heaven on Earth. He currently teaches at the Franciscan University of Steubenville, a Catholic university in the United States.-Education:Hahn received his...
. Apologists base their defense of Christianity on historical and archaeological evidence, theological and philosophical argument
Argument
In philosophy and logic, an argument is an attempt to persuade someone of something, or give evidence or reasons for accepting a particular conclusion.Argument may also refer to:-Mathematics and computer science:...
s and scientific investigation.
While there are various types of arguments including ontological, cosmological and teleological, it is the opinion of many Christian apologists that the Gospel is the best defense and living a life according to the tenets of Jesus' teachings is the best argument
Argument
In philosophy and logic, an argument is an attempt to persuade someone of something, or give evidence or reasons for accepting a particular conclusion.Argument may also refer to:-Mathematics and computer science:...
. To quote one Christian apologist, "the best argument is one that is made without words."
Jewish
Jewish apologetic literature can be traced back as far as Aristobulus of PaneasAristobulus of Paneas
Aristobulus of Paneas was a Hellenistic Jewish philosopher of the Peripatetic school, though he also used Platonic and Pythagorean concepts. Like his successor, Philo, he attempted to fuse ideas in the Hebrew Scriptures with those in Greek thought....
, though some discern in the works of Demetrius the chronographer (3rd.century BCE) traces of the style of 'questions' and solutions' typical of the genre. Aristobulus was a Jewish philosopher of Alexandria
Alexandria
Alexandria is the second-largest city of Egypt, with a population of 4.1 million, extending about along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea in the north central part of the country; it is also the largest city lying directly on the Mediterranean coast. It is Egypt's largest seaport, serving...
and author of an apologetic work addressed to Ptolemy VI Philometor
Ptolemy VI Philometor
Ptolemy VI Philometor was a king of Egypt from the Ptolemaic period. He reigned from 180 to 145 BC....
. Josephus
Josephus
Titus Flavius Josephus , also called Joseph ben Matityahu , was a 1st-century Romano-Jewish historian and hagiographer of priestly and royal ancestry who recorded Jewish history, with special emphasis on the 1st century AD and the First Jewish–Roman War, which resulted in the Destruction of...
's Contra Apion is a wide-ranging defense of Judaism against many charges laid against Judaism at that time.
Islamic
Apologists for IslamIslam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
have defended the Quran using rationalist and empiricist arguments, and using cosmological and embryological arguments in an attempt to prove God's existence
Existence
In common usage, existence is the world we are aware of through our senses, and that persists independently without them. In academic philosophy the word has a more specialized meaning, being contrasted with essence, which specifies different forms of existence as well as different identity...
. Islamic apologists have also challenged both Jewish and Christian beliefs. The late South African Islamic apologist, Ahmed Deedat
Ahmed Deedat
Ahmed Hussein Deedat was a Muslim writer and public speaker of Indian South African descent. He was best known for his numerous inter-religious public debates with evangelical Christians, as well as pioneering video lectures, most of which centered around Islam, Christianity and the Bible...
, was a prolific popular writer who debated Christian evangelists by arguing over discrepancies in the Bible.
Buddhism
One of the earliest Buddhist apologetic texts is The Questions of King MilindaMilinda Panha
The Milinda Panha is a Buddhist text which dates from approximately 100 BCE. It is included in the Burmese edition of the Pali Canon of Theravada Buddhism as a book of the Khuddaka Nikaya, however, it does not appear in the Thai or Sri Lankan versions.It purports to record a dialogue in which the...
, which deals with ethical and intellectual problems. In the British colonial era, Buddhists in Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka is a country off the southern coast of the Indian subcontinent. Known until 1972 as Ceylon , Sri Lanka is an island surrounded by the Indian Ocean, the Gulf of Mannar and the Palk Strait, and lies in the vicinity of India and the...
wrote tracts that rejected Christianity. In the mid-19th century, encounters between Buddhists and Christians in Japan
Religion in Japan
Most Japanese people do not exclusively identify themselves as adherents of a single religion; rather, they incorporate elements of various religions in a syncretic fashion known as . Shinbutsu Shūgō officially ended with the Shinto and Buddhism Separation Order of 1886, but continues in practice...
prompted the formation of a Buddhist Propagation Society. In recent times A. L. De Silva, an Australian convert to Buddhism, has written a book, Beyond Belief, designed to refute the arguments of Christian evangelists. Gunapala Dharmasiri has challenged the Christian concept of God
God in Christianity
In Christianity, God is the eternal being that created and preserves the universe. God is believed by most Christians to be immanent , while others believe the plan of redemption show he will be immanent later...
from a Theravadan Buddhist
Theravada
Theravada ; literally, "the Teaching of the Elders" or "the Ancient Teaching", is the oldest surviving Buddhist school. It was founded in India...
perspective.
Hinduism
Hindu apologetics was an inevitable consequence of the confrontation with Christianity during the British colonial period. A number of Indian intellectuals had become critical of the British tendency to devalue the Hindu religious tradition. As a result these Indian intellectuals, as well as a handful of British IndologistsIndology
Indology is the academic study of the history and cultures, languages, and literature of the Indian subcontinent , and as such is a subset of Asian studies....
, were galvanized to examine the roots of the religion as well as to study its vast arcana and corpus in an analytical fashion. This endeavor drove the deciphering and preservation of Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
. Many translations of Hindu texts were produced which made them accessible to a broader reading audience.
A range of Indian philosophers, including Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda
Swami Vivekananda , born Narendranath Dutta , was the chief disciple of the 19th century mystic Ramakrishna Paramahansa and the founder of the Ramakrishna Math and the Ramakrishna Mission...
and Aurobindo Ghose, have written rational explanations regarding the values of the Hindu religious tradition. More modern proponents such as the Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi
Maharishi Mahesh Yogi , born Mahesh Prasad Varma , developed the Transcendental Meditation technique and was the leader and guru of the TM movement, characterised as a new religious movement and also as non-religious...
have also tried to correlate recent developments from quantum physics and consciousness research with Hindu concepts. The late Reverend Pandurang Shastri Athavale
Pandurang Shastri Athavale
Shastri Pandurang Vaijnath Athavale , also known as Dada-ji , which literally translates as elder brother in Marathi, was an Indian philosopher, spiritual leader, social reformer and Hinduism reformist, who founded the Swadhyay Movement and the Swadhyay Parivar organization in 1954, a...
has given a plethora of discourses regarding the symbolism and rational basis for many principles in the Vedic tradition. In his book The Cradle of Civilization, David Frawley, an American who has embraced the Vedic tradition, has characterized the ancient texts of the Hindu heritage as being like "pyramids of the spirit". Such individuals have tried to construct an intellectual defense of Hinduism during a phase when the fundamentalistic elements of other faiths have sought to denigrate the ancient religion in an effort to gain converts.
The publication, Hinduism Today, was founded on January 5, 1979, by Satguru Sivaya Subramuniyaswami. It is a nonprofit educational activity of the Himalayan Academy. Based on its website, one of its chief aims is to dispel the misinformation and misrepresentation of Hinduism and to preserve the true essence of its teachings. It also endeavors to nurture the renaissance which appears to be transpiring within Hindus worldwide. As a publication written in English, it has also served to unify the disparate branches of the Hindu diaspora. The archives of the Hinduism Today publication appear to be a solid and faithful storehouse of Hindu theory and practice; they seem to be an ideal starting point for those interested in this ancient religious tradition. Moreover, the publication also seems to be energetically carrying the torch of Hindu apologetics in the field of comparative religion
Comparative religion
Comparative religion is a field of religious studies that analyzes the similarities and differences of themes, myths, rituals and concepts among the world's religions...
.
Mormonism
There are apologists who specialize in Mormonism, including several well-known Mormon apologetic organizationsMormon apologetics
Mormon apologetics is the systematic defense of Mormonism against its critics. Notable Latter-day Saint apologists include early church leaders such as John Taylor, B. H. Roberts, James E. Talmage and modern scholars such as Hugh Nibley, Orson Scott Card, and Jeff Lindsay...
, such as the Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies
Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies
The Foundation for Ancient Research and Mormon Studies is an informal collaboration of academics devoted to Latter-day Saint historical scholarship. The group is formally part of the Neal A...
(a group of scholars at Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University
Brigham Young University is a private university located in Provo, Utah. It is owned and operated by The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints , and is the United States' largest religious university and third-largest private university.Approximately 98% of the university's 34,000 students...
) and the Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research
Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research
The Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research is a non-profit organization that specializes in Mormon apologetics and responds to criticism of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints . FAIR is made up of volunteers who seek to answer questions submitted to its web site...
(an independent, not-for-profit group), which have formed to defend the doctrines and history of the Latter Day Saint movement in general and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in particular.
Pantheism
Some pantheists have formed organizations such as the World Pantheist MovementWorld Pantheist Movement
The World Pantheist Movement is the world's largest organization of people associated with pantheism, a philosophy which asserts that spirituality should be centered on nature...
and Universal Pantheist Society
Universal Pantheist Society
The Universal Pantheist Society is one of the world's first official organizations dedicated to the promotion and understanding of modern pantheism. The Society does not require its members to hold to any particular creed about Pantheism and recognizes that there are a variety of beliefs that fall...
to promote and logically defend belief in pantheism.
Apologetics in Literature
Similar to religious apologies, this form of writing often appears historically in literature. Dissimilarly, however, literary apologies defend either poetic and aesthetic qualities, or the author's ability to write about the subject directly following the apology. Plato's Apology may be read as both a religious and literary apology; however, more specifically literary examples may be found in the prefacesPreface
A preface is an introduction to a book or other literary work written by the work's author. An introductory essay written by a different person is a foreword and precedes an author's preface...
and dedications
Dedication
Dedication is the act of consecrating an altar, temple, church or other sacred building. It also refers to the inscription of books or other artifacts when these are specifically addressed or presented to a particular person. This practice, which once was used to gain the patronage and support of...
, which proceed many Early Modern
Early modern period
In history, the early modern period of modern history follows the late Middle Ages. Although the chronological limits of the period are open to debate, the timeframe spans the period after the late portion of the Middle Ages through the beginning of the Age of Revolutions...
plays, novels, and poems. Eighteenth century authors such as Colley Cibber
Colley Cibber
Colley Cibber was an English actor-manager, playwright and Poet Laureate. His colourful memoir Apology for the Life of Colley Cibber describes his life in a personal, anecdotal and even rambling style...
, Frances Burney, and William Congreve
William Congreve
William Congreve was an English playwright and poet.-Early life:Congreve was born in Bardsey, West Yorkshire, England . His parents were William Congreve and his wife, Mary ; a sister was buried in London in 1672...
, to name but a few, prefaced the majority of their poetic work with such apologies. In addition to the desire to defend their work, the apologetic preface often suggests the author's attempt to humble his- or herself before the audience.
Notable apologists
TertullianTertullian
Quintus Septimius Florens Tertullianus, anglicised as Tertullian , was a prolific early Christian author from Carthage in the Roman province of Africa. He is the first Christian author to produce an extensive corpus of Latin Christian literature. He also was a notable early Christian apologist and...
was a notable early Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
apologist. He was born, lived and died in Carthage
Carthage
Carthage , implying it was a 'new Tyre') is a major urban centre that has existed for nearly 3,000 years on the Gulf of Tunis, developing from a Phoenician colony of the 1st millennium BC...
. He is sometimes known as the "Father of the Latin Church
Latin Church
The Latin Church is the largest particular church within the Catholic Church. It is a particular church not on the level of the local particular churches known as dioceses or eparchies, but on the level of autonomous ritual churches, of which there are 23, the remaining 22 of which are Eastern...
". He introduced the term Trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
(Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
trinitas) to the Christian vocabulary and also probably the formula "three Persons, one Substance" as the Latin "tres Persona
Persona
A persona, in the word's everyday usage, is a social role or a character played by an actor. The word is derived from Latin, where it originally referred to a theatrical mask. The Latin word probably derived from the Etruscan word "phersu", with the same meaning, and that from the Greek πρόσωπον...
e, una Substantia" (itself from the Koine Greek
Koine Greek
Koine Greek is the universal dialect of the Greek language spoken throughout post-Classical antiquity , developing from the Attic dialect, with admixture of elements especially from Ionic....
"treis Hypostaseis
Hypostasis (religion)
In Christian theology, a hypostasis or person is one of the three elements of the Holy Trinity.In Christian usage, the Greek word hypostasis means beneath-standing or underpinning and, by extension, the existence of some thing...
, Homoousios"), and also the terms Vetus Testamentum (Old Testament
Old Testament
The Old Testament, of which Christians hold different views, is a Christian term for the religious writings of ancient Israel held sacred and inspired by Christians which overlaps with the 24-book canon of the Masoretic Text of Judaism...
) and Novum Testamentum (New Testament
New Testament
The New Testament is the second major division of the Christian biblical canon, the first such division being the much longer Old Testament....
).
In his Apologeticus
Apologeticus
Apologeticus or Apologeticum is Tertullian's most famous work, consisting of apologetic and polemic; it was written in Carthage in the summer or autumn of 197 AD, during the reign of Septimius Severus. In this work Tertullian defends Christianity, demanding legal toleration and that Christians be...
, he was the first who qualified Christianity as the vera religio ("true religion"), and symmetrically relegated the classical Empire religion and other accepted cults to the position of mere 'superstitions'.
Early uses of the term (in the first sense) include Plato's Apology
Apology (Plato)
The Apology of Socrates is Plato's version of the speech given by Socrates as he unsuccessfully defended himself in 399 BC against the charges of "corrupting the young, and by not believing in the gods in whom the city believes, but in other daimonia that are novel"...
(the defense speech of Socrates
Socrates
Socrates was a classical Greek Athenian philosopher. Credited as one of the founders of Western philosophy, he is an enigmatic figure known chiefly through the accounts of later classical writers, especially the writings of his students Plato and Xenophon, and the plays of his contemporary ...
from his trial) and some works of early Christian apologists, such as St. Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr
Justin Martyr, also known as just Saint Justin , was an early Christian apologist. Most of his works are lost, but two apologies and a dialogue survive. He is considered a saint by the Roman Catholic Church and the Eastern Orthodox Church....
's two Apologies addressed to the emperor Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius
Antoninus Pius , also known as Antoninus, was Roman Emperor from 138 to 161. He was a member of the Nerva-Antonine dynasty and the Aurelii. He did not possess the sobriquet "Pius" until after his accession to the throne...
and the Roman Senate.
An additional early use of the term, is Augustus
Augustus
Augustus ;23 September 63 BC – 19 August AD 14) is considered the first emperor of the Roman Empire, which he ruled alone from 27 BC until his death in 14 AD.The dates of his rule are contemporary dates; Augustus lived under two calendars, the Roman Republican until 45 BC, and the Julian...
Caesar's apologia or defense of his accomplishments as Roman Emperor
Roman Emperor
The Roman emperor was the ruler of the Roman State during the imperial period . The Romans had no single term for the office although at any given time, a given title was associated with the emperor...
inscribed outside of his tomb, at his death in 14 AD on pillars of bronze, called The Deeds of the Divine Augustus (in Latin: Res Gestae Divi Augusti
Res Gestae Divi Augusti
Res Gestae Divi Augusti, is the funerary inscription of the first Roman emperor, Augustus, giving a first-person record of his life and accomplishments. The Res Gestae is especially significant because it gives an insight into the image Augustus portrayed to the Roman people...
). They were widely copied and distributed throughout the Roman Empire
Roman Empire
The Roman Empire was the post-Republican period of the ancient Roman civilization, characterised by an autocratic form of government and large territorial holdings in Europe and around the Mediterranean....
. It is regarded as one of the more important apologias of the ancient world.
Arngrímur Jónsson
Arngrímur Jónsson
Arngrímur Jónsson the Learned was an Icelandic scholar and an apologist. His father was Jón Jónsson, who died in 1591...
was an Iceland
Iceland
Iceland , described as the Republic of Iceland, is a Nordic and European island country in the North Atlantic Ocean, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge. Iceland also refers to the main island of the country, which contains almost all the population and almost all the land area. The country has a population...
ic scholar who wrote the book Brevis commentarius de Islandia
Brevis commentarius de Islandia
Brevis commentarius de Islandia is a book in Latin written and published in Denmark in 1593 by the Icelandic scholar Arngrímur Jónsson. It is a "Defense of Iceland", in which he criticized the works of numerous authors who had written about the people and the country of Iceland...
in Latin as a "defense of Iceland" where he criticized the works of numerous authors who had written about the people and the country of Iceland.
John Henry Newman (February 21, 1801 – August 11, 1890) was an English convert to Roman Catholicism
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
, later made a cardinal
Cardinal (Catholicism)
A cardinal is a senior ecclesiastical official, usually an ordained bishop, and ecclesiastical prince of the Catholic Church. They are collectively known as the College of Cardinals, which as a body elects a new pope. The duties of the cardinals include attending the meetings of the College and...
, and beatified in 2010. In early life he was a major figure in the Oxford Movement
Oxford Movement
The Oxford Movement was a movement of High Church Anglicans, eventually developing into Anglo-Catholicism. The movement, whose members were often associated with the University of Oxford, argued for the reinstatement of lost Christian traditions of faith and their inclusion into Anglican liturgy...
to bring the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
back to its Catholic roots. Eventually his studies in history persuaded him to become a Roman Catholic. When John Henry Newman entitled his spiritual autobiography Apologia Pro Vita Sua
Apologia Pro Vita Sua
Apologia Pro Vita Sua is the classic defence by John Henry Newman of his religious opinions, published in 1864 in response to what he saw as an unwarranted attack on him, the Catholic priesthood, and Roman Catholic doctrine by Charles Kingsley. The work quickly became a bestseller and has...
in 1864, he was playing upon both this connotation, and the more commonly understood meaning of an expression of contrition or regret.
American Apologists
At the end of the 19th and the beginning 20th century a group of conservative American economists and social scientists became known as the American Apologists. Their different theoretical orientations notwithstanding, they were apologists for the status quo and rose to defend the new industrial age and condemn unions and populist causes.They included Simon Newcomb
Simon Newcomb
Simon Newcomb was a Canadian-American astronomer and mathematician. Though he had little conventional schooling, he made important contributions to timekeeping as well as writing on economics and statistics and authoring a science fiction novel.-Early life:Simon Newcomb was born in the town of...
at Johns Hopkins, John Bates Clark
John Bates Clark
John Bates Clark was an American neoclassical economist. He was one of the pioneers of the marginalist revolution and opponent to the Institutionalist school of economics, and spent most of his career teaching at Columbia University.-Biography:Clark was born and raised in Providence, Rhode...
at Columbia, James Laurence Laughlin
James Laurence Laughlin
James Laurence Laughlin was an American economist who helped to found the Federal Reserve System.Born in Deerfield, Ohio, Laughlin received his PhD from Harvard University. His thesis regarded "Anglo-Saxon Legal Procedure". A conservative, he generally subscribed to the economic theories of John...
at Chicago, Charles F Dunbar and Frank William Taussig
Frank William Taussig
Frank William Taussig was a U.S. economist and educator. Taussig is credited with creating the foundations of modern trade theory.-Biography:...
at Harvard, Arthur T. Hadley and William Graham Sumner
William Graham Sumner
William Graham Sumner was an American academic and "held the first professorship in sociology" at Yale College. For many years he had a reputation as one of the most influential teachers there. He was a polymath with numerous books and essays on American history, economic history, political...
at Yale, and controlled the American university system in the East. This was backed by the cleansing of socialist reformers from American higher education after the Haymarket affair
Haymarket affair
The Haymarket affair was a demonstration and unrest that took place on Tuesday May 4, 1886, at the Haymarket Square in Chicago. It began as a rally in support of striking workers. An unknown person threw a dynamite bomb at police as they dispersed the public meeting...
, an 1886 incident in Chicago.
Bahá'í
Udo SchaeferUdo Schaefer
Udo Schaefer is a German lawyer and a Bahá'í author.-External links:****...
is a lawyer and author of Making the Crooked Straight; and prominent Bahá'í apologetic.
Native Americans
In a famous speech called Red Jacket on Religion for the White Man and the Red in 1805, Seneca chief Red JacketRed Jacket
Red Jacket was a Native American Seneca orator and chief of the Wolf clan...
gave an apologist argument for native American
Native Americans in the United States
Native Americans in the United States are the indigenous peoples in North America within the boundaries of the present-day continental United States, parts of Alaska, and the island state of Hawaii. They are composed of numerous, distinct tribes, states, and ethnic groups, many of which survive as...
religion.
See also
- Christian Apologetics and Research MinistryChristian Apologetics and Research MinistryThe Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry is an Evangelical Christian apologetics ministry founded in 1995. The proprietor of the website is Matt Slick. The organization's materials may be accessed on the Internet, through its website at www.carm.org. The ministry is registered as a 5013...
- Christian countercult movementChristian countercult movementThe Christian countercult movement is a social movement of Christian ministries and individual Christian countercult activists who oppose religious sects thought to either partially abide or do not at all abide by the teachings that are written within the Bible. These religious sects are also known...
- Existence of GodExistence of GodArguments for and against the existence of God have been proposed by philosophers, theologians, scientists, and others. In philosophical terms, arguments for and against the existence of God involve primarily the sub-disciplines of epistemology and ontology , but also of the theory of value, since...
- List of apologetic works
- A Mathematician's ApologyA Mathematician's ApologyA Mathematician's Apology is a 1940 essay by British mathematician G. H. Hardy. It concerns the aesthetics of mathematics with some personal content, and gives the layman an insight into the mind of a working mathematician.-Summary:...
by G. H. HardyG. H. HardyGodfrey Harold “G. H.” Hardy FRS was a prominent English mathematician, known for his achievements in number theory and mathematical analysis.... - PolemicPolemicA polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...
- Presuppositional apologeticsPresuppositional apologeticsIn Christian theology, presuppositionalism is a school of apologetics that presumes Christian faith is the only basis for rational thought. It presupposes that the Bible is divine revelation and claims to expose flaws in other worldviews...
- Problem of evilProblem of evilIn the philosophy of religion, the problem of evil is the question of how to explain evil if there exists a deity that is omnibenevolent, omnipotent, and omniscient . Some philosophers have claimed that the existences of such a god and of evil are logically incompatible or unlikely...
- TheodicyTheodicyTheodicy is a theological and philosophical study which attempts to prove God's intrinsic or foundational nature of omnibenevolence , omniscience , and omnipotence . Theodicy is usually concerned with the God of the Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, due to the relevant...
External links
- CARM - Christian Apologetics and Research Ministry: A General Apologetics Website
- FAIR - Foundation for Apologetic Information & Research
- Spirithome.com: a critique of Christian apologetics