Apologetics

A reason for the hope

The word comes from the Greek apologia (ἀπολογία), a defence such as one would make in a court of law. Peter wrote to believers facing hostility:

But in your hearts sanctify Christ as Lord. Always be prepared to give a defense to everyone who asks you the reason for the hope that is in you. But respond with gentleness and respect,

1 Peter 3:15

‘Defense’ there is apologia. Apologetics is not only for scholars; every believer is to be ready, and the manner matters as much as the matter. In Athens Paul began from an altar inscribed "TO AN UNKNOWN GOD" (Acts 17:23) and, starting from God's general revelation in the world he made, went on to proclaim the Creator and the risen Christ. He named as witnesses of the resurrection "more than five hundred brothers at once" (1 Corinthians 15:6), and before King Agrippa he said that these things were "not done in a corner" (Acts 26:26).

Apologetics usually does three things. It gives positive reasons to believe that God exists and the gospel is true; it answers objections; and it exposes the weakness of ideas raised against the faith. "We demolish arguments and every presumption set up against the knowledge of God" (2 Corinthians 10:5). Yet it is the Holy Spirit who brings anyone to faith. Apologetics clears stones from the path and strengthens the confidence of those who already believe.

The church's long practice

In the second century Christians were accused of atheism and slandered by rumour, and those who defended the faith in writing are known as the apologists. Around 155 Justin Martyr addressed his First Apology to the emperor, describing how Christians lived and worshipped Justin Martyr, First Apology. After Rome was sacked in 410 and Christianity was blamed, Augustine answered with The City of God Augustine, The City of God. Anselm and Thomas Aquinas in the Middle Ages left arguments that examine God's existence by reason Thomas Aquinas, Summa Theologiae. After David Hume questioned in the eighteenth century whether belief in miracles can ever be reasonable, apologists took up that challenge as well Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding. In the twentieth century C. S. Lewis, in Mere Christianity, began from the moral law and led his readers step by step to the Christian faith C. S. Lewis, Mere Christianity.

Different views of method

Evangelicals differ over method. The classical method first argues for the existence of God and then turns to the evidence for Christ and Scripture. The evidential method begins directly from historical evidence such as the resurrection. Both treat reason and evidence that believer and unbeliever can weigh together as common ground; B. B. Warfield of Princeton is a leading representative. The presuppositional method, developed by Cornelius Van Til from Abraham Kuyper's thought, holds that believer and unbeliever start from different foundations, that reason and morality make sense only if the God of Scripture is presupposed, and seeks on that basis to expose the inconsistencies of unbelief.

The wider traditions differ too. The Catholic Church taught at the First Vatican Council in 1870 that God can be known with certainty by the natural light of human reason from the things he has made Dei Filius. In the twentieth century Karl Barth rejected such natural theology as seeking God apart from Christ Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics. Whatever the method, the goal is not to win a debate but to commend Christ. See Does God exist? and Why Christianity and not another religion?