What Does Apologetics Mean?
Apologetics Defined
The word “apologetics” is stemmed from the old Greek word apologia, which means, an apology. Not an apology in the contemporary sense of the word – which is to state you’re sorry for something. But rather, an apology in the old sense of the word – which is to make a reasoned defense of something or someone. In old times, the word apology referred to the case a lawyer would make on behalf of his customer.
Apologetics has to do with building the case for our Faith … finding out how to clarify and defend our Faith. Basically, there are 3 sorts of apologetics: natural apologetics, Christian apologetics, and Catholic apologetics. Natural apologetics develops the case for honest truths we could know from the “natural” light of reason. Naked truths that can be understood without any divine intervention. Naked truths which the short articles of our Faith rest upon and build on. Realities such as the existence of God, the innate spirituality of the human soul, the unbiased reality of right and wrong … realities that our faith rest upon and build on.
Christian apologetics, on the other hand, develops the case for divinely exposed naked truths – naked truths that could not be known by reason apart from faith. Naked truths such as the truth of biblical miracles, the divinity of Christ, the Virgin Birth, and the Resurrection to name a few.
Catholic apologetics involves all of Christian apologetics – since Catholicism is the fullness of Christianity – but Catholic apologetics tends to concentrate on those truths of Christianity that are not normally believed by non-Catholic Christians. Naked truths such as: the Catholic Church having actually been founded straight by Jesus Christ; the papacy; the Sacraments; the Immaculate Conception, and others.
