In today’s society many are asking all sorts of questions. They are responding to their inner desire for truth. Such a quest is justified provided it is enlightened by an honest, truthful and responsible spirit.
We Christians, as bearers of a sure, saving hope, are responsible to offer these brothers and sisters valid arguments why we believe in Jesus Christ as incarnated in his Church. Hence the need for apologetics.
Apologetics (from the Greek word meaning ‘speaking in defence’) is the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through systematic use of information. Early Christian writers who defended their faith against critics and recommended their faith to outsiders were called apologists.
There are solid grounds to support apologetics in this day and age. To begin with, the Bible itself commands that Christians engage themselves in apologetics. St Paul tells the Colossian community: “Conduct yourselves wisely toward outsiders... Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how... to answer everyone” (Col. 4:5-6). And in 1 Peter 3:15, we find: “Always be prepared to make a defence to anyone who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence.” Thus, assenting to the faith also means providing a rational explanation to those who ask for it.
The Church itself encourages believers to embrace apologetics. In his encyclical Fides et Ratio, Blessed John Paul II notes: “In studying Revelation and its credibility, as well as the corresponding act of faith, fundamental theology should show how, in the light of the knowledge conferred by faith, there emerge certain truths which reason, from its own independent enquiry, already provides” (§ 67). If we Christians have a real love for Christ then we should commit ourselves to winning converts for him, including by using rational argumentation.
It is essential that the Christian faith emphasises its reasonableness
God expects that we employ reason to justify our belief in Jesus. Reason is foundational to prove why we have embraced our belief in Christ and, at the same time, why we have sidelined alternative beliefs or faiths.
Apologetics is needed because the Gospel can be inculturated. When we understand the broader cultural milieu in which we live, evangelisation becomes easier.
In his book The God of Jesus Christ, Walter Kasper writes: “Especially in a situation like ours today, when everything depends on the Christian faith making the transition to new cultural horizons and a new epoch, there can be no question of the Christian retreating into the realm of private experience. Today, as hardly ever before in the history of Christianity, it is essential that the Christian faith emphasises its reasonableness which is accessible to all human beings.”
History shows that apologetics has borne fruit. For example, Frank Morrison ridiculed the historicity of Jesus’ resurrection. But when he understood the historical evidence of Christ’s resurrection he became a Catholic. Another case is St Augustine, who only endorsed the Catholic faith after hearing a reflective Catholic debating with a Manichean. These examples show that defence of the faith has brought about conversions in the past.
The last reason why apologetics is urgently required that a blind faith can lead to self-destruction whereas a reasoned faith can lead to holiness.
In his book, The Selfish Gene, Richard Dawkins is partly right when he argues that faith “leads people to believe in whatever it is so strongly that in extreme cases they are prepared to kill and die for it without the need for further justification”. Blind faith can introduce the believer to violence.
But, on the other hand, a healthy faith, which fundamentally embraces reason, tries to comprehend the object in which the believer’s faith is anchored.
Let us pray and study our faith in order that we can share it with those who are looking for life’s existential meaning.
frmarioa@gmail.com
Fr Attard is a member of the Order of Franciscan Capuchins.