Category: Apologetics

Apologetics is a Greek word compounded from apo and logos, meaning “to give a reason for.” St. Peter uses it in his first epistle: “But sanctify the Lord Christ in your hearts, being ready always to satisfy every one that asketh you a reason (apologian) of that hope which is in you” (3:15). Some of the Fathers of the Church called the treatises that they wrote in defense of the Catholic Faith “apologia.”

Brother Francis explains in his course on the subject that there is more to apologetics than having enough knowledge to defend the Faith. There is an art or science to the presentation one is making, which comes from logical thinking. Apologetics is not polemics — the latter art being the employment of authority, such as the Bible, in winning an argument.

As you will see in the articles filed in this section the authors have a certain art and logic in the way they present their sound arguments in defense of the Faith. They demonstrate the reasonableness of our holy religion and the goodness of God in revealing Himself to man through the patriarchs and prophets and, finally, through His Son. The writers, each with their own style, confront the major obstacles, lies, and fallacies that deceive people in our times into thinking that Christianity is unreasonable, or that it is an “opiate” for simple folk who put their hope in a better life to come. Such obstacles as arise from modern science (which attempts to discredit the veracity of the scriptures), from the errors of modern subjectivism, from psychological, social and political trends, as well as from the claims of the false religions in the world today, are handled with deft and intelligence by authors who all qualify as good Catholic polemicists.