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apologetics
apologetics. The defence by argument of Christian belief and of the Christian way against alternatives and against criticism. There is a long tradition of such activity from St Paul's speech on the Areopagus, the 2nd-cent. Apologists, and St Thomas Aquinas. Objections to apologetics were raised by K. Barth, who insisted that the Gospel's basis in revelation alone yielded no common ground for a defence of Christianity by natural reason. This view has been widely disputed by theologians, both Protestant (e.g. P. Tillich) and RC (e.g. H. Küng), for whom man's reason cannot be regarded as wholly corrupt and for whom the natural world, especially human nature, provide rationally defensible intimations of transcendence.
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E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "apologetics." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "apologetics." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-apologetics.html E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "apologetics." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-apologetics.html |
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Apologetics
Apologetics (Lat., apologia, ‘defence’). The defence, or commendation, of a religion.
Among Christians, the name ‘Apologists’ is given to the earliest group of Christian writers who (c.120–220) composed defences of Christianity addressed to educated outsiders. They include Athenagoras, Justin Martyr, Minucius Felix, Tatian, and Tertullian. A notable later example is Augustine's City of God. Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion is addressed to Francis I (the French King) to persuade him of his error in pursuing a policy of persecution. |
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JOHN BOWKER. "Apologetics." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>. JOHN BOWKER. "Apologetics." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Apologetics.html JOHN BOWKER. "Apologetics." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-Apologetics.html |
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