Where I live nobody talks about Apologists. I never heard of such people before coming onto this forum. The name confuses me. Are these people apologizing for what God has done to non-Christians? Apologizing for the crusades, etc? No. So why do they use such a name? The answer may be obvious, but I'm ignorant

Ernest Sparks

The word 'apology', of greek origin, has a first meaning of 'a formal justification' in the dictionary (I looked it up in the Merriam Webster's Collegiate). The entry 'admission of error or discourtesy, accompanied with regret' is only the second meaning. So an apology is really a defense of a position. People who do this are called 'apologists' and their craft is called 'apologetics'. The largest or most visible group are Christian apologists. Their tradition goes back to the 2nd century of the Common Era (A.D.), when Christians encountered Greek philosophers. There are other kinds, but Christians are the favorite users of apologetics. Instead of trying for a change of heart, as so many gospelers and missionaries try, the apologists try to spar with the mind of the unbeliever. They often switch from defense to offense, claiming unbelievers have untenable worldviews. For some reason, unbelievers that do the same thing don't usually call themselves apologists. That may be because they consider themselves being on a thoroughly neutral basis, where believers must do the work of changing minds.

Regards,
Ernie

[This message has been edited by Ernest Sparks (edited March 11, 2001).]

I've wondered this myself. So I decided to check out and see if it's in the dictionary...

One entry found for apologist.


Main Entry: apol·o·gist
Pronunciation: &-'pä-l&-jist
Function: noun
Date: 1640
: one who speaks or writes in defense of someone or something


I still don't get it


[Edit - fix bad link]

[This message has been edited by oriecat (edited March 10, 2001).]

And then I looked up apology and it made more sense, but by then Ernie had already posted so now I feel dumb...

Ernest Sparks

Don't! I've just been around it a long time!

Regards,
Ernie

Interesting points in the synonym section:

APOLOGY usually applies to an expression of regret for a mistake or wrong with implied admission of guilt or fault and with or without reference to palliating circumstances <said by way of apology that he would have met them if he could>. APOLOGIA implies not admission of guilt or regret but a desire to make clear the grounds for some course, belief, or position <his speech was an apologia for his foreign policy>.

So I guess they should be apologia-ists

Thanks Ernie!

[This message has been edited by oriecat (edited March 10, 2001).]

An apologist is a defender of the faith, typically Christian. It's their duty to justify the 66 cases of genocide committed by the god in the Bible, god killing David's baby, ordering the Israelites to commit a level of genocide so complete that they make the Assyrians look like puss**s, etc. Of course they don't tell you why you should believe in Christianity over any other religion but hey, that's life. The Apologist will say, "just believe." That's them in a nutshell.

[This message has been edited by Sephiroth (edited March 10, 2001).]

Ahh, that was refreshing! Like diving in the boil at radium springs!

I've always had the same question too. I had never heard of it either until I visited this forum. I thought maybe they were apologizing for being Christians, which made absolutely no sense to me.

Makes perfect sense to me. We deserve nothing less.