Apologetics

Apologetics is the field of study concerned with the systematic defense of a position. Someone who engages in apologetics is called an apologist or an "apologete".

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The term comes from the Greek word apologia (απολογια), meaning the defense of a position against an attack. When John Henry Newman entitled his spiritual autobiography Apologia Pro Vita Sua in 1864, he was playing upon both connotations. Early uses of the term include Plato's Apology (the defense speech of Socrates from his trial) and some works of early Christian apologists, such as St. Justin Martyr's two Apologies addressed to the emperor Marcus Aurelius.

Related Topics:
Greek - John Henry Newman - Apologia Pro Vita Sua - Plato's Apology - Christian - St. Justin Martyr - Marcus Aurelius

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