APOLOGETICS, the department of theo logical science which deals with the defense of the Christian faith. It differs from dogmatics which strives to reduce the doctrines of reli gion to a systematic form; and from polemics, which is the science of controversy, and while its subject matter comprises the differences found in different schools of believers, apolo getics deals with attacks upon the faith which are made by unbelievers. Apologetics may be again distinguished from apologies. The for mer has to do with the fundamental principles of the religion and with the methods of de fense which apply to all attacks, but an apology has to do with some special form of unbelief.
The former is the science of which the latter is an application. Yet, apologetics as a science may be best understood through its historical applications and the distinction named is made more readily in theory than exhibited in detail.
Owing to the nature of Christian theology as histoncally formulated, apologies have fallen under two main divisions, popularly known as natural theology and the evidences of Chris tianity. The former is usually put before the latter. It discusses the nature of God and the proofs of His existence as revealed to us in nature. It may also investigate the nature of man, his moral sense, the freedom of his will and his capacity for knowing God. Its chief reliance has been upon four arguments: the ontological, which starts from our idea of a perfect being and shows that it implies actual existence; the cosmological, which from the long line of causes and effects, each contingent, argues backward to a first great cause, which is itself uncaused; the teleological, which shows the marks of design in nature, and from them argues to a great designer; the moral, which starts with the moral sense in man and argues to a holy and righteous maker. Some writers add an wsthetic argument, from our sense of beauty and its gratification in the universe. Then these various arguments are combined and the perfect being is shown to be the first great cause, righteous, wise and a person whom therefore we call God.
The evidences of Christianity assume the ex istence of such a God, and from this basis prove Christianity to be His peculiar revela tion, constituting the absolute religion. This
proof ordinarily is divided into two great di visions, external and internal. The external proofs are miracles and completed prophecy, which evince a. power and wisdom which are Divine and guarantee the Divine authorship of the writings which they authenticate. The ex ternal proofs include also the historical evi dence to the genuineness of the scripture writ ings. The internal evidences show the adapta tion of the contents of the Bible to the needs of men, their agreement with the highest teach ings of reason, and their elevating and purify ing effect upon the mind and life. A further argument is based upon the experience of the Christian as testifying to the truth of the doc trines involved.
This argument in both divisions, natural theology and the evidences of Christianity, oc cupies the chief place in the textbooks, but, evidently, it is a form of specific apology and at best only in part illustrates essential apolo getics. This it appears from a wider survey for the argument as stated above, while it meets a special situation, neither represents the actual argumentation in the first ages of the Church nor in our own day. Even in the New Testa ment some of the writings have an apologetic purpose. Christianity in its early form met two opponents, Judaism and heathenism. To the first, the apostolic writers attempted to prove its truth by showing it as foretold in the Old Testament, and as completing the earlier Scriptures. When Christianity encountered Greek thought the situation was wholly differ ent, and the apologists formulated the con tents of the gospel in a manner which appealed to the common sense of all the serious thinkers and intelligent men of the age. That is, Chris tianity was presented as completing, or at least harmonizing with, the later Greek philos ophy. In this it succeeded and then ensued a long period when apologetics was in abeyance. The intellectual life of the Church was en gaged in formulating dogmas and in conflicts with heresy. Only long after the Reformation was the strife renewed with men who seriously denied the truth of Christianity.