Apologetics

(-jet´iks), this term, as used in Christian theology, does not carry with it the idea of excuse or regretful acknowledgment, but signifies a defensive or vindicatory statement, which accords with its meaning in the original Greek. In the conventional division of systematic theology apologetics comes first in order, and is followed by the disciplines of dogmatics 201 and ethics, which expound Christian belief and Christian duty respectively. There is a tendency, however, in the more recent treatment of systematic theology, to include the defence or vindication of the various Christian doctrines within the dogmatic scheme, leaving to apologetics—in so far as it may be regarded as a separate discipline from dogmatics—the discu ion of such general themes as religion and revelation, authority and inspiration, and the e ence and truth of Christianity. Such discu ions belong e entially to what is now often called philosophy of religion. The preference of the term philosophy of religion to that of apologetics is indicative at once of the wider theological outlook of our time and of the conciliatory, adaptable, and more sympathetic spirit in which the Christian apologist approaches the new thought and culture.— Bibliography : A. B. Bruce, Apologetics ; R. Mackintosh, First Primer of Apologetics ; J. R. Ill ing worth, Reason and Revelation ; A. E. Garvie, A Handbook of Christian Apologetics .