Christin Apologetics in the Early Church

Jesus Christ’s gospel has faced several criticisms and obstacles century after century, nevertheless, the word has been preserved by meticulous reasoning’s of Christian apologists throughout history. The early church apologists were Christian thinkers that specifically specialized in defending the Christian faith5. They were first generation Christians that had converted to Christianity as adults4. By training and profession, most apologists were philosophers. They had two major duties, they had an obligation to argue before magistrates and governors on how Christians deserved better treatment and were loyal and good citizens of Rome. In terms of its existence, Christian apologetics is believed to have been in existence as long as Christianity. Christ himself lived his adult life in synagogues and temples, explaining and debating scripture meanings to non-believers.

The New Testament reveals that a thrust of early Christian apologetics were defenders of the faith at the peak of the Jewish religion and its prophecies concerning the messiah2. In the early church, Christian apologists like Tertullian and Justin Martyr were defenders of moral superiority that Christianity had over paganism, they also pointed out how prophecies of the Hebrew bible had been fulfilled in Christianity. Another apologist, one Origen, who was a third century philosopher and theologian, was a stressor on the supernatural witness of the holy trinity and more so the holy spirit in the Christian faith. The man also known as the bishop of Hippo focused on history, philosophy and human culture in his theological writings and apologies3. After trying the Manichaeism religion, a dualistic philosophy that saw evil and good as definitive realities and Platonism that revealed to him the falsehood in Manichaeism, he converted into Christianity.

When the seventh century begun, the Greco-Roman culture had been absorbed by Christianity. The religion had succeeded in its fight against paganism3. The church and the Christian faith grew and become the central vehicle of the western culture. Pascal soon become among the first apologists who, in their line of work, took into account the differences in people. Christians that would defend their faith should work to show that their faith is not irrational, but that its truth is great news and can be proven to be a fact. Pascal tried to create a balance between the two extremes. He did not want an exaggeration on the value of knowing Christ and his importance but he also did not want all reasoning to be abandoned altogether.

In his view, God had provided the universe with evidence that supported the truth of Christianity and therefore, those who needed the truth would see it, however, God has also not revealed himself in a manner that might prompt nonbelievers to believe. Furthermore, the act was a slight to the Byzantine Empire that had withstood barbarian invasion after the fall of Rome in 476 and had held up the Christian faith for centuries on end. This struck and end of a unified Christian front, the schism spilt the faith into two conflicting branches, one based in Byzantium to the west and one in Rome to the west. Hence the name east-west schism. Most of the conflicts in the branches have been traced to the origin of Christianity.

The eastern branch had a theology deeply rooted in Greek Philosophy while the western branch theology was deeply rooted in Roman law. Although historical books overlooks apologetics as a cause of the great schism, there is no doubt that years before the split, apologists had conflicted on their view of Christianity and how it needed to be defended. This varied forms of biblical understanding soon spread to ordinary Christians, churches, bishops and higher rankings in the church setting. As years went by, contrary convictions on theology and beliefs of God and the truth became eminent, a seed that had been planted by the untamed responses of numerous apologists for centuries6. When the seventh century begun, the Greco-Roman culture had been absorbed by Christianity.

The religion had succeeded in its fight against paganism. The final break from Rome was not fully finalized until the 1450s7. Personal interests and political jealousies increased disputes and in the end, following numerous premonitory symptoms, the split occurred. Christians are not to Blame Evidence from the Old Testament apologies stresses on the religious excellence of Christianity. Even though the argument is not clear, it is easily understood by its concepts that argue that Paganism is a dark religion whilst Christianity is lightness, Christianity is power while paganism is weakness8. Looking keenly into these arguments, apologists contrasted the logical coherence of the religious doctrines of Christianity. Early Christian apologetics have ensured and steered a hard course between dogmatism, that does not seriously considered objections of non-believers and the temptation that aims to undermine the defenses by allowing so much skepticism.

Historically, apologetics is a positive force in its direct argument for Christianity and has often negative been negative in its disparagement of opposing religions. Apologetics had a function to fortify Christian believers against any form of personal doubts and also to eliminate intellectual stumbling blocks which inhibit unbeliever conversions. After the reformation period, it was evident that Europeans had taken the Christian faith for granted and as religious disputes increased, majority were intra-Christian clashes on the denotation of certain significant doctrines regarding the Christian faith. For this reasons and many others, the 17th century marked an increased rise of religious skepticism which challenged the very foundations of Christian faith. Downers Grove, IL: IVP Academic, 2011. A Brief History of Apologetics. " Bible. org.