Introduction To Christian Apologetics
                                                       -By Alex Pak

Everybody seems to have opinions about themselves and where they stood in their environment and time. One of the opinions is a topic of religion; I have not met anyone who does not have one yet. Evidently I also have an opinion on the subject. Through this article, I also would like to share my faith about Christianity. I have thought about writing the subject many years ago, but my conscience told me to wait until my thoughts and faith matured. That was thirty years ago. So I decided to write a brief introduction to my understanding of Christianity.  And this is a sort of apologetic works.

According to   Selden, “Apologetics by nature is a broad, interdisciplinary activity. No apology of any sort, be it philosophical or theological, is free from the epistemology, which is basis for acquiring truth. To defend truth it is necessary first to acquire truth. In many respects, apologetics and epistemology cannot be distinguished. Thus in apologetics one’s concept of authority is central, and in Christian apologetics then, the questions of epistemology, authority and scripture must be considered.”(Jonathan Selden, Aquinas, Luther, Melanchthon, and Biblical Apologetics. Grace Theological Journal 5. 2. (1984) 181-195, p. 183)

In order to make any sense on defense, one must know truth or fact about truth. So it is necessary to acquire truth and to explain about the truth. Many have tried to articulate or make statements on the subject.  In that sense, Christianity has produced many apologists and still producing them.  

This does not mean everyone has to be an apologist in order to defend for Christianity.  Every Christian can be a sort of defender of one’s faith.  

Throughout the church history, many great church fathers were apologists and wrote apologies against critics and heretics.  In the 2nd century, Aristides of Athens wrote the apologetic work to the Emperor Hadrian (emperor from 117-138) to explain why there is a God and how the world came into being. Christians were in the world to pray and be the responsible to the world. They were not the enemy of the empire. Another apologist named Justin Martyr (100-165) wrote two of his famous works on apologetics: The First Apology was written to Antoninus Pius and the Roman senate; Second Apology was written to the Roman senate. He also wrote Dialogue with Trypho, who was a Jewish rabbi. In his writing, Christianity is a new covenant and that Jesus is the Jewish Messiah. It composed of a dialogue between Justin and Trypho.  In addition, there is Origen of Alexandria’s (85-254) on Against Celsus, Tertullian of Carthage (c.160-c. 225) wrote apologetical writings against pagans and Judaism and moral decadents, Augustine (354-430) of Hippo Regius’ Confessions.  All wrote some sort of apologetic works to defend and share their faith. And there were many famous Medieval Christian apologists such as Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) Summa Contra Gentiles, Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109) Cur Deus Homo, and Martin Luther (1483-1546), John Calvin (1509-1564), Institute of the Christian Religion, Philip Melanchthon (1497-1560), Augsburg Confession and C. S. Lewis (1898-1963), and Francis Schaeffer (1912-1984) and others well.