A History of Apologetics

by Avery Dulles

Book Overview

Making the case for the Christian faith--apologetics--has always been part of the Church's mission. Yet Christians sometimes have had different approaches to defending the faith, responding to the needs of their respective times and framing their arguments to address the particular issues of their day.

Cardinal Avery Dulles's A History of Apologetics provides a masterful overview of Christian apologetics, from its beginning in the...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0898709334
• ISBN13: 9780898709339
• Release Date: August 2005
• Publisher: Ignatius Press
• Length: 420 Pages
• Weight: 1.36 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

history

Very good book. Very clear and good overview of the subject. Should be part of the course of study for ministers.

Outstanding Analysis of the History of Christian Apologetics

What can present day Christian apologists learn from the apologetic masters of the past? The answer is undoubtedly quite a lot, but unfortunately works that carefully catalogue the history of Christian apologetics are quite rare. This rarity is likely due to the fact that the author of such a work must possess substantial scholarly competence in several academic fields, including theology, philosophy, history, culture, and even science. Filling a real need in this area is the recent reprint of Avery Dulles's book A History of Apologetics that was first published in 1971 but was unfortunately out of print for many years. Because Dulles's book is arguably the most substantial book of its kind (at least available in English), the reprint deserves a fresh review for students of apologetics who are unfamiliar with its content. Jesuit scholar Avery Dulles has been a leading American Catholic theologian over the past half century, and was recently made cardinal, a rare honor for an essentially academic scholar. His background and astute awareness of Catholic theology, philosophy, and church history combined with his familiarity with Protestant thought aptly prepare him for such a work. The aim of the book is straightforward and clear. The author tells "the story of the various ways in which thoughtful Christians, in different ages and cultures, have striven to `give a reason for the hope that was in them..." (p. xvi) Dulles divides the book into six chapters, corresponding to six consecutive eras of Christian thought: (1) Apologetics in the New Testament, (2) The Patristic Era, (3) The Middle Ages, (4) From the 16th through 18th Centuries, (5) The 19th Century, and (6) The 20th Century. Each chapter is chalked full of people, ideas, and apologetic arguments and is therefore worthy of a chapter-by-chapter summary in this review. Chapter one discusses the type of the apologetic material that appears in the New Testament (specifically in the four Gospels, the Book of Acts, and in the Pauline and general epistles). Dulles explains that this materials centers on the person, nature, mission, and Messianic ministry of Jesus Christ and highlights Christ's fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy and His miracles, especially the resurrection. Dulles states that while the Gospel's are more concerned with telling the story about Christ, that is preaching rather than defending their claim, nevertheless the Gospels contain important apologetic material. Chapter two addresses the patristic era or the period of the church fathers which extends roughly from the second through the fifth centuries A.D. During this period Christian apologists first engaged the officials of the Roman Empire in a plea for tolerance, but later the focus turned to distinguishing the faith from Judaism and confronting the ubiquitous paganism of the classical Greco-Roman world. The apologetic contributions of eight major Greek and Latin Christian thinkers are asse

Splendid Excursion

With luxuriating readability and marvelous conciseness, Cardinal Dulles offers a splendid excursion through Christian Apologetics. From Paul and Augustine to men and women of the middle twentieth century, the reader becomes familiar with all the high points of religious and philosophic argumentation. For people interested in religious inquiry, this volume becomes the ultimate study guide from which to delve more deeply into the original texts. This is not "hardpan" reading, it is as smooth as silk.

Classic Survey of Apologetics

This is the classic text on the broad sweep of apologetics. Dulles begins with apologetic motifs in the NT, then continues on to the patristic era, rich in apologetics classics.Each section in ended with the author's concluding analysis. He then moves to the middle ages which focused primarily on Aquinas. Then to the Reformation era, 16-18th. Ends with a chapter each on the 19th and 20th centuries.I appreciate his splitting his historical sweep beginning with the 16th C. forward into Catholic and Protestant. Lacking in my mind is the apologists of my era, the Craig's, Geisler's,Montgomery's, etc., but I didn't really buy nor use this to get a historical fix on them. What Dulles provides so succinctly in this work is so useful to gaining an overall timeframe on the apologetic topic.Highly recommended.