HISTORY OF

THE
APOLOGETICS
1. Apostolic; 2. Patristic; 3. Scholastic; 4.
Reformed; 5. Astronomical; 6. Illustrated; 7.
Modern and 8. Contemporary.
Apostolic Period
■ The evangelists dispelled doubts about the life of
Jesus.
■ Paul confronts the
Corinthians with
Gnostic tendencies
that denied the
resurrection: “For if
there is no
resurrection, our
faith is in vain.”
■ The apostle Peter
polemicizes with
some who ridiculed
the reality of the
Second Coming of
the Lord (ch. 3). He
calls them sarcastic scoffers, and reminds them that
human time does not count for God.
1 Peter 3:14-16

14 Blessed are they if they suffer for

the sake of justice! " Do not fear what
they fear, nor let yourselves be
frightened ."
15 Rather, honor Christ as Lord in your
hearts. Always be prepared to respond
to everyone who asks you for a reason
for the hope that is in you.
16 But do it with gentleness and
respect, keeping a clear conscience ,
so that those who speak evil of your
good conduct in Christ may be ashamed
of their slander.
 Patristic Period

Sects within the Church:

■ The Judaizing Ebionites only
recognized the gospel of Matthew. Marcion's Canon (12 of 27
book!) The others 15 books
■ The Marcionites of Platonist
tendency preferred Luke's. Gospel of Marcion Matthew Hebrews
(assumed Luke/Acts) mark 1Peter
■ The Docetists , who believed that Gatada ns 1 Thessalonians John 2Peter
1 Corinthians Romans 1 John
Christ had not suffered crucifixion 2 Corinthians
2 Thessalonians
Ephesians 1 Timothy 2 John
because his body was supposedly Romans Colossians 2 Timothy 3John
apparent and not real, only Philemon Titus jude
Philippians Revelation
recognized that of Mark.
■ The Valentinians preferred the
gospel of John.
Justin (100-165 AD) C.) and Clement (155-
220 AD. C.), philosophers
converted to Christianity,
who dedicated their lives
to defending the faith,
demonstrated that
Christianity was not a
Jewish heresy
incompatible with reason.
■ The church was accused
of:
– Sedition
– Atheism
– Perversity
– cannibalism
 Council of
Nicaea
The persecutions disappeared and with them the need
to defend oneself before the State, but new internal
problems arose, such as Christological
controversies .
Arius (250-336 AD) C.), was a follower of Philo of
Alexandria who denied the divinity of Christ, saying
that the three persons of the Trinity are distinct persons
and unrelated to each other. According to him, eternity
was only an attribute of the Father.
Athanasius (295-373 AD) C.) saw the need to
vigorously confront such Arian heresy at the Council
of Nicaea and, by affirming that Christ is of the same
substance as the Father, he gave shape to the famous
Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed.
 9. NICENE CREED- in the time of Pontius Pilate;
CONSTANTINEPOLITAN He suffered and was buried,
I believe in one God, Almighty Father,
and he rose again on the third day,
Maker of heaven and earth,
according to the Scriptures,
of everything visible and invisible.
and ascended to heaven,
I believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, and is seated at the right hand of the
only son of God, Father;
born of the Father before all ages: and he will come again with glory to judge
God of God, Light of Light. alive and dead,
true God of true God, And his kingdom will have no end.
begotten, not created,
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
of the same nature of the Father,
Lord and giver of life,
by whom everything was made;
which proceeds from the Father and the
that for us men
Son,
and for our salvation, he came down from
that with the Father and the Son,
heaven;
receives the same adoration and glory,
and by the work of the Holy Spirit
and who spoke through the prophets.
He was incarnated from Mary, the Virgin,
and became
I create the church,
man.
which is one, holy, catholic and apostolic.
And for our sake he was crucified
I confess that there is only one baptism
 for the forgiveness of sins.

I hope for the resurrection of the dead

and the life of the future world. Amen.
 SCHOLASTIC PERIOD (6th to 13th centuries)

Christianity took refuge in the convents and the common people fell into ignorance and
superstition.
In the East, Islam was developing, which would keep
Europe of Christian tradition in check for
centuries.
Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109), the father of
scholasticism, took up the defense of the faith
and attempted to use classical Greco-Latin
philosophy
Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274) raised apologetics
with two monumental works: Summa contra los
gentiles , and Summa theologica . A abandoned
Platonism to recover Aristotelian philosophy and
combine it with the Christian faith , establishing
an agreement between reason and faith .
 Reformed Period
The controversy between Catholics and Protestants gave rise to formal and not so formal
apologetics: the Inquisition (counter-reformation) and religious wars: the Huguenot War in
France , the 30 Years' War in Germany , etc.

Martin Luther John Calvin

T
V
N
E
W
TI
M
E

IT IS BETTER TO
BE DIVIDED BY
TRUTH, THAN
BE UNITED BY ERROR
W MARTIN LUTHER
Astronomical
Period (S. XVI
and XVII)
• In 1540, Nicolai Copernicus (1473-
1543) stated that the geocentric
Ptolemaic conception of the universe,
accepted by the Catholic Church, was
false.
• Giordano Bruno (1548-1600) dared
to relate his pantheistic theories with
those of Copernicus, he was
unceremoniously burned at the stake.
• In 1633, Galileo Galilei (1569 1642),
encouraged by the discoveries made
with his telescope, spoke again on the
subject.
 Period of
Illustrated
Criticism

■ The Church had lost all its prestige

and the divorce between faith and
science was consummated.
■ The dogmatic rationalists
Descartes and Voltaire were
criticized by thinkers such as
Gottfried Leibniz and David
Hume .
■ There is also no shortage of
contributions from Christian
scientists such as Blas Pascal and
Isaac Newton .

PHRASES OF LIFE

GRAVITY EXPLAINS THE MOVEMENT OF THE

PLANETS, BUT IT CANNOT EXPLAIN WHO SET THE
PLANETS IN MOTION.
- ISAAC NEWTON
 Modern Period
■ There were still prestigious scientists
who accepted the existence of a creator 66 THOSE WHO
God, such as Einstein and Heisenberg. LEAVE THE
TRADITION OF
■ The truth is that naturalism was imposed TRUTH DOES NOT
as a fundamental doctrine in all ESCAPE TO
universities and schools in the Western SOMETHING
world. CALLED FREEDOM.
■ The theory of evolution became a THEY ONLY ESCAPE
TOWARDS
scientific basis and the subject of ANOTHER THING
religion was replaced by secular ethics. WE CALL
FASHION.99
Gilbert Keith Chesterton
 Revisionism or
Theological Modernism

■ If reason is incompatible with faith, then it is

necessary to change theology. In this way
“higher criticism” arose.
■ Rudolf Bultmann (1884-1976) was the German
theologian who stated: The Bible must be
demystified and cleaned of all kinds of stories
and legends.
■ Jürgen Moltmann (1926-), for his part, said: We
can take nothing for granted, the only thing we
have left is hope.
■ And the Catholic liberation theologian,
Leonardo Boff (1938-), wrote: What truly
counts are the poor and marginalized and our
mission is to defend them even if it is by resorting
to violence.
Neoconservatism
■ If science opposes the Bible, science
must be rejected.
■ “Science and technology is an
invention of Satan, and therefore
we must do without it.”
■ There are radical evangelical
groups that, regardless of any
hermeneutical rule, defend that
the Bible affirms that the Sun
revolves around the Earth,
regardless of what Copernicus
and all modern astrophysics say.
Great modern
Apologists
■ Despite the great challenge of
science, throughout the 20th century,
there were numerous Christian
apologists, both moderate and liberal
or modernist and both Protestant and
Catholic, such as:
■ C.S. Lewis (1898-1968), Francis
Schaeffer (1912-1984), Paul Tournier
(1898-1966), Charles Colson (1931-),
Maurice Blondel (1861-1949),
Gilbert Keith Chesterton (1874-
1936), Karl Barth ( 1886-1968),
Emil Brunner (1889-1966), Rudolf
Bultmann (1884-1976), Paul Tillich
(1886 1965) and others.