I'm excited about Fr. Robert Barron's The Catholicism Project. In particular, the television series set to air on PBS. In fact, the television series is flat out great evangelistic media: professional, compelling, beautiful, and prayer-inspiring. It's the anti TBN (if you don't know what that is, don't bother).
Great media is a powerful tool, yet it will always be just that--media. As media, it will always serve as a go-between, a thing that helps us connect to something else. In this case, the media is compelling us to engage the beautiful human story of the response of mortals--enlivened by the immortal Spirit--to God coming to earth and becoming man. How scandalous! If you care to see, even just the video trailer induces the mind to imagine the grandeur of the Catholic story; and we hope the heart to engage upon a real project of one's own journey to God.
Ah, isn't that beautiful?
But then there will be so many who think or say:
"Clearly this is a part of the Jesuit conspiracy to rule the world" or
"But they worship bread, don't you know..." or
"Johnny! Turn that crap off! Don't you know those Romish pigs worship Mary and the Pope controls the International Monetary Fund?" or
"Sad. They don't even know Constantine founded the Catholic Church, do they?"
TV, off. Book, closed.
I want to now turn your attention to the activity of apologetics. I have been in a number of discussions and have read a few articles discussing the merits of the vocation of apologist. As someone who took St. Justin Martyr as his patron upon entering the Church, and since I have felt called to apologetics my entire life, I thought I should share a few thoughts:
Why apologetics?
Four facts for your reading convenience:
#1- 15 Patristic texts go by the name "Adversus"--meaning against; most of the others address some issue that needed correction.
#2- Most of what we read in the epistles of the New Testament is meant as correction for some kind of error. In fact, in Acts 26:2, St. Paul describes his remarks to Festus as apologia, and in Romans 1:20 condemns the unbeliever as one anapologētoi or "without an apology" (source)
#3- All of the Church councils were called in response to a heresy.
#4- The canons of the Church primarily anathematize heresy
Thus, we can conclude that when the Church spills ink, ink can best be used to defend the faith, particularly in times when she is persecuted or challenged. Our lives are our witness and ultimately the best evangelistic tool for the building of the kingdom. However, our pens, we might say, can be used very effectively in defense of that witness.
Keep in mind, as a Catholic, we have a defined object in mind. We are not mini-magisteriums nor should we pretend to wear self-made pope hats or be the peddlers of papal home brewing kits. Speculation is permissible, but one should be quick to note when they are speculating, and careful to direct the reader to that which Christ gave us in the deposit of faith found in the Sacred Scriptures and Sacred Tradition, which is infallibly interpreted by the Magisterium. Since we have no personal cathedra and a blog doesn't count, our pens should serve Mother Church and not our own agendas or egos.
What isn't apologetics?
I know that I haven't defined yet what it is, but first let's consider what apologetics isn't. Apologetics isn't unprincipled hollering. Apologetics isn't "one-upping". Apologetics isn't running into random comboxes and telling people why they are wrong. Apologetics isn't talking to people who aren't listening. Apologetics isn't kumbaya around a campfire.
I could go on, but I think you get the point which naturally leads to...
What is apologetics?
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| The Apologist |
Apologetics is the art of the principled reply. It requires (1) stating facts, (2) examining evidence, (3) examining arguments, (4) proving or disproving assumptions and (5) communicating effectively. There are so many that are great at it. I've personally met Bryan Cross, and consider him a friend. Visiting a combox at Called to Communion is a journey into the cross-hairs of good apologetics functioning under the aforementioned principles, and Mr. Cross does it well.
I try.
Also, Apologetics is dirty work. I agree that Catholicism, like water, should be normally delivered to your home through a nice shiny faucet and that the water should be clean and sparkly. Apologetics is the water filtration plant. If you don't feel called to it, stick to baking beautiful cakes with the clean water provided. Bare in mind, everyone will love your cakes and just kind of tip their hat, only occasionally, at the work of the water filtration foreperson. The apologist, too, will get little thanks, but he or she doesn't do it for that reason. They do it because they love souls, and they would hate that the humidity of falsity would ever fog up the glasses of those who would ever wish to gaze at the beauty of the Son.
The late Cardinal Dulles put it this way:
"Christians are in need of apologetics not only to help them spread their faith but also to overcome their own doubts and temptations to unbelief."Or to put it another way and with our separated brothers and sisters in mind, the apologist would lament someone not watching The Catholicism Project simply because the word "Catholic" is in the title.
Is there a vocation for the apologist?
You bet.
As Pope Paul IV solemnly declared (Apostolicam Actuositatem):
"The laity derive the right and duty to the apostolate from their union with Christ the head; incorporated into Christ's Mystical Body through Baptism and strengthened by the power of the Holy Spirit through Confirmation, they are assigned to the apostolate by the Lord Himself."Sure, you would rather read Scott Hahn than Dave Armstrong, but then again it's Scott Hahn who is sourcing Dave Armstrong in his writing.
"Since, in our own times, new problems are arising and very serious errors are circulating which tend to undermine the foundations of religion, the moral order, and human society itself, this sacred synod earnestly exhorts laymen-each according to his own gifts of intelligence and learning - to be more diligent in doing what they can to explain, defend, and properly apply Christian principles to the problems of our era in accordance with the mind of the Church." (excerpts from Dave Armstrong)
Faucet.
Yeah!
Filtration plant.
Hat tip to the filtration plant(s).
[ht: pv]
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This Blog
After my hiatus, I've decided to focus this blog and define my publishing schedule. On Monday, you can expect to receive via your web browser, email or RSS feed a more substantial article. On Wednesday, I will be doing a "Reply in the Combox" post where I show you how to reply to certain objections to the Catholic faith. Lastly, I will continue on Fridays to share videos and/or quick takes depending on the quality of videos I run into.
Peace to you on your journey...
