APOLOGETICS AND APOLOGISTS

APOLOGETICS AND APOLOGISTS. The genre, apologetics, is concerned with the defense and explanation of the faith to those who do not share it, and by extension, to those who dissent from it. This type of writing began with the Christian Apologists of the 2nd c. who sought to defend the reasonableness of Christianity to the Roman emperors and the public. Theirs were the first conscious attempts to reach out, therefore, to the larger world of Greco-Roman educated opinion, i.e., to the philosophical and pagan patrimony of antiquity, as well as to specifically Jewish objections. Writing in Greek during this period were Quadratus (fl.l30s), Aristides (140s), Justin Martyr (d.163 [q.v.]), Tatian (170s), and Theophilus of Antioch (180s). Tertullian (q.v.) and Minucius Felix wrote important works in Latin around 200. The genre would continue into the 3rd and 4th c. with both Origen and Eusebius of Caesarea (qq.v.) providing powerful replies to pagan criticisms of Christianity.