АПОЛОГЕТИКА

Apologetics

A branch of theology which defends and justifies a dogma by means of arguments addressed to reason. Apologetics is included in the Catholic and Orthodox systems of theology, but Protestantism rejects it and proceeds from the primacy of faith over reason.

Apologetics includes proof of the existence of God, the immortality of the soul, the teaching of the signs of divine revelation (including miracles and prophecies), an analysis of the objections to religion and its various dogmas, and a theological analysis of alien faiths.

Apologetics possesses the internal defect of appealing to reason and at the same time asserting that the basic religious dogmas cannot be grasped by reason, i.e., apologetics is rational in form but irrational in content. Typical of apologetics are its refined sophistry, its extreme bias and dogmatism, obscurantism, and unscientific nature.