Apologetic Literature Research Articles

The Role of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Relations with Muslims from 1920 to 2020

Relations between Orthodox and Muslims in the Western Balkans often become a world-class topic due to the interest of international factors actively involved in this process. The Serbian Orthodox Church is a key factor in the development of interfaith dialogue, to which it has made a significant contribution through its primates, bishops and priests. Her role came to the fore in the post-war years, when, despite great sacrifices among Orthodox believers, she called for interfaith peace and coexistence, thereby contributing to the stability of the Western Balkans. In historical retrospect, the article examines the relations of peoples and representatives of different religions in one common state in political circumstances. The facts presented in the article allow us to draw conclusions about the level of interfaith dialogue and the contribution of representatives of various faiths to interfaith reconciliation. The article is an experience of a comprehensive scientific study of interreligious relations between Orthodox and Muslims in Serbia: when writing it, the researcher turned to various sources: Christian and Muslim religious and apologetic literature, history, sociology, journalism, etc., aiming at an impartial presentation of the most accurate and diverse information on this topic.

SUBVERZIVNOST I LOJALNOST U PRVOJ APOLOGIJI JUSTINA FILOSOFA

The conspicuous absence of Christians of the pre-Constantinian era from public mani- festations associated with polytheistic cults and the cult of the emperor caused the suspicion of the Roman citizenry and government, which eventually grew into accusations of atheism, political subversiveness and disloyalty to the Empire. This text examines the attempt to, in the context of the accusations and persecutions to which they were exposed, shape a more profiled early Christian political self-awareness, primarily in the apologetic literature of the second century and in the writing of the First Apology of the most significant apologist of the era - St. Justin the Philosopher. In the context of refuting the thesis about the anti-state activ- ity of Christians, Justin achieved a revaluation of the terms “subversiveness” and “loyalty”. Emphasizing the eschatological orientation of the Christian ethos, he argued that it is possi- ble for Christians to simultaneously, without necessary internal contradictions, exercise dual loyalty, that is, devotion to the Christian monotheistic faith and commitment to the political entity in which they live. In this way, Justin relativized the association of the terms mos maio- rum and pax deorum with the prosperity and progress of the Roman Empire and hinted at the possibility that “prudent judgment” could enable the Roman emperors to see the existing capacities for their potential conversion and alliance with Christianity. In this way, Justin’ s text represents a kind of anticipation of a great upheaval, in the form of the Christianization of the Empire, which took place less than two centuries later.

Reading Basil of Caesarea’s On the Holy Spirit as Apology

Abstract Basil of Caesarea’s On the Holy Spirit has often been painted as a work that symbolises his emergence from the shadow of his embittered mentor, Eustathius of Sebaste. This paper reassesses the extent of Eustathius’ influence on the treatise. By analysing both the tone and argumentation of On the Holy Spirit, I counter this scholarly narrative, showing that Eustathius in fact serves as the silent interlocutor of the treatise, to whom Basil pleads the case of his orthodoxy, and with whom he begs for the church to be healed. Consequently, On the Holy Spirit should be read as more in vogue with apologetic literature than polemic , as a redoubled effort to respond to Eustathius that mounts an impassioned but cordial defence of Basil’s vision of Christian orthodoxy and a long-overdue plea for peace in a war-torn church.

Joseph Smith, Thomas Paine, and Matthew 27:51b–53

Joseph Smith, Thomas Paine, and Matthew 27:51b–53

Intellectual Hegemony, Conversion Discourse and Early Christian Apologetic Literature

The present study aspires to catch a glimpse of a peculiar phenomenon in the history of religions, namely, the competitive character of early Christian apologetic literature in its attempt to confront head-on the non-Christian ideological life-world and, for that matter, to persuade the latter’s adherents to convert to the new hierophanic message. More specifically, in this study I look into the hierophanic/religious/spiritual market of the first three centuries CE, focusing on its creating, perpetuating and promoting of intellectual hegemony interactions, while at the same time I explore the conversion discourse used by all parties concerned in order to win over the Other. Apart from other religions, early Christian ‘Apologists’ faced predominantly Middle Platonism, Stoicism, Neopythagoreanism and, last but not least, Neoplatonism. In doing so they adopted a number of rhetoric and social strategies at hand; strategies that, although intended to turn the Other into the Same—which they did achieve, albeit gradually—ended up turning the Same into the Other as well.

Gregory Thaumaturgus and Early Christian Apologetics

Abstract Gregory Thaumaturgus has only occasionally been discussed in relation to early Christian apologetics. The paper provides a new step in this direction by exploring the points of contact between Gregory’s Address to Origen and previous apologetic literature. As the analysis below will indicate, the Address shows parallels with several apologetic texts from the second and early third century, both in terms of content and style. By discussing the apologetic topics and strategies found in the Address, I will argue that Gregory intended to respond, at least indirectly, to some of the main charges raised against Christians by their pagan opponents. Such an approach not only sheds light on the content and purposes of the Address, but also illuminates the historical and literary background against which Gregory wrote his text.

Orthodox samizdat in Chuvashia in the 1960s–1980s

The article is devoted to the phenomenon of Orthodox church samizdat in the second half of the 20th century. The term Orthodox samizdat used in this article refers to a set of texts reproduced in an artisanal way and distributed in church goers circle without the sanction of the church or secular authorities. In the conditions of Soviet reality, the church circles were a deep periphery of public life and was formed from the marginalized or those pushed out by the Soviet authorities to the social margins. The specific position of church people in the USSR determined the repertoire of samizdat texts and their ideological orientation. The source base for this article was formed by a large library of church samizdat left after the death of Elizabeth Feodorovna Zakharova, an active parishioner of the Vvedensky Cathedral in Cheboksary. Zakharova was a typical representative of the church goers. The article reviews the genres of works that were available as the samizdat in Zakharova’s library: liturgical texts, artisan copies of pre-revolutionary publications, spiritual verses, thematic collections, folklore, apologetic literature, eschatologicaland conspiralogical texts, etc. One of the peculiarities of the existence of Orthodox samizdat in Chuvashia was that many texts circulated in translations into the Chuvash language. Among the features of Cheboksary samizdat is the replication of the prosaic translation of John Milton’s poems “Paradise Lost” and “Paradise Regained”. Church samizdat performed a number of important functions in church circles: it solved the problem of demand for liturgical and doctrinal literature in deficit conditions, shared uncensored texts, rallied church people and could besource of additional income. In general, church samizdat was an important part of the culture of the church circle during the Soviet era. The spelling and punctuation features of the original unpublished sources are preserved in the article when cited.

Mediating Islam and Modernity

The question of Islam’s compatibility with modernity (and other interrelated aspects like democracy, rationality, nationalism, etc.) has been debated for more than two centuries. In the Subcontinent, this debate started with British imperialism (the so-called British Raj, 1857-1947). Scholars like Chirag Ali (d. 1895), Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (d. 1898), Allama Iqbal (d. 1938), Abul Kalam Azad (d. 1958), Shibli Numani (d. 1914), Mumtaz Ali (d. 1974), Syed Mawdudi (d. 1979), Amin Ihsan Islahi (d. 1997), and Abul Hassan Ali Nadwi (d. 1999) offered various critical responses. The debate still manifests in different forms, whether regarding nationalism or secularism, rationality or progressive politics. A plethora of mostly apologetic literature has been produced on the question. A recent addition to this literature is Parray’s Mediating Islam and Modernity.
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Mediating Islam and Modernity: Sir Syed, Iqbal, and Azad

The question of Islam’s compatibility with modernity (and other interrelated aspects like democracy, rationality, nationalism, etc.) has been debated for more than two centuries. In the Subcontinent, this debate started with British imperialism (the so-called British Raj, 1857-1947). Scholars like Chirag Ali (d. 1895), Sir Syed Ahmad Khan (d. 1898), Allama Iqbal (d. 1938), Abul Kalam Azad (d. 1958), Shibli Numani (d. 1914), Mumtaz Ali (d. 1974), Syed Mawdudi (d. 1979), Amin Ihsan Islahi (d. 1997), and Abul Hassan Ali Nadwi (d. 1999) offered various critical responses. The debate still manifests in different forms, whether regarding nationalism or secularism, rationality or progressive politics. A plethora of mostly apologetic literature has been produced on the question. A recent addition to this literature is Parray’s Mediating Islam and Modernity.
 To download full review, click on PDF.

Distinguished features of apologetic approach of Havryiil Kostelnyk

The article is dedicated to one of the work lines of Ukrainian Greek Catholic theologian Havryiil Kostelnyk - his apologetics studies. Distinguished features of Kostelnyk's beliefs as apologist are analysed from several points of view. First, it is done as compared to the Ukrainian apologetic literature within the first half of the 20th century. Second, considering differences between aims of classical apologetics and aims defined by Kostelnyk. Third, within definition of correlation of canonical Catholic and modernist principles in the Kostelnyk's approach. The apologetic works of Kostelnyk were distinguished on the background of contemporary Ukrainian Greek Catholic apologetic literature (except for the translation of book by F. Duilhé de Saint-Projet "Apologie scientifique de la foi chrétienne"). Kostelnyk did not pay much attention to the soteriological and ecclesiological aspects of apologetics. First of all, he tried to protect the Christian faith from the challenges of atheism. To this end, he tried to hold a dialogue with modern science. But attempts at such a dialogue have not always been successful. These attempts were not sufficiently significant in terms of science and at the same time went beyond the limits of Catholic orthodoxy. Gradually, Kostelnyk became a Catholic modernist apologist what type was depicted in the Encyclical of Pope Pius X "Pascendi Dominici gregis".

Da fugida na perseguição o Apologia em defensão dos Padres da Companhia de Jesus de Japão. Estudio y transcripción de un manuscrito redescubierto

With the aim to present an unpublished manuscript recovered in the British Library in London Mss. 9860, this work carry out a philological study of Da fugida na perseguicao, a treatise attributed to the Portuguese Sebastiao Gonsalves written in Goa in 1598. The old Portuguese manuscript remained unpublished and almost unknown to the researchers of Christian century in Japan since it was cited in a few historical sources. In this essay it was proceeded with its transcription, put into effect according to his own critical apparatus. It is followed by the searching of authorship, the place of publication and, finally, a brief introduction to the manuscript. The treatise features an original theme but remains limited in the apologetic literature engendered in Japan in order to criticize the catechumenate of the Jesuits. The central argument is based on the authority of the Fathers of the Church in order to answer the question posed: is it licit escape from the persecution of the tyrant?

Rearticulating a Christian-Muslim Understanding: Gennadios Scholarios and George Amiroutzes on Islam

From the eighth century, the Eastern Orthodox Churches engaged in various forms of theological dialogue and debate with newly emergent Islam. Although scholars have tended to study Islamic-Christian relations in terms of confrontation and direct conflict, this aspect, dominant as it may be, must not lead us to overlook another aspect of the relationship, that of attempts at rapprochement and understanding. Despite the acerbity of Byzantium’s anti-heretical and apologetic literature against Islam, there were also attempts at communication and mutual understanding between Christianity and Islam. These efforts became more tangible after the fall of Constantinople (1453), which marked a partial change in Orthodoxy’s theological stance towards Islam. The polemical approach, which had prevailed during Byzantine times, gave way in part to an innovative and more conciliatory theological discourse towards Islam. Modern Greek research categorizes the theological discourse that was articulated during this period according to two diametrically opposing models: the model of conciliation and rapprochement with Islam, which was not widely influential, and that of messianic Utopian discourse developed by Christians who had turned to God and sought divine intervention to save the community.

Christian Apologetic Literature as Source from Antiquity in Grotius’s De Veritate Religionis Christianae

In the 1630s, Grotius was engaged in extensive reading of patristic texts. From his involvement with these texts come the numerous and sometimes extensive quotations from patristic texts in the Annotata of De veritate religionis Christianae, which accompanied the work starting in 1640. Grotius was particularly interested in the apologetic literature of the ancient Church, which can also be seen in his correspondence. Strikingly, Grotius cites individual passages from texts that had not yet appeared in print, which he could only have learned of from the circle of those who, in 1630s Paris, were working to produce editions of various Greek texts. The texts in question are Cyril of Alexandria, Contra Julianum, and the letter of Barnabas. Grotius had received a handwritten copy of the Barnabas letter, which he later bound into his notebook amid excerpts of patristic texts. This shows the high level of detail at which Grotius knew the patristic texts, and how he moved in the intellectual circles of Paris.

The Sources of Grotius’s De Veritate Religionis Christianae

Grotius’ apologetic work De veritate must be described as traditional, because the author took all his arguments from existing apologetic literature. He allowed himself some freedom to choose from the apologetic works of such disparate authors as the Protestant Philippe Duplessis-Mornay, the Roman catholic Juan Luis Vives, and the anti-trinitarian Faustus Socinus. What was remarkable in this work was the new combination of arguments. He defended a natural theology like in his early, unpublished work Meletius. This work can be viewed as a predecessor of De veritate. Grotius combined his natural theology with a factual proof of Christian religion, the model for which he found in Socinus’ work De auctoritate Sacrae Scripturae. But his really innovative contribution to apologetic literature was his reduction of the material: he refrained from discussing Christian doctrines and thereby detached apologetics from dogmatics. Thus he wished to offer a remedy for the sickness of Christianity of his days, which in his opinion was plagued by dogmatic disputes that had driven out the truth.

Atheism, Religion and Enlightenment in pre-Revolutionary Europe. By Mark Curran. Royal Historical Society Studies in History. Rochester, N.Y.: Boydell, 2012. viii + 222 pp. $90.00 cloth.

(ProQuest: ... denotes non-US-ASCII text omitted.)Atheism, Religion and Enlightenment in pre-Revolutionary Europe . By Mark Curran . Royal Historical Society Studies in History. Rochester, N.Y. : Boydell , 2012. viii + 222 pp. $90.00 cloth.Book Reviews and NotesThis is an excellent study of the literary career of Paul-Henri Thiry the Baron d'Holbach (1723-1789), the atheistic philosophe of German background, and an important landmark in contemporary Enlightenment research. It is also an event in research into the changes in religious apologetics in the late eighteenth century. This study's importance derives both from its intrinsic value but also from the unaccountable fact that d'Holbach, its main focus, has been neglected by Enlightenment scholars at all stages despite the historical impact of his publications. This neglect was due in part, Curran explains, to the lack of sources of biographical information about d'Holbach's life and activities. But it is equally due to the pervasive, strange, and unjust myth that grew up in the nineteenth century and prevailed through the twentieth that d'Holbach is a dull and uninteresting author, a judgment that appears exceedingly odd to anyone familiar with his extremely subversive religious, philosophical, social, and political views. In any case, his Systeme de la nature (1770), in particular, administered a tremendous shock within the world of late Enlightenment European intellectual culture and provoked a powerful and lasting reaction from both Catholic and Protestant theologians and moderate enlighteners which forms a significant chapter in church history.Curran begins by following Jeremy Popkin, Daniel Gordon, Elisabeth Eisenstein, David Bell, and Jonathan Israel in pointing out, quite correctly, that while Robert Darnton's historical researches revealed d'Holbach to have been the hand behind eight of the ten most popular pre-Revolutionary clandestine anti-religious treatise that appeared in France (5), and that he was one of the most widely read Enlightenment authors, neither Darnton nor anyone else has thus far seen fit to write about d'Holbach as the pre-eminent figure that he undoubtedly was. Curran advances considerably beyond the point reached by the older scholarship devoted to d'Holbach, in particular the works of W. H.Wckwar and Pierre Naville, by drawing on the substantial material and fresh information from the numerous books, brochures, and articles, the 128 recorded publications, published in the 1770s and 1780s, responding to the challenge offered by d'Holbach's major works. Churchmen and moderate enlighteners eager to defend religion regarded his books as especially dangerous. They did so less for his detailed partially scientific exposition of materialist doctrines as such, a dimension of d'Holbach's original work largely confined to the Systeme de la nature , than to his readiness to deduce moral, social, and political conclusions from his atheism and materialism, something he does, both in that work and still more in La Politique naturelle (1773) the Systeme social (1773) and La Morale universelle (1776). D'Holbach emerged as a social critic in a notably more systematic and challenging manner than either La Mettrie or Diderot.As Curran notes d'Holbach remained high-profile, especially in Catholic and Protestant apologetic literature, through the 1770s and 1780s down to 1789 and not the least valuable feature of this slim volume are two appendices, one extremely useful eighteen-page list of the books published partly or wholly responding to d'Holbach (appendix 2), and another ten-page list of the articles responding to the challenge that appeared in the periodical press (appendix 3). …

Conversion to Islam: A Case Study for the Use of Legal Sources

AbstractThe past few decades have witnessed increasing calls in modern scholarship for revisions of the portrayal of early Islamic rule history. Such calls not only challenge older historiographic paradigms but also encourage historians to seek answers in sources hitherto neglected. Accordingly, in recent years there has been a dramatic proliferation of studies offering new historical conceptions, many of which are indebted to new kinds of source material, including coinage, official documents, inscriptions, and material artifacts, alongside more conventional forms of data like historiographic treatises, biographical dictionaries, apologetic literature, theological essays, and scriptural texts. Assembled together, new and older historical materials were now being processed, synthesized, and analyzed through the lenses of fresh paradigms and often in collaboration with other disciplines, especially the social sciences and comparative literature.The present contribution offers further support of this latter approach by highlighting the utility of legal sources for discussing the process of conversion to Islam in the early Islamic period. Following a brief historical survey, the discussion turns to address one of the central, yet highly elusive, episodes in early Islamic history – the process of conversion to Islam. The goal of this sample analysis of legal sources is twofold – to provide new historiographic insights, but also, from a methodological perspective, to underscore the remarkable utility of these sources for historians.

The Catholic Bishops of Europe and the Nazi Persecutions of Catholics and Jews by Vincent A. Lapomarda, S.J. (review)

The Catholic Bishops of Europe and the Nazi Persecutions of Catholics and Jews. By Vincent A. Lapomarda, S.J. (Lewiston, NY: Edwin Mellen Press. 2012. Pp. x, 310. $149.95. ISBN 978-0-7734-2932-1.)In The Catholic Bishops of Europe and the Nazi Persecutions of Catholics and Jews, Vincent A. Lapomarda, associate professor of history at the College of the Holy Cross, seeks to understand the various responses of European Catholic bishops to National Socialism and particularly the latter's systematic persecution and murder of Jews. His goal is to be comprehensive in scope by covering the episcopacy in Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Czechoslovakia, Estonia, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Spain, Turkey, and Yugoslavia. Such a task is daunting indeed, perhaps even requiring multi-volumes, and would, in theory, surpass in scope previous serious studies by John Morley ( Vatican Diplomacy and the during the Holocaust 1939-1943 [New York, 1980]) and Michael Phayer (The Catholic Church and the Holocaust, 1930-1965 [Bloomington, IN, 2000]). By contrast, Lapomarda's in this regard is exceedingly superficial and, at best, serves as a conduit of basic information on clergy who, at times, chose to resist Nazism. In reality, the reads like Catholic apologetic literature of old.In his foreword to the book, Ronald J. Rychlak, professor of law at the University of Mississippi, describes Lapomarda's previous research as precise and demanding and insists, There are no shortcuts in Fr. Lapomarda's work (p. i). Unfortunately, such praise cannot be given to the current study. Repeated historical inaccuracies and analysis mire the book. For example, in his chapter on Germany, Lapomarda falsely and, it could be argued, misleadingly portrays Conrad Grober, archbishop of Freiburg, as critical of the April 1,1933, national boycott of Jewish-owned businesses. He incorrectly reports that in 1937 state officials arrested 141 priests of the Wurzburg diocese for allegedly supporting Jews (p. 88). Later, in his Retrospect concluding chapter, Lapomarda perpetuates the myth that Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber, archbishop of Munich and Freising, defended in his 1933 Advent sermons. Through his secretary, Faulhaber personally rejected such an interpretation of his sermons. Likewise, in his chapter on Austria, Lapomarda acclaims Father Georg Bichlmair's assistance to Jews, but completely ignores the Jesuit's repeated antisemitic utterances that John Connelly uncovered so clearly in his recent study, From Enemy to Brother (Cambridge, MA, 2012). …

History and Australian indigenous child welfare policies

The term ‘apologist’ refers to writers defending Aboriginal child-removal policies. They argue that the policies were beneficial and intended to protect children, and that systematic mistreatment never occurred and parents supported the interventions. I locate the apologetic literature in larger accounts of child welfare. Their ethical framework is established and attention is given to question of ethical relativism with specific attention to Windschuttle. While querying the empirical value of apologist writing it is argued that they produce accounts of policy that are not morally defensible, evident in their framing of events, the omission of critical material and absence of significant scholarship.

WHEN COSMOPOLITANISMS INTERSECT:

Research Article| January 01 2010 WHEN COSMOPOLITANISMS INTERSECT:AN EARLY CHINESE BUDDHIST APOLOGETIC AND WORLD LITERATURE Alexander Beecroft Alexander Beecroft University of South Carolina Search for other works by this author on: This Site Google Comparative Literature Studies (2010) 47 (3): 266–289. https://doi.org/10.5325/complitstudies.47.3.0266 Cite Icon Cite Share Icon Share Twitter Permissions Search Site Citation Alexander Beecroft; WHEN COSMOPOLITANISMS INTERSECT:AN EARLY CHINESE BUDDHIST APOLOGETIC AND WORLD LITERATURE. Comparative Literature Studies 1 January 2010; 47 (3): 266–289. doi: https://doi.org/10.5325/complitstudies.47.3.0266 Download citation file: Zotero Reference Manager EasyBib Bookends Mendeley Papers EndNote RefWorks BibTex toolbar search Search Dropdown Menu toolbar search search input Search input auto suggest filter your search All Scholarly Publishing CollectivePenn State University PressComparative Literature Studies Search Advanced Search The text of this article is only available as a PDF. Copyright © 2010 by The Pennsylvania State University. All rights reserved.2010The Pennsylvania State University Article PDF first page preview Close Modal You do not currently have access to this content.

“The old battle is to be fought again”: Reginald Stuart Poole, Edward William Lane, and the Mid-Nineteenth-Century Genesis-Geology Debate

AbstractIn 1856 a small octavo volume with the title Genesis of the Earth and of Man was anonymously published. It argued for the existence of preadamites as a solution to the mid-Victorian debate about the veracity of the biblical account of creation in the light of geological discoveries, and as such it was widely read and commented. This essay examines the author's main theses, places it in the scholarly tradition of Biblical chronology, and analyzes it in the context of mid-nineteenth-century apologetic literature. It also surveys the contemporary reaction to the book and discusses the possibility that the book was written by the orientalist Edward William Lane.