Rev. José Mario O. Mandía
jmom.honlam.org
We now move on to the period after the death of St John which is called the Sub-apostolic age. Here we find a new generation of writers whose background and approach differ from that of the Apostolic Fathers. These second century writers are called the Greek Apologists.
The term ‘apologist’ comes from Greek apologia (ἀπολογία ‘speaking in defense’). In his First Letter, St Peter exhorted Christians: “Always be prepared to make a defense to any one who calls you to account for the hope that is in you, yet do it with gentleness and reverence” (1 Peter 3:15).
The writings of the Apostolic Fathers addressed the Christian faithful to guide them and to edify them. In contrast, the Greek Apologists addressed non-Christians and employed Greek philosophy to defend the Faith from accusations and show that Christianity is the one true religion.
Why was there a need to defend the Faith? During the second century, persecutions and anti-Christian sentiments arose because Christianity was seen as a rival to the State. Moreover, the Faith was attacked by pagans, Gnostics, Jews and converts to Christianity who insisted on observing the Mosaic Law (the so-called ‘Judaizers’). Christians were accused of immorality such as incest, infanticide, orgies, and cannibalism (because of the Eucharist).
The Greek Apologists set out to do three things:
(1) They wanted to address the accusations against the Church by showing how Christians tried to live chaste and honorable lives and tried to live as good citizens.
(2) They exposed the errors of paganism and at the same time explained the dogmas concerning the one God, the divinity of Christ and the resurrection of the body.
(3) They also argued that merely human philosophies could not attain the whole truth. On the other hand, Christianity possessed the Logos, Divine Reason: Jesus Christ. Hence, they concluded “that Christianity is immeasurably above Greek philosophy – is, in fact, divine philosophy” (Quasten, I, p 187).
“Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth.”
St John Paul II
The demonstration of the truth and credibility of the Faith was the beginning of what we now call Fundamental Theology. We could say, in fact, that the Greek Apologists were the first theologians.
Some people accuse these Greek Apologists of hellenizing the Faith (‘to hellenize’ means to shape something according to Greek culture – ‘Héllēn’means ‘Greek’). A more accurate description of what happened is that Greek culture – Hellenism – was Christianized.
On 12 September 2006, Pope Benedict XVI delivered a lecture at the University of Regensburg in which he explained the encounter between Greek culture and Christianity.
“Biblical faith, in the Hellenistic period, encountered the best of Greek thought at a deep level, resulting in a mutual enrichment evident especially in the later wisdom literature. Today we know that the Greek translation of the Old Testament produced at Alexandria – the Septuagint – is more than a simple (and in that sense really less than satisfactory) translation of the Hebrew text: it is an independent textual witness and a distinct and important step in the history of revelation, one which brought about this encounter in a way that was decisive for the birth and spread of Christianity. A profound encounter of faith and reason is taking place here, an encounter between genuine enlightenment and religion. From the very heart of Christian faith and, at the same time, the heart of Greek thought now joined to faith, Manuel II was able to say: Not to act ‘with logos’ is contrary to God’s nature.”
The Holy Father further explained: “This inner rapprochement between Biblical faith and Greek philosophical inquiry was an event of decisive importance not only from the standpoint of the history of religions, but also from that of world history – it is an event which concerns us even today. Given this convergence, it is not surprising that Christianity, despite its origins and some significant developments in the East, finally took on its historically decisive character in Europe. We can also express this the other way around: this convergence, with the subsequent addition of the Roman heritage, created Europe and remains the foundation of what can rightly be called Europe.”
The Pontiff said that any attempt to ‘dehellenize’ Christianity will end up in either rationalism (discard faith, uphold reason) or fideism (sola fide). We must assert the need for both faith and reason. As St John Paul II said in the opening words of his Encyclical Fides et Ratio, “Faith and reason are like two wings on which the human spirit rises to the contemplation of truth.”
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