The early church understood and practiced apologetics. Kaso nga lang, they did not practice this task early on. They did not knock on doors challenging everyone to a debate; but on the contrary, para ngang sila pa yung pinupuntahan at binu-bully simula nung magsimulang lumago ang simbahan. May kasabihan tayo na yung puno daw na hitik sa bunga, yun ang binabato. This is not surprising dahil according kay Jonathan Hill, author ng napakagandang aklat na What Has Christianity Ever Done for Us? where he said, “[W]hen Christianity . . . exists as a minority concern, it is well placed to act as a critical influence on the majority viewpoint.”* At nung napa epekto na ng Christianity ang influence, nagsimula na ang pambabato.
Ang minority status na simulain ng Christianity at ng Christian apologetics ay sinang-ayunan ng renowned church historian na si Robert Grant,
Apologetic literature emerges from minority groups that are trying to come to terms with the larger culture within which they live. Apologists do not completely identify themselves with the broader society, but they are not advocates of confrontations or revolution. They address their contemporaries with persuasion, looking for links between the outside world and their own group and thus modifying the development of both . . . As [the apologist] tries to present [Christian] ideas as persuasively as possible, the persuasion is likely to convert [people] . . . and modify their ideas at least in form. . . He is also defending the group against accusations spread by the majority about minorities, who are treated as responsible for social divisions or even various catastrophes that shake up society as a whole.†Paliwanag naman ni Kenneth Boa & Robert Bowman sa kanilang aklat na Faith Has Its Reasons: An Integrative Approach to Defending Christianity, “the new challenges that confronted the burgeoning church as it spread throughout the Roman Empire required a new apologetic counterthrust.”‡
Etong “apologetic counterthrust” na ito ay makikita na rin natin sa mga “[a]pologetic literature” nung panahon na yon. Nangingibabaw dito ang pangalan ni Justin Martyr (AD 100-165). Sa kanyang panulat na Dialogue with Trypho the Jew he provided defense by utilizing passages pointing to Christ in the Hebrew Scriptures.
Ang isa pa na pangalan dito na mahalagang banggitin ay si Origen (AD 184-254). A century before his birth, Greek philosophers were beginning to resent Christianity not only because of its growing population but also its influence. One of these is the Platonic philosopher Celsus who
wrote a book entitled (presumably with a hint of sarcasm) True Doctrine, which represented a trenchant attack on what he regarded as these barbaric idiots who were twisting ancient and noble doctrines into a debased form, suitable only for the intellectually inadequate and socially inferior.§Kumbaga mapagmataas na binabalahura ni Celsus ang mga believers. Nang mabasa ito ni Origen a century later, sinagot niya ito. What is fascinating sa apologetics ni Origen is he did not just defend Christianity from the vicious attacks of Celsus, he also exposed many faulty reasoning sa mga sinabi ng kanyang katunggali. Sa salitang kanto sa atin dito sa Pilipinas, niresbakan siya. Sa pag defend ni Origen gumamit siya ng positive apologetics, which is building a case for the truths found in Christianity.
Pero gumamit din siya ng negative apologetics o yung pag-e-expose ng faulty reasoning ng kaniyang katunggali. One time I was talking to an atheist at ang sabi niya, Christianity is a very violent religion kasi tayo daw ang nagpasimula ng mga madudugong giyera taking a cue from God commanding the Israelites to commit genocide on the Canaanites. I explained to him by way of positive apologetics that Christianity serves a god na ang nais ay magkaroon ng shalom at yung mga tinutugis niyang mga Canaanites were actually people who have no regard for righteousness and peace. Then I moved sa negative apologetics by saying na ang information at logic niya ay mali. Mali information nya kasi hindi genocide ang Canaanite dispersal at yung nagpasimula ng majority ng mga giyera ay pinapasinungalingan ng isang akademikong aklat na pinamagatang Encyclopedia of Wars ni Philips at Axelrod. Isa itong multi-volume na aklat na nag index ng lahat ng giyerang naganap sa recorded history at nakalagay pa doon kung ano ang cause ng war. Christianity has started less than 7%. Hindi yan majority.
Origen utilized ang positive at negative apologetics sa kaniyang response to Celsus by building a case for Christianity (positive apologetics) and exposing the fallacious reasoning ni Celsus (negative apologetics).
I picked up these two stories from Origen and Justin Martyr from a host of other examples in the early church to provide for you a glimpse into the importance of apologetics in the lives of the early church. I am actually setting you up to the biblical mandate for apologetics. Magbibigay ng dahilan ang biblical mandate na ito kung bakit ganon na lang ang pagpapahalaga ng early church sa apologetics.
Where did the early church get the idea that they have to defend the faith? They got it from the apostolic teachings -- at yan po ang tatalakayin natin next episode. Sana po napagpala kayo today. Kung nais ninyong maka access.
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* Jonathan Hill, What Has Christianity Ever Done for Us?, 25.
† Robert M. Grant, Greek Apologists of the Second Century, 9-10.
‡ Kenneth Boa and Robert Bowman, Faith Has Its Reasons: An Integrative Approach to Defending Christianity 14.
§ Hill, 25.
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