Speaker 1: If we dedicate ourselves to the intellectual quest of defending
Speaker 1: the faith, but it's not done with Christ sanctified in
Speaker 1: your heart, then our witness will be limp and without
Speaker 1: evangelical power unto conversion and perhaps even a scandal. Remember,
Speaker 1: the ultimate apologetic is our love for Christ. By this,
Speaker 1: the Lord says in St. John's Gospel, all men will
Speaker 1: know that you are my disciples if you love one
Speaker 1: another as I have loved you.
Speaker 2: Hey, everyone. God bless you. Thanks a lot for tuning in.
Speaker 1: The practice, the great discipline and investment on the church's
Speaker 1: part of defending the faith to the outside world and
Speaker 1: even strengthening her own children by an articulate explanation of
Speaker 1: and defense of the Christian faith. Traditional Christianity. This is
Speaker 1: Orthodox Catholic Christianity from the beginning. We see this even
Speaker 1: in the texts of Holy Scripture, not just the example
Speaker 1: of the apostles, of course, publicly preaching and defending the
Speaker 1: knowledge of the one true God and bringing a critique
Speaker 1: against pagan society. But texts like 1 Peter 3, verse 15,
Speaker 1: where St. Peter writes to his spiritual children and asks them,
Speaker 1: he says, to sanctify Christ in their hearts, always being
Speaker 1: ready to make a defense for the hope that is
Speaker 1: in them, but to do so with faith. gentility and love.
Speaker 1: That text, 1 Peter 3.15, is a very important text
Speaker 1: in the context of talking about apologetics and defending the faith.
Speaker 1: And I'd like to have your ear just for a
Speaker 1: moment about this very important subject and help you understand,
Speaker 1: at least from my mind, what the traditional Christian attitude
Speaker 1: is towards this, towards the process of defending the faith.
Speaker 1: I have many, many old and beautiful memories of seeing
Speaker 1: the faith defended in public. When I was a college
Speaker 1: student in the 1980s at Westmont College, I had for
Speaker 1: one year the happiness of participating as the leader of
Speaker 1: what we called the evangelism team. And it was simply
Speaker 1: a group of students that would get together on Friday
Speaker 1: night We would pray together and then we would go
Speaker 1: out and talk with people on the streets in the
Speaker 1: downtown Santa Barbara area, which is a very, very beautiful,
Speaker 1: beautiful area about the faith and see if we could
Speaker 1: answer any questions or engage in a profitable interactions. And
Speaker 1: then when we were done and the evening was over,
Speaker 1: we would return and Pray that the seeds that we
Speaker 1: had planted in some people's lives might be watered by God.
Speaker 1: I also spent, as many young people do, summers abroad
Speaker 1: when I was in college, traveling to different places with
Speaker 1: mission teams with the goal of being able to meet
Speaker 1: people and talk with them about the Christian faith.
Speaker 2: My senior year in college, I had a class called Doctrine.
Speaker 1: It was one of the four required religious studies courses
Speaker 1: when I was a student in the 80s at Westmont.
Speaker 1: And I had a professor there, a really wonderful professor
Speaker 1: named Dr. William Lane Craig. He had accepted a one-year
Speaker 1: position at Westmont. And it was my senior year. And
Speaker 1: I consider that a great providence because he is a
Speaker 1: very fine person and a very articulate and well-educated Christian person.
Speaker 1: He had just finished, I think, his second doctorate in Europe.
Speaker 1: And he came and I had him for a doctrine class.
Speaker 1: He did it. teach again after that year. I left
Speaker 1: Westmont after I graduated and he didn't continue teaching. Instead,
Speaker 1: he launched his apologetics ministry, traveling from American campus to
Speaker 1: American campus and also outside the country, defending the Christian
Speaker 1: faith against particularly atheistic scientists. I remember going to see
Speaker 1: him in a debate with an atheist professor professor of
Speaker 1: science at the University of California, Santa Barbara. And walking
Speaker 1: away from that, thinking to myself how deeply grateful I
Speaker 1: was at the effort that Dr.
Speaker 2: Craig put into defending the faith.
Speaker 1: He absolutely, well, what shall I say, decimated this atheistic
Speaker 1: scientist who went into the debate clearly overconfident and came
Speaker 1: out completely embarrassed by the great competent defense of the
Speaker 1: Christian faith that Dr.
Speaker 2: Craig made. He's gone on, of course, Dr.
Speaker 1: Craig, to become a very well-known internationally defender of the
Speaker 1: Christian faith and an incredible debater. Back in the 80s, too,
Speaker 1: I was happy to see Cliff Kinectly. Cliff is very
Speaker 1: well known for his apologetics.
Speaker 2: These are both.
Speaker 1: Protestant Christians, but who have worked very hard to defend
Speaker 1: their faith on America's campuses, which sadly over the last
Speaker 1: 50 years have become often centers of atheism and places
Speaker 1: where many Christian students lose their faith. So to see
Speaker 1: these incredible men, these incredible men come into the belly
Speaker 1: of the beast, so to with great spirits and with
Speaker 1: incredible intellectual devotion and great personal investment.
Speaker 2: To see them defend the faith is fantastic, really fantastic.
Speaker 1: And I remember as a young person how much it
Speaker 1: helped me to hear such intelligent reflection and defense of
Speaker 1: the teachings of Jesus and the way of Christians.
Speaker 2: When I went to seminary in the late 80s, I.
Speaker 1: Had the happiness of receiving some more instruction with regards
Speaker 1: to apologetics.
Speaker 2: I remember R.C.
Speaker 1: Sproul, who was my systematic theology professor, was also very
Speaker 1: committed himself to classical apologetics and would constantly be making
Speaker 1: defenses of the faith and giving lectures on classical apologetics.
Speaker 1: As a matter of fact, he brought... A very well-known
Speaker 1: Southern Baptist theologian and philosopher and apologist to the campus
Speaker 1: in the early 90s in Orlando.
Speaker 2: He brought Dr. Ronald Nash there.
Speaker 1: And I remember being very blessed to listen to that
Speaker 1: man who was also extremely competent and well-educated in the
Speaker 1: Christian faith, especially in its apologetics against atheism. At that
Speaker 1: same time, I was studying with Dr. Richard Pratt and Dr.
Speaker 1: John Frame, who was at Westminster Seminary at the time
Speaker 1: out here in California. And they both are very much
Speaker 1: heirs to what I call the presuppositional apologetics tradition. But
Speaker 1: in all of that, all through college and all through seminary,
Speaker 1: I was basically just basting in this... this soup of
Speaker 1: committed Christian defense against atheism and alternative religions. It was
Speaker 1: a great blessing to me. Due to the fundamental ahistoricism
Speaker 1: of Protestantism, however, I was not aware until I became
Speaker 1: an Orthodox Christian. I was not aware of the long
Speaker 1: history of apologetics from the first century that the church
Speaker 1: has been engaged in. Most of the apologetic work was
Speaker 1: contemporary that I was exposed to, some of it perhaps
Speaker 1: going back to the scholastic period into Thomas Aquinas and
Speaker 1: that period in Western Christianity.
Speaker 2: But I was quite shocked.
Speaker 1: As I approached Holy Orthodoxy to say, discover the pedigrees
Speaker 1: of numerous saints who invested themselves most vigorously to defend
Speaker 1: the faith out of love for Christ and out of
Speaker 1: a love for people, and especially out of a love
Speaker 1: for people who were gripped by polytheism and idolatry. The
Speaker 1: church produced by the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Many
Speaker 1: great apologists. I'd like to just name some of them
Speaker 1: to you. If you know these already, then you can
Speaker 1: now listen to me for a second. But I suspect
Speaker 1: quite a few of you won't be familiar with these
Speaker 1: great apologists. And it will be much to your edification
Speaker 1: to read them. So let me tell you just about them.
Speaker 1: a few of these incredible apologists of the early church. St.
Speaker 1: Justin Martyr, this is the middle of the second century,
Speaker 1: a great prominent Greek philosopher.
Speaker 2: He converted to Christianity.
Speaker 1: He wrote his first and second apologies defending the Christian
Speaker 1: faith against all sorts of accusations and slanders that were
Speaker 1: being brought against us by the polytheists. And he developed
Speaker 1: a lot of apologetic tactics designed to build bridges with
Speaker 1: the pagans and help them even using their language, especially logos,
Speaker 1: to develop a new concept of the one true God
Speaker 1: and his co-eternal son, his word, his logos, Jesus Christ.
Speaker 1: Another early apologist is St. Quadratus of Athens. This is
Speaker 1: early second century. He wrote a defense of the Christian
Speaker 1: faith to the emperor Hadrian. This is very early, like
Speaker 1: in the.
Speaker 2: Middle of the 120s.
Speaker 1: Defending the miracles of Christ and how they're continuing in
Speaker 1: the church. St. Aristides, the philosopher, this is also early
Speaker 1: second century, an Athenian philosopher who wrote an apology to
Speaker 1: the emperor Antonius Pius, arguing for the existence of God
Speaker 1: and the one true God and the order of creation
Speaker 1: and contrasting our way of life, our morality with kind
Speaker 1: of the degraded behavior of the Greek gods and their myths.
Speaker 1: Athenagoras of Athens, this is getting nearer to the end
Speaker 1: of the second century, who was a pagan Athenian philosopher
Speaker 1: who was one to Christ and wrote a defense of
Speaker 1: the Christian faith. refuting all sorts of absurd pagan accusations
Speaker 1: that we were atheists because we didn't believe in the
Speaker 1: gods and we're being accused of incest, cannibalism, of course,
Speaker 1: because we were eating the body and blood of Christ
Speaker 1: as we do to this day. We today appreciate all
Speaker 1: of these early apologists for their efforts to defend the faith,
Speaker 1: for their commitment not to live in what we might
Speaker 1: call pietism or seclusion without a concern for the outside world.
Speaker 1: They all, all of these apologists reflect Jesus's heart that
Speaker 1: his people go into all the nations and make a
Speaker 1: defense of the faith and preach the gospel and help
Speaker 1: people come to know the living and true God.
Speaker 2: And so we deeply appreciate that.
Speaker 1: These dedicated apologists for their evangelical labors, for showing great
Speaker 1: interest in the nations and laboring to explain the faith,
Speaker 1: to answer questions, to dispel myths, and in every way
Speaker 1: to smooth the road for the conversion of all men
Speaker 1: and women, which is God's will for the human race.
Speaker 1: This is why we have always maintained this disposition. towards
Speaker 1: the outside world and labored to build bridges and to
Speaker 1: make the faith known through our devotion to apologetic effort. Clearly,
Speaker 1: we have an incredible and long tradition of apologetics, this
Speaker 1: intellectual exercise of defending the faith. But remember, dear ones,
Speaker 1: and this is important, I think, remember that this call
Speaker 1: that St. Peter makes to make a defense of your faith.
Speaker 1: It begins, that verse begins by this call, sanctify Christ
Speaker 1: in your hearts, right? The intellectual effort to bring the
Speaker 1: faith to the nations and to answer their criticisms. follows
Speaker 1: the initial example of holiness in the church. If we
Speaker 1: dedicate ourselves to the intellectual quest of defending the faith,
Speaker 1: but it's not done with Christ sanctified in your heart,
Speaker 1: the first part of that verse, then our witness will
Speaker 1: be limp and without evangelical power unto conversion and perhaps
Speaker 1: even a scandal. The intellectual apologetics of the church flow
Speaker 1: from the heart of believers who love Christ in their
Speaker 1: hearts and are embracing this sacred task of apologetics as
Speaker 1: a matter of devotion to Christ, as a matter of holiness,
Speaker 1: as a matter of love. Sanctify the Lord God in
Speaker 1: your hearts and always be ready to make a defense.
Speaker 2: That word defense is apologia. So, Peter is saying, yes,
Speaker 2: make it apologetic.
Speaker 1: Engage in the work of defending the faith, but do
Speaker 1: it following the sanctification of Christ in your heart as
Speaker 1: an outwork of your devotion to Christ and your love
Speaker 1: for men whom He loves. Remember, the ultimate apologetic is
Speaker 1: our love for Christ. By this, the Lord says in St.
Speaker 1: John's Gospel, all men will know that you are my
Speaker 1: disciples if you love one another as I have loved you.
Speaker 1: The miracle, the unexplainable miracle, apart from Christ, of Christian
Speaker 1: love is the ultimate apologetic. And it's that which is
Speaker 1: the base upon which all of our intellectual apologetics resides.
Speaker 1: In that context, our intellectual work of defending the faith
Speaker 1: is of the greatest value. I'd like to recommend to
Speaker 1: you a beautiful, newly published book. by New Rome Press
Speaker 1: and the extremely talented Father Michael Monos. I'd like to
Speaker 1: recommend this new apologetic treatise that he has published. It's entitled,
Speaker 1: An Apology for Christianity by the Great Saint Athanasios Parios.
Speaker 1: This is the co-laborer of St. Nicodemus of the Holy
Speaker 1: Mountain and St. Macarius of Corinth, these incredible Kolivades fathers.
Speaker 1: This defense of the faith was written, this is early
Speaker 1: 19th century, and it's a response to the French Revolution.
Speaker 1: and to the so-called Enlightenment, which was a great darkness
Speaker 1: with the rise of communism and violence and this reign
Speaker 1: of terror which followed the beginnings of the French Revolution.
Speaker 1: This was St. Athanasios' defense of the Christian faith and
Speaker 1: refutation of I highly recommend it. I hope you'll buy
Speaker 1: it from New Rome Press. An Apology for Christianity by St.
Speaker 1: Athanasios Parios. I think that you'll love it. I loved it.
Speaker 2: And thank you, New Rome Press, for publishing it.
Speaker 1: And I'll end this reflection by simply pointing out to you,
Speaker 1: dear ones, that we are living at a terrible time
Speaker 1: in the West in general. And particularly now, as I
Speaker 1: speak as an American, our nation is in a tremendous.
Speaker 2: Crisis, cultural crisis.
Speaker 1: I have, of course, lots of hope because of how
Speaker 1: the gospel is moving today and many people are repenting.
Speaker 1: But the The abandonment of American tradition, the rise of
Speaker 1: a self-centered oligarchy at the expense of a whole generation
Speaker 1: of young people is so dangerous and so awful. The
Speaker 1: disconnect of our leaders from their constituents, the complete disregard
Speaker 1: of the opinions of constituents by our political leaders, and
Speaker 1: the selfishness of the tech titans and the The oligarchs
Speaker 1: who are ruling our land has It itself is a
Speaker 1: great foul offspring of infidelity to our own American mores.
Speaker 1: And it's also provoked the rise of communism, a very
Speaker 1: serious rise of communism, what we might call Mamdani-ism now,
Speaker 1: under the guise of so-called democratic socialism, which don't be
Speaker 1: confused by that. This is full-blown communism, and they have
Speaker 1: an agenda to completely dismantle traditional America. This is a
Speaker 1: very important time for us to have our minds clear
Speaker 1: about what we think about communism and the revolutions that
Speaker 1: it sparks. And this text, this apology for the Christian
Speaker 1: faith and refutation of the Enlightenment and the French Revolution
Speaker 1: is very, very important. Both the corrupt oligarchy governing our
Speaker 1: land now and even the even worse communism that is riding.
Speaker 1: These are foul. And we pray that the Lord God
Speaker 1: will protect us from them both. and raise up great
Speaker 1: defenders of the faith who can articulate the Christian faith
Speaker 1: at this time in which we desperately need it. Thanks
Speaker 1: a lot, dear ones, for listening to me. I ask
Speaker 1: your prayers. God be with you.
Speaker 2: Hey, everyone.
Speaker 1: I hope you've downloaded the Patristic Nectar app on your phone.
Speaker 1: It is a treasure trove of soul nourishing content. And
Speaker 1: I hope you'll consider becoming a regular donor to Patristic
Speaker 1: Nectar today.