{"id":394,"date":"2011-08-02T23:56:00","date_gmt":"2011-08-03T03:56:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2011\/08\/catholic-lay-apologetics-a-long-and-noble-magisterially-approved-history.html"},"modified":"2017-05-30T15:58:10","modified_gmt":"2017-05-30T19:58:10","slug":"catholic-lay-apologetics-long-and-noble","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/2011\/08\/catholic-lay-apologetics-long-and-noble.html","title":{"rendered":"Catholic Lay Apologetics: Long “Magisterially Approved” History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>
\"GKC87\"<\/a><\/div>\n
Sketch of G. K. Chesterton (unknown, c. 1920)<\/span> [public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons<\/a>]<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\u00a0G. K. Chesterton was a lay apologist with no theological education and no college degree (yet he was the most successful Catholic apologist of the 20th century)<\/span><\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
* * *<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
(8-2-11)<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
* * *<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Silly, Foolish Pronouncements by Anti-Catholic Polemicists:<\/b><\/div>\n

TAO (The Anonymous One):<\/b> But in practice, that top-down management Rome provides allows loose cannons like Armstrong to do what they do, even when what they do is technically in violation of canon law. (7-31-11<\/a>)<\/p>\n

Matthew D. Schultz:<\/b> The lay-Catholic convert industry, of which the lay-Catholic blogosphere is a definitive part, merely represents a conservative sociological trend. (1-20-11<\/a>)<\/p>\n

. . . the general distance between lay-Catholic blogosphere apologetics and the teachings of the Magisterium, all of which plays into the former being a sociological movement with neither authority nor relevance.(1-21-11<\/a>)<\/p>\n

The lay Catholic blogosphere represents little more than a diminutive, American, theologically conservative movement of (comparatively) wealthy individuals. (1-21-11<\/a>)<\/p>\n

John Bugay:<\/b>\u00a0 . . . the Roman Catholics are pronouncing on what \u201cMagisterial teaching\u201d actually is, what Roman Catholic doctrine<\/i> is, and they are doing so in the non-authorized, and even backward way that Matthew is describing. . . . They are NOT reliable expositors of Magisterial teaching. So long as any of these self-appointed apologists attempt to say what Roman Catholic doctrine is<\/i>, Matthew\u2019s assessment is dead-on. (1-21-11<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Steve Hays:<\/b> If your church is so clear, why do you and so many other lay Catholics turn to other lay Catholics (e.g. lay Catholic epologists) for moral and theological advice? (8-1-11<\/a>)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Avery Cardinal Dulles (whom Schultz, above, cited at length in a futile effort to disparage lay apologetics) noted the high importance historically, of lay Catholic apologists:<\/p>\n

Who are the finest Christian apologists of the past two thousand years? Why?<\/b><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

A great apologist must be a firm believer, a profound thinker, a sensitive guide to the perplexed, and a clear and eloquent writer. In my book I devote particular attention to St. Augustine, St. Thomas Aquinas<\/a>, Blaise Pascal<\/a>, and John Henry Newman<\/a>, all of whom were conspicuous for these qualities. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the twentieth century the most successful apologists may have been G. K. Chesterton<\/a> and C. S. Lewis<\/a>, who were not professional theologians but highly talented and popular authors who had undergone personal conversions, the one to Catholicism, the other to be more general form of Christian orthodoxy.<\/p>\n

(\u201cThe History and Purpose of Apologetics,\u201d<\/a> interview by Carl E. Olson)\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Three of the six examples that Cardinal Dulles gave of the \u201cfinest\u201d and \u201cmost successful\u201d apologists, were non-ordained laymen (Pascal [of <\/span>Pens\u00e9es<\/i><\/a> fame<\/a>], Chesterton, and Lewis), and as he noted, Chesterton and Lewis were not even formally trained theologically. In fact, Chesterton didn\u2019t obtain a college degree of any sort. Frank Sheed <\/a>was another important lay Catholic apologist in the 20th century.<\/span>
\n<\/span>
\nBlessed John Henry Cardinal Newman noted how lay apologists actually dominated<\/i> the field in the early Church, and also continued to be prominent in his own 19th century, as they obviously are also in our own time (Kreeft, Howard, Hahn, Muggeridge, Keating, Madrid, Akin, Ray, Shea, Staples, Martignoni et al).<\/span>
\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\n

\n
Theologians inculcate the matter, and determine the details of that Revelation; they view it from within; philosophers view it from without, and this external view may be called the Philosophy of Religion, and the office of delineating it externally is most gracefully performed by laymen. In the first age laymen were most commonly the Apologists. Such were Justin<\/a>, Tatian<\/a>, Athenagoras<\/a>, Aristides<\/a>, Hermias<\/a>, Minucius Felix<\/a>, Arnobius<\/a>, and Lactantius<\/a>. In like manner in this age some of the most prominent defences of the Church are from laymen: as De Maistre<\/a>, Chateaubriand<\/a>, Nicolas<\/a>, Montalembert<\/a>, and others.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
(The<\/i> Idea of a University<\/i><\/a>, Part II, ch. 4, sec. 4: \u201cGeneral Religious Knowledge,\u201d<\/a> 1856)<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n
<\/div>\n
Some other examples of prominent lay apologists are Antoine-Fr\u00e9d\u00e9ric Ozanam<\/a> (1813-1853), Guy Lef\u00e8vre de la Boderie<\/a> (1541-1598), and Justus Baronius Calvinus <\/a>(1570- after 1606),as well as, more recently, Arnold Lunn<\/a> (1888-1974), Evelyn Waugh<\/a> (1903-1966), and Catholic historian \/ apologists, such as Christopher Dawson<\/a> (1889-1970) and\u00a0 Hilaire Belloc<\/a> (1870-1953).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
As anyone can see, the historical facts are quite a bit different from the ridiculously distorted scenario presented by the loudest-mouthed anti-Catholic zealots on the Internet today, who know almost nothing concerning what they deign to endlessly pontificate on (the history of Catholic apologetics and very prominent and pronounced lay participation in it).<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Related Reading<\/b><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
The Early Apologists<\/a> (Coptic Orthodox Church Network)<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sketch of G. K. Chesterton (unknown, c. 1920) [public domain \/ Wikimedia Commons] \u00a0G. K. 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Formerly a campus missionary, as a Protestant, Dave was received into the Catholic Church in February 1991, by the late, well-known catechist and theologian, Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave\u2019s articles have appeared in many influential Catholic periodicals, including \"This Rock\" (now called \"Catholic Answers Magazine\"), \"Envoy Magazine\" (Patrick Madrid), \"The Catholic Answer,\" \"The Coming Home Journal,\" \"Gilbert Magazine\" (American Chesterton Society), and \"The Latin Mass.\" He also writes a featured column for every issue of \"The Michigan Catholic\": published by the archdiocese of Detroit, and was editor for most of the apologetics tracts published by the St. Paul Street Evangelization apostolate. Dave\u2019s apologetics and writing apostolate was the subject of a feature article in the May 2002 issue of \"Envoy Magazine.\" He served as the staff moderator at the Internet discussion forum for The Coming Home Network, from 2007-2010. Dave has been interviewed on many nationally syndicated Catholic radio shows, including \"Catholic Answers Live\" (twice), \"Faith and Family Live\" (Steve Wood), \"Kresta in the Afternoon,\" \"Son Rise Morning Show,\" \"Catholic Connection\" (Teresa Tomeo), and \"The Catholics Next Door.\" His large and popular website, \"Biblical Evidence for Catholicism,\" was online from March 1997 to March 2007, and received the 1998 Catholic Website of the Year award from \"Envoy Magazine.\" His blog of the same name (now transferred to Patheos), begun in February 2004, contains more than 1,500 papers, at least 500 debates or dialogues, and over 50 distinct \"index\" web pages. Unsolicited correspondence has indicated many hundreds of conversions (or returns) to the Catholic faith as a result, by God's grace, of these writings. Dave's conversion story was published in the bestselling book \"Surprised by Truth\" (edited by Patrick Madrid; San Diego: Basilica Press, 1994). Sophia Institute Press has published six of his books: \"A Biblical Defense of Catholicism\" (Foreword by Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J., 1996 \/ 2003), \"The Catholic Verses\" (2004), \"The One-Minute Apologist\" (2007), \"Bible Proofs for Catholic Truths\" (2009), \"The Quotable Newman\" (editor: 2012), and \"Proving the Catholic Faith is Biblical\" (2015). He is co-author (with Dr. Paul Thigpen) of the inserts for \"The New Catholic Answer Bible\" (Our Sunday Visitor: 2005), and editor for \"The Wisdom of Mr. Chesterton: The Very Best Quotes, Quips, and Cracks from the Pen of G. K. Chesterton\" (Saint Benedict Press \/ TAN Books: 2009). \"100 Biblical Arguments Against Sola Scriptura\" was published by Catholic Answers in May 2012. His \"Quotable Wesley\" compilation was published by (Protestant \/ Wesleyan publisher) Beacon Hill Press in April 2014. Several of his 49 books are bestsellers in their field. Dave maintains a popular personal Facebook page, a Facebook author page, and has a Twitter account as well. He offers almost all of his books in e-book form on his own Biblical Catholicism site (http:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/), at a permanent deep discount: only $2.99 for ePub, mobi, and AZW, and $1.99 for PDF. His writing has been enthusiastically endorsed or recommended by many leading Catholic apologists, authors, and priests, including Dr. Scott Hahn, Fr. Peter M. J. Stravinskas, Marcus Grodi, Patrick Madrid, Steve Ray, Tim Staples, Devin Rose, Mike Aquilina, Al Kresta, Karl Keating, Fr. Dwight Longenecker, Brandon Vogt, Marcellino D'Ambrosio, and Fr. John A. Hardon, S. J. Dave has been happily married to his wife Judy since October 1984. They have three sons and a daughter, and reside in southeast Michigan (metro Detroit).","sameAs":["https:\/\/biblicalcatholicism.com\/","https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/dave.armstrong.798","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/@LuxVeritatisApologetics"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/author\/davearmstrong"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2331"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=394"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/394\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5877"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=394"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=394"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/davearmstrong\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=394"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}