Tuesday, September 4, 2012

Western Apologists

Eastern apologists worked to compare and contrast Christianity to other religions.

Western apologists wrote to emphasize how Christianity is very different and better than any other religion.

Tertullian coined the word "Trinity".  For a while he followed Montanism, which, as established in a previous post, was heresy because its followers followed the advice of one man who thought only he knew the Bible's meaning.  Basically every heresy, but namely Montanism.  Like many theologians, he started out as a lawyer, and as a Christian, he logically would write to show that Christians were morally superior to the Romans.  The Roman persecutions actually helped the Christian movement, rather than stifled it.

Minucius Felix wrote Octavius in hopes of winning a friend to Christ. 

Many people think the plan to woo the pagans over to Christian thought resulting in synchretizing the Faith with pagan cultures.  That may be the case sometimes, and has been the case in over-contextualization.  However, this should not discourage Christians from identifying with non-believers or people in error and to find common ground.  It is wrong when we compromise values, and no amount of logic will convince someone not chosen for salvation to believe in God, but many times, people can use both the Bible and prove it logically.

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