prophets” (Acts 28:23). During the first centuries of the Church’s history,
the Christian religion was outlawed by the civil authorities of Rome and
attacked by pagan apologists as atheistic, cannibalistic and sexually
promiscuous. Christian apologists such as Aristides, St. Justin Martyr and
Athenagoras responded by showing that these accusations were no more
than calumnies and that Rome had nothing to fear from toleration of the
Christian religion.
The apologetical struggle against paganism was taken up in the late second
and early third centuries AD by St. Irenaeus of Lyons, Clement of
Alexandria and Tertullian. They aimed their energies at exposing and
refuting the plethora of mystery cults, Greek mythology and Gnostic
heresies prevalent at the time. The middle of the third century was
dominated by the character and works of Origen, who produced a
monumental work against the teachings of Celsus, a pagan philosopher
who attacked the supernatural nature of Christianity, the miracles of Christ
and the reliability of the Gospels.
The three figures that stood out as the defenders of Christianity in the
period after its toleration by Constantine were Lactantius, Eusebius of
Caesarea and St. Augustine of Hippo. St. Augustine, in particular, was
continually engaged in apologetical contest against pagans and heretics. His
greatest work, The City of God Against the Pagans, took thirteen years to
complete and was aimed at refuting allegations that the calamities befalling
the Roman Empire at the time, such as the sack of Rome in 410 AD, were
due to the abandonment of the pagan gods. Breaking new ground, St.
Augustine went on to provide a Christian understanding of human history,
as well as an outline of authentic civilization based on the teachings of
Christ.
With the rise of Islam a new apologetical opponent entered the arena. Its
challenge was met early on by St. John Damascene in the eighth century
and systematically dealt with by St. Thomas Aquinas in the thirteenth
century in his Summa Contra Gentiles, where the errors of the Muslim
philosopher Averroes were given particular treatment. St. Thomas was also
active apologetically in meeting the resurgent challenge of Gnosticism as
manifested in the Albigensian heresy.
The outbreak of the Protestant Revolt in the sixteenth century gave rise to a
new dimension in Catholic apologetics. St. John Fisher and St. Thomas
More engaged themselves early in dispute against the Lutherans and other
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