A Question for Catholic Apologists!

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I believe God is calling me to be an apologist. I’m only a teenager, but wants to know how to start! Help!
 
Red_Herring said:
I believe God is calling me to be an apologist. I’m only a teenager, but wants to know how to start! Help!
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Read, read and read some more (from reliable sources). Listen to, or read, other apologists materials, like Scott Hahn, Tim Staples and others.

Make sure you become educated so you can answer and/or refute fallacies out there.

And of course, pray, pray and pray some more for humbleness, gift of discernment, and for the Holy Spirit to guide you to wonderful resources and people who can help.

blessings,
CEM
 
I would suggest you volunteer to be an assistant to a CCD teacher. Listen to all the instructions, but most importantly listen to the questions being asked by the students. If an answer is given that does not make sense to you, research it through the Cathecism of the Catholic Church and through the valuable materials listed in the other posts.

Do not stay in one grade, next year move to another grade so that you are exposed to the teachings of kids from k-12. If you are participating in a CCD program, then pursue the research to all the questions asked by the other kids.

Read the CCC cover-to-cover and pursue all questions in research.
 
Thank you CEM for adding prayer. I completely forgot but prayer needs to be stressed the most. Pray, pray, and pray some more.
 
CEM5 said:
Read, read and read some more (from reliable sources). Listen to, or read, other apologists materials, like Scott Hahn, Tim Staples and others.

Make sure you become educated so you can answer and/or refute fallacies out there.

And of course, pray, pray and pray some more for humbleness, gift of discernment, and for the Holy Spirit to guide you to wonderful resources and people who can help.

blessings,
CEM
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Great council, and I once heard one of those apologists say, “You always begin on your knees”.
God bless,
Peace Carlan.
 
Red_Herring said:
I believe God is calling me to be an apologist. I’m only a teenager, but wants to know how to start! Help!
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I agree with all the suggestions already provided. I would add to the list of apologists above the names of Jimmy Akin and Robert Sungenis and strongly recommend John Martignoni again. (When will he ever debate James White? As unpleasant as some Catholics find him, he seems to be one of the big names in the Protestant apologetics world and thus should be contended with rather than ignored.)

I would also suggest that you study rhetoric and public speaking. Catholic apologists not only need to have the relevant facts and good arguments, but also have to possess charisma and enthusiasm, go on the offense, and be quick on their feet.
 
reasonablefaith.org/site/News2?page=NewsArticle&id=5341

The advice of William Lane Craig, one of the better apologists around today.

A couple points he mentions:
-Get a doctorate degree. This opens all sorts of doors and prevents you from having to be as afraid about someone one day asking a question you can’t answer or bringing up something you are not aware of.
  • Specialize, you don’t want to be a jack of all trades and a master of none.
 
Don’t read apologetists because they tend to be behind the curve. Read the scholars. Go to college to learn how to think, not what to think.
 
Big_Dummy said:
Don’t read apologetists because they tend to be behind the curve.
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Which particular apologists are “behind the curve”, and in what ways?
Read the scholars. Go to college to learn how to think, not what to think.
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Which scholars? And as a (Canadian) university student, I find the notion laughable that I’m being taught how to think. The situation may be different in the States (though I’m rather doubtful considering the cultural closeness of the two countries), but my experience last semester of explicit or implicit criticism and denigration of Christianity and Catholicism by the professor in every class, often seeming to occur for its own sake and not for some higher dydactic end, suggests that post-secondary institutions (can) suffer from prevailing and engrained biases of their own. In consequence, a budding apologist would probably best be served by taking the time and effort to read on his/her own a very wide range of books on philosophy, theology, and history (though obtaining a degree would be advised for reasons mentioned above).
 
Big_Dummy said:
Don’t read apologetists because they tend to be behind the curve. Read the scholars. Go to college to learn how to think, not what to think.
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I, of course, disagree with Big Dummy. To imply that “apologetists” [sic] and apologetics have nothing to do with thinking is, well, what a Big Dummy would say :). Quite the opposite is true. Apologetics is all about learning how to think and to apply apologetics strategies to the particular situations you find yourself in.

When it comes to the Catholic Faith, so-called “scholars” have, more often than not, poorly served the faithful over the past 50 years or so. There are the exceptions, of course: Scott Hahn, Fr. Mitch Pacwa, and others, but I have taken some courses in Theology and read many a theological article from “scholars” and “theologians,” and these can lead people away from the true faith as often, or even more often, than they lead people deeper into the true faith.

This is not to say that studying Theology at some college or university is not useful. Depending on the institution, getting a degree in Theology can indeed deepen one’s faith and contribute to making one a better apologist.

But, please keep this in mind: it is not necessary to have a degree in Theology in order to be an apologist for your Faith, and definitely not necessary to have a doctorate. I don’t believe Keating, Akin, Staples, Madrid, or many other fine apologists have doctorate degrees. As someone who makes a substantial portion of his living from apologetics, I believe I can speak with at least some small degree of authority on the matter.

So, on that point I would disagree with William Lane Craig (as mentioned by danserr) when he says to get a doctorate degree - not necessary I say. If you want to do so, great, but don’t think you have to do so to be an effective apologist. On another point, I would agree with William Lane Craig in that you should specialize, at least initially.

For example, I started out focusing solely on how to answer questions and attacks from non-Catholic Christians using just the Bible. I have expanded a little bit into how to respond to atheists, and am slowly working towards apologetics aimed at Muslims, but for the most part I still focus on responding to non-Catholic Christians using the Bible.

If you start with an area that you feel passionate about - let’s say, just for an example, defending attacks on the Marian dogmas - get really good on that particular topic and you will naturally get lead into other topics from there. Expand into new areas according to your interests. Start with a narrow focus and expand from there.

For example, I stay pretty much focused on answering Protestants using the Bible. I am not interested in being an expert in canon law and liturgy and such. The guys at Catholic Answers, however - Keating, Akin, Staples - are pretty much experts in a bunch of areas - the Bible, the Catechism, Church history, canon law, liturgy, Greek, Hebrew, etc. Those guys are at the top of the heap. I delve into Church history and the languages on pretty much an “as-needed” basis, but am not really interested in being an “expert” in those areas. I find “experts” in those areas and rely on them when I need to.

I would recommend, humbly, that you get a couple of my talks: “Apologetics for the Scripturally-Challenged” and “Introduction to Apologetics.” These would be good starting points. They’re availabe at www.biblechristiansociety.com. I would then recommend that, for Bible basics, you get as many of Scott Hahn’s audio Bible study series as possible. And, very important, make sure to get Hahn’s audio series on typology. I think it’s called, “Finding Christ in the Old Testament,” or something along those lines. These are available at Saint Joseph Communications: www.saintjoe.com. Get Catholics Answers’ “This Rock” magazine and read each issue cover-to-cover.

When you think you are ready, see about approaching the Youth Minister at your parish and ask if you could give a talk on some apologetics topic to the youth group. Maybe approach the Adult Education person to do the same with the adult ed class. See about getting your talks recorded so that if people like them they can get copies to listen to and spread around.

So, start small and focused. Expand according to your interests. Make sure you are constantly reading or listening to (as CEM5 said) good teachers. As JeffersonD said, just do it. Practice makes perfect. Start talking about the Faith with friends, classmates, family members. Find out objections to, or misunderstandings about, particular Catholic teachings and then do the research you need to do to answer those objections and clear up those misunderstandings. And, as also already suggested - pray, pray, pray.
 
Red_Herring said:
I believe God is calling me to be an apologist. I’m only a teenager, but wants to know how to start! Help!
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Start with philosophy, then focus on patristics and NT exegesis and finally on apologetics. That progression IMO could be beneficial in preparation for apologetics.
 
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