How long do you study Apologetics/Scripture?

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tonyk84

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Hi all,

Im just wondering how long each day do you spend studying/reading Apologetics material/books, and Studying/Reading Scripture?

Also how do you balance this with a healthy prayer life?

All this can take alot of time each day, how do you do it all?

Thanks and God Bless.
 
tonyk84 said:
Hi all,

Im just wondering how long each day do you spend studying/reading Apologetics material/books, and Studying/Reading Scripture?

Also how do you balance this with a healthy prayer life?

All this can take alot of time each day, how do you do it all?

Thanks and God Bless.
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I cheated, I took university classes on Catholicism and critical thinking. Though prior to both I learned from reading others work their apologetic skills and I honed mine.

A priest once told me that Islam has the pillar of 5 prayers a day and said that it sounds like a lot. But he said, if a Catholic says a prayer in the morning, grace before every meal and a prayer at night, we match them and that’s only at least.

The best thing that an apologist can really do is Daily Mass, I’ve fallen away from that when university courses conflicted.

Just some food for thought though.

-Prophecy
 
Studying Apologetics and Scripture is prayer.

An hour a day is a good place to start, once you know it you can do it less.
 
I largely got into this by listening to MP3s in the car. You’re stuck in the car anyway, so finding extra time in your day is not a factor! I’d say I’ve listened to “most” of Jimmy Akin’s Open Forum Q&A archives over the years. Karl Keating and Patrick Madrid quite a bit too—plus all kinds of other MP3s, debates, etc… And of course you can supplement that with reading other books, but you can fit in that “extra” time as you feel comfortable. :o
 
I get plenty of scripture study and apologetics time by not watching TV.

Meaningful prayer can be done at any time, and off and on all during the day. I like to suggest that we should make our entire day a prayer. We can also take every moment of transition during the day as an opportunity for prayer. The moment we wake up in the morning we can say a prayer. We can pray before each meal. We can pray in the car on the way to work. W can say a pray between the parking lot and our place of work. At each break in the day, or transition from one duty to another, we can say a prayer of thanksgiving. Prayer isn’t necessarily easy, but the opportunities are endless.

God bless.
 
I have found it very easy to dedicate 1 hour a day by sectioning it into three 20 minute periods.

I wake slightly early and read apologetics, books by the Holy Father, or the writings of Saints for 20 minutes before breakfast.

I read the Scriptures for twenty minutes after dinner. Before bed, I pray twenty minutes.

I find each of these three periods easy to fit in with even a hectic day’s schedule, and often am able to do more.

Now if only I could approach household chores with the same attitude … !

Peace of Christ †,
RMN
 
I think that it is not a very good idea to lump into one daily time allotment one’s reading of the Holy Scriptures, of other religious literature (including works of apologetics), and prayer. For myself, for many decades, I have set aside time for prayer and for reading the Bible, but I have not included other religious reading in that time. It is not necessary to read apologetics every day. One’s reading, religious and secular, should be varied. I include apologetics in my reading, but I alternate books of apologetics, theology, church history, etc., with other books (non-fiction, novels, poetry, and so forth). Reading the same kind of thing (apart from Holy Scripture itself) every day can lead to growing tired of something, apologetics included. Just be sure that your reading includes apologetics among other subjects, and be sure also to pray and to read the Scriptures daily, whatever else you also may be reading during the day.

I begain reading apologetics seriously when I was in my late teens, while a sailor in the U.S. Navy. I read mostly Anglican apologetics (works mostly of an “Anglo-Catholic” orientation) at that time (and such Anglican works, by the way, can be very helpful in defending many Catholic questions), as well as some Roman Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox books of apologetics and theology. It is not a waste of time to read non-Catholic works of theology and apologetics. For one thing, is is very important to understand what non-Catholics think, and how they reason, about their faith, whether they are Eastern Orthodox, Protestants, sectaries, or non-Christians (Muslims, Mormons, whatever). Many apologetic works, Catholic and Protestant/sectarian, treat non-Christians unfairly, misrepresenting their beliefs and practices. In the same way, Catholic and non-Catholic Christians write much that is not really true about each other. Too often, writers try to “score points” in debates rather than to come to grips with a different faith perspective in order to convert the other, not merely to win in debate with him or her.

However, be sure that you are strong in your own faith before getting into apologetics, especially in reading non-Catholic works of apologetics or non-Catholic religious works generally. It is easier than a Catholic might think to begin to reason as the Catholic’s “adversary” does! :confused: Approach apologetics systematically, not getting too deeply into difficult questions before one is prepared. When engaging in apologetic discussions with non-Catholics, send up quick prayers periodically to our Lord and to the Holy Spirit. One should be doing such things in prayer and humility.

Pax, Jerry Parker
 
I don’t have a lot of time to study every day, but I can listen to EWTN in the afternoons. Catholic Answers Live, Fr. Mitch Pacwa–it’s all so good!
 
Casey Jones,

**You wrote: ** *I don’t have a lot of time to study every day, but I can listen to EWTN in the afternoons. Catholic Answers Live, Fr. Mitch Pacwa – it’s all so good! *​

Pof! Casey, there’s your regular dose of apologetics! 👍 It has been five years or so since I have been able to listen to Eternal Word radio, since I moved from Montréal (where the short wave reception was poor, but manageable) to Rouyn-Noranda, so far to the north and west of Montréal that it become arduous to get even close to ETWN’s wave-length, but I remember all those excellent talks and sermons on Mother Angela’s station.

Apologetics does not have to come in book form; apologetics (like poetry) is “where you find it.” Some folks take apologetics better in broadcast or in tape/CD form, to listen to (or to watch on TV), and that’s just fine! 😃 The preaching at the cathedral here is so mediocre, that I listen to CDs that I myself get in the mail each week for homoletic instruction.

Pax, Jerry Parker
 
…so far to the north and west of Montréal that it become arduous to get even close to ETWN’s wave-length…

Mr. Parker:
As a fellow Canuck, may I suggest a Sirius radio? Our shortwave radio was so frustrating for many years (northern BC), but now Sirius Channel 160 brings EWTN into our home, and on any radio in the house or outside (within range). We have two other avenues to sharpen our apologetics skills: protestant friends (who truly think Catholics are not Christian) and teenagers who bring the most interesting questions or interactions to the dinner table. We go deeper and deeper into our faith, and love it more and more.
ciao, Casey
 
Casey,

**You wrote: ** As a fellow Canuck, may I suggest a Sirius radio? Our shortwave radio was so frustrating for many years (northern BC), but now Sirius Channel 160 brings EWTN into our home, and on any radio in the house or outside (within range). We have two other avenues to sharpen our apologetics skills: protestant friends (who truly think Catholics are not Christian) and teenagers who bring the most interesting questions or interactions to the dinner table. We go deeper and deeper into our faith, and love it more and more.​

Thanks for the shortwave tip! I’ll have to try this out on my old German 1950 or so deluxe vacuum tubes shortwave radio. It’s good to know that EWTN radio can get through up north here somehow. I am west (as well as north) of Montréal, but very far east of anyplace in British Columbia. In fact Rouyn-Noranda is so far west within Québec that this places us due-north of Toronto (which is hundreds of miles to the south), in heavily forested terrain, so we’ll see—.

It’s admirable how you use your life circumstances to apologetic ends, studying to cope with challenges from Protestant (or sectarian) friends and your children. The solutions mean a lot more when one encounters the need on such a personal level.

Pax, Jerry Parker
 
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