Tips for Being An Apologist
“The harvest is plentiful but the workers are few. Ask the Lord of the harvest, therefore, to send out workers into His harvest field.”
Matthew 9:37b-38, NIV
If someone asked you, “What are the best tools the Church has at its disposal to share with an unbelieving world?” What would you say? Another way of putting this might be, “What does the Church inherently have that is a witness to the Christian faith?”
Could we just say Jesus and be done with the question?
We might want to say the Bible or the countless schools and hospitals founded in Jesus’ name. And yes, those are correct, but there may be more.
While watching Pope Benedict XVI’s funeral a few weeks ago, I was reminded of a quote I read while he was still known as Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger. To this question, he remarked, “Art and the saints are the greatest apologetic for our faith.”
That is not the first thing to come to my mind, but it is a thought-provoking answer. Christian apologetics deal with making a reasonable argument for faith. Many times, these apologists are well-versed in science and logic. If you are going to try to convert someone through the mind, then you better know your stuff inside and out.
No one will claim that Pope Benedict was a bumbling amateur when it came to theology and so, it is even more profound that he would point to the arts and the lives of the saints as the most reasonable and strongest argument for the faith. Even with all his theological education, he knew the power of art (in all its forms) and the testimony of a life devoted to Christ would likely be more convincing than any rational argument.
We may not feel like an evangelist or that God has called us to be an apologist, but each of us can point people to that which is beautiful, good and true. The arts are a natural doorway to talking about something bigger than we could ever imagine. Likewise, many saints sacrificed not only their Earthly prospects but their own lives as witnesses to the truth of the Gospel. Their stories can inspire people today, just as they have in every generation before.
May we all be an apologist in our own way, but when in doubt, we can all lean on the arts and the saints to be a witness to the love and power of the Gospel.
