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Help me coin a new phrase- Unapologetics.
By Sean | August 23, 2007
When I was growing up there was a sense that Christian values were something to which people aspired, and the practice of personal faith was a character trait that was admired. In our ever increasingly secular-humanist society, it seems that a person or a family that shows devotion to their faith becomes an object of scorn or derision. There is a pressure on Catholics to apologize for what we believe and who we are.
In this environment, I would like to coin a new term unapologetics to represent the act of a person humbly and proudly living out their faith in the world at large.
Wikipedia defines Christian Apologetics as:
the field of study concerned with the systematic defense of Christianity. The term “apologetic” comes from the Greek word apologia, which means in defense of; therefore a person involved in Christian or Bible Apologetics is a defender of Christianity. Someone who engages in Christian apologetics is called a “Christian apologist”.
A person practicing unapologetics would be witnessing to their faith, not through oratory and defense of their beliefs, but by the simple and humble practice of their faith in their daily life. Simple things like saying grace (something my family frequently neglects), or avoiding Sunday sports or activities which would exclude you from mass. Through prayer and practice of faith, one does not need to actively “witness” their faith to others. “They will know we are Christians by our love”.
Please join me in spreading the term and the practice of unapologetics.
Edit: Go figure: I was not the first person in the blogosphere to use the term unapologetics. There are people on the net using the term to make arguments against Christian beliefs. Proves me right not googling a phrase before I blog about it. I stand my my concept though that we need to stand humbly but proud in our practice of our faith.
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August 29th, 2007 at 3:55 am
This seems like an excellent way to live the faith as a Catholic. Although I personally am called to ecumenism, I am not called to the flashy evangelism of many of our Protestant brothers and sisters in Christ. Preach the Gospel, use words if necessary (I might even amend the good saint’s words and say “only when necessary”) seems to fit better with the models of Catholic spirituality: the intimate and personal, the communal, and the universal.