Apologia#Modern analysis

The Greek philosophers Plato, Isocrates, and Aristotle described apologia as an oratory to defend positions or actions particularly in the sense of a legal defense.

Socrates believed an apology to be a well-thought justification of accusations made.{{cite web|url=https://www.etymonline.com/word/apology|title=apology {{!}} Origin and meaning of apology by Online Etymology Dictionary|website=www.etymonline.com|language=en}} Socrates represents this act of defending oneself in Plato's Apology. Socrates justified the claims made against him by being direct and honest. Socrates' attempts at justification rather than expressing remorse were unsuccessful, demonstrating the complexity in apologies among individuals.{{cite journal|last1=Blyth|first1=Douglas|date=2000|title=Socrates' Trial and Conviction of the Jurors in Plato's Apology|journal=Philosophy and Rhetoric|volume=33|issue=1|pages=1–22|doi=10.1353/par.2000.0002|s2cid=145695410 }}

Justin Martyr wrote the First Apology (c. AD 155) and Second Apology to explain the philosophical basis for Christianity and to encourage the Roman Emperor Antoninus Pius and the Roman Senate to stop the persecution and martyrdom of early Christians.{{cite journal |last=Parvis |first=Paul |year=2008 |title=Justin Martyr |journal=The Expository Times |volume=120 |issue=53 |pages=53–61 |doi=10.1177/0014524608097821 |s2cid=221066544}}

The earliest English use of apologia followed from the Greek sense "a speech in defense". Writing in the Renaissance period, Thomas More wrote his Apologye of Syr Thomas More, Knyght, made by him Anno 1533 after he had geuen over the office of Lord Chancellour of Englande. In this, he explained his actions as Lord Chancellor under Henry VIII and denied rumors about his treatment of Protestants.Guy, John; More, Thomas (1980). The public career of Sir Thomas More. Brighton, Sussex: Harvester Pr. ISBN 085527963X. "...such charges are unsupported by independent proof. More indeed answered them in his Apology with emphatic denial. None has ever been substantiated, and we may hope that they were all untrue."

In 1590, a parallel meaning emerged meaning a "frank expression of regret". This parallel sense associated with "apologizing" for a wrong, progressively became the predominant usage until the 18th century, when the older Latin meaning re-emerged to be recorded in 1784. This became the dominant meaning, owing in a large part to the publication of the influential work, Apologia Pro Vita Sua, in 1865.

John Henry Newman was regarded as a premiere religious figure even before writing his definitive 1864 essay, Apologia Pro Vita Sua (translated as "Apology for One's Own Life" or "A Defense of One's Own Life"). The main subject of the essay was to explain how he, having been raised as an Anglican Christian, had decided to convert to Catholicism.{{cite journal |last=Svaglic |first=Martin J. |date=March 1951 |title=The Structure of Newman's Apologia |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/459595 |journal=Publications of the Modern Language Association of America |volume=66 |issue=2 |pages=138–148 |doi=10.2307/459595 |jstor=459595|url-access=subscription }} The backdrop for the essay was a heated mid-century theological controversy. Newman and other Anglicans were calling for the Anglican church to return to earlier, more disciplined, traditions and an authoritarian hierarchy. Friction during the years from 1833 to 1841 led Newman and his allies in the Oxford Movement to publish a statement, the Tracts for the Times, to which Newman was a contributor. The tensions culminated in Newman's 1845 resignation as Anglican vicar of St. Mary's, Oxford and his departure from the Anglican church seeking to join the Roman Catholic Church.^[1]{{Cite web|url=http://www.enotes.com/topics/apologia-pro-vita-sua|title=Home study guides: Apologia pro Vita Sua Summary|website=enotes|access-date=24 September 2016}}

One of Newman's rivals was Anglican Charles Kingsley of the Broad Church party, who responded to Newman's departure with written attacks impeaching Newman's truthfulness and honor. Newman's response was the flowing, almost poetic prose of the Apologia Pro Vita Sua, offering a spiritual autobiographical defense to Kingsley's accusations. The book was ultimately very well received by Anglicans and Catholics and was influential in turning public opinion in favor of Newman. The book became a bestseller that remains in print today. Two years after its publication, Newman was ordained by the Roman Catholics and soon became established as one of the foremost exponents of Catholicism in England.^[1]

In the 1970s, Roman Catholic writer Michael Davies wrote a three-volume work entitled Apologia Pro Marcel Lefebvre, defending the SSPX founder, Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre. Davies wrote in his introduction to the first volume that the use of the term apologia in the title is used as a "reasoned explanation", rather than literal apology, in the same vein as the early Christian apologists.{{cite book|last=Davies|first=Michael|title=Apologia Pro Marcel Lefebvre, Volume 1|chapter=Author's Introduction|year=1979}}

Sharon Downey argued in 1993 that apologia has undergone significant changes because its function has changed throughout history.{{cite journal |last1=Downey |first1=S. D. |title=The evolution of the rhetorical genre of apologia |journal=Western Journal of Communication |date=1993 |volume=57 |issue=1 |pages=42–64 |doi=10.1080/10570319309374430}} Downey takes on a critical generic approach to the feasibility of apologia.

Halford Ryan advocates that apologia should be understood as part of a pair with {{Transliteration|grc|kategoria}} ({{lang|grc|κατηγορία}}), an accusatory speech that motivates apologia as a defensive response. Ryan argues that these should be treated as a single rhetorical speech set.{{cite journal |last1=Ryan |first1=H. R. |title=Kategoria and apologia: On their rhetorical criticism as a speech set |journal=Quarterly Journal of Speech |date=1982 |volume=68 |issue=3 |pages=254–261 |doi=10.1080/00335638209383611}}

Ware and Linkugel (1973) identified four common strategies seen in apologetic discourse, which are denial, bolstering, differentiation, and transcendence.{{Cite journal|last1=Ware|first1=B. L.|last2=Linkugel|first2=Wil A.|date=October 1973|title=They spoke in defense of themselves: On the generic criticism of apologia|url=http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00335637309383176|journal=Quarterly Journal of Speech|language=en|volume=59|issue=3|pages=273–283|doi=10.1080/00335637309383176|issn=0033-5630|url-access=subscription}}

The etymology of apologia ({{langx|grc|ἀπολογία}}) is derived from the root word {{Transliteration|grc|apologos}} ({{lang|grc|ἀπόλογος}}), {{gloss|a speech in defense}},{{cite web |title=ἀπολογία |url=http://www.blueletterbible.org/lang/lexicon/lexicon.cfm?Strongs=G627 |access-date=19 September 2016 |work=Blue Letter Bible-Lexicon}} and the corresponding verb form {{Transliteration|grc|apologeisthai}} ({{lang|grc|ἀπολογεῖσθαι}}), {{gloss|to speak in one's defense}}.

• Apologetics
• Christian apologetics
• Colonial apologia

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