What a beautifully clear, solidly rational statement, Kevmo!
This is the meaning intended in Plato's Apology: Socrates wasn't sorry about anything!
Not even of the fact that, in the end, he was convicted by a 500-member jury of his "peers" (whattajoke -- Socrates was virtually peerless) by a slender plurality of some 27 votes. And given the choice of permanent exile from his beloved Athens, or death, he chose the latter. He was fearless, for he had seen Living Truth, the Logos.... And he knew -- at the very basis of his life -- that was all that sustained him as a man. And moreover, he knew that man's soul is immortal....
In like manner, Christians do not "apologize" -- in the sense of "I'm sorry" -- for anything that God has willed or does.
Thank you so very much, Kevmo, for your beautiful essay/post!
"The word "apology" comes from the Greek "Apo", which means Clear, and "Logos", which means Word. So it is Apo + Logos, A Clear Word, an explanation with solid rationality."
"What a beautifully clear, solidly rational statement, Kevmo!...Thank you so very much, Kevmo, for your beautiful essay/post!
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopediaApologists are authors, writers, editors of scientific logs or academic journals, and leaders known for taking on the points in arguments, conflicts or positions that are either placed under popular scrutinies or viewed under persecutory examinations. The term comes from the Greek word apologia (απολογία), meaning defense of a position against an attack.
[edit] Colloquial usage
Today the term "apologist" is colloquially applied in a general manner to include groups and individuals systematically promoting causes, justifying orthodoxies, or denying certain events, even of crimes. Apologists have been characterized as being deceptive, or "whitewashing" their cause, primarily through omission of negative facts (selective perception) and exaggeration of positive ones **, techniques of classical rhetoric. When used in this context, the term often has a pejorative meaning. The neutralized substitution of "spokesperson" for "apologist" in conversation conveys much the same sense of "partisan presenter with a weighted agenda," with less rhetorical freight.
[edit] Technical usages
The term apologetics etymologically derives from the Classical Greek word apologia. In the Classical Greek legal system two key technical terms were employed: the prosecution delivered the kategoria (κατηγορία), and the defendant replied with an apologia. To deliver an apologia then meant making a formal speech to reply and rebut the charges, as in the case of Socrates' defense.
This Classical Greek term appears in the Koine (i.e. common) Greek of the New Testament. The Apostle Paul employs the term apologia in his trial speech to Festus and Agrippa when he says "I make my defense" (Acts 26:2). A cognate term appears in Paul's Letter to the Philippians as he is "defending the gospel" (Acts 1:7 & 17), and in 1 Peter 3:15 believers must be ready to give an "answer" for their faith. The word also appears in the negative in Romans 1:20: unbelievers are αναπολόγητοι (anapologētoi) (without excuse, defense, or apology) for rejecting the revelation of God in creation.
The legal nuance of apologetics was reframed in a more specific sense to refer to the study of the defense of a doctrine or belief. In this context it most commonly refers to philosophical reconciliation. Religious apologetics is the effort to show that the preferred faith is not irrational, that believing in it is not against human reason, and that in fact the religion contains values and promotes ways of life more in accord with human nature than other faiths or beliefs.
In the English language, the word apology is derived from the Greek word apologia, but its use has changed; its primary sense now refers to a defensive plea for forgiveness for an action that is open to blame. It is occasionally used to refer to a speech or writing that defends the author's position.
Kevmo, it seems you are a bit off in your translation.
Dictionary dot com wrote:apo-
a prefix occurring originally in loanwords from Greek, where it was joined to verbs, deverbal forms, and other parts of speech. Among its functions in Greek, apo- has the spatial sense "away, off, apart" (apogee; apocope; apostasy; apostrophe); it occurs with deverbals that denote a response or defense (apodosis; apology) and is found on verbs having perfective force relative to a corresponding simple verb (apoplexy; aposiopesis). In modern scientific coinages in English and other languages, apo- marks things that are detached, separate, or derivative (apocarpous; apoenzyme).Also, especially before a vowel, ap-.
[Origin: < Gk, prefixal use of; akin to off, Skt apa, L ab]
Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary,© Random House, Inc. 2006.
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American Heritage Dictionary
apo- or ap- pref.
Away from; off: aphelion.
Separate: apocarpous.
Without; not: apogamy.
Related to; derived from: apomorphine.
Metasomatic: apophyllite.[Greek, from apo, away from; see apo- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Online Etymology Dictionary
apo-prefix meaning "from, away from, separate," from Gk. apo, from PIE base *apo- "off, away" (cf. Skt. apa "away from," Avestan apa "away from," L. ab "away from, from," Goth. af, O.E. of "away from").
Online Etymology Dictionary,© 2001 Douglas Harper
** It's nice that you want to portray the term 'apologetics' in as nice a light as possible but it seems in doing so you have become an apologist for the word.
Thank you to Virginia-American and longshadow, brothers in pondscum at Darwin Central for doing the research and bringing this to my attention.