Apologia

[1][2] The term's current use, often in the context of religion, theology and philosophy, derives from Justin Martyr's First Apology (AD 155–157) and was later employed by John Henry Newman's Apologia Pro Vita Sua (English: A Defense of One's Own Life) of 1864,[3] which presented a formal defense of the history of his Christian life, leading to his acceptance by the Catholic Church in 1845.

[5] The main difference between the two is that the act of apologizing is meant to express regret, and the purpose of an apologia is to clearly communicate the rational grounds for a belief or position.

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.

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.

Newman's response was the flowing, almost poetic prose of the Apologia Pro Vita Sua, offering a spiritual autobiographical defense to Kingsley's accusations.

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.

[14] Ware and Linkugel (1973) identified four common strategies seen in apologetic discourse, which are denial, bolstering, differentiation, and transcendence.