What does apologetics and theology mean?

[Angel]

What are they?

 

[Sparkey]

Theology is the easy one. It just means 'Teachings'. It could mean 'studies about God' also. It's similar to doctrine.

Apologetics describes systems of defense used to support doctrine and teachings. It's used in more formal settings like at bible college but not so much in normal conversations.

 

[Andrew Mason]

"-ology" means to study (biology, sociology, etc). "Theo" means God. Therefore, theology is "the study of God."

Apologetics means to defend. From a Christian context it means to defend the faith.

 

[Angel]

Ahhhh! Thnx

 

[Claudya]

Apologetics sounds to me like "apologise". Which sounds as if we were kinda admitting we are wrong.
It's probably of the same origin.

 

[ezrider]

Apologetics sounds to me like "apologise". Which sounds as if we were kinda admitting we are wrong.
It's probably of the same origin.

And Jesus left us with a command to forgive one another; uniquely bound to an apology.

 

[Obadiah]

Apologetics sounds to me like "apologise". Which sounds as if we were kinda admitting we are wrong.
It's probably of the same origin.

Yes, the act of using apologetics is to apologize. I first heard the term in Bible college and it struck me the same way. It sounds the way you are describing in most common conversations because when people have done something wrong, they most often try to explain why they did it right after they say they are sorry. ("I'm sorry, It was an accident", "I'm sorry, I didn't know I was hurting you", etc) The explanation ("It was an accident", etc) is the actual apology, not the "I'm sorry" part. It's just because we associate it being commonly used right after "I'm sorry" that we think of all apologies as and admission that we were wrong or that we are sorry. But that's not the only type of apology.