Adam Francisco on Luther as Apologist: Christians delight in assertions. They adhere, affirm, confess, and maintain the assertions—the faith—once delivered to the saints. There are times, however, that a bold confession requires more than just mere assertion. “When you have to engage the Jews and Turks,” Luther wrote, “you must use all your cleverness and effort and be as profound and subtle a controversialist as possible, for then you are in another area.” It is in this arena, in dealing with the claims of Jewish and Islamic theology, that the reformer employed the tactics of the apologist and made his mark on the defense of the faith.
