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]. 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] Apologia Pro Marcel Lefebvre Roman Catholic writer Michael Davies later 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. Modern analysis In her 1993 article, "The Evolution of the Rhetorical Genre of Apologia", Sharon Downey argues that apologia has undergone significant changes because its function has changed throughout history. 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 kategoria (), an accusatory speech that motivates apologia as a defensive response. Ryan argues that these should be treated as a single rhetorical speech set. Ware and Linkugel (1973) identified four common strategies seen in apologetic discourse which are denial, bolstering, differentiation, and transcendence. See also Christian apologetics References Rhetorical techniques Apologetics