Jewish apologetics..

Reading Kåre's posting, I am reminded of one of the more recent, and in my view one of the most informative recent discussions of Jewish apologetics to be found in the article by John Barcley, 'Apologetics in the Jewish Diaspora', John R. Bartlett (ed.)., Jews in the hellenistic and Roman Cities (Routledge Press, London; 2002), pp. 129-148.
(In fact, you can access this book on Ebrary, if your institution subscribes to this facility).
Barclay considers several various works and points of view, especially focusing on 'apologetics', 'proselytism' and 'mission' as three phenomenon to differentiate. His article is full of insight, and a good introduction to a study of Philo as an apologete. His conclusion runs thus (p.148) "to employ the label ‘missionary preaching’ may skew the discussion
by importing a Christian framework of thought. Jews clearly learned how to
communicate their culture to non-Jews, and their apologetics, oral and
literary, could effect a range of possible results. If we decline to demarcate
proselytism as a separate phenomenon, we may attribute to the success of
Jewish apologetics the full range of positive responses to Judaism – from
toleration, interest and partial imitation through to full proselytism. While
we cannot quantify the results, the cumulative evidence suggests that apologetics
was of critical importance in ensuring the survival and flourishing of
Judaism throughout the Graeco-Roman Diaspora."