Category: Against the Heathen
Let’s discuss Athanasius of Alexandria!
St. Athanasius of Alexandria.
Athanasius of Alexandria is one of the most influential figures in Christianity. He was the Bishop of Alexandria, a city that was second to Rome alone in authority. As a young man he was present as the Council of Nicaea as an advisor to Alexander of Alexandria. It seems he became a Bishop at quite a young age since some accused him of not being thirty years old when he took the post as that was the minimum age one could become a Bishop. By that time he had already written the works known as On the Incarnation and Against the Heathen (which may have been a single work at first). These books remain standard reading for those interested in the development of Christian theology, especially Trinitarianism.
Athanasius was one of the earliest Bishops to hold such an office in the post-Constantine era. This is a time when Emperors and statesmen influenced the church unlike in years past. Athanasius remained consistent in his affirmations no matter who was in authority and no matter what their current position. This led to five different exiles from Alexandria! During some of those exiles he spent time in the desert with the monastics where he met the famous St. Anthony about whom he would write a popular hagiography.
“Athanasius Contra Mundum” is popular phrase that explains the dogmatic theologians quite well. It didn’t matter who was for him or against him, if needed he would stand “against the world” if he thought something was heretical. Although the Council of Nicaea seemed to have settled the question of the deity of Christ the influence of the Arian views continued to influence and push against the Council’s ruling. At one point it seemed (as St. Jerome would put it), “The whole world groaned and was amazed to find itself Arian.”
Athanasius may be one of the most important figures between the Council of Nicaea and the Council of Constantinople which many see as affirming and solidifying the decisions of the first council. He stood strong for Nicene Christology against Arianism affirming the full deity of the Son. Also, while Basil the Great is given most of the credit for the church coming around to calling the Spirit “God” one could argue that Athanasius’ Letters to Serapion on the Holy Spirit contain as much force as Basil’s work. I wrote a paper on this subject which you can find here.
These are my brief thoughts on Athanasius of Alexandria, let me know what else you find worth discussing about Athanasius.
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If you’d like to discuss Origen of Alexandria and Irenaeus of Lyons go here.
Athanasius On the Trinity in Genesis 1:18
In Against the Heathen (Contra Gentes) Athanasius argues the the imperative mood (command form) in Genesis 1:18 (as well as the other imperatives in the creation narrative) are evidence that God created through the Word. Although his argument is not rebuttal-proof exegesis it is an interesting insight into how early Christians read the Hebrew Scriptures/LXX. He writes:
[A]s the illustrious Moses also at the beginning of his account of Creation confirms what we say by his narrative, saying: and God said, “let us make man in our image and after our likeness:” for also when He was carrying out the creation of the heaven and earth and all things, the Father said to Him, “Let the heaven be made,” and “let the waters be gathered together and let the dry land appear,” and “let the earth bring forth herb” and “every green thing:” so that one must convict Jews also of not genuinely attending to Scripture. For one might ask them to whom was God speaking, to use the imperative mood? If he were commanding and addressing the things He was creating, the utterance would be redundant, for they were not yet in being, but were about to be made; but no one speaks to what does not exist, nor addresses to what is not yet made a command to be made. For if God were giving a command to the things that were to be, He must have said, “Be made, heaven, and be made, earth, and come forth, green herb, and be created, O man.” But in fact He did not do sol but He gives the command thus: “Let us make man,” and “let the green herb come forth.” By which God is prove to be speaking about them to some one at hand: it follows then that some was with Him to Whom He Spoke when He made all things. Who then could it be, save His Word? For to whom could God be said to speak, except His Word? Or who was with Him when He made all created Existence, except His Wisdom, which says, “When He was making the heaven and the earth I was present with Him?” (Prov. 8.27) But in the mention of heaven and earth, all created things in heaven and earth are included as well. But being present with Him as His Wisdom and His Word, looking at the Father He fashioned the Universe, and organized it and gave it order; and, as He is the power of the Father, He gave all things strength to be, as the Saviour says: What things soever I see the Father doing, I also do in like manner” (Jn. 5.19) [1]
Along with the imperative mood of Genesis 1 he argues that if God were not commanding the Word to create he ought to have (presumably) used some sort of “to be” language (e.g. “plants be”). It is a hard argument to understand linguistically and I am not even sure if it stands in either Hebrew or Greek. I cannot think of how in Hebrew or Greek it could have been written that God said for things to come into existence outside the use of the imperative mood. Maybe someone else has a thought on this matter?
In addition to his linguistic argument he uses Wisdom in Proverbs as the one who is with God at creation as evidence that this refers to the Word. Furthermore, he alludes to the Gospel of John where Jesus says he does that which he sees the Father do as evidence that in Genesis 1 the Word follows the command of the Father in creation.
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[1] Athanasius, Against the Heathen, 46.4-7
