An Introduction to Athanasius' AGAINST THE HEATHEN (Contra Gentes)

St Athanasius the Great Resources Online and in Print

10 Pages

Page 3

It may be remarked finally that in these early treatises the influence of Origen and his school is more distinct than in the later works of Athanasius. Not to lay too much stress on his proof of God's existence and unity from the Cosmos (cf. Orig. c. Cels. I. 23), the prominence of the philosophic doctrine of the Logos as a cosmic mediatorial Principle (compare Alexander's mesiteuousa phusis monogenes) stands in contrast with his later insistence (cf. Orat. ii. 24, sq.) on the directness of the personal agency of God (see also below, note on 'In Illud' 2). The Platonist idea of the Logos is utilised (de Incarn. 41) without sufficient explanation of its fundamental difference from the Christian doctrine. The influence of Origenism is traceable in his theory of the nature of evil as purely negative (cf. S:5 with Orig. c. Cels. iv. 66), in the explanation (to which I recall nothing parallel in his later works) of the garden of Eden as figurative (2. 4, cf. 3. 3), the stress laid on the restoration of knowledge of God through the Logos, and perhaps in the deification of man through Christ (Orig. c. Cels. iii. 28 sub. fin.), a thought which Athanasius brings forward in his later at least as often as in his earlier writings (see note on de Incarn. 54. 3). On the whole, however, the tendency of Athanasius in the course of the Arian controversy is to move away from Origen and toward the Western habit of thought: this is especially exemplified in the history of the term Hypostasis (see above, Prolegg. chap. II. S:3 (2) b, and below Introd. to Tom. ad Ant.; cf. also Introductions to de Sent. Dionys. and ad Afros). Some of the more characteristic speculations of Origen have left no trace even on the earliest works of Athanasius (see Introd. to the next Treatise). The translation (here as elsewhere, except where it is otherwise stated) is from the Benedictine text.

The contents of the contra Gentes fall into the following scheme:--

Page

S:1.

Introduction. Statement of the purpose of the treatise.

S:S:2-29.

First Part. Refutation of Heathenism.

Previous Page / First / Next Page of the Introduction to Athanasius' AGAINST THE HEATHEN

St Athanasius the Great Home Page ||| More Church Fathers

Elpenor's Free Greek Lessons

Reference address : https://www.elpenor.org/athanasius/contra-gentes-introduction.asp?pg=3