Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

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Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

TheWritings of Athanasius Athanasius was a prolific writer who left behind numerous books, treatises, and letters. 15 This volume includes On the Incarnation in its entirety along with portions of The Life of Antony and On the Psalms . A few words about each will help orient the reader to what lies ahead. On the Incarnation 16 While most of Athanasius’s writings are occasional (responding to heresy, writing pastoral letters, and so on), On the Incarnation is his most constructive contribution. Athanasius refers to On the Incarnation as “a brief statement of the faith of Christ” 17 —in other words, a primer on Christianity. In short, in this book, Athanasius shows why God became human and unpacks the meaning of his death and resurrection for our salvation and for the renewal of creation. This renewal in Christ is the basis for the Christian life. The Life of Antony While On the Incarnation shows that Christ is the source of the Christian life, The Life of Antony gives an embodied example of the Christian life. By observing Antony, an Egyptian Christian who shaped the monastic movement 18 15 Most of these are available in Athanasius, Select Writings and Letters , trans. Archibald Robertson, vol. 4 of The Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers , Series 2, ed. Philip Schaff and HenryWace, 14 vols., repr. ed. (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2012). 16 The full title is Treatise by the Same Author on the Incarnation of theWord and His Manifestation to Us through the Body . 17 On the Incarnation , §56. 18 The Monastic Movement – The patristics-era phenomenon of many Christians radically devoting themselves to Christ through a simple life of prayer and discipline. Some of these monks sought this alone, while others