Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

Chapter 1 Creation as the Foundation of Salvation

Athanasius seeks to explain why God became human and to show that the cross is not folly but the very wisdom of God. He begins with creation, for all was created through the Word and will be re-created through the Word. Humanity is made in the image of God for the purpose of knowing their Maker and sharing in his incorruptible life. After refuting false views of creation based on Greek philosophy, Athanasius proclaims the true doctrine of creation—that God created everything out of nothing through his Son, Jesus Christ. *** §1 – Beginning with Creation In our former book 1 we dealt fully enough with a few of the chief points about the paganworship of idols, and how those

1 Athanasius refers to his previous book, Against the Gentiles . These two books— Against the Gentiles and On the Incarnation —closely relate. Against the Gentiles

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