Renewal in Christ: Athanasius on the Christian Life

Introduction

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The Theology of Athanasius Athanasius offers aunique and rich theological contribution to the church. There are five defining characteristics of his theology. Radically Christ-Centered For Athanasius, Jesus is the apex of the biblical story and the center of Christian theology. While there are many different doctrines and stories in the Bible, they all find their coherence in the Son of God. To be clear, the Son is sent by the Father and empowered by the Holy Spirit— Athanasius has a deeply trinitarian theology. But the Son is central because the Father is revealed through the Son (John 1:18) and the Spirit’s role is to witness to the Son (John 16:33). 6 Furthermore, Athanasius’s focus is not only on the person of Christ but also the work of Christ. While Athanasius is known for defending the divinity of Jesus, he does so to show that Jesus truly is our Savior. In other words, if Jesus is not fully God and fully human, he cannot rescue humanity and renew creation. 7 For this reason, it is important when reading On the Incarnation to recognize that Athanasius does not use the word “incarnation” in the 6 A fair critique of On the Incarnation is that it completely leaves out the role of the Spirit. However, while this is true of Athanasius’s early works, his later works clearly valued the role of the Spirit. See Athanasius, “Letters to Serapion on the Holy Spirit,” in Works on the Spirit: Athanasius and Didymus , trans. Mark DelCogliano, Andrew Radde-Gallwitz, and Lewis Ayres, Popular Patristics Series 43 (Yonkers, NY: St. Vladimirs Seminary Press, 2011), 51–138. 7 As ThomasWeinandy says, “The whole of Athanasius’s theological programme is thoroughly soteriological. Everything he teaches and upholds, every theological conflict he engages, is motivated and driven by his desire to ensure that the Christian gospel of salvation, as expressed in Scripture and as taught within the ecclesial tradition, is upheld, as well as correctly conceived and properly expressed” ( Athanasius: A Theological Introduction [Washington, DC: Catholic University of America Press, 2018], vii).