Athanasius's "On the Incarnation"
Introduction
On the Incarnation is an apologetic type of work by St. Athanasius of Alexandria which focuses on various issues. The work revolves around the relationship of man with God and how his divine appears and lives in mankind. Entirely, the work is more of a doctrinal explanation of various issues of incarnation. It is also a form of defense against critics posed by various individuals in the 4th century. Besides, it is work which discusses important themes of Christology and soteriology. It dictates how historical events manifest salvation work. The author emphasizes more on creation. As a result, this paper focuses on the personal views about various questions which St. Athanasius of Alexandria tried to answer in his work.
How was Man Created and Felled into Sin?
The First question is how the man was created and how did he fall into sin. In this particular case, the author provides the necessary background in which he gives a good understanding of the incarnation. However, from this question, the author argues that human beings have a dilemma which its consequences forced the word to assume form (Behr 2012). In my opinion, the Holy Bible clearly states that man was created in the image of God. During the creation process, all events were well planned, and they took place in an
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The question arose various arguments in the book. The work argued that the death of Jesus Christ was carried out through crucifying so that the end could be made public (Behr 2012). In my opinion, the killing was made public for various reasons. The first possible reason why the death was announced was that none of the people could later question the validity of his death. However, the death of Jesus Christ was made open so that everybody could see through his own eyes that he was dead. As a result, the death could not later raise any questions concerning his
With each religion comes things to learn and understand. Some things are easy to grasp onto, while others can be impossible to comprehend. Why was it necessary for Jesus to be human? How did Jesus overcome the most powerful of human leaders? Why did God send His only son for us? In the book On the Incarnation by Athanasius, these questions are thoroughly explained. Beginning with the creation of man, God promised to protect and care for us. This promise He fulfills through Jesus His son.
The crucifixion of Christ is one of the central defining moments in human history. The revelation of God in the cruciform Christ is the central defining image for Christians. This is at the very heart of the case being made by Michael Gorman in Inhabiting the Cruciform God. Gorman, examining Paul's soteriology, makes the argument that for Paul justification is centered on theosis. Gorman thesis centers around defending his definition of this theosis in Paul's writings. Gorman writes, “Theosis is tranformative participation in the kenotic, cruciform character of God through Spirit-enable conformity to the incarnate, crucified, and resurrected/glorified Christ.”1 The following will examine Gorman's defense of this thesis focusing especially
Henri de Lubac was a Christian theologian who studied and discussed his concern with many aspects in the Christian theological context. He had focused on ideas such as the use of the terms ‘natural’ and ‘supernatural’ within Christian theology. His research in this area had lead into de Lubac furthering his studies in the medieval exegesis; as well as, his study in ecclesiology. Some of de Lubac’s work and publishing’s had lead him in troubling situations, in particular his work on the idea of ‘supernatural’ and his publication ‘Surnaturel’. De Lubac’s study and writings of ecclesiology have influenced the Second Vatican Council, and his writings on medieval exegesis helped him regain his acceptance into Christian society. Henri de Lubac’s perspective and position on these topics will be discussed throughout this paper; as well as, the effect his studies had on theology and his theological career.
Augustine’s Confessions is a biographic of the life of St. Augustine. The biopic chronicles the life of Augustine as he tries to navigate his way through life and find his path as it relates to the Christian faith. Augustine discusses many of his struggles and issues while on the path to find himself and his place in God. One of the main issues he covers in his biopic are the struggles had with reconciling the existence of evil with the goodness of God. He struggled with this issue in particular due to his participation in the belief of Manicheanism. Manicheanism is a heretical version of Christianity, that was first introduced by the self-proclaimed prophet Mani. Augustine claims he fell victim to this belief system when he was at a vulnerable point in his journey and was seeking answers for certain question he has pertaining to faith. He fell into Manicheanism when he tried to look at the scriptures himself and interrupt them but to a rhetoric like himself the scriptures made no sense at the time, so he turned from them and to the well-worded faith of Manicheanism. Augustine considers that decision one of the biggest mistakes of his life, attributing his great difficulties in reconciling the existence of evil with God’s goodness to his belief in Manicheanism. In this paper I aim to explore the reason behind why Augustine felt his belief in Manicheanism was such a grave mistake. I also hope to explain how he tried to reconcile his issues concerning evil and God’s goodness, and if he was successful in this attempt. In order to do this we must first look deeper at Manicheanism to examine what the core values and beliefs of the faith are, so that we can understand why Augustine had such a hard time dealing with the issue of evil and...
The four fundamental claims of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition, Human beings exist in a relation to a triune God, God’s presence in the world is mediated through nature and reality, faith and reason are compatible, the dignity of the human being is inviolable and therefore the commitment to justice for the common good is necessary. However, the great books in the Catholic Intellectual tradition show that they represent these fundamental claims in a broad distinctive way. This essay will show that these readings better represent one of the fundamental claims, human beings exist in a relation with a triune God, from the view point of three great books from the bible, Genesis, Exodus and the Gospel of Matthew. The Bible clearly supports the
As previously stated Saint Augustine wasn’t always a Saint. Before he fully converted to Christianity, Saint Augustine encountered numerous acts, in which his decisions were not always that of a righteous Saint. The first noticeable co...
St. Augustine is a man with a rational mind. As a philosopher, scholar, and teacher of rhetoric, he is trained in and practices the art of logical thought and coherent reasoning. The pursuits of his life guide him to seek concrete answers to specific questions. Religion, the practice of which relies primarily on faith—occasionally blind faith—presents itself as unable to be penetrated by any sort of scientific study or inquiry. Yet, like a true scientist and philosopher, one of the first questions St. Augustine poses in his Confessions is: “What, then, is the God I worship” (23)? For a long time, Augustine searches for knowledge about God as a physical body, a particular entity—almost as if the Lord were merely a human being, given the divine right to become the active figurehead of the Christian religion.
The first two parts of the book discuss the kind of theological-historical perspective and ecclesial situation that determines the form-content configuration of Revelation. The first section attempts to assess the theological commonality to and differences from Jewish apocalypticism. Fiorenza focuses of the problem that although Revelation claims to be a genuinely Christian book and has found its way into the Christian canon, it is often judged to be more Jewish than Christian and not to have achieved the “heights” of genuinely early Christian theology. In the second part of the book, Fiorenza seeks to assess whether and how much Revelation shares in the theological structure of the Fourth Gospel. Fiorenza proposes that a careful analysis of Revelation would suggest that Pauline, Johannine, and Christian apocalyptic-prophetic traditions and circles interacted with each other at the end of the first century C.E in Asia Minor. She charts in the book the structural-theological similarities and differences between the response of Paul and that of Revelation to the “realized eschatology”. She argues that the author of Revelation attempts to correct the “realized eschatology” implications of the early Christian tradition with an emphasis on a futuristic apocalyptic understanding of salvation. Fiorenza draws the conclusion that Revelation and its author belong neither to the Johannine nor to the Pauline school, but point to prophetic-apocalyptic traditions in Asia Minor.
A Christian apologetic method is a verbal defense of the biblical worldview. A proof is giving a reason for why we believe. This paper will address the philosophical question of God’s existence from the moral argument. The presuppositional apologetic method of Reformed thinkers Cornelius Van Til and John Frame will be the framework. Topics covered here could undoubtedly be developed in more depth, but that would be getting ahead, here is the big picture.
Historical evidence points to Jesus being executed according to Roman law, for Roman reasons; crucifixion was reserved for slaves, non-citizens, dangerous criminals, and those who sought to oppose the government, sometimes occurring in large groups
The stories which humans tell about their origins are always cherished and held in high regard. In fact, no culture has existed which has not created or attempted to create some story of origins. Every culture has had some means in which to say this is where we came from. Especially in cultures where religion found itself prevalent, the mythology of origins became not only a status or anthropology but also a theology. In which case, we find that Christianity is not alone in this struggle, though our struggle may be unique in kind. For our case, we find that the foundation of theology, specifically practical theology, finds its basis in our story of creation and origination. “One of the central affirmations of the Christian faith is the claim that human beings are created in the image of God.” Because the creation story, as cited above, claims that humanity was made in the image or likeness of God, and we affirm that the Bible is the witness to Christ, who being in human form was also made in the image of God, then it is logical to conclude that the theology of human nature rests on this imago dei and therefore the discussion of Karl Barth’s relational view of imago is critical to dissect in order for a reasonable theology to be constructed.
With the creation of man and woman God forms them out of his image. ?And God created the human in his image, in the image of God He created him, male and female He created them? (Gen 1.27). Alter says ?him as in the Hebrew is grammatically but not anatomically masculine?. So in interpretation the first human had no gender. Then on the third line ?male and female he created them? implies the creation of gender. The importance of this is that the first form of ?man? had n...
In this paper, there will be a discussion about the canonization of the New Testament. Along with an investigation of who was involved in this process. The people and institution looked at will include the following: Marcion, Irenaeus, Origen, Synod of Hippo, and God.
Humans were created in God’s image. Because God is perfect and without error (infallible), we are a reflection of that. However, when Adam and Eve sinned against god, that infallibility was tainted....
In the beginning of the Bible in the Book of Genesis, it is revealed to use in 1:26-27 that God has created man in his image. The text verbatim states “Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness…So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” From this distinct text we can clearly conclude that when ad created man and woman, they were destined to be in God’s image and carry his image throughout his creation. Today we can see that many of us do not live in God’s image due to society becoming more secularized as it progresses through the years, however as Christians we can verse this by living in God’s image in our chosen vocations, churches, and even in the secular world.