A Brief Biography Of Athanasius

Saint Athanasius of Alexandria, also referred to as Athanasius the Great, led Alexandria as the twentieth bishop for forty-five years during the fourth century. Although Athanasius is regarded as serving as bishop for almost fifty years, the saint spent over seventeen of those years in exile for various reasons. A renowned Christian theologian, Athanasius was known for his defense of the Trinity, and his deep-rooted hatred for Arius and his followers, the Arians. Around 356, after Athanasius was almost arrested during a vigil service, he decided to flee to Upper Egypt. During his time spent there, he completed his most notable work Four Orations Against the Arians. The text brings up a variety of claims that the Arians make, and Athanasius’s responses to their so-called heretical nature. Although Athanasius uses Scriptural evidence to argue against the Arians, his writing style is cruel and belittling: an inappropriate way for a leader to address the people of the Empire. After reading a great deal of Athanasius’s own works, as well as texts concerning the role of Athanasius throughout the fourth century, it has become evident that St. Athanasius of Alexandria impacted the Trinitarian Controversy most significantly through his noteworthy orations, his role at the Council of Nicaea, and most importantly, his commitment to the betterment of the Catholic Church.

St. Athanasius’ On the Incarnation was written to Marcarius. It is an apologetic work in which Athanasius considers “the Word’s becoming Man and His divine Appearing in our midst.” His work is not meant to be a doctrinal clarification of the incarnation, but instead a defense of it against its 4th century critics.

The first ecumenical council, Nicaea, provided a foundation on which all other church councils would operate. This council was called to order for the Airian controversy needed to be addressed. Arius developed a doctrine, deemed heretical by the council, that declared: “There was (once) when Christ was not.” Which understood the idea of “begetting” as “creating.” Differing theological ideas were the norm in that era as people wrestled with questions surrounding the incarnation and various other religion-based qualms. However, a fierce opponent rose against Arius, his name was Athanasius. During this time Constantine was in power and intended to make a united religion, but Arius’ thoughts were causing a schism that Constantine thought needed

Christianity came to a crossroads during the fourth century. Previously, there had been gaps in Church teaching, and so some people began to fill those gaps. One of those people was Arius. Arius was born in 256 A.D. in Libya, but moved to Alexandria, Egypt and became a presbyter there. He began to teach about Jesus as a creature created by God the Father, and so therefore not God. This was seen by many early Christians as a possibility, as there had not previously been any official teaching set, and many of them started to follow Arius. Though the Church experienced some struggle with this heresy, in the end it was made stronger because it was forced to set theological beliefs. The Christian Church was advanced in the fourth century through struggles with the Arian heresy, a drastic change in the Roman Empire, and the combination of the Empire and Church to combat heresy.

Throughout Christian history, (Christianity before and after Nicaea in 325 A.D), there have been a large number of important influential people also called ‘gifted thinkers’ who are now usually referred to as ‘Church Fathers’ and Early Christian Theologians. These theologians helped shape the course of Christian history and contributed significantly to our understanding of Christianity, its doctrines and beliefs and most important God and how He works, it is through their writing that several significant doctrines emerged that helped with the consistency of the Christian faith and also strengthened Christianity within the Roman Empire. Among the great, is Augustine of Hippo. “It is not hyperbolic to say that during his lifetime he was the most

The early fifth century saw the rise of a new theological controversy, spearheaded by Nestorius, Archbishop of Constantinople. Nestorius took issue with the designation of Mary as God-bearer, Theotokos, and instead claimed she should be Christ-bearer, Christotokos. Cyril of Alexandria, Patriarch of Alexandria, came out strongly against Nestorius and wrote On the Unity of Christ to uphold Mary as Theotokos. For Cyril, the theology of Mary as God-bearer is essential and necessary to understanding how the incarnation works. This Mariology is seen not only in On the Unity of Christ, but also in a prayer he composed as well. In these two writings of differing scope and purpose, Cyril argues that denying Mary as God-bearer also denies the incarnation, and therefore the economy of salvation. Cyril argues three key points that must be true in order for the incarnation to effectively save humanity: Jesus must be a fully divine and equal member of the Trinity; Jesus must be fully man and assume all of human flesh; and Christ had to be born into the world through Immaculate Conception. These are

The modern world saw three theological movements representing various view on the nature and authority of the scriptures. The Liberal, Evangelical and Neo-Orthodox movements all attempted to define what was true in relations to God, Jesus, and the scriptures and how it should be applied to the Christian’s life. Each movement also had their own view on the history of the scriptures and Jesus Christ.

During the fifth century, two orthodox schools emerged with their own interpretations of Christology. The Christological approaches of the school of Alexandria and the school of Antioch stemmed from specific portions of the New Testament.

The teachings of Nestorianism, centered on the similar teaching of the school of Antioch. The teachings focused on the full humanity of Jesus, while disputing the titles of the “Virgin” Mary, Jesus' mother. Nestorius the leader of the Nestorians and the bishop of Constantinople disagreed with the Church that Mary was the God-bearer and "Mother of God." His disagreement with the kerygma, liturgy and theology of the Church exposed the fundamental problem. This problem was that the Nestorians did not want to recognize that through Jesus God suffered in the flesh.

In Jesus Christ Fundamentals of Christology, part III is introduced as the Systematic Christology. Roch A. Kereszty, the author of this book, brings to our attention that Christologies have remained within the limits of orthodoxy which means that it managed to persevere the whole mystery rather than deny or distort some essential aspects. Kereszty separates this idea into two different categories of measure the first being objective and the second being subjective. According to Kereszty. The objective criterion is derived from God’s revelation and the subjective criterion is determined by the needs and questions of the contemporary believer as well as the unbeliever. Kereszty did not only separate them into two categories but he also created a theme between them which is both the New Testament and the Fathers: that of communion. This means that the Father created humankind for communion with the son as well as to reveal and share his beauty. However, there is conflict between a desire for self-affirmation and a desire for communing. That Christology takes up and transforms it to the Triune God who fulfills the person with communion. Kereszty central ideas and themes come together and are true because communion can be the center of all ideas which means it’s not only shared with Jesus but with humankind. Jesus is communion and communion is Jesus both physically and spiritually.

During the 3d and 4th centuries controversy among the leaders and population due to the rising questioning of the humanity and divinity of Jesus Christ. At the beginning of the fourth century, the First Council of Nicaea was convened to come against the heretical teachings of Arius. Arius, a presbyter from Alexandria, who along with his followers believed that “before [the Son] was begotten or created or defined or established, he was not for he was not unbegotten and that the Son had a beginning but God has no beginning.” (Bingham, D. Jeffrey. Pocket History of the Church. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity, 2002. Print.) Therefore according to Arius, Jesus Christ was not eternal nor divine but only possessed divine attributes. As time went on Arianism still was a problem in the church.

Scripture was a major component in the faith lives of the early Church Fathers and directly contributed to their theological methods and development of their theology. In the early part of Church history, Scripture began to be used as a defense of the Christian faith against those who challenged the validity of Christianity. Scripture is also central to developing the doctrines and theological views of the early Church, including the important concepts of the Trinity and Christology. The early Church also faced similar issues the contemporary Church faces today concerning interpretation and application of biblical texts, which continues to be important for developing theological method. In this section of the paper, I will discuss how Scripture

The Church has played a significant role in Christianity thought time. Reading thoughts from Irenaeus, Origen, and Cyprian open us up to reason as to why the Church hold such an important role in the history of the Christian faith and why they believe salvation can only be found within the foundation of the church. Tradition is also important to understand when looking into why the Church plays a significant role in Christianity. In looking at the reading from Irenaeus we see how he draws the correlation of the church as the “living body”, which then must uphold the traditions of the apostles from the first church. He directly states in the first line we read that, “True knowledge is the teaching of the Apostles the order of the church as established from the earliest times throughout the world, and the distinctive stamp of the body of Christ, passed down through the succession of bishops in charge of the church in each place.” For Irenaeus the Church was the cornerstone of the apostolic tradition which is of the most importance to him and his beliefs of Christianity.

The Nicaea Council was gathered to settle The Arian crisis in 318. Arius, a priest of Alexandria, taught that Jesus Christ was not God, or any divine being, by suggesting that Jesus was not eternal, but a human being created prior to other humans, therefore He was different in nature from God, and was adopted by God. The concept of trinity was actually confirmed in the Bible. For example, the Gospels of John repeats that Jesus is God and calls him Lord, a title reserved for Yahweh. In addition, Jesus’s divinity was established by pre-Nicene church fathers, such as Ignatius of Antioch, Justin Martyr, Tertullian and Origen.

Francis of Assisi from the fictional novel, “Chasing Francis” by Ian Morgan Cron, is a great representation of a man who, in all that he did, he did it for the glory of God. As discussed in chapter nine, pages 148-149 of the text, Francis spontaneously assembled the first live reenactment of the Nativity story. This not only provided entertainment for some of the townspeople, but also had the ability to give them a clear depiction of the actuality of the Savior as a human. In this, Francis may have helped to further solidify individuals’ faith during that time period, and also into the future, as depicted in this story. In this novel, Francis’ actions not only inspired Chase Falson in his journey to find Christ, but also others as individuals