arapahoepark
Puritan Board Professor
Any good biographies on Athanasius?
Biographies of Athanasius
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Goodcheer68
Puritan Board Sophomore
I recently started reading Athanasius’s work myself. I’ve read On the Incarnation prior but not much else. I also picked up a few biographies; Barnes, Anatolis and one that I just finished by Peter Barnes. It’s put out by Christian Focus and covers most of the main highlights. At the end it briefly talks about some key theological points of Athanasius. At times it comes off a little hagiographic but is a decent (not a must read) book overall.
Regi Addictissimus
Completely sold out to the King
Are you looking for something more academic or a brief overview?
arapahoepark
Puritan Board Professor
Probably more academic. I find tibits of non academic everywhere.
Alan D. Strange
Puritan Board Senior
Alvyn Pettersen, Khaled Anatolios, and Peter Leithart all have bios. on Athanasius worth exploring. Briefer on his theology is Thomas Weinandy.
Peace,
Alan
Peace,
Alan
RamistThomist
Puritanboard Clerk
Definitely recommend Anatolios's work. In my reading of the Patristics I havne't found a formal biography of Athanasius as such. Any good monograph, though, will give you the rough outline.
Goodcheer68
Puritan Board Sophomore
Im reading Anatolios' work right now. The first 35 pages or so is an overview of Athanasius' life. Its helpful and while shorter on detail seems more balanced than the Peter Barnes work. Following the biography on Athanasius is an analysis of his "theological vision". Then the rest of the book gives introductions to select works from Athanasius. As a caution Anatolios' is catholic and as one would expect his views come out in his interpretations of Athanasius' work.
RamistThomist
Puritanboard Clerk
They don't color his interpretation. Or at least, they don't detract from what Athanasius believed. In fact, I think Anatolios underplays the theosis aspect.
Regi Addictissimus
Completely sold out to the King
The majority of Patristic scholarship comes from the EO and Catholic camps.
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arapahoepark
Puritan Board Professor
Catholics are better on the Trinity than many Southern Baptist complementarians as we have found out lately...
Goodcheer68
Puritan Board Sophomore
Very true but that’s not only what is covered.
Goodcheer68
Puritan Board Sophomore
I’m just learning so I’m open to be corrected But It appears to me that it does. Did Athanasius have a nature Grace dualism as Catholics teach? Or at least in seed form? Anatolios interprets Athanasius as having that understanding. And from the quotes he pulls from it doesn’t appear to be that. It seems it can be read into them but not a necessary conclusion. I don’t know I haven’t read much Athanasius other than a few letters, On the Incarnation, and Against the Heathen(Gentiles).
RamistThomist
Puritanboard Clerk
I would have to see the actual quote from Anatolios. And the Romanist nature-grace dualism would be anachronistic.
But Anatolios is a legit authority on Athanasius. I've read everything Athanasius has written. He is not Reformed. On the other hand, it would be a fallacy to read later Roman Catholic developments into him.
Goodcheer68
Puritan Board Sophomore
Of course he is not Reformed, he is not even Protestant. I get that. I know Anatolia’s is a top scholar on Athanasius that’s why I got it. But I did think it was going to be more of a biography than what it is. Give me a minute and I’ll post the page where he discusses nature and Grace. He calls it a dialectic.
RamistThomist
Puritanboard Clerk
I just realized: which Anatolios work are we talking about? He edited a volume on Athanasius, then there is Coherence of his thought. I had the latter in mind.
Goodcheer68
Puritan Board Sophomore
It’s simply titled Athanasius. It’s from the early church father’s series. BTW how do you upload a pic? It’s asking for a url?
Click the upload a file button. There are still size limits.
RamistThomist
Puritanboard Clerk
Okay. that one. I have it with me. Can you give me the exact page number?
RamistThomist
Puritanboard Clerk
I see it now. Presumably you are referring to page 33. You are indeed correct to notice a dualism there. I don't think Anatolios is reading his own views in it. Most academic Catholics aren't as enamored of medieval debates as are online trad converts.
That said, I was mistaken. You were correct. Here is the passage I came across:
This divine dialectic is reflected in an anthropological dialectic between human “nature” and “grace.”122 According to its nature (physis), humanity is incapable of knowing and relating to God. This aspect of the human being corresponds to the utter “beyondness,” or transcendence, of God and the incommensurability of divine and human beings; if God’s nature is that of true being, who is utterly self-sufficient and inaccessible, human nature is characterized by its origination from nothing. This ex nihilo is by no means merely a historical datum or a punctiliar “moment” in the story of humanity’s beginning; it is an ontological determination that characterizes humanity’s existence, and that of creation in general, as deriving from and thus inherently tending toward non-being: “for the nature of the things that come to be (genēta), inasmuch as they exist out of non-being, is unstable, weak, and mortal when considered in itself” (Against the Greeks 41).
However, this aspect of human “nature,” or physis, cannot, by definition, characterize the actual constitution of the human being as such. It merely refers to the radical nothingness which underlies human existence and indicates humanity’s inherent lack of selfpossessed being and thus its radical incapacity to preserve itself in being through its own power. For human beings to actually exist, human “nature” must be radically complemented by the dynamic of “grace”, charis, which corresponds to the divine philanthropia. The aspect of “grace” in the human being is the gift that is granted to humanity of participation in God the Word, in whom all created things have their consistence. Thus, humanity is conceived simultaneously as being of a corruptible nature that tends toward nothingness, in contrast to the perfect and transcendent nature of God, and yet as possessing the grace of participating in divine life."
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The truth that Athanasius is trying to preserve is that our human constitution tends toward nothingness and needs to be upheld by something outside of us.
I just don't think the nature-grace dialectic is the way to do it.
That said, I was mistaken. You were correct. Here is the passage I came across:
This divine dialectic is reflected in an anthropological dialectic between human “nature” and “grace.”122 According to its nature (physis), humanity is incapable of knowing and relating to God. This aspect of the human being corresponds to the utter “beyondness,” or transcendence, of God and the incommensurability of divine and human beings; if God’s nature is that of true being, who is utterly self-sufficient and inaccessible, human nature is characterized by its origination from nothing. This ex nihilo is by no means merely a historical datum or a punctiliar “moment” in the story of humanity’s beginning; it is an ontological determination that characterizes humanity’s existence, and that of creation in general, as deriving from and thus inherently tending toward non-being: “for the nature of the things that come to be (genēta), inasmuch as they exist out of non-being, is unstable, weak, and mortal when considered in itself” (Against the Greeks 41).
However, this aspect of human “nature,” or physis, cannot, by definition, characterize the actual constitution of the human being as such. It merely refers to the radical nothingness which underlies human existence and indicates humanity’s inherent lack of selfpossessed being and thus its radical incapacity to preserve itself in being through its own power. For human beings to actually exist, human “nature” must be radically complemented by the dynamic of “grace”, charis, which corresponds to the divine philanthropia. The aspect of “grace” in the human being is the gift that is granted to humanity of participation in God the Word, in whom all created things have their consistence. Thus, humanity is conceived simultaneously as being of a corruptible nature that tends toward nothingness, in contrast to the perfect and transcendent nature of God, and yet as possessing the grace of participating in divine life."
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The truth that Athanasius is trying to preserve is that our human constitution tends toward nothingness and needs to be upheld by something outside of us.
I just don't think the nature-grace dialectic is the way to do it.
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