To: Kid Rock who wrote (20617 ) 4/18/1998 3:51:00 AM From: Emile Vidrine Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 108807
Tom, Athanasius is a great baptismal name. St. Athanasius was one the spiritual giants of his generation. He was a friend of St. Anthony of the Egyptian Desert--the father of monasticism. Athanasius wrote a book on the life of Anthony. Athanasius' book On The INcarantion explains the rationale and reality of the Incarnation. Is is one of the greatest spiritual classics of the faith. It was also one of C.S. Lewis's favorite classics. Here are a few words from Lewis on The Incarnation: When I first opened his De Incarnatione I soon discovered by a very simple test that I was reading a masterpiece. I knew very little Chritian Greek except that of the New Testament and I had expected difficulties. To my astonishment I found it almost as easy as Xenophon; and only a master mind could, in the fourth century, have written so deeply on such a subject with such classical simplicity. Every page I read congfirmed this impression. His approach to the Miracles is badly needed today, for it is the final answer to those who object to them as "arbitrary and meaningless violations of the laws of Nature." They are here shown to be rather the re-telling in capital letters of the same message which Nature writes in her crabbed cursive hand; the very operations one would expect of Him who was so full of life that when He wished to die He had to "borrow death from other." The whole book, indeed, is a picture of the Tree of Life--a sappy and golden book, full of buoyancy and confidence. We cannot, I admit appropriate all its confience to-day. We cannot point to the high virtue of Christian living and the gay, almost mocking courage of Christian martyrdom, as a proof of our doctrines with qauite that assurance which athanasius takes as a matter of course. But whoever may be to blame for that it is not Athanasius" Here is the table of contents of On The Incarantion and a URL where you can find the entire contents: by St. Athanasius CHAPTER I CREATION AND THE FALL CHAPTER II THE DIVINE DILEMMA AND ITS SOLUTION IN THE INCARNATION CHAPTER III THE DIVINE DILEMMA AND ITS SOLUTION IN THE INCARNATION--continued CHAPTER IV THE DEATH OF CHRIST CHAPTER V THE RESURRECTION CHAPTER VI REFUTATION OF THE JEWS CHAPTER VII REFUTATION OF THE GENTILES CHAPTER VIII REFUTATION OF THE GENTILES--continued CHAPTER IX CONCLUSION END NOTES SCRIPTURE INDEX ccel.wheaton.edu