And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. Having described the breadth and depth of the problem, Athanasius turns again to God’s response. As you read Athanasius and my own thoughts, also rest in [...]
This phrase leaps out at me every time I read this section of Athanasius’ writing. nor, secondly, does repentance call men back from what is their nature—it merely stays them from acts of sin. God can and does call man to repentance. Nobody argues that point. However, I have some sense that repentance may often [...]
After skating at our favorite skating rink, my daughter and I decided to try the new zpizza in Round Rock. They use quality, organic ingredients and, most importantly from my perspective, offer the option of a gluten free pizza crust! As the employee who greeted us was explaining how to order for our first visit, [...]
One of the joys of living in Austin has been the opportunity to experience the Alamo Drafthouse Cinema for years. We first visited Alamo Village not too long after it opened when the original downtown location and it were the only Alamo Drafthouse cinemas to be found. Recent years have seen a lot of growth [...]
God’s goodness is the phrase I hear echoing in this chapter of Athanasius’ treatise. For it were not worthy of God’s goodness that the things He had made should waste away, because of the deceit practised on men by the devil. Especially it was unseemly to the last degree that God’s handicraft among men should [...]
In the next chapter, Athanasius emphasize that God not only created us from nothing, but freely gives us life. For God has not only made us out of nothing; but He gave us freely, by the Grace of the Word, a life in correspondence with God. … “God made man for incorruption, and as an [...]
In this next section of Athanasius’ treatise, we begin to encounter an idea that seems to have largely been lost in modern, Western Christianity. Namely, it is the central idea that it is entirely within God that we live and move and have our being. God is. Evil is not. For transgression of the commandment [...]
In the third section of his treatise, Athanasius emphasizes that God created everything through the Word and that he does not begrudge existence to any of it. That’s important to always keep in mind. Yes, God created and sustains everything from moment to moment. But that contingency is not a matter of concern. The uncreated [...]
In the next section, Athanasius briefly considers and rejects erroneous views of Creation. Two examples follow that always catch my eye. For some say that all things have come into being of themselves, and in a chance fashion; as, for example, the Epicureans, who tell us in their self-contempt, that universal providence does not exist, [...]
There are few works to which I return time and again as I do with Athanasius’ classic, On the Incarnation of the Word. I think sometimes Christians seem to forget just how strange a story the Incarnation actually is or how central it is to our faith. In this series I will reflect on each [...]