Saint Athanasius of Alexandria

On the Incarnation of the Word

4th c.

Classic translation Greek original

Dogmatic & Doctrinal · English translation, 1890

Contents

• Introductory.--The Subject of This Treatise: the Humiliation and Incarnation of…
• Erroneous Views of Creation Rejected. (1) Epicurean (Fortuitous Generation)…
• The True Doctrine. Creation Out of Nothing, of God's Lavish Bounty of Being…
• Our Creation and God's Incarnation Most Intimately Connected. As by the Word…
• For God Has Not Only Made Us Out of Nothing; but He Gave Us Freely, by the…
• The Human Race Then Was Wasting, God's Image Was Being Effaced, and His Work…
• On the Other Hand There Was the Consistency of God's Nature, Not to Be…
• The Word, Then, Visited That Earth in Which He Was Yet Always Present; and Saw…
• The Word, Since Death Alone Could Stay the Plague, Took a Mortal Body Which…
• By a Like Simile, the Reasonableness of the Work of Redemption is Shewn. How…
• Second Reason for the Incarnation. God, Knowing That Man Was Not by Nature…
• For Though Man Was Created in Grace, God, Foreseeing His Forgetfulness…
• Here Again, Was God to Keep Silence? to Allow to False Gods the Worship He Made…
• A Portrait Once Effaced Must Be Restored From the Original. Thus the Son of the…
• Thus the Word Condescended to Man's Engrossment in Corporeal Things, by Even…
• He Came Then to Attract Man's Sense-bound Attention to Himself as Man, and So…
• How the Incarnation Did Not Limit the Ubiquity of the Word, nor Diminish His…
• How the Word and Power of God Works in His Human Actions: by Casting Out…
• Man, Unmoved by Nature, Was to Be Taught to Know God by That Sacred Manhood…
• None, Then, Could Bestow Incorruption, but He Who Had Made, None Restore the…
• Death Brought to Nought by the Death of Christ. Why Then Did Not Christ Die…
• But Why Did He Not Withdraw His Body From the Jews, and So Guard its…
• Necessity of a Public Death for the Doctrine of the Resurrection
• Further Objections Anticipated. He Did Not Choose His Manner of Death; for He…
• Why the Cross, of All Deaths? (1) He Had to Bear the Curse for Us. (2) On it He…
• Reasons for His Rising on the Third Day. (1) Not Sooner for Else His Real Death…
• The Change Wrought by the Cross in the Relation of Death to Man
• This Exceptional Fact Must Be Tested by Experience. Let Those Who Doubt it…
• Here Then Are Wonderful Effects, and a Sufficient Cause, the Cross, to Account…
• The Reality of the Resurrection Proved by Facts: (1) the Victory Over Death…
• If Power is the Sign of Life, What Do We Learn From the Impotence of Idols, for…
• But Who is to See Him Risen, So as to Believe? Nay, God is Ever Invisible and…
• Unbelief of Jews and Scoffing of Greeks. The Former Confounded by Their Own…
• Prophecies of His Passion and Death in All its Circumstances
• Prophecies of the Cross. How These Prophecies Are Satisfied in Christ Alone
• Prophecies of Christ's Sovereignty, Flight Into Egypt, &C
• Psalm Xxii. 16, &c. Majesty of His Birth and Death. Confusion of Oracles and…
• Other Clear Prophecies of the Coming of God in the Flesh. Christ's Miracles…
• Do You Look for Another? But Daniel Foretells the Exact Time. Objections to…
• Argument (1) From the Withdrawal of Prophecy and Destruction of Jerusalem, (2)…
• Answer to the Greeks. Do They Recognise the Logos? If He Manifests Himself in…
• His Union With the Body is Based Upon His Relation to Creation as a Whole. He…
• He Came in Human Rather Than in Any Nobler Form, Because (I) He Came to Save…
• As God Made Man by a Word, Why Not Restore Him by a Word? But (1) Creation Out…
• Thus Once Again Every Part of Creation Manifests the Glory of God. Nature, the…
• Discredit, From the Date of the Incarnation, of Idol-cultus, Oracles…
• The Numerous Oracles,--fancied Apparitions in Sacred Places, &c., Dispelled by…
• Further Facts. Christian Continence of Virgins and Ascetics. Martyrs. The Power…
• His Birth and Miracles. You Call Asclepius, Heracles, and Dionysus Gods for…
• Impotence and Rivalries of the Sophists Put to Shame by the Death of Christ…
• The New Virtue of Continence. Revolution of Society, Purified and Pacified by…
• Wars, &c., Roused by Demons, Lulled by Christianity
• The Whole Fabric of Gentilism Levelled at a Blow by Christ Secretly Addressing…
• The Word Incarnate, as is the Case With the Invisible God, is Known to Us by…
• Summary of Foregoing. Cessation of Pagan Oracles, &c.: Propagation of the…
• Search Then, the Scriptures, if You Can, and So Fill up This Sketch. Learn to…
• Above All, So Live That You May Have the Right to Eat of This Tree of Knowledge…