the soteriology of saint athanasius of alexandria the conformation of ...

PREFACE
Athanasius of Alexandria is an important transition figure in
the Patristic period especially with respect to Christology. His
seminal work in defense of Christ's divinity came to form the
nucleus for an organized body of doctrine on the mystery of
Jesus Christ 1 . The purpose of our investigation is to analyze the
concepts of divinization and spiritualization in the nascent
theology of Athanasius. Even a cursory scan of the literature
reveals that we certainly are not the first ones to delve into the
topic. What is of special interest to us is his soteriologic perspective
of man's redemption, namely, that Our Lord must be divine
because he can divinize us 2 . The status quaestionis on divinization
in Athanasius is difficult to summarize because studies on the
topic are so varied. Most authors have addressed a broad spectrum
of themes in an attempt to analyze important factors in the process.
The principal purpose of this work was not to study
divinization per se, but rather to create a body of Christological
concepts including the essential elements of his theological defense
of Christ's divinity.
Athanasius has been studied from the point of view of his
anthropology , his perception of creation , and the Christian
3 4
ascesis in the famous Vita Antonii . There is an abundant
5
literature on his symbolic and metaphoric expressions , his
6
pneumatology , Christology and ecclesiology . Although this is
7 8 9
only a representative sample of a few noteworthy scientific articles,
it does give us an idea of the diversity of subjects
Athanasius dealt with and the profound influence he had on
theological thought. All of these areas provide interesting and
valuable contributions to our understanding of Athanasian
theology. However, I believe that a more synthetic vision of his
doctrine on divinization and the spiritualization of man by the
Holy Spirit is of particular interest. Therefore, I have attempted
to analyze several of Athanasius' treatises with the intention of articulating
these disparate subjects in a partial synthesis of his