Tag Archives: God

Blogging thru On the Incarnation: Who is Athanasius? (part 1)

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With Christmas coming, I decided to take C.S. Lewis’ advice and read an old book, tackling On the Incarnation by Athanasius during Advent. Up to now I’ve only read excerpts from this work (post), but I plan on reading and blogging through the entire book. I will be using the translation published as part of the Popular Patristics Series. This edition is translated by John Behr and contains the famous preface by C.S. Lewis (see blog post on that here).

Every age has its own outlook. It is specially good at seeing certain truths and specially liable to make certain mistakes. We all, therefore, need the books that will correct the characteristic mistakes of our own period. And that means the old books.

Preface by C.S. Lewis

On the Incarnation

On the Incarnation is considered an apology (or defense) of the cross and is the sequel to an earlier work entitled Against the Gentiles. 1 The dating for On the Incarnation is debated, with some favoring an early date prior to the Council of Nicaea, citing the lack of mentioning Arius. 2 Others suggest it was probably written sometime after the council, given that the author would have been writing at a very young age if it was earlier.3 These provide a range of time for the composition that would fall somewhere between 318 and 337 AD.

that you may be able to know the cause of the manifestation in the body of such and so great Paternal Word, … that, being by nature bodiless and existing as the Word, by the love for humankind and goodness of his own Father he appeared to us in a human body for our salvation.

On the INCARNATION 1

Who was Athanasius?

Athanasius contra mundum

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The Third Peacock and the Incarnation

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This post is the third part of a series looking at The Third Peacock. If you have not already read it, I recommend starting with part 1.

The introduction of the Incarnation to theodicy in The Third Peacock is a great answer to the question how will God deal with the evil and badness found in creation as well as telling us how God will “make a good show of creation.” It is a rather odd answer to questions like why does God permit so much evil in the first place. But at this point in the book Capon and his readers have “hit the bottom” as there is no way to get “God off the hook for evil”. Nor, for Capon, was the risk God took with freedom worth all the evil and badness.

In light of the reality of evil, Capon pivots and attempts to pull all of the threads he has been exploring – a theology of delight, freedom, badness and a personal yet hands off God – together.

Throughout the book Capon’s style seems designed to shock the reader and he continues this trend with the Incarnation.

In the Christian scheme of things, the ultimate act by which God runs and rescues creation is the Incarnation. Sent by the Father and conceived by the Spirit, the eternal Word is born of the Virgin Mary and, in the mystery of that indwelling, lives, dies, rises and reigns. Unfortunately, however, we tend to look on the mystery mechanically. We view it as a fairly straight piece of repair work which became necessary because of sin.

Capon isn’t dismissing the fact that Jesus came in the flesh to deal with sin, but he is asking us to consider it as much more. In doing so Capon is drawing on a historical view of the Incarnation that is not widely held or discussed. Prior to reading this book I was not familiar with it. The view has been described as Unconditional Incarnation as well as Supralapsarian Christology.

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The Third Peacock and Providence

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This post is the second part of a series looking at The Third Peacock. If you have not already read it, I recommend starting with part 1.

The next step in the exploration of theodicy takes us to the concept of Providence. Millard Erickson (in Christian Theology) defines that as follows:

While creation is God’s originating work with respect to the universe, providence is his continuing relationship to it. By providence we mean the continuing action of God by which he preserves in existence the creation he has brought into being, and guides it to his intended purposes for it.

Most readers, if not all, could accept this definition. Capon does.

[This] takes us back to the act of creation and to ask the question of the precise relationship between God the Creator and all the comings and goings of the universe itself. It has already been said that God is not simply the initiator or beginning cause of creation; he is the present, intimate and immediate cause of the being of everything that is.

Where things start to get interesting is trying to understand how God preserves and guides creation. This involves complex and differing ideas about sovereignty, decrees, freedom and foreknowledge. Capon does not dive into the theological deep-end regarding these various topics but does raise an important question.

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