Fourth Century Christianity

Athanasius (ca. 300-373) became bishop of Alexandria in 328. He seems to have been present at the Council of Nicaea three years earlier as an assistant to his predecessor,  Bishop Alexander.  Athanasius immediately faced two weighty problems—the schism of the rigorist Melitians and the still festering problem of Arius and those who supported his type of theology.  As a fierce defender of the Nicene faith, Athanasius was condemned, exiled, and reinstated five times throughout his life. He unwaveringly opposed all attempts to express the truth of Jesus’s divinity as in any way less than that of his Father.  Thus, while viewed with distrust by many Eastern theologians during his own lifetime, Athanasius became one of the most revered figures in the later Greek and Latin churches.

Some of Athanasius’s  most significant works include On the Incarnation, Defense against the Arians, On the Decrees of the Council of Nicaea, and his Life of Antony.  The latter, written soon after the death of the well-known hermit, was extremely popular and became a model for future hagiographical biographies of Christian “saints.”  Many of his works are difficult to date with precision.  Furthermore, scholars disagree on whether some works come from the pen of Athanasius himself.  The list below is based on the Clavis Patrum Graecorum. The dates and English titles are taken from the sources at the bottom of the page.  In general, the dates of Barnes are followed.  Where Barnes does not give a date for a particular work, Brakke was consulted, then Drobner, then Moreschini, and finally Robertson if no other date was found.  Brakke, “The Authenticity…” (see bibliography below), is the primary source used in identifying the genuine works on asceticism.

Explanation of Chart:

	date:	If a date is questionable it is followed by a question mark. Works of unknown date are given in separate charts at the end.
	English title:	When multiple titles exist for a work, variations are also given. (Parentheses) denote an optional addition to the title of a work. When a work survives in a language other than Greek, the language is given in [brackets and italics]. Other notes are also given in [brackets and italics]. Important events are given in [brackets and italics] for historical reference.
	Latin title:	Though Athanasius wrote in Greek, we provide Latin titles because they are used more commonly than Greek titles in English literature. Possible abbreviations around found in parentheses, all of which were taken from the books above or other works such as Nicaea and Its Legacy.
	CPG:	Reference number in Clavis Patrum Graecorum
	shading:	Because Athanasius spent so much of his episcopacy in exile, the five exiles have been marked with a shaded background.

note – Against the Pagans and On the Incarnation are difficult to date. They contain no references to the Arian controversy, which seems to indicate they were written before the Arian controversy began. But that would mean Athanasius was very young, perhaps even 18, when he wrote them. But if we assume he wrote them when he was older, it is difficult to understand why he does not refer to the Arian controversy, especially since these treatises deal with subjects under discussion in the controversy. Barnes hypothesizes that Athanasius wrote these two books shortly after the Council of Nicea, when it briefly seemed that the controversy was resolved. According to this view, Athanasius used this opportunity to show his theological skill as he anticipated that he would succeed Alexander as bishop of Alexandria. He did not refer to the controversy because Arius was in exile and refuting him would have been superfluous. This chart has followed Barnes’s hypothesis. Others have placed the date before the Council of Nicea (318-324) or during the first exile (335-337).

Bibliography

T.D. Barnes, Athanasius and Constantius: Theology and Politics in the Constantinian Empire (Cambridge, Mass: Harvard University Press, 1993)

D. Brakke, Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism , (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995).

D. Brakke, “The Authenticity of the Ascetic Athanasius,” Orientalia 63 (1994), pp. 17-56

H.R. Drobner, The Fathers of the Church: A Comprehensive Introduction , S.S. Schatzmann, trans., W. Harmless and H.R. Drobner, revisions (Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson Publishers, 2007).

D.M. Gwynn, The Eusebians: The Polemic of Athanasius of Alexandria and the Construction of the ‘Arian Controversy’ (Oxford University Press, 2007).

Kannengiesser, C. “Athanasius.” In Encyclopedia of Early Christianity. Edited by Everett Ferguson. New York: Garland Publishing, Inc. 1990, p. 110-112.

C. Moreschini and E. Norelli, Early Christian Greek and Latin Literature: A Literary History, trans. M.O’Connell, vol. 2 (Peabody, Mass: Hendrickson, 2005).

A. Robertson, Select Writings and Letters of Athanasius, Bishops of Alexandria, Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 4 (New York: Christian Literature Publishing Company, 1892)

Stead, G.C. “Athanasius.” In Encyclopedia of the Early Church . Edited by Angelo Di Berardino. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992, p. 93-95.

Created by AJW, revised by JJW

Updated on 9/13/13

Related pages:

Contents of Athanasius Werke

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