I was pleased to find On the Incarnation remarkably fresh and engaging, still fierce and still passionate too. Such is rarely the case with works of theology, particularly when orthodoxy has robbed them even of the novelty of heresy, for dry-as-dust disquisitions on settled questions often summon our slumber, not our thoughts. But this work is an exception, for the intellect, honesty, and force of personality of St. Athanasius of Alexandria still blaze like a beacon after more than seventeen hundred years.

Athanasius was the champion of orthodoxy when orthodoxy was losing, imperiled by the rapid growth of the Arian heresy. This heterodox idea, that the Son is somehow a lesser being than the Father, not only spread through the East and converted the barbarians of the West, but also—even more dangerously—appealed to the educated and powerful people of the age. In the course of his life of eighty years, Athanasius, a fierce trinitarian, opposed four emperors and many prominent churchmen, and—as the result of his theological squabbles--was exiled from his bishopric of Alexandria a total of five times. Thus he earned the name—which will also be the title of his biopic (if I ever get the chance to film it)—Athanasius Contra Mundum (Athanasius Against the World).

Arianism receives no mention in On the Incarnation, but the passionate Trinitarianism that kept Athanasius fighting all his life is everywhere in evidence. His principal concern is to show that the Godhead, in all of its fullness and dynamism, is present in every particle of creation, and—most important of all—in the person of Jesus Christ Who is The Word. He begins his account with the creation, making it clear that the Word which redeems us is also the Word which creates us, and that this same Word prepares our redemption by entering thoroughly into every fiber, every recess of our humanity, so that our corrupted flesh may be thoroughly saved from death and that death itself may die. When Athanasius speaks of atonement, though he mentions Christ as ransom, his Christ is even closer to the Christus Victor—the champion who tricks Satan by His unmerited death and thus wins from His confounded adversary the freedom of our souls—a fitting Christ for a wily old warrior like himself.

I have to admit I found the final three chapters (proof texts and apologetics directed to the Jews and the Greeks) rather less than inspiring, but the first five—about fifty pages—are compelling enough to read in one sitting. This is, after all, a great story, the story of God Incarnate and His fight for our salvation. And Athanasius, the accomplished fighter, tells the story well.

I'll let Athanasius have the last word:

As when a great king has entered some great city and dwelt in one of the houses in it, such a city is then greatly honoured, and no longer does any enemy or bandit come against it, but it is rather treated with regard because of the king who has taken up residence in one of its houses; so also is the case with the King of all. For since he has come to our realm and has dwelt in a body similar to ours, now every machination of the enemy against men has ceased and the corruption of death, which formerly had power over them, has been destroyed.