C. S. Lewis had it right in his introduction to this spiritual classic dating from the 4th century. He pointed out how our fear causes us to shy away from reading these classics directly and instead we read commentaries on them and what other people "think" they mean. According to Lewis, "It has always therefore been one of my main endeavours as a teacher to persuade the young that firsthand knowledge is not only more worth acquiring than secondhand knowledge, but is usually much easier and more delightful to acquire." I have found much joy in starting to read these classics myself. The truth is there and is to the point. The ancient writers didn't include a lot of fluff so these aren't as hard to get through as one would think.

This book covers the Fall, the purpose of Christ becoming man, His death and resurrection, and how the knowledge of the truth can show the errors of thought amongst Jews and Gentiles of the time (and still today). Towards the end, he is speaking of the decline of Greek god worship and why that was. I know it wasn't as simple as Athanasius made it seem to be, but his point of it being because many who had followed false deities now saw the truth of the Savior made sense. "In a word, when did the wisdom of the Greeks become foolish, save when the true Wisdom of God revealed Himself on earth?" I had never thought about the decline in Greek god worship, but that has piqued by interest in studying that more.