Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PART ONE The Beginnings: The New Testament to Irenaeus
- PART TWO THE THIRD CENTURY
- PART THREE FOUNDATION OF A NEW CULTURE: FROM DIOCLETIAN TO CYRIL
- A LITERARY GUIDE
- 21 Classical genres in Christian guise; Christian genres in classical guise
- 22 Arnobius and Lactantius
- 23 Eusebius and the birth of church history
- 24 The fourth-century Alexandrians: Athanasius and Didymus
- 25 Palestine: Cyril of Jerusalem and Epiphanius
- 26 The Cappadocians
- 27 Fourth-century Latin writers: Hilary, Victorinus, Ambrosiaster, Ambrose
- 28 Jerome and Rufinus
- 29 Augustine
- 30 John Chrysostom and the Antiochene School to Theodoret of Cyrrhus
- 31 Cyril of Alexandria
- 32 Hagiography
- 33 Ephrem and the Syriac Tradition
- 34 The literature of the monastic movement
- 35 Women and words: texts by and about women
- 36 Conciliar records and canons
- B CONTEXT AND INTERPRETATION
- Bibliographies
- Index
- Map: The Roman Empire in the late fourth century AD"
- References
24 - The fourth-century Alexandrians: Athanasius and Didymus
from A - LITERARY GUIDE
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 March 2008
Book contents
- Frontmatter
- PART ONE The Beginnings: The New Testament to Irenaeus
- PART TWO THE THIRD CENTURY
- PART THREE FOUNDATION OF A NEW CULTURE: FROM DIOCLETIAN TO CYRIL
- A LITERARY GUIDE
- 21 Classical genres in Christian guise; Christian genres in classical guise
- 22 Arnobius and Lactantius
- 23 Eusebius and the birth of church history
- 24 The fourth-century Alexandrians: Athanasius and Didymus
- 25 Palestine: Cyril of Jerusalem and Epiphanius
- 26 The Cappadocians
- 27 Fourth-century Latin writers: Hilary, Victorinus, Ambrosiaster, Ambrose
- 28 Jerome and Rufinus
- 29 Augustine
- 30 John Chrysostom and the Antiochene School to Theodoret of Cyrrhus
- 31 Cyril of Alexandria
- 32 Hagiography
- 33 Ephrem and the Syriac Tradition
- 34 The literature of the monastic movement
- 35 Women and words: texts by and about women
- 36 Conciliar records and canons
- B CONTEXT AND INTERPRETATION
- Bibliographies
- Index
- Map: The Roman Empire in the late fourth century AD"
- References
Summary
Fourth-century Alexandrian theology is more or less summed up in the writings of two theological giants, Athanasius, pope of Alexandria from 328 until his death in 373 (not counting various periods of deposition and exile), and Didymus the Blind, a scholar of enormous renown in his own day, who was appointed head of the Catechetical School in Alexandria by Athanasius, a position he held until his death. The contrast that will be revealed between their theological methods and teaching suggests that, although Didymus taught with the approval and support of Athanasius, it is hazardous to speak too confidently of an ‘Alexandrian school of theology’.
Athanasius
Since Athanasius’ election as bishop of Alexandria in 328 was challenged on canonical grounds, it is likely that he had then barely attained the canonical age of thirty, which would mean that he was born at the very end of the third century. We know nothing about his upbringing and education, though from his writings it would seem a fair deduction that he acquired a good knowledge of Greek, without having had a formal education. His knowledge of classical philosophy and rhetoric is far from non-existent: he has a genuine admiration for Plato, whom he calls ‘great among the Greeks’, and shows skill in rhetorical methods of argument, but his style (of writing, as well as thinking) has a simple home-spun quality. He must soon have attracted the attention of the pope of Alexandria, or his circle, for already in his twenties he became one of his deacons, and attended the Council of Nicaea with Alexander (325).
Keywords
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- The Cambridge History of Early Christian Literature , pp. 275 - 282Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2004
References
Athanasius. The Coherence of His Thought (London: Routledge, 1998).
The Early Episcopal Career of Athanasius of Alexandria (Notre Dame: University of Notre Dame Press, 1991).
and , eds, Christian Origins. Theology, Rhetoric and Community (London: Routledge, 1998).
Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2004).
Egypt in Late Antiquity (Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1993).
Didyme l’Aveugle (Paris: Beauchesne, 1910).
and , eds, Arianism after Arius. Essays on the Development of the Fourth-Century Trinitarian Controversies (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1993).
, ‘Angel of Light or Mystic Initiate? The Problem of the Life of Antony’, Journal of Theological Studies n.s.
37 (1986).Google Scholar
New Empire of Diocletian and Constantine (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1982).
Athanasius and Constantius (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1993).
‘Allegoria’ und ‘Anagoge’ bei Didymus dem Blinden, Patristische Texte und Studien
13 (1972).
Julian the Apostate (London: Duckworth, 1978).
Hellenism in Late Antiquity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
, ‘The Greek and Syriac Versions of the Life of Antony’, Muséeon
107 (1994).
Athanasius and the Politics of Asceticism (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1995).
Studien zur Geschichte der Homöer. Der Osten bis zum Ende der homöischen Reichskirche (Tübingen: Mohr, 1988).
‘The Patrons of Pelagius: The Roman Aristocracy between East and West’, Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 21 (1970) (reprinted in ).Google Scholar
Religion and Society in the Age of Saint Augustine (London: Faber, 1972).
Society and the Holy in Late Antiquity (London: Faber, 1982).
Power and Persuasion in Late Antiquity. Towards a Christian Empire (Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press, 1992).
Authority and the Sacred (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1995).
The Rise of Western Christendom. Triumph and Diversity, AD 200–1000, The Making of Europe (Oxford: Blackwell, 1996).Google Scholar
The Making of a Heretic: Gender Authority and the Priscillianist Controversy (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1995).
Begotten, Not Made: Conceiving Manhood in Late Antiquity (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2000).
and , eds, The Cambridge Ancient History, XIII: The Late Empire, A.D. 337–425 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998).Google Scholar
Le Lettere festali di Atanasio di Alessandria: Studio storico-critico (Rome: C.I.M., 1989).
‘Apatheia and Sexuality in the Thought of Augustine and Cassian’, St Vladimir’s Theological Quarterly
45 (2001).Google Scholar
Geschichte des Papsttums, II (Tübingen: Mohr, 1933).
Christianity and Classical Culture (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1957).
Paulinus Noster. Self and Symbols in the Letters of Paulinus of Nola, Oxford Early Christian Texts (2000).
‘Nature and the “Mode of Union”: Late Patristic Models for the Personal Unity of Christ’, in et al., eds, The Incarnation: An Interdisciplinary Symposium on the Incarnation of the Son of God (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2002).Google Scholar
‘Eunome l’arien et l’exégèse néo-platonicienne du «Cratyle»’, Revue des etudes grecques
69 (1956).Google Scholar
Didymus von Alexandrien als Verfasser der Schrift über die Seraphenvision (Freiburg i. B.: Blümer, 1946).
and , eds, Fifth-Century Gaul: a Crisis of Identity? (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1992).
ed. and trans., Neoplatonic Saints. The Lives of Plotinus and Proclus by their Students, Translated Texts for Historians
35 (2000).
Messalianismus und Antimessalianismus. Ein Beispiel ostkirchliche Ketzergeschichte (Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1998).
The Donatist Church (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1952).
Der Ausgang des griechisch-römischen Heidentums (Heidelberg: C. Winter, 1929).
Gnade als konkrete Freiheit. Eine Untersuchung zur Gnadenlehre des Pelagius (Mainz: Matthias-Grunwald-Verlag, 1972).
‘Le dossier des origines du messalianisme’, in and , eds, Epectasis. Mélanges patristiques offerts au Cardinal Jean Daniélou, (Paris: Beauchesne, 1972).Google Scholar
and , eds, Das Konzil von Chalkedon, 3 vols (Würzburg: EchterVerlag, 1951–4).
ed., Scolies ariennes sur le Concile d’Aquilée, Sources chrétiennes
267 (1980).
The Search for the Christian Doctrine of God. The Arian Controversy 318–381 (Edinburgh: T & T Clark, 1988).
The Spirit of God. The Exegesis of 1 & 2 Corinthians in the Pneumatomachian Controversy of the Fourth Century (Leiden: Brill, 1994).
Die Bibelepik der lateinischen Spätantike. Formgeschichte einer erbaulichen Gattung, Bd. 1 (Munich: Wilhelm Fink Verlag, 1975).
Communities of the Blessed. Social Environment and Change in Northern Italy, AD 200–400, Oxford Early Christian Studies (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1999).
‘Resistance to the Virginal Ideal in Late Fourth-Century Rome: The Case of Jovinian’, Theological Studies
48 (1987).Google Scholar
The Later Roman Empire, 284–602, 3 vols + maps (Oxford: Blackwell, 1964).
, Athanase d’Alexandrie, Évêque et Écrivain. Une lecture des traités
Contre les Ariens, Théologie Historique
70 (Paris: Beauchesne, 1983).Google Scholar
, ed., Politique et Théologie chez Athanase d’Alexandrie, Théologie Historique
27 (Paris: Beauchesne, 1974).
Constantius II. und die christliche Kirche (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1977).
A History of Neo-Arianism, Patristic Monographs Series
8 (Philadelphia: Philadelphia Patristic Foundation, 1979).Google Scholar
Kirche der Traditoren oder kirche der Martyrer?: die vorgeschichte des Donatismus (Innsbruck: Tyrolia, 1986).
Authority and Asceticism from Augustine to Gregory the Great (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000).
‘The “Arian” Controversy: Some Categories Reconsidered’, Theological Studies
48 (1987).Google Scholar
Contra Marcellum: Marcellus of Ancyra and Fourth-Century Theology (Washington, DC: Catholic University of America, 1999).
‘Ousia and Hypostasis: The Cappadocian Settlement and the Theology of “One Hypostasis”’, in , and , eds, The Trinity (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999).Google Scholar
‘Marcellus of Ancyra and the Councils of 325: Antioch, Ancyra, and Nicaea’, Journal of Theological Studies n.s. 43 (1992).Google Scholar
‘Marcellus of Ancyra, Defender of the Faith against Heretics — and Pagans’, Studia Patristica
37 (2001).Google Scholar
Apollinarius von Laodicea (Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1969).
Christianity and Paganism in the Fourth to Eighth Centuries (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1997).
‘Christianity and Dissent in Roman Africa: changing perspectives in recent work’, Studies in Church History
9 (1972).Google Scholar
Christianity in the Roman world (London: Thames and Hudson, 1974).
From Augustine to Gregory the Great (London: Variorum Reprints, 1983).
The End of Ancient Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1990).
‘Donatus, Donatism’, in , ed., Augustine through the Ages: An Encyclopedia (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 1999).Google Scholar
Saint Augustin et la fin de la culture antique (Paris: E de Boccard, 1938; with Retractatio, 1946).Google Scholar
Athanase d’Alexandrie et l’église d’Égypte au IVe siècle (328–373) (Rome: École française de Rome, 1996).
Rome and the African Church in the Time of Augustine (New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1997).
ed., The Conflict between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963).
and , ‘Pelage et Pelagianisme’, Dictionnaire de spiritualité ascétique et mystique, histoire et doctrine
XII. 2 (1987).Google Scholar
‘Impassible Suffering? Divine Passion and Fifth-Century Christology’, Theological Studies
58 (1997).Google Scholar
Athanasius and the Human Body (Bristol: The Bristol Press, 1990).
Athanasius (London: Geoffrey Chapman, 1995).
Didimo il Cieco e l’interpretazione dei Salmi (Rome: L’Aquila, 1988).
and , eds, L’Évêque dans la cité du IVe au Ve siècle, (Rome: École française de Rome, 1998).
Pelagius: a Reluctant Heretic (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1988).
The Letters of Pelagius and His Followers (Woodbridge: The Boydell Press, 1991).
Das Konzil von Konstantinopel und sein Symbol. Studien zur Geschichte und Theologie des 2. Ökumenischen Konzils (Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1965).
Le Christ et l’homme dans la théologie d’Athanase d’Alexandrie (Leiden: Brill, 1968).
Ascetics, Authority and the Church (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1978).
El ‘Comentario al Eclesiastés’ de Dídimo Alejandrino (Rome: Augustinianum, 1990).
, On Roman Time. The Codex-Calender of 354 and the Rhythms of Urban Life in Late Antiquity, Transformation of the Classical Heritage
17 (Berkeley/Los Angeles/Oxford: University of California Press, 1990).
Two Ancient Christologies (London and New York: SPCK, 1940).
The Council of Chalcedon (London: SPCK, 1953).
, Das Konzilsidee der alten Kirche, Konziliengeschichte, Reihe B: Untersuchungen1 (Paderborn and Zurich: Ferdinand Schöningh, 1979).
La Crisi ariana nel IV secolo, Studia Ephemeridis «Augustinianum»
11 (Rome: Institutum Patristicum «Augustinianum», 1975).
‘Working the Earth of the Heart’: The Messalian Controversy in History, Texts and Language to AD 431 (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1991).
‘Ein enzyklisches Schreiben der Synode von Alexandrien (362)’, Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft
79 (1988).Google Scholar
Didymel’ Aveugle et l’exégèse allégorique, son commentaire sur Zacharie (Nijmegen: Dekker & van de Vegt, 1977).
Hellenic Religion and Christianization c.370–529, 2 vols (Leiden: Brill, 1993, 1995).
Eunomius of Cyzicus and the Nicene Revolution, Oxford Early Christian Studies (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 2000).
Asterius von Kappadokien: Die Theologische Fragmente. Einleitung, Kritischer Text, Ubersetzung und Kommentar (Leiden: Brill, 1993).
‘The Syntagmation of Aetius the Anomean’, Journal of Theological Studies n.s.19 (1968).Google Scholar
‘Pelagianism in the East’, in , ed., The Making of Orthodoxy (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).Google Scholar
Arius. Heresy and Tradition (London: Darton Longman and Todd, 1987; 2nd edn, revised with appendix, London: SCM, 2001).
‘The God of the Greeks and the Nature of Religious Language’, in and , eds, Early Christian Literature and the Greek Intellectual Tradition: Festschrift for R. M. Grant, Théologie Historique
53 (Paris: Beauchesne, 1980).Google Scholar
From Nicaea to Chalcedon (London: SCM, 1983).
‘The Rhetorical Schools and Their Influence on Patristic Exegesis’, in , ed., The Making of Orthodoxy. Essays in honour of Henry Chadwick (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989).Google Scholar
‘Exegetical Method and Scriptural Proof: the Bible in Doctrinal Debate’, Studia Patristica
24 (1989).Google Scholar
‘Paideia and the Myth of Static Dogma’, in and , eds, The Making and Remaking of Christian Doctrine: Essays in Honour of Maurice Wiles (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1993).Google Scholar
- 1
- Cited by