Friday, August 5, 2011

A Voice from the Past - Athanasius

As for the wisdom of the Greeks and the grandiloquence of the philosophers, I think that no one has need of any argument from us, as the miracle is before everyone's eyes that whereas these wise men among the Greeks have written so much, yet have been unable to persuade even a few from near-by places about immortality and lives of virtue, Christ alone by means of simple words and through men unskilled in speaking has persuaded crowded congregations of men throughout the whole world to despise death and think of things immortal, to turn away from things temporal and consider things eternal, to take no thought of earthly glory but only to seek immortality.

Athanasius, 295-373 AD, Concerning the Incarnation of the Son of God (De Incarnatione) 47:22-32  (translated by Robert W. Thomson, Oxford at the Clarendon Press, 1971, pp. 253, 255)

What do you think of this statement? Does it make sense? Does it still apply today?

1 comment:

  1. I do think that it is very apropos for these times. Loved this:

    "to turn away from things temporal and consider things eternal"

    Kansas Bob
    Fighting Captcha since 2005

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