On the Incarnation (De Incarnatione Verbi Dei)
This plain, easy to understand book on Jesus' humanity and divinity, written by a passionate young priest from Alexandria heavily influenced by the desert monks and St. Anthony, was a bestseller in its time. It still holds up today.
It was also the first shot in the long fight of "Athanasius against the world" ("Athanasius contra mundum"), because Arius, a popular but over-the-hill priest and songwriter who was also from Alexandria, had his bestsellers, too. He (like the editorial staff of the New York Times) claimed that Jesus was just another man, even if the most spiffy one God ever made.
So Athanasius would spend most of his life in exile, on the run, and on the campaign trail for the concept that Jesus was true God and true man -- and this work is the beginning of it all.
Questions addressed:
- Why did God become man?
- Is it fitting that God should become man?
- Should God not rather have come as a sign in the heavens?
- Why was Christ crucified rather than dying peacefully in bed?
- Why should the Jews believe in Christ?
- Why should the pagan Gentiles believe in Christ?
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