Folia Theologica et Canonica 1. 23/15 (2012)
SACRA THEOLOGIA - László Perendy, Athenagoras on the Triune God of Christians
ATHENAGORAS ON THE TRIUNE GOD OF CHRISTIANS... 89 goras uses Hellenistic ideas to express Christian faith about the monarchy of God. In Platonic terms, his God is Being, not Becoming, i.e. Non-Being. As Abraham J. Malherbe summarizes the relationship and contrast between God and matter: God is unbegotten and invisible, while matter is subject to generation and corruption. Already Aimé Puech95 noted how Athenagoras defines the relationship of the world to its creator. The order of the universe points to an Infinite Being, who does not come to be, but is. God’s knowledge extends to every single created being and he positively preserves them, otherwise they would cease to exist. But he does something more: he exercises creative providence over all. Man has a pre-eminent place in creation, as Leo Scheffczyk observes: God created man in order to allow him to take part in his own goodness. As to questions of Trinitology, already G. Bareille held Athenagoras in high esteem, even if he was not aware of the fact that Athenagoras was a connoisseur of Middle Platonism. He says that he makes the first attempt to present the Holy Trinity in a “scientific” way. I think his attempts are based on his conviction that God was revealed to the Christians as Trinity. But we must add that only the Logos is in the focus of his thought, and not the Spirit. As to the origin of the Logos, Leslie W. Barnard calls our attention to the fact that his Logos needs not to be originated, he proceeds from the Father. He is the npcûTov yéwrpa of creation, the framer of matter. Almost without exception, the authors whose works we have looked over emphasize that the Logos did have a crucial role in Athenagoras’ system. Joseph H. Crehan notes that Athenagoras affirms the eternal existence of the Logos, but he also acknowledges that the Logos achieved a special kind of relationship to matter at the moment of creation. As Abraham J. Malherbe’s puts it, the Logos is the agent of creation, and the energizing power over the elements of matter. The apologist implicitly says that the Logos organized matter into some kind of order. His role did not come to an end after the creation of the world, he upholds the universe and is God’s governor in the cosmos. IV. Philosopher and Theologian The topicality of the research on the work of Athenagoras is shown, for example, by the fact that a new monograph on this significant apologist of Christianity was published only a few years ago.96 To my mind David Rankin’s detailed analysis finally treats this great second century Christian thinker from a proper perspective. Now I give only his main findings about Athenagoras’ concept 95 Puech, A., Les apologistes grecs du II' siècle de notre ère, Paris 1912. 185. 96 Rankin, D., Athenagoras. Philosopher and theologian, Farnham-Burlington 2009.
