​Even those casually acquainted with church history should know the name of the 4thcentury theologian, Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria.   The fact is we owe him quite a lot.  Without the influence of Athanasius we would not have the Nicene Creed nor the Athanasian Creed.  Truth be told, without Athanasius, Trinitarian Christianity, at a human level at least, may have not survived the tumultuous 4thcentury.  In that century the great Arian Heresy reared its ugly head and led many astray into Christ-denying lies.  Against these lies stood one man – Athanasius. 
 
In today’s post we will take a quick look at Athanasius’s background and influence before looking at one of his many adventures – namely, a sensational court case in which his Arian opponents accused and ultimately convicted him of committing murder and dabbling in black the black arts.

The name Athanasius literally means “immortal”  and is a fitting name for a man whose theological impact has stood the test of time. 
 
Listen to how C.S. Lewis describes him:
 

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            “His epitaph is Athanasius contra mundum, ‘Athanasius against the world.’  ...he stood for the Trinitarian doctrine, ‘whole and undefiled,’ when it looked as if all the civilized world was slipping back from Christianity into the religion of Arius– into one of those ‘sensible synthetic religions which are so strongly recommended today and which, then as now, included among their devotees many highly cultivated clergymen.  It is Athanasius’s glory that he did not move with the times; it is his reward that he now remains…. when those times, as all times do, have moved away.”
 

​Athanasius was born in Alexandria, Egypt sometime between 296-98.  Though we know next to nothing about his childhood or his his family background, history has left us this one fact about his appearance – he very short.  
            
Yep....  that’s it... what a way for a giant of a theologian to be remembered!
 
​Besides this we have the fawning descriptions of him given by his admirers long after his death.  They claimed that that Athanasius had “the face of an angel” while his contemporary theological enemies nicknamed him “the black dwarf” because they saw him as short, dark, and ugly and called him “the black dwarf.”
 
These enemies would be the bane of Athanasius’s life resulting in 5 separate exiles.   More than this Athanasius would find himself constantly having to respond to various smear campaigns they launched against him. The results of one such campaign and the court case that it spawned is described below.

​Sometime during the Autumn of Athanasius’s life a number of Arian leaders began circulating a very dark (not to mention, very false) rumor.  Their claim was that Athanasius was not the saintly bishop he seemed to be. According to them Athanasius, in a fit of satanic-inspired rage, tracked down an Arian bishop named Arsenius, and ritually murdered him before dismembering the corpse and keeping one of the severed hands for use in black magic rituals. 

​In support of this claim Athanasius’s enemies even produced a severed human hand, parading it around the streets of Alexandria.  According to them it was the hand of the late Bishop Arsenius which some brave men had managed to steal from Athanasius.  
 
Then as now, the news-consuming public gobbled up these sensationalistic reports until eventually there was massive public outcry for an investigation.  Seizing the opportunity, the Arians called a fraudulent church-council and summoned Athanasius to defend himself.  Athanasius, armed with a secret trump card, obeyed their summons and appeared before the council.   
            
As the trial began the Arians repeated their lies against Athanasius, even producing a number of false witnesses who testified against him.  These incredible accusations reached their crescendo as, much to the revolution of the council, the Arian’s produced the severed hand of Arsenius as their final piece of “evidence” against Athanasius.  
 
The case seemed airtight. Athanasius looked done for.  The Arians tasted blood in the water and like hungry sharks and like wolves on the prowl they licked their chops in anticipation of their victory.
 
But it was then, much to the surprise of nearly everyone, that Athanasius played his trump card.
 
It seems that prior to the trial, Athanasius, fully aware of the seriousness of the charges against him had set out to do the only thing he could do to clear his name.  Athanasius had set out to find the body of Arsenius, and find it he did.  And far from the body being dead and dismembered, Athanasius found Arsenius’s body very much whole...  and very much alive!  Just as Athanasius has suspected, the Arian bishop Arsenius wasn’t dead at all but was hiding out in a cave as an active participant in the conspiracy against Athanasius. 
 
Without his opponents realizing what he had discovered Athanasius now began a theatrical display of his own before the council.  With the help of some friends Athanasius actually managed to introduce Arsenius, heavily veiled, into evidence.
 
His face hidden and his hands concealed under unusually long sleeves, Arsenius was led before the council.  Those present at the council watched as Athanasius quietly proceeded to roll up the sleeves of the cloak one by one, exposing first one hand and then the other.  Then in a manner reminiscent of a Scooby Doo episode, Athanasius pulled back the hood of the cloak revealing the face of Arsenius.  
 
As the assembly gasped in surprise Athanasius dramatically turned to his accusers and asked them to explain how it was that Arsenius was not only alive but was also in possession of both his hands.   
 
While we might think that introducing this evidence should have silenced Athanasius’s accusers once and for all it didn’t.  This is history.  And history does not, often times, have the neat and tidy endings of Matlock episodes. Despite the powerful evidence in his favor – namely a living, breathing, two-handed Arsenius – the council, packed full of Arians, were furious and declared Athanasius guilty.
 
In the confusion and outrage that immediately followed Athanasius somehow managed to escape, fleeing to Constantinople to appeal his case before the emperor.
 
So ends one of the many adventures of Athanasius.
 

Making wild and hidebound accusations might put a person in the limelight for a time but, as Shakespeare put it "at the length truth will out."  And this means that if you make crazy-false claims you'll eventually be shown for the yardbird that you are.

One of the unbelieving world's greatest hobbies down through the years has been to hurl ridiculously absurd charges at the Lord Jesus and His followers.  Sometimes these charges are even believed by the more gullible members of Christ's Body, who respond with handwringing displays of sackcloth and ashes, never pausing for a moment to realize that the accusations aren't actually true.  One thinks for example of the ongoing (and I might add, disgraceful) bustle of activity taking place within conservative Presbyterianism over the following claim of Cultural Marxist's provocateurs –  "Presbyterianism has historically been far too white and must, therefore, repent.”  
 
How silly!    

To begin with – what does “too white” even mean from a biblical perspective?  I think I know what it means to those who hold ‘congregational diversity by coercion’ to be of sacramental importance... But I cannot see how traditional cultural expressions (be they European or otherwise) are inherently sinful...  Nor do I believe them to be hindrances to the gospel.  Surely culture has been the vehicle through which God has used the gospel to reach entire people groups – red, yellow, black, and white. Therefore I see no reason why a distinctly European tradition like Presbyterianism should repent of its historical success among those who are primarily of European ancestry...  but I digress.     
 
The point is, wild accusations of one form or another have always been made against the church and they will continue until the Lord returns for His bride.

So...  how should the church respond to the accusations of her opponents?

Well, capitulating won't work.  Nor will groveling before our slanderers in an attempt to appease them.  Nor will admitting guilt where there isn’t any. 
 
But here's what might help...  First we should consult 1 Peter 3:15:

"in your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect,"  
(1 Peter 3:15, ESV)

And then...  we should laugh at silly accusations...  Yes.  That's right.  We should laugh.  It would do us some good.  And anyway, often times charges made against the church are just so dumb that we have no other option.  

Also, when we laugh we should remember that we are in good company. The church from the very beginning has been forced to laugh off countless silly accusations made against it.  

Here are a number of examples that the early church had to put up with:

In the early 19th century a new invention, the gas light, began popping up alongside public streets quicker than Sherlock Holmes could say, "Watson, the game's afoot!"

 In those days one didn't have to be too bright to be all for the newfangled luminescent monomania that was sweeping the land.  For far too long the nighttime had belonged thugs and thieves, murderers, and scalawags - but the gas streetlight promised to change things once and for all...   But that's when the Roman Catholic Church weighed in on the matter and confused everything.

In an impressive display of grandiose buffoonery nearly unrivaled in the history of the papacy,  Pope Gregory XVI (1831-1846) issued a proclamation banning gas lighting in Papal states. 

And what was Pope Gregory's XVI's reason for holding such a dim view of gaslit streets?   His reasoning was twofold:   1)  The Pope felt that since God had clearly established the delineation between night and day it was an act of rebellion to put up lights after sundown.  2)  The Pope also opposed gas lights because he feared that  extra hours of visibility would give men and women extended opportunity to plot against the Roman church and perhaps topple it altogether.  No surprise there - popes have often sought to insure their power by keeping people in the dark.

We all know how Ben Franklin invented the lightning rod in 1749, right?  We also know how Franklin's invention struck the cloudy-headed Christian's of New England.  In a word, the Christians thundered against Franklin's Rod, calling his invention "heretical."  Furthermore, Protestants and Catholics alike refused to bolt Franklin's blasted contraption to their church-house roofs.

We're all familiar with this stuff right?

Here's the problem...  none of it actually happened.

The popular notion that Christians refused to use lightning rods is a myth first put into print by Andrew Dickson White, the author of an obviously unbiased book (wink, wink) entitled, "A History of the Warfare of Science with Theology in Christendom" (1896).  And what evidence did White offer to support his claim of Christianity's  anti-lightning rod bigotry?  White's entire claim was based upon a fragment of a sermon preached by an obscure Massachusetts pastor.  In this sermon the pastor dared to question whether lightning rods were a good idea or not.  And so was born the persistent but baseless myth about Christianity's superstitious rejection of lightning rods...  but the real history is far more ironical.
 
Did you know that the lightning rod was NOT invented in colonial America by Ben Franklin.  It was invented in Bohemia by Prokop Divis, a Christian theologian, pastor and scientist.  

The truth is shocking sometimes isn't it?     

Martin Luther (Nov 10, 1483 - Feb 18, 1546) was a German theologian, an Augustinian monk, and an ecclesiastical reformer whose teachings inspired the Reformation and deeply influenced the doctrines and culture of the Lutheran and Protestant traditions. Luther's call to the Church to return to the teachings of the Bible led to the formation of new traditions within Christianity and to the Counter-Reformation, the Roman Catholic reaction to these movements.
Luther's contributions to Western civilization went beyond the life of the Christian Church. Luther's translations of the Bible helped to develop a standard version of the German language and added several principles to the art of translation. Luther's hymns inspired the development of congregational singing in Christianity. 

Last evening in a group discussion a question arose concerning the Holy Spirit's role in the Old Testament era.  Because of this discussion I thought it might be helpful to post a short portion of  A.W. Pink's book, The Holy Spirit, in which he offers some useful insights on this important (and oft misunderstood) subject. 

Much ignorance prevails today concerning this aspect of our subject. The crudest ideas are now entertained as to the relation between the Third Person of the Godhead and the Old Testament saints. Yet this is scarcely to be wondered at in view of the fearful confusion which obtains respecting their salvation, many supposing that they were saved in an entirely different way from what we are now. Nor need we be surprised at that, for this, in turn, is only another of the evil effects produced by the misguided efforts of those who have been so eager to draw as many contrasts as possible between the present dispensation and those which preceded it, to the disparaging of the earlier members of God’s family. The Old Testament saints had far more in common with the New Testament saints than is generally supposed.

A verse which has been grossly perverted by many of our moderns is John 7:39, "The Holy Spirit was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." It seems passing strange that with the Old Testament in their hands, some men should place the construction which they do upon those words. The words "was not yet given" can no more be understood absolutely than "Enoch was not" (Gen. 5:24); they simply mean that the Spirit had not yet been given in His full administrative authority. He was not yet publicly manifested here on earth. All believers, in every age, had been sanctified and comforted by Him, but the "ministration of the Spirit" (2 Cor. 3:8) was not at that time fully introduced; the outpouring of the Spirit, in the plentitude of His miraculous gifts, had not then taken place.

In Relation to Creation

Let us first consider, though very briefly, the work of the Spirit in connection with the old or material creation. Before the worlds were framed by the Word of God, and things which are seen were made out of things which do not appear (Heb. 11:3), when the whole mass of inanimate matter lay in one undistinguished chaos, "without form and void," we are told that, "the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters" (Gen. 1:2). There are other passages which ascribe the work of creation (in common with the Father and the Son), to His immediate agency. For example, we are told, "by His Spirit He hath garnished the heavens" (Job 26:13). Job was moved to confess, "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life" (33:4). "Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created: and Thou renewest the face of the earth" (Ps. 104:30).

In Relation to Adam

Let us next contemplate the Holy Spirit in relation to Adam. As so much darkness now surrounds this subject, we must enter into it in greater detail. "Three things were required to render man fit unto that life to God for which he was made. First, an ability to discern the mind and wisdom of God with respect unto all the duty and obedience that God requires of him; as also for to know the nature and properties of God, as to believe Him the only proper object of all acts and duties of religious obedience, and an all-sufficient satisfaction and reward in this world, and to eternity. Secondly, a free, uncontrolled, unentangled, disposition to every duty of the law of his creation for living unto God. Thirdly, an ability of mind and will, with a readiness of compliance in his affections, for a regular performance of all duties and abstinence from all sin. These things belonged unto the integrity of his nature, with the uprightness of the state and condition wherein he was made. And all these things were the peculiar effects of the immediate operation of the Holy Spirit.

"Thus Adam may be said to have had the Spirit of God in his innocence. He had Him in these peculiar effects of His power and goodness, and he had Him according to the tenor of that covenant, whereby it was possible that he should utterly lose Him, as accordingly it came to pass. He had Him not by especial inhabitation, for the whole world was then the temple of God. In the Covenant of Grace, founded in the Person and on the mediation of Christ, it is otherwise. On whomsoever the Spirit of God is bestowed for the renovation of the image of God in him, He abides with him forever" (J. Owen, 1680).

The three things mentioned above by that eminent Puritan constituted the principal part of that "image of God" wherein man was created by the Spirit. Proof of this is seen in the fact that at regeneration the Holy Spirit restores those abilities in the souls of God’s elect: "And hath put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge, after the image of Him that created him" (Col. 3:10): that is, the spiritual knowledge which man lost at the Fall is, potentially, restored at the new birth; but it could not be restored or "renewed" if man had never possessed it!

The "knowledge" with which the Holy Spirit endowed Adam was great indeed. Clear exemplification of this is seen in Genesis 2:19. Still, more conclusive evidence is found in Genesis 2:21-23: God put Adam into a deep sleep, took a rib out of his side, formed it into a woman, and then set her before him. On sight of her Adam said, "This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh." He knew who she was and her origin, and forthwith gave her a suitable name; and he could only have known all this by the Spirit of revelation and understanding.

That Adam was, originally, made a partaker of the Holy Spirit is quite evident to the writer from Genesis 2:7, "The Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life." If those words were interpreted in the light of the Analogy of Faith, they can mean nothing less than that the Triune God imparted the Holy Spirit unto the first man. In Ezekiel 37 we have a vivid parabolic picture of the regenerating of spiritual Israel. There we are told, "Prophesy unto the Wind, prophesy, son of man, and say to the Wind, Thus saith the LORD God, Come from the four winds, O Breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I prophesied as He commanded me, and the Breath came unto them, and they lived" (vv. 9, 10). Again, we find the Savior, after His resurrection, "Breathed on them (the Apostles), and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Spirit" (John 20:22): that was the counterpart of Genesis 2:7: the one the original gift, the other the restoration of what was lost.

Rightly has it been said that "The doctrine that man was originally, though mutably, replenished with the Spirit, may be termed the deep fundamental thought of the Scripture doctrine of man. If the first and second Adam are so related that the first man was the analogue or figure of the second, as all admit on the authority of Scripture (Rom. 5:12-14), it is clear that, unless the first man possessed the Spirit, the last man, the Healer or Restorer of the forfeited inheritance, would not have been the medium of giving the Spirit, who was withdrawn on account of sin, and who could be restored only on account of the everlasting righteousness which Christ (Rom. 8:10) brought in" (G. Smeaton, 1880).

In Relation to the Hebrew Nation

Let us next observe the relation of the Holy Spirit unto the Hebrew nation. A very striking and comprehensive statement was made by Nehemiah, when he reviewed the Lord’s dealings with His people of old: "Thou gavest also Thy good Spirit to instruct them" (Neh. 8:20). He was, until quenched, upon the members of the Sanhedrin (Num. 11:16, 17). He came upon the judges (Judges 3:10; 6:34; 11:29; 15:14), upon the kings (1 Sam. 11:6; 16:13), and the Prophets. But note it is a great mistake to say, as many have done, that the Holy Spirit was never in any believer before Pentecost: Numbers 27:18, Nehemiah 9:30, 1 Peter 1:11 clearly prove otherwise. But alas, Israel "rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit" (Isa. 63:10), as Stephen declared, "Ye do always resist the Holy Spirit: as your fathers did, so do ye" (Acts 7:51).

That the Holy Spirit indwelt saints under the Legal economy is clear from many considerations: how otherwise could they have been regenerated, had faith, been enabled to perform works acceptable to God? The Spirit prompted true prayer, inspired spiritual worship, produced His fruit in the lives of believers then (see Zech. 4:6) as much as He does now. We have "the same Spirit of faith" (2 Cor. 4:13) as they had. All the spiritual good which has ever been wrought in and through men must be ascribed unto the Holy Spirit. The Spirit was given to the Old Testament saints prospectively, as pardon of sin was given in view of the satisfaction which Christ was to render unto God.

Life
Augustine was born in 354 in Tagaste, a provincial Roman city in North Africa. He was raised and educated in Carthage. His mother Monica was a devout Christian and his father Patricius a pagan. His father converted to Christianity on his death bed, which came from the persuasion of his wife. As a youth Augustine followed the unpopular Manichaean religion, much to the horror of his mother. In Carthage, he developed a relationship with a young woman who would be his concubine for over a decade and produce a son. His education and early career was in philosophy and rhetoric, the art of persuasion and public speaking. He taught in Tagaste and Carthage, but soon aspired to compete with the best, in Rome. However, Augustine grew disappointed with the Roman schools, which he found apathetic. Manichaean friends introduced him to the prefect of the City of Rome, Symmachus, who had been asked to provide a professor of rhetoric for the imperial court at Milan.

The young provincial won the job and headed north to take up his position in late 384. At age thirty, Augustine had won the most visible academic chair in the Latin world, at a time when such posts gave ready access to political careers. However, he felt the tensions of life at an imperial court, lamenting one day as he rode in his carriage to deliver a grand speech before the emperor, that a drunken beggar he passed on the street had a less careworn existence than he.

Although Monica pressed the claims of Christianity, it is the bishop of Milan, Ambrose, who had most influence over Augustine. Ambrose was a master of rhetoric like Augustine himself, but older and more experienced. Prompted by Ambrose's sermons, Augustine moved away from Manichaeism, but instead of becoming Catholic like Ambrose, he converted to pagan Neoplatonism. Augustine's mother followed him to Milan and he allowed her to arrange a society marriage, for which he abandoned his concubine (however he had to wait two years until his fiance came of age; he promptly took up in the meantime with another woman).

In the summer of 386, in a garden, Augustine underwent a profound personal crisis and decided to convert to Christianity, abandon his career in rhetoric, quit his teaching position in Milan, give up any ideas of marriage (much to the horror of his mother), and devote himself full time to religion, celibacy and the priesthood. Ambrose baptized Augustine on Easter day in 387, and soon thereafter in 388 he returned to Africa. On his way back to Africa his mother died, as did his son soon after, leaving him relatively alone.

In 391 he was ordained a priest in Hippo Regius, (now Annaba, in Algeria). He became a famous preacher (more than 350 preserved sermons are believed to be authentic), and was noted for combating the Manichaean heresy.

In 396 he was made coadjutor bishop of Hippo (assistant with the right of succession on the death of the current bishop), and remained as bishop in Hippo until his death in 430. He left his monastery, but continued to lead a monastic life in the episcopal residence.

Augustine died on August 28, 430, during the siege of Hippo by the Vandals. He is said to have encouraged its citizens to resist the attacks, primarily on the grounds that the Vandals adhered to Arianism, which had been condemned as heretical.

Influence as a theologian and thinker
Augustine remains a central figure, both within Christianity and in the history of Western thought. As he himself was much influenced by Platonism and Neoplatonism, particularly by Plotinus, Augustine was important to the "baptism" of Greek thought and its entrance into the Christian, and subsequently the European intellectual tradition. Also important was his early and influential writing on the human will, a central topic in ethics, and one which became a focus for later philosophers such as Schopenhauer and Nietzsche. It is largely due to Augustine's arguments against the Pelagians, who did not believe in original sin, that Western Christianity has maintained the doctrine of original sin. Augustine also contended that God exists outside of time in the "eternal present" -- time existing only within the created universe.

Augustine's writings helped formulate the theory of the just war. He also advocated the use of force against the Donatists, asking "Why ... should not the Church use force in compelling her lost sons to return, if the lost sons compelled others to their destruction?" (The Correction of the Donatists, 22-24)

Thomas Aquinas took much from Augustine's theology while creating his own unique synthesis of Greek and Christian thought. Two later theologians who claimed special influence from Augustine were John Calvin and Cornelius Jansen. Calvinism developed as a part of Reformation theology, while Jansenism was a movement inside the Roman Catholic Church; some Jansenists went into schism and formed their own church.

John Calvin was an ardent student of Augustine's writings which is abundantly evident in his Institutes and the basic tenets of Calvinism. Augustine taught that man has nothing to do with his own salvation. Man has inherited the totally depraved nature of Adam and Eve after the Fall -- to the point they are spiritually incapable of availing themselves of God's grace. As a result of the depraved Adamic nature being inherited, infants are born in sin and with a sinful nature. Augustine argued that the only way any are saved is by God intervening and choosing some whom he calls his elect to be saved. This choosing is totally independent of those chosen. Those thus chosen cannot ever be lost or fall from grace. Conversely, those not sovereignly chosen before the foundation of the world to everlasting life are irrevocably doomed to hell.

Augustine was canonized by popular recognition and recognized as a Doctor of the Church in 1303 by Pope Boniface VIII. His feast day is August 28, the day on which he is thought to have died. Roman Catholics consider him the patron saint of brewers, printers, theologians, sore eyes, and a number of cities and dioceses.

"De Doctrina Christiana (On Christian Teaching) is the book Augustine wrote to train preachers. He composed three chapters on how to understand the Bible, then after thirty years of regular preaching, added a final chapter on how to communicate what has been understood." Themelios 33.1 (2008): 39. See also On Christian Doctrine at CCEL.

Augustine on the problem of evil
Scholars have carefully investigated Augustine's life due to his contributions to theodicy, the problem of evil. Throughout Augustine's youth, he had been involved in a belief called Manicheanism. This was an ancient religion from Persia that accounted for the world's entire disharmony in terms of an eternal struggle between physical light and darkness or good and evil. After several years as an adherent of the Manichaean religion, Augustine read the writings of Neoplatonists such as Plotinus, which in turn helped him move beyond the materialism of Manichaeism. Then, at the age of 32, Augustine became a Christian.

Augustine now an adamant follower of Christ sought to deal with the problem of evil. The Scriptures taught that his monotheistic God was all good and all-powerful therefore he desired to understand how and why sin and evil existed. Augustine discovered experientially and biblically that his sin problem was more than one of knowledge or wrong thinking. His affections and will also reacted against what God knew, loved, and willed. He realized that he could not, by his own thinking transform the depravity of his own nature, overcome his separation from God, or remove his verdict of guilt before God's justice. The prodigal son realized his total depravity and the need for God's grace for any hope.

Augustine consequently proposed a solution to the problem of evil in the world attributing it to the Fall of humanity after the disobedience in the Garden of Eden. From this view, Man is responsible for evil by being led astray by Satan. Accordingly, this not only absolves God of creating evil but also allows Him to show the world His love by bringing Christ into the world. (Cf. Confessions, 4:24, 5:20, 7:4)

Personal Note:  
G.K. Chesterton has done more to shape my worldview than any other Christian writer.  Had I never stumbled across his books Orthodoxy and The Everlasting Man I never would have learned that the Christian faith is a thing of great depth - a thing for thinking men and women to wrestle with and devote their minds to.  Yes, I believe that the Christian faith is also a thing that even a small child to grasp.  Nevertheless, its seeming simplicity is not an excuse for Christians who would remain simpletons. 

Since Chesterton was a Roman Catholic there was/is much that he and I would disagree on, nevertheless, the way in which he explains the superiority of the Christian worldview over against all other world views is something for Protestants and Catholics alike to ponder and delight in.

Happy Birthday Mr. Chesterton.  I look forward to meeting you in heaven...  we have much to discuss.