MODERN LITERATURE.
Comp. in part the apologetic literature at § 63 of vol. i. Also SonsfjCKii : vii., p. 263-3155. Neander: iii., 188-195 (Engl. ed. of Torvey, ii., 90- 93). DoLLm«>EK (R. C.) : Hdbuch der K. G., vol. I., part 2, p 50-91. K. '\(7'ekner (R. 0.) : Geschichte der apolog. und polem. Litcratiir der christl. Theol. Schaffh. 1861-'65, 4 vols. vol. i.
In the new state of things the defence of Christianity wag 110 longer of so urgent and direct importance as it had been before the time of Constantine. And the theological activity of the church now addressed itself mainly to internal doctrinal controversy. Still the fourth and iifth centuries produced several important apologetic works, which far outshone the corresponding literature of the heathen.
(1) Under Constantine we have Lactantiijs in Latin, ErsE- Bros and Athanasius in Greek, representing, together with Theodoret, who was a century later, the close of the older apology.
Lactantius prefaces his vindication of Christian truth with a refutation of the heathen superstition and philosophy; and he is more happy in the latter than in the former. lie claims freedom for all religions, and represents the transition standpoint of the Constantinian edicts of toleration,
EtJSKBius, the celebrated historian, collected with diligence and learning in several apologetic works, above all in his '' Evangelic Preparation," the usual arguments against heathenism, and in his "Evangelic Demonstration" the positive evidences of Christianity, laying chief stress upon the prophecies.
With less scliolarship, but with far greater speculative com pass and acumen, the great Athanasius, in his youthful productions " against the Greeks," and " on the incarnation of tlio Logos" (before 325), gave in main outline the argument for the divine origin, the truth, the reasonableness, and the perfection of the Christian religion. These two treatises, particularly the second, are, next to Origen's d(ictrinal work Dt
§ 11. CHKISTIAN APOLOGISTS AND POLEMICS. 83
jn'iTicipiis^ the first attempt to construct a scientific system of the Christian religion upon certain fundamental iileas of God and world, sin and redemption ; and tliey form the ripe fruit of the positive apology in the Greek church. The Logos, Athanasius teaclies, is the image of the living, only true God. Man is the image of the Logos. In communion with him consist the original holiness and blessedness of paradise. Man fell by his own will, and thus came to need redemption. Evil is not a substance of itself, not matter, as the Greeks suppose, nor does it come from the Creator of all things. It is an abuse of freedom on the part of man, and consists in selfishness or self-love, and in the dominion of the sensuous principle over the reason. Sin, as apostasy from God, begets idolatry. Once alienated from God and plunged into finitenesa and sensuousness, men deified the powers of nature, or mortal men, or even carnal lusts, as in Aphrodite. The inevitable consequence of sin is death and corruption. The Logos, however, did not forsake men. He gave them the law and the prophets to prepare them for salvation. At last he himself became man, neutralized in human nature the power of sin and death, restored the divine image, uniting us with God and imparting to us his imperishable life. The possibility and legitimacy of the incarnation lie in the original relation of the Logos to the world, which was created and is upheld by him. The incarnation, however, does not suspend the universal reign of the Logos. While he was in man, he was at the same time everywhere active and reposing in the bosom of the Father. The necessity of the incarnation to salvation follows from the fact, that the corruption had entered into human nature itself, and thus must be overcome within that nature. An external redemption, as by preaching God, could profit nothing. " For this reason the Saviour assumed humanity, that man, united with life, might not remain mortal and in death, but imbibing immortality might by the resurrection be immortal. The outward preaching of redemption would have to be continually r» pcated, and yet death would abide in man." ' The object of the incarnation is, negatively, the annihilation of sin and death ;
■ De incarn. c. 44 (Opera, ed. Bened. i. p 86).