Channels, Fall 2016

Channels • 2016 • Volume 1 • Number 1 Page 9 the apology as a letter to the authorities demonstrating that Christians are not atheists, proclaiming the Christian understanding of God, and denying charges of pervasive morally corrupt behavior among Christians. Athenagoras’ philosophical background is likely that of middle Platonism, but his primary authority is clearly the Christian faith as presented in both the Scriptures and the apostolic kerygma. He states that Christian dogma is superior to the hypotheses of the philosophers because the philosophers had to rely upon their efforts and therefore “were able to gain no more than a peripheral understanding.” 51 In contrast, Christian dogma relies upon the prophets, who “have spoken out by a divinely inspired Spirit about God and the things of God.” 52 Rankin thus reasonably concludes, “Where there is conflict . . . his loyalties are clear. He is a Christian Platonist, not a Platonizing Christian.” 53 Athenagoras ascribes impassibility to God more often than Justin, and he gives us even greater insight into the meaning and context of divine impassibility in early Greek patristic thought. He attributes impassibility to God in two contexts. First, he asserts God’s impassibility in his general description of the Christian conception of God. This description was a part of his reply to the charge of atheism. Second, he asserts the impassibility of God even more forcefully in contrast with the anthropomorphic Homeric gods. Athenagoras begins his Legatio by stating his view of the basic Christian understanding of God, describing Christians as those “who distinguish God from matter and show that matter is one thing and God another and the difference between them immense; for the divine is uncreated and eternal and can be contemplated only by thought and reason, whereas matter is created and perishable.” 54 Athenagoras posits an important distinction between the imperishable creator God and the perishable created matter. Thus, Athenagoras sets the context by asserting the transcendence of Christianity’s great creator God and the reliability of his self-revelation. God as creator will play an important role in Athenagoras’ understanding of impassibility. This tendency to associate impassibility with the incorruptible creator is a common theme in the apologists’ works and something that is important to understanding Athenagoras’ thought. 55 Athenagoras first directly mentions impassibility in an argument for God’s unity and non- composite nature. He states, “If it is suggested that God is one, as in the case of one body a hand and eye and foot are complementary parts forming one being, we reply: Soctrates, since he is created and perishable, is indeed composite and divisible into parts; but God is uncreated, impassible, and indivisible; he does not consist of parts.” 56 51 Athenagoras, Legatio, 7.2. 52 Ibid 7.3. 53 Rankin, Athenagoras, 167. Athenagoras forces us to reject a full-fledged dichotomy between faithful theologian and philosophizing theologian. He is clearly influenced to some extent by Hellenistic philosophy, but he is willing to hold to the message of Christianity in the face of philosophical opposition. This is most markedly demonstrated by his writing of a treatise defending the resurrection. 54 Athenagoras, Legatio , 4.1. 55 Weinandy, Does God Suffer? 89. 56 Athenagoras, Legatio , 8.3.