On The Incarnation 6

Study Guide Questions for Sections 41-45

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Virtues/Vices/Great Ideas: (Find them in the Text)

Ignorance

Grammar Questions: (The Information of the Text)

1. What did Athanasius say he would use with the Greeks to “put them to shame?”

2. About what thing did Athanasius say the Greek philosophers “spoke truly?”

3. What analogy did Athanasius use to explain the legitimacy of the Word being not only in the whole cosmos (universe) but also in a particular human body?

4. What analogy did Athanasius use to explain the legitimacy of the Word making use of a human body as an instrument to make himself known to human beings?

5. According to Athanasius, why didn’t the Word make himself known to man by other “more noble parts of creation” other than by becoming a man?

6. According to Athanasius, what had Plato claimed concerning the role of “he who begot the world” in the affairs of men?

7. What, according to Athanasius, changed so that God could not simply fix man’s problem “by a nod only?”

8. What was necessitated by the fact that death had become “interwoven with the body” of human beings?

9. Just as the Word fills the whole universe with his presence, the incarnation now made the whole world filled with what thing?

Logic Questions: (Interpreting, Comparing/Contrasting, Reasoning)

1. What does it mean to say that the “cosmos is a great body?”

2. What is unique about mankind which might explain why humanity has “gone astray in its notions of God” even though no other part of creation has? 

3. What is meant by “nod” in the phrase “God should have done so by a nod only?”

4. What does it mean for death to be “interwoven” in the body?

5. What did Athanasius mean by saying “the Lord touched all parts of creation?” 

Rhetoric Questions: (The Analysis of Ideas in the Text)

1. Athanasius said, “come, let us put them to shame with reasonable arguments.” To what extent ought we use arguments to make someone feel ashamed of their own position? Do you believe it can be appropriate, when attempting to persuade someone, to cause your opponent to feel ashamed of their position? If so, what would be an example of when that would be appropriate. If it is not ever appropriate, why not?

Theological Analysis: (Sola Scriptura)

1. Read Psalm 139:7-12. How might we relate this passage of Scripture to what Athanasius is saying about the Word?