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262 Athanasius Atheism

THE JEWISH ENCYCLOPEDIA

Athanasius; and

lie

'•

they daily read, they can be controverted. " It is true, he promises more than he performs for when he discovers the doctrine of the Incarnation of the

in Num. xxiv. 5 and Isa. viii. 4, or finds that the Virgin's conception is predicted in Isa. vii. 14, it is easily understood why his Jewish opponents were so "prejudiced that they prefer their own exposition of the passages" (ib. ch. xl.). Athanasius nevertheless sets up the reasonable hermeneutic principle, that both the time and the person to

Logos

which a passage

applies, as well as the circumstances originating such passage, must always be taken into consideration (" Orationes Contra Arianos," i. 54J) in expounding it. This rule seems to have been derived by him from Jewish sources where it was long recognized, for it is frequently noticeable that he willingly has recourse to Jewish authority in Scripture explanation, just so soon as his dogmatics permit him to do so. His canon of Old Testament books ("Festal Letters," ii. 1176) excludes Wisdom of Solomon, Ecclesiasticus, and Tobit, which certainly is an approximation to the authoritative Jewish canon. He gives the Jewish view concerning the collection of the Psalms and their superscriptions, that a Babylonian prophet, living in the Exile, collected them, and put them together as he received them. The anonymous psalms were written by this prophet. Although called "the Psalms of David," many of them are not by the Jewish king but their authors were chosen by him to write them, and the whole may thus be considered as originating with him

Contact with Jews made Athanasius acquainted with many rabbinic legends, as for instance that of Isaiah being sawn asunder (" De Incarnatione Dei Verbi," ch. xxiv.), as well as with the interpretation of many proper names, such as David "the beAthanasius did not understand Hebrew; loved." thus, for instance, he had only " heard " that the number of letters in the Hebrew alphabet was twenty-

two

(" Festal Letters, "I.e.). Bibliography Best edition Migne, Patrologia Orceco-Latina, xxv.-xxix. German translation in SWmmtliche Werke



der Kirchenefiter, xiv.-xviii., Kempten, 1836; partly also in Bihliotheh der Kirch envtlter, 1873; English translation, Athanasius, Srlect Writings and Letters, by Archibald Robertson, in Nicenr and Post-Nicene Fathers, 2d series, iv.; ,1. A. Mabler, Athanasius der Grosse, Mayence, 1827, 2d ed.,1844; H. Voigt, Lehredes Athanasius, Bremen, 1861 E. Fialon, St. Athanase, Paris, 1877; K. Hass, Studien uher Athanasius, Freiburg in Baden, 1899. Compare the .

.

.

copious bibliographic lists in the Real-Enciiklopttdie far Protestant isehe Theolagie und Kirehe, 3d ed., under Atha-

nasius and Arianismus. o.

ATHEISM: A

therefore stigmatizes their sepa-

Manichean " and " Jewish " (ib. iv. 23). This peculiar method of Old Testament exposition, which was the customary one in the Christian Church even before Athanasius, was also employed by him in replying to Jewish attacks upon Christianity by means of Old Testament teachings. In a polemic against the Jews upon the incarnation of the Logos (" De Incarnatione Dei Verbi "), he endeavors to reply to the arguments of the Jews against the Incarnation, as being something Chrisunworthy of the God-Logos, and partianity ticularly against the Crucifixion (ch. Versus xxxiii.), by observing that nothing is Judaism, easier than to confute the Jews: "Out of their own Holy Scriptures in which ration as

I-.

G.

262

meaning

term derived from the Greek, a God." As or-

literally the "disbelief in

used

in the writings of the people that carried the implication of non-recognition of the God or the gods acknowledged as supreme, and therefore entitled to worship by the state.

iginally

coined

it,

it

It was in this sense that Socrates was accused and convicted of Atheism. The same note is dominant in the oft-quoted dictum attributed to Polybi us, that reverence for the gods is the foundation of all public order and security. The Hebrew dictionary has no word of exactly similar import. The reasons for this are not difficult Atheism, in the restricted sense of to establish. the Greek usage, could not find expression among the Hebrews before they had come into contact and conflict with other nations. As long as their tribal consciousness was strong and supreme Impossible among them, recognition on the part in of all members of the clan or tribe of Ancient the god to whom the family clan or Israel. tribe and people owed allegiance was spontaneous. Recent researches in this field have established beyond the possibility of doubt that this sense of family or tribal or national affinity is focal to all primitive religion. Sacrifice and all other features of private or public cult center in this all-regulating sentiment. The deity is entertained by the members of the family at the sacrificial meal. Even some institutions of the Israelitish cult, such as the Pesah meal, reflect the mental mood of this original conviction. Denial of the family or tribal or national deity would have amounted to relinquishment of one's family or people and such abandonment is a thought of which man is incompetent before a long stretch of historical experience has

changed his whole mental attitude. In the development of the Jewish God-idea, as traced

by modern

Biblical criticism,

the conflict

between the Prophets and their antagonists pivots not so much around the controversy whether God be or be not, but around the recognition of Yhwh as the only and legitimate God of Israel. Even they who opposed the Prophets were not atheists in the modern acceptation of the word. They may be so styled, if the implications of the term be restricted to the original Greek usage. According to prophetic preachment, Israel owed allegiance to Yiiwh alone. This is the emphasis of their oft-repeated statement that it was Yhwh who led the people of Israel out of Egypt. The first statement of the Decalogue is not a protest against Atheism in the modern sense. It posits positively the prophetic thesis that no other God but Yhwh brought about Israel's redemption from Egyptian bondage. The force of this prophetic contention is well illustrated by the counter or corresponding claim advanced in behalf of the deities (I

nationalized

Kings

xii. 28).

insistence

Yiiwh

by Jeroboam at Dan and Beth-el With all the strenuousness of their

upon the

sole

supremacy and legitimacy of went the That the

as Israel's God, the Prophets never length to call their opponents atheists.

gods whom the followers of the false prophets worshiped were not gods is a conviction that appears only in later prophets, and then not in a very violent emphasis. Jeremiah resorts to mild sarcasm (Jer. ii.