The Reception of Athanasius within Contemporary Roman Catholic Theology
Church History and Religious Culture, 90 (2):
311--337 (2010)Abstract
This article gives a brief overview of the reception of Athanasius in nineteenth- and twentieth-century Roman Catholic theology. Besides papal documents, mainly German theologians are discussed. First, Johann Adam Möhler's Athanasius der Grosse (1827) is analyzed. Möhler was convinced that Athanasius was of great importance for modern society. However, Möhler's attempt to give Athanasius a prominent position in contemporary theology seemed to fail. Although Athanasius is not absent in nineteenth-century dogmatic compendia, nor in papal documents of the last two centuries and many dogmatics of the twentieth century, his quantitative reception is rather poor, especially in comparison to Augustine. The dogmatic compendia and Neo-Thomistic theology did not have an interest in a historical interpretation of Athanasius and Thomas, himself, hardly referred to Athanasius. Moreover, the Trinitarian and Christological dogmas were not really contested. This changed in twentieth-century theology, because of a new understanding of historical development and the rise of phenomenology and existentialism. The doctrines of the Trinity and Christology were reinterpreted from the perspective of salvation history (Heilsgeschichte). Many theologians wanted to correct the anti-Arian tendency, stressing that Christ was truly God and truly man. Athanasius overlooked Christ's humanity and the Alexandrian Logos-Sarx-Christology needed the complementation of the Antiochene Logos-Antropos-Christology. Nevertheless, Athanasius's has received great formal authority within Roman Catholicism. He is a Saint and honored as doctor ecclesiae, because of his impact on Christian doctrine and the development of monasticism.