SYNOPSIS

The fatherhood of God has had a central, if increasingly controversial, place in Christian thinking about God. Yet although Christians referred to God as Father from the earliest days of the faith, it was not until Athanasius in the fourth century that the idea of God as Father became a topic of sustained analysis. Looking at the genesis of Athanasius' understanding of divine fatherhood against the background of Alexandrian tradition, Widdicombe demonstrates how the concept came to occupy such a prominent place in Christian theology.

FROM THE CRITICS

Theological Studies

[A] very readable work....Widdicombe's thoroughness gives the book a synthetic dimension that some other treatments of Origen and Athanasius lack: the reader has a clear sense of both Origen's and Athansius' theologies of God over-all, and how the specific doctrine of the fatherhood of God figures in each of those theologies....[A] work of first-class scholarship.

Regent's Review

The author must be thanked for his clarity of style and his determination not to `wear his learning heavily'....The work is well crafted, accurate and useful at the right level of study.

Religious Studies Review

A technical but eminently lucid investigation....This book should be required reading for those who seek to dismiss traditional Christian language about God as Father and Son without first understanding what its classic formulations meant to those who articulated them.

Pro Ecclesia

I would highly recommend this book.

Church History