WRITINGS OF AN ANCIENT POET: A THEOLOGICAL COMPOSITION OF
AURELIUS PRUDENTIUS CLEMENS’ SOTERIOLOGY AS DEPICTED IN HIS
LIBER CATHEMERINON
by
ERIKA M. MCAULEY
A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF
THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF
THEOLOGICAL STUDIES
in
THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
Master of Theological Studies, Theology Stream
We accept this thesis as conforming to the required standard

...............................................................................
Dr. Archie J. Spencer, Th.D.; Thesis Supervisor

................................................................................
Dr. Bruce L. Guenther, Ph.D.; Second Reader

................................................................................
Dr. Christopher S. Morrissey, Ph.D.; External Examiner
TRINITY WESTERN UNIVERSITY
November 2013
© Erika M. McAuley

Abstract
By his poetic declarations concerning Jesus Christ, Prudentius appeals to some as a
flagship for fourth-century Nicene theology. This thesis investigates the poet’s concept of
salvation to determine its congruity with Nicaea’s underlying soteriology. To that end,
Athanasius’ Against the Gentiles-On the Incarnation and Prudentius’ Liber Cathemerinon
are read in juxtaposition, drawing out and comparing theological themes. Prudentius
exhibits an inherent fixation on the problem of sin and its effect on salvation. This
diminishes the significance and hope offered by the Incarnation. Yet, Athanasius purports
that Nicaea’s Christological proclamations are founded on God’s saving action in Jesus’
life, death, and resurrection. Therefore, while the Christological confessions of Nicaea
appear to prefigure the theology of Prudentius in his pastiche, Liber Cathemerinon, a closer
analysis reveals that his conception of salvation is inconsistent with the underlying
soteriological impetus of Nicene theology.

Copyright © 2013 by Erika M. McAuley
All rights reserved

For my dad.
What a likeness you have to Father Mapple, whose message – though
spoken from a seaman’s pulpit in Whaleman’s Chapel on a sleet-stormed Sunday morning
– rang just as clear during my late-night discussions with you: “But all the things that God
would have us do are hard for us to do ... and hence, he oftener commands us than
endeavors to persuade.” Thank you for your kindly charge
to press on, to love the LORD with all my mind.

Contents
Acknowledgments..............................................................................................................vi
Introduction..........................................................................................................................1
Research Problem and Background................................................................................1
Research Question and Thesis Statement.......................................................................4
Contemporary Dialogue..................................................................................................5
Methodology...................................................................................................................8
Procedure.......................................................................................................................11
Chapter 1: Nicene Soteriology as Articulated by Athanasius............................................13
Introduction...................................................................................................................13
Athanasius’ Soteriological Impetus..............................................................................21
The Plot of Athanasius’ Dramatic Narrative.................................................................29
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................47
Chapter 2: Prudentius’ Soteriology as Presented in his Liber Cathemerinon...................48
Introduction...................................................................................................................48
The Broader Theological Framework and Overall Motifs............................................49
The Means of Salvation................................................................................................55
The Effects of Salvation................................................................................................70
The Final Results of Salvation......................................................................................76
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................82
Chapter 3: A Comparative Analysis..................................................................................83
Introduction...................................................................................................................83
The Overarching Biblical Narrative..............................................................................83
The Significant Shift in Narrative Emphasis................................................................85
Professing the Person and Work of Christ....................................................................92
Implications for Understanding Soteriology...............................................................100
Conclusion...................................................................................................................109
Conclusion.......................................................................................................................114
Synthesis.....................................................................................................................114
Implications.................................................................................................................115
Questions for Further Study........................................................................................118
Conclusion...................................................................................................................120
Appendix 1: The Hermeneutical Basis for Prudentius’ Liber Cathemerinon..................121
Bibliography....................................................................................................................148

v

Acknowledgments
Tackling a thesis seems a lonely, stoic work. But perception deceives, for it cannot
exist as a sole venture. It is a flurry of activities, wherein ideas are interjected, fortified,
combated, and taken away by others. Each and every word is affixed, directly or indirectly,
to another mind and another influence. And so, I have many to thank.
A profound witness to the Gospel of Christ exists in the ancient writings of early
Christians. To those brothers and sisters, who I have now spent countless hours alongside, I
am deeply grateful for their conviction, persistence, fervor, and insight.
Of the living, my gratitude extends to Dr. Archie J. Spencer, my advisor, whose
contagious admiration for the patristic thinkers persuaded me to venture into their world.
Without his theological engagement, ecumenical relationships, and indefatigable
encouragement, this project would have never come to be. Thanks are also due to the MTS
Committee: to Dr. Brian M. Rapske, whose criticisms early on incited me to a high level of
scholarship, to Dr. Robert J. V. Hiebert, whose editorial attention to detail made a lasting
impression on the quality of my writing, and to Dr. Bruce L. Guenther, whose vision for
this project’s scope unquestionably sharpened and strengthened it. Without his sound
counsel and perpetual optimism, I would not have attempted or finished such a task.
Thanks must also be directed toward Dr. Ken G. Radant for patiently sifting through my
work in its proposal stage and for supporting the ideas by way of sponsorship, as they were
presented to the MTS committee. Thank you also to Dr. Christopher S. Morrissey, whose
Latin expertise I admire and for which I am tremendously grateful. Gratias agimus tibi.

vi

Furthermore, tribute must be given to Jodie-Rae Dyck, Jessie Hoffman, Michelle
Ares, and the Parish of St. George who have laboured earnestly in prayer for my seminary
education and thesis work over the last four years.
Many thanks to my sister, Andrea, whose chai tea latte and apple cider visits
reinstated my sanity during the most reclusive writing periods. Thanks to my youngest
sister, Stephanie, whose exuberant and brimming confidence in my writing lightened the
load and brought laughter to such a weary work. Thanks to my mom, Elfe, who has always
affirmed the opportunities in my life to write, of which this thesis is no exception. Thank
you for your advocacy, your perception of the task’s difficulty, and your tenacity in prayer
on my behalf. Thanks also to my dad, David, who deserves every bit of recognition for this
piece as I do. Thank you for reading every sentence, every footnote, every word, every
period, and then patiently quibbling over the same. Thank you for joyfully doing theology
with me and for teaching me to love the things that God loves.
Thanks also to my best friend Kevin, whom I doubt very much had this in mind
when he said, “I do” so many years ago. Thank you for loving my mind and for pushing me
to use it. Thank you for sleeping on the floor in the office as I worked through the night,
and thank you for cheering me on with more laughter and candy than any individual should
safely indulge in a lifetime.
Finally, I offer my greatest thanksgiving to the One who gives in full what is
required for such a task as this. Echoing Samuel Johnson’s expression of the grandeur of
God and the humility of His servants, I close this project with the same prayer that birthed
it:

vii

Almighty God, the Giver of all good things, without whose help all labour is
ineffectual, and without whose grace all wisdom is folly: grant, I beseech Thee, that
in this my understanding, thy Holy Spirit may not be withheld from me, but that I
may promote Thy glory.
Prayer on the Rambler 1750
Erika M. McAuley
Langley, British Columbia
November 2013

viii

Introduction
Research Problem and Background
Patristic Christology, particularly that of the great fourth century, cannot stand apart
from soteriology. The ecclesiastical debates of this period are often recounted as if they
were primarily about God and Christ when, in actuality, Donald Fairbairn points out, they
were “fundamentally ... about salvation.”1 Succinctly, Fairbairn contends, “At the level of
what the church said about Christ, the issue was Christological. But at the level of why the
church said what it said about Christ, the underlying issue was soteriological.”2 In
consequence, “Differing perceptions of what salvation actually is and how it is
accomplished are closely related to different perceptions of who can accomplish that
salvation.”3 Working from Fairbairn’s reasoning, a number of questions arise: How
conscious were fourth-century Christians of this theological connection as it related to the
confessions of Nicaea? Does this interrelation between salvation and the person of Christ
show itself in the writings of pro-Nicene thinkers? If so, how important is it that the
Christological claims of Nicaea hinge on a complementary salvation theology?
Responding to this broader concern, this study centres around two pro-Nicene
writers, Athanasius of Alexandria (296 – 373), the leonine defender of Nicaea, and
Aurelius Prudentius Clemens (348 – c. 410),4 the provocative genius behind the literary

1

Donald Fairbairn, “The One Person Who is Jesus Christ: The Patristic Perspective,” in Jesus In
Trinitarian Perspective: An Introductory Christology, eds. Fred Sanders and Klaus Issler (Nashville: B&H
Publishing Group, 2007), 92.
2
Fairbairn, “Patristic Perspective,” 92.
3
Fairbairn, “Patristic Perspective,” 92.
4
John Anthony McGuckin, The Westminster Handbook to Patristic Theology, The Westminster
Handbooks to Christian Theology (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 285. For dates see
Prudentius, Preface, in Prudentius, trans. H. J. Thomson, vol. 1 of Loeb Classical Library 387 (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1969), 1-3; 22-27; Prudentius, Apotheosis, in Prudentius, trans. H. J. Thomson,
vol. 1 of Loeb Classical Library 387 (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1979), 446-453.

1

genre of Christian epic poetry.5 Prudentius’ use, comprehension, and application of
Nicaea’s Christological proclamations, as they relate to his concept of salvation, are the
primary interests of this study.
As a Spanish native, Prudentius “belonged to that provincial Hispano-Roman
aristocracy” that committed itself to Theodosius (347 – 395) and his imperial rule.6 Beyond
his geo-political alignment little is known of him, except that he possessed exceptional
poetic talent.7 Contained in the preface to his collection of poems is a brief curriculum
vitae, “an autobiography followed by an exposition of his poetic project,” wherein one can
“see the student in love with rhetoric, the ambitious lawyer, the provincial governor who
ends his career as private advisor to the emperor (proximus)”8 and who, by a spiritual

5

The New Encyclopaedia Britannica, 15th ed., s.v. “Prudentius,” 751. Prudentius’ unique style
influenced later medieval poetry such as Milton’s Paradise Lost and Dante’s Inferno. A. A. R. Bastiaensen,
“Prudentius in Recent Literary Criticism,” in Early Christian Poetry: A Collection of Essays, eds. J. den
Boeft and A. Hilhorst (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1993), 134.
6
J. Fontaine, “Prudentius,” in Encyclopedia of the Early Church, ed. Angelo Di Berardino, vol. 2
(New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), 721. For an indication of Spanish ethnicity see Prudentius,
Peristephanon Liber, in Prudentius, trans. H. J. Thomson, vol. 2 of Loeb Classical Library 398 (Cambridge:
Harvard University Press, 1979), VI.141-147.
7
It is suspected that Prudentius began to write poetry around 380, but gained public attention much
later because his name is not in Jerome’s catalogue of Christian writers, arranged in 392. Siegmar Döpp and
Wilhelm Geerlings, eds., Dictionary of Early Christian Literature, trans. Matthew O’Connell (New York:
The Crossroad Publishing Company, 1998), 505. Fontaine estimates that Prudentius’ works were published
around 404 or 405. Fontaine, “Prudentius,” 721.
8
Fontaine, “Prudentius,” 721; Cf. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 751; Döpp, Early Christian Literature,
504-505. The poet reveals, “Twice held I in fair cities of renown / The reins of office, and administered / To
good men justice and to guilty doom. / At length the Emperor’s will beneficent / Exalted me to military
power / And to the rank that borders on the throne.” Prudentius, Preface, in The Hymns of Prudentius, trans.
R. Martin Pope (London: J. M. Dent and Co., 2005), 16-21, Christian Classics Ethereal Library,
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/prudentius/cathimerinon.p00t.html (accessed October 7, 2010). From this
information Cunningham, suggests that the only factual information taken from Prudentius’ words include:
“(1) the poet has had a successful career as a civil servant; (2) he is of senatorial rank; and (3) he has retired
honourably from the service.” Maurice P. Cunningham, “Contexts of Prudentius’ Poems,” Classical
Philology 71, no. 1 (January 1976): 56. Other scholars have consulted extra-historical data to expand on
Prudentius’ life. With specificity, Weston suggests that “He studied rhetoric, became an advocate, twice
served as governor of a province, and later held some court position of honor by the appointment of the
Emperor Theodosius.” Arthur H. Weston, Latin Satirical Writing Subsequent to Juvenal (Charleston:
BiblioBazaar, 2009), 43.

2

crisis, retreats “to a private life in order to see to his salvation and devote himself to
poetry.”9
Seven of Prudentius’ works are extant. All were originally written in Latin, though
most possess Greek titles.10 The poems exhibit a variety of classical forms, leading edge
content, and multiple sources.11 Prudentius created an innovative Christian style of poetry
by combining and reshaping the existing elements and techniques.12 His works include:
Hamartigenia, a theological piece on the origin of sin,13 Apotheosis, a treatise on the
Trinity with particular attention given to Christology,14 Psychomachia, “an allegory of

9

Claudio Moreschini and Enrico Norelli, eds., Early Christian Greek and Latin Literature: A
Literary History, vol. 2 (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2005), 340. Prudentius writes, “And then the
forum’s strife my restless wits / Enthralled, and the keen lust of victory / Drove me to many a bitterness and
fall.” Prudentius, Preface, in Hymns, 13-15; Cf. Angelo Di Berardino, ed., Patrology: The Golden Age of
Latin Patristic Literature from the Council of Nicea to the Council of Chalcedon, trans. Rev. Placid Solari,
vol. 4 (Westminster: Christian Classics, 1986), 281. Some scholars, like Moreschini and Norelli, interpret
Prudentius’ change of conscience to be the result of his dissatisfaction with the merits obtained throughout his
life, and thus his poetry was “to help him praise God” more adequately. Moreschini, Literary History, 340.
Similarly, Justo Gonzalez suggests that “all his literary works were written as a way to atone for the sins of
his youth.” Justo Luis Gonzalez, The Westminster Dictionary of Theologians (Louisville: Westminster John
Knox Press, 2006), 284. Di Berardino suspects that Prudentius’ change of conscience was the result of a trip
to Rome wherein he found himself overwhelmed with the impressive Christian monuments of the great city.
As a result, he was illuminated to a new inspiration for his writing and henceforth adopted an anti-pagan
mandate. Di Berardino, Patrology, 281. Di Berardino is accurate to acknowledge Prudentius’ overt anti-pagan
convictions, though it is speculative to suggest his motivation was born out of this particular trip. Still another
scholar, McGuckin, speculates that Prudentius’ personal crisis was due to “the death of Theodosius, in 395,
which ushered in a period of great instability in the imperial administration.” McGuckin, Patristic Theology,
285.
10
Moreschini, Literary History, 341.
11
Di Berardino, Patrology, 285.
12
Prior to his works, Christian poetry relied on genres like “iambic hymns, acrostics, Vergilian
centos, and Biblical hexameter epics which either drew minimally upon the pagan tradition, or exclusively on
Vergil.” Frederic James Edward Raby, A History of Christian-Latin Poetry from the Beginnings to the Close
of the Middle Ages, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1953), 11-43.
13
In this work Prudentius ardently “attacks the Gnostic dualism of Marcion and his followers,”
while describing the origins of sin “by the fact that a fallen angel, acting in the service of hell, led human
beings astray. For the misery that thereby entered the world, man, endowed by God with free will, bears sole
responsibility.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 751; Cf. Döpp, Early Christian Literature, 505.
14
While stressing the divine nature of Christ, the Apotheosis refutes multiple heresies that were
prominent in the fourth century, “such as those of the Patripassians, who held that it was actually God the
Father who suffered on the Cross, of the Sabellians, who differed from the orthodox Trinitarians, of the Jews,
the Ebionites or Homuncionitae, itself a satirical appellation, who denied the divinity of Christ, and finally the
Manichaeans, who held that Christ was a mere image.” Weston, Latin Satirical Writing, 44.

3

spiritual combat,”15 Peristephanon Liber, a compilation of anecdotes dedicated to the
praise of the martyr saints,16 Contra Orationem Symmachi, a patriotic two-volume work
that condemns paganism in Rome,17 Dittochaeon, a thematic overview of famous biblical
narratives,18 and Liber Cathemerinon, a collection of daily hymns for the Christian life.19 It
is this last collection of hymns that is the primary focus of this study.20
Research Question and Thesis Statement
By placing Prudentius directly in line with the study’s broader concern, the research
question becomes clear: Is the poet’s understanding of salvation consistent with Nicaea’s
underlying soteriology, given that he utilizes the Nicene proclamations of the person of
Christ? Stated differently: Have the Christological tenets of the Nicene Creed affected this
poet’s soteriological convictions, so as to align them with the antecedent soteriology
driving Nicaea? Or in Fairbairn’s words: In recognition of what the church is saying about
Christ, has Prudentius been able to understand why?
This study demonstrates that while the Christological confessions of the Nicene
Creed appear to prefigure the theology of Prudentius in his pastiche, Liber Cathemerinon, a

15

Di Berardino, Patrology, 289. It has been proposed by some scholars that the Psychomachia is the
central work of Prudentius and all other compositions work to drive the themes presented there. Peter Toohey
has since challenged this rationale, arguing instead that the Liber Cathemerinon VII, IX, and XI are among
the first poems written by Prudentius. Peter Toohey, “An Early Group of Poems in Prudentius’ Liber
Cathemerinon,” Mnemosyne 44, no. ¾ (1991): 395; Cf. Moreschini, Literary History, 341.
16
The Peristephanon Liber, which can be translated as “Crowns of Martyrdom ... contains 14 lyric
poems on Spanish and Roman martyrs.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 751.
17
More specifically, these two pieces were a reply to a pagan senator’s request to have “the altar of
Victory be restored to the Senate house.” Encyclopaedia Britannica, 751.
18
It has been suggested that this work provides the captions for the murals of a Roman basilica.
Catherine Conybeare, “Sanctum, Lector, Percense Volumen: Snakes, Readers, and the Whole Text in
Prudentius’ Hamartigenia,” in The Early Christian Book, eds. William E. Klingshirn and Linda Safran
(Washington: The Catholic University of America Press, 2007), 225-240; Cf. Encyclopaedia Britannica, 751.
19
Weston, Latin Satirical Writing, 44; Cf. Moreschini, Literary History, 342. Prudentius is
considered by many to be the first carol writer, an early example being Corde natus. Louis Herbert Gray,
Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics, ed. James Hastings and John Alexander Selbie, s.v. “Music: plainsong and the carol,” 21.
20
Attention is brought to Prudentius’ other works as they provide clarification.

4

closer analysis reveals that his conception of salvation is inconsistent with the underlying
soteriological impetus of Nicene theology, as exposited best by Athanasius.
Contemporary Dialogue
In recent scholarship his poetical verse, notably Liber Cathemerinon, has been
described as a flagship for fourth-century Nicene theology.21 For Christopher McKelvie,
who is a recent Canadian contributor to the study of Prudentius’ work, it becomes a kind of
handbook for rudimentary Nicene beliefs, which reflects “a salvation history, running
through the chief elements of the Old and New Testaments.”22 With regard to its overt
reflection of the Nicene maxims, McKelvie is absolutely on par. The Liber Cathemerinon
employs the phrases of the Nicene Creed, but is Prudentius’ theology of salvation, found
beneath the poetic phrases, truly Nicene?23 In response, this study investigates Prudentius’
doctrine of soteriology as it is presented in his Liber Cathemerinon and seeks to determine
its congruity with Nicene soteriology.

21

The expression “Nicene theology” is intended to reflect the tone of the New Testament canon’s
teachings, which proclaim that salvation is in Christ alone. Therefore, Nicene theology finds its focus on
Christ and purports that salvation is found in Him alone, though it does not describe how that happens. To be
clear, I am working from the assumption that there is one salvation that stands behind the Nicene confessions,
though it be a Who, rather than a how.
22
Christopher G. McKelvie, “The Cosmic Christian Vision of Prudentius’ Liber Cathemerinon, and
the Inculturation of Augustan Vatic Poetry” (M.A. thesis, Dalhousie University, 2010), vii. Before McKelvie,
others asserted the notion of the Liber Cathemerinon functioning “as an allegorical catechism of the Christian
faith: a poetic primer of salvation history like the short breviaria of local history prepared for new arrivals in
Rome.” Arnaldo Momigliano, ed., The Conflict between Paganism and Christianity in the Fourth Century:
Essays (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1963), 87-90. R. Martin Pope also anticipates the Nicene reflections in
Prudentius’ work as he explicitly states, “His theology is that of the Nicene Creed. The Fall of man, the
personality of the Tempter, the mystery of the Trinity and of the Incarnation, the Virgin-birth, the Death and
Resurrection of Christ, the pains of the lost and the bliss of the saints, the resurrection of the Body and the life
everlasting – these are themes of his pen, the themes of the theology of his age.” R. Martin Pope,
“Translator’s Notes,” in The Hymns of Prudentius (London: J. M. Dent and Co., 2005), Christian Classics
Ethereal Library, http://www.ccel.org/ccel/prudentius/cathimerinon.p00t.html (accessed October 7, 2010).
Similarly, Gerard O’Daly presumes Prudentius’ Nicene alignment, but leaves room for further inquiry by
stating that the poet “seems to be in line with post-Nicene orthodoxy.” Gerard O’Daly, Days Linked by Song:
Prudentius’ Cathemerinon (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 337.
23
Following O’Daly’s warning, the reader “must beware of harnessing Prudentius too closely to the
interests of the church leaders of his day. His interests are not opposed to theirs, but his themes are
refreshingly free of narrowly conceived church teaching.” O’Daly, Linked by Song, 246.

5

Because Prudentius’ writings have been evaluated primarily on the basis of their
literary genius, a debate has arisen as to whether he can be assessed rightly as a theologian,
despite the theological content in his works.24 A. A. R. Bastiaensen consolidates the
contemporary argument among scholars. He notes that K. Thraede criticizes the legitimacy
of Prudentius’ theology, stating that he is “a nonentity, theologically speaking ... [and]
nothing else was to be expected from him as a poet.”25 Countering Thraede, Bastiaensen
points out that Prudentius’ writings are consistent with the theological concerns of the
church during the fourth century.26 C. Gnilka, another skeptical voice, criticizes
specifically “the ambivalence of Prudentius’ dualistic outlook as showing the poet’s
uncertainty with regard to the relation of man’s soul and body.”27 Despite the discussion
24

Further to the point, Padovese suggests that typically Prudentius’ ideas are drawn from literary
study, whereas the theological thought of the author is neglected. Luigi Padovese, “Linee Di Soteriologia
Nell’opera Di Aurelio Clemente Prudenzio,” Laurentianum 19 (1978): 360; Cf. Peter Toon, “Prudentius
Clemens, Aurelius,” in Who’s Who in Christian History, eds. J. D. Douglas and Philip W. Comfort (Wheaton:
Tyndale House Publishers, 1992), 574.
25
Bastiaensen, “Literary Criticism,” 114. This is contested by Bastiaensen as he remarks that
Thraede’s comments do “less than justice to Prudentius.” Bastiaensen, “Literary Criticism,” 114. Bastiaensen
also points to Smolak in his “Gedankenfülle” as another voice advocating a greater interpretation of
Prudentius, as he recognizes his “richness of thought.” Bastiaensen, “Literary Criticism,” 114. Similarly,
Lock argues for the theological value in Prudentius’ poems simply by their inclusion of “typical adaptations
of Bible history” and thus “Their lack of originality of thought makes them even more valuable for this
purpose.” W. Lock, A Dictionary of Early Christian Biography, ed. Henry Wace and William C. Piercy
(Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1999), 868. A middle-of-the-road position is presented by the Oxford’s
Encyclopedia of the Early Church, as it suggests that Prudentius “laboriously becomes a verse theologian: but
this layman does not have the solid theological ability of a Hilary or an Ambrose. In the structures of his
demonstrations and in the forms and vocabulary that express them, he tries to be a Lucretius of Christian
doctrine.” Fontaine, “Prudentius,” 721.
26
Bastiaensen, “Literary Criticism,” 114. In support of this claim, both Bucheit and Evenepoel have
conducted “a series of studies, systematically pointing out many intertextual agreements with Prudentius’
poems and agreements with texts by other early Christian writers.” Bastiaensen furthers his argument by
referring to “Buchheit’s study on the doctrine of the resurrection carnis, which he maintains against Thraede
as being treated coherently at the end of the third hymn of the Cathemerinon.” Bastiaensen, “Literary
Criticism,” 115. Bastiaensen points to Prudentius’ treatment of the Trinity in his Hymnus de trinitate as a
prime example. To buttress his point he references W. Evenepoel who “shows that Prudentius is aware of the
importance of the relation between faith and reason, dealing with it in a judicious way in his works.” For the
detailed study see W. Evenepoel, “Prudentius: Ratio and Fides,” L’Antiqueite Classique 50, no. ½ (1981):
318-327.
27
Bastiaensen, “Literary Criticism,” 115, emphasis mine. Theologically oriented studies of
Prudentius’ poetry arose during the 1980s in Europe. For example, J. M. Fontanier contributed to the
understanding of Prudentius’ Christology and perception of creation. See J. M. Fontanier, “Christus imago
Dei: art et christologie dans l’oeuvre de Prudence,” RecAug 21 (1986): 117-137; “La creation et le Christ

6

surrounding the poet’s degree of theological acumen, in fairness to his own intent and
desire, Prudentius published his poems as didactic and catechistic pieces, particularly the
Liber Cathemerinon. As an expert in Prudentian poetry, Maurice Cunningham, puts
forward that by virtue of its title himni, the Liber Cathemerinon was “intended for use in
the poet’s own household.”28 It would seem that Prudentius anticipates this question of
purpose and relinquishes to the reader a satisfactory answer. He writes in dedication
Let each day link itself with grateful hymns / And every night re-echo songs of
God: / Yea, be it mine to fight all heresies, / Unfold the meanings of the Catholic
faith, / Trample on Gentile rites, thy gods, O Rome, / Dethrone, the Martyrs laud,
th’ Apostles sing. / O while such themes my pen and tongue employ, / May death
strike off these fetters of the flesh / And bear me wither my last breath shall rise!29
The author gives to the reader his goals as they are: (1) to fight heresies, (2) to preach the
message of the Catholic faith, (3) to defend Rome against pagan falsities, and (4) to praise
the acts of the martyrs. The poet himself, therefore, welcomes readers to recognize its
theological message, as he seeks to pass on the truth of the Christian faith.
createur dans l’oevre de Prudence,” RecAug 22 (1987): 109-128. Similarly, L. Padovese, J. P. Torro and C.
Micaelli have offered a number of essays including: L. Padovese, La cristologia di Aurelio Clemente
Prudenzio, vol 219 of Analecta Gregoriana (Roma: Universita Gregoriana Editrice, 1980); J. P. Torro, La
antropolgia de Aurelio Prudencio. Monografias 23 (Roma: Publicationes del Instituto Espanol de Historia
Eclesiastica, 1976); “Funcion del Espirito Santo en la encarnacion segun Aurelio Prudencio,” Anales
Valentinos 9 (1983): 347-360; “Die genetrix. Testimonio de Prudencio sobre la maternidad divina de Maria,”
Anales Vanetios 10 (1984): 315-322; Cl. Micaelli, “Note di teologia prudenziana,” Vetera Christianorum 21
(1984): 83-112.
28
Cunningham, “Contexts,” 58. If Cunningham’s evaluation of Prudentius’ purpose for his Liber
Cathemerinon is correct, it would seem that over the years this work has grown well beyond its original
purpose. For instance, excerpts have been included in the hymnology of the church, such as those verses
included in the Roman Breviary. Pope, “Translator’s Notes,” n.p. Other scholars have attempted to argue for
a different purpose. For example, Ballengee suggests that Prudentius wished “to escape his mortal body,
springing free along with the sound – or meaning – of the Christian word as it reaches toward heaven.”
Jennifer R. Ballengee, Witness: The Rhetoric of Torture (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2009),
106. Different still is Moreschini’s proposal in which Prudentius created this literary work as a devotional for
intellectual Christians. Moreschini, Literary History, 342. Witke points to Lavarenne, who opposes this
suggestion entirely and instead offers that Prudentius chose to write in a pagan literary style to adorn the
Christian message to “men of taste” as opposed to using the language of Christianity, which he crassly
recognized as a “good religion for ignorant men.” Charles Witke, “Prudentius and the Tradition of Latin
Poetry,” in Numen Litterarum: The Old and the New in Latin Poetry from Constantine to Gregory the Great,
vol. 5 of Mittellateinische Studein Und Texte (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1971), 103.
29
Prudentius, Preface, in Hymns, 40-48. For the poet’s dedication of the poems to God see
Prudentius, Epilogue, in Hymns, 9-12.

7

This debate continues. More recently, studies of Prudentius’ poetry have been
“decisively advanced by interpretation and individual commentaries,” which have allowed
for greater attentiveness to his theological themes.30 In concert with scholars such as
Bastiaensen, I too see the theological legitimacy of Prudentius’ works for the contemporary
context. Thus, I can also say, “Although Prudentius was certainly not the ‘profond
theologien’ a French critic in the last century made him out to be, his theological views
deserve, I think, serious examination.”31 As will be shown by this study, that examination
will develop in particular connection to the Nicene Creed.
Methodology
Prudentius was a “contemporary of the Roman emperors, Julian the Apostate (c.
331 – 363), Gratian (359 – 383), Theodosius I (347 – 395), and Theodosius’ son, Honorius
(384 – 423).”32 During this time the empire experienced external conflict between
Christians and pagans as well as internal conflict between orthodox Christians and heretics;
both types of hostility contributed to Prudentius’ writings.33 Therefore, a key component of
this study is an examination of the historical, cultural, geographical, and theological milieu
from which his poetry emerged.
An indispensible piece to this study is the interpretation of Prudentius’ work. For
this reason, his hermeneutical method must first be examined. This poet interprets the
biblical text for himself and for his reader from within his poetical verse. Thus, a
prolegomenon engages Prudentius’ use of biblical narrative in his Liber Cathemerinon for
30

Döpp, Early Christian Literature, 507. For an example of such recent scholarship see Gerard
O’Daly, Days Linked by Song: Prudentius’ Cathemerinon (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012); Anthony
Dykes, Reading Sin in the World: The Hamartigenia of Prudentius and the Vocation of the Responsible
Reader (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2011).
31
Bastiaensen, “Literary Criticism,” 115.
32
Christoph Flüeler and Martin Rohde, eds., Laster im Mittelalter (Vices in the Middle Ages), vol.
23 of Scrinium Friburgense (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter GmbH & Co., 2009), 11.
33
Flüeler, Laster im Mittelalter, 11.

8

the purpose of determining congruency with the Alexandrian tradition, of which Origen (c.
186 – c. 254) becomes the synthesis and quintessential expression.34 Three biblical
narratives, utilized by both Origen and Prudentius, are compared. The core of the study
places Origen’s interpretive comments in direct discussion with Prudentius’ use of each
biblical narrative. As a result, it argues that Prudentius echoes the non-literal hermeneutic
of Alexandria, as championed by Origen, in his use of biblical narrative. Early church
fathers, including Origen, had to determine how the Old Testament Scriptures were going
to be understood in light of the Incarnational event and authoritative circular letters, which
would later be recognized as the canonical New Testament.35 So then, the works of
Prudentius model both an historical and Christological hermeneutic that is rooted in
Origen’s multi-dimensional approach to the exegesis of Scripture.36
Prudentius’ poetry unites classical Latin poetic devices (particularly the influences
of “Vergil’s and Ovid’s epic, Lucretius’ didactic, Horace’s lyrical, Seneca’s dramatical and
Juvenal’s satirical poetry”) with Scripture (Pentateuch narratives and the Psalms), prose of
the church fathers (the texts of “Tertullian [160 – 225], Cyprian [c. 200 – 258], Ambrose
[c. 340 – 397],37 Juvencus [died c. 300], Proba [c. 322 – c. 370], Hilary [c. 300 – c. 368]”),
and social commentary (including “anti-pagan attacks, political ideas, theology, ascetical

34

For this discussion see appendix 1.
McKelvie, “Cosmic,” 16-17. The New Testament canon was not recognized as such until
Athanasius’ Easter letter of 367 wherein he listed the twenty-seven books and labelled them as canonized.
36
Two forms of interpretation define Origen’s approach to Scripture: literal exegesis and spiritual
exegesis. Henri Crouzel, Origen, trans. A. S. Worrall (New York: Harper & Row Publishers, 1989), 61. To
further aid in understanding the patristic world of biblical exegesis see Frances M. Young, Biblical Exegesis
and the Formation of Christian Culture (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1997). For a detailed study
on Alexandrian exegesis, with a focus on Origen see Karlfried Froehlich, Biblical Interpretation in the Early
Church, Sources of Early Christian Thought, ed. William G. Rusch (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1984).
37
Ambrosian meter is used in the first two and last two hymns of the Liber Cathemerinon.
Moreschini, Literary History, 343, 345. Ambrose, the bishop of Milan, would have introduced the first Latin
hymn to the church when Prudentius was around the age of twenty-six. Pope, “Translator’s Notes,” n.p.
35

9

ideals, and the cult of the martyrs”).38 As a way of engaging pagan constructs, Prudentius
writes from the formula “Christian subject matter, pagan form.”39 In doing so, he follows in
the tradition of Philo (c. 20 BC – c. 50), Paul, (c. 5 – c. 67), and Justin Martyr (c. 100 –
165).40 A heavy Greek influence marks Prudentius’ poems as exemplified by his tendency
toward symbology and his gruesome imagination.41 McKelvie concludes that Prudentius
“transcends practically every convention, mixing various modes together within a single
poem.”42 Thus, in order to handle his poetry adequately and contribute a significant
assessment to the field, the research method involves literary analysis for the purpose of
drawing out Prudentius’ theological themes. Engagement with those scholars who have
previously translated and analyzed the primary material is included, although priority is
given to working as close to the original texts as possible.43 Vocabulary and phrasing have
been illuminated with the use of Richard A. Muller’s Dictionary of Latin and Greek
Theological Terms, the Dumbarton Oaks Medieval Library translation series, and Lewis
38
39

Bastiaensen, “Literary Criticism,” 120; Moreschini, Literary History, 341.
Morton W. Bloomfield, “A Source of Prudentius’ Psychomachia,” Speculum 18, no. 1 (January

1943): 87.

40

Prudentius takes on Paul’s charge to engage the philosophers as exemplified in Acts 17:18. Eric
Osborn, The Emergence of Christian Theology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1993), 308, 310.
41
Moreschini, Literary History, 341. For an involved conversation on how Prudentius’ “elaborate
interest in gore” detriments the religious purpose of his work see Robert Levine, “Ingeld and Christ: A
Medieval Problem,” Viator 2 (1972): 107; Lucy Grig, “Torture and Truth in Late Antique Martyrology,”
Early Medieval Europe 2, no. 4 (2002).
42
McKelvie, “Cosmic,” 2. Prudentius’ technique of mixing literary components has been heavily
criticized. For a current critique see Anne-Marie Palmer, Prudentius on Martyrs (Oxford: Clarendon Press;
New York: Oxford University Press, 1989).
43
For reputable scholars who have directly critiqued his Latin poetical verse and translated Liber
Cathemerinon into English see M. P. Cunningham in 1966 and J. Bergman in 1926. Later classical scholars
such as F. Klingner and G. Meyer have offered notable critiques of the two standard translations. Others
including K. Thraede and C. Gnilka have given exceptional feedback to both translations and poetic analysis.
Furthermore, K. Thraede has drawn significant conclusions regarding the accuracy of Latin idioms used in
Prudentius. More recently, others have translated Prudentius’ poems into English, including H. J. Thomson,
Sister M. Clement Eagan, R. Martin Pope, Gerard O’Daly, and Anthony Dykes. In addition, a number of
helpful studies have clarified the poetry of Prudentius such as Charles Witke’s essay “Prudentius and the
Tradition of Latin Poetry,” along with W. Evenepoel’s essay “The Place of Poetry in Latin Christianity,” in
Early Christian Poetry: A Collection of Essays, eds. J. den Boeft and A. Hilhorst (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1993),
35-60. To aid with limitations in the Latin language, resident scholar Chris Morrissey was consulted to
encourage a proper understanding of Latin vocabulary and expression.

10

and Short’s A Latin Dictionary. Translation resources, such as Harvard University Press’
Loeb Classical Library, further aid literal vocabulary and phrase comparisons. Theological
conclusions follow a systematic approach,44 outlining and assessing Prudentius’ poems for
overarching theological themes and expositing doctrinal concepts.
Procedure
In order to demonstrate the validity of this study, it proceeds along the following
lines. First, chapter 1 describes the salvific concerns that led to Nicaea’s statements about
the person of Jesus Christ. Articulated best in his coherent theological treatment Against
the Gentiles-On the Incarnation, Athanasius expounds the underlying concerns for
redemption that gave rise to the clarifications of Who brings about that salvation. Also, this
chapter briefly explores the development of salvation theology up to the fourth-century
Christological controversies, in turn, arguing for Athanasius to be the quintessential
expositor of Nicene salvation theology. After establishing a standard for theological
comparison, chapter 2 presents Prudentius’ soteriology, as drawn from the verses of his
twelve daily hymns. Increasing tensions develop between Prudentius’ Christological
confessions of the Nicene Creed and his soteriological rationale. Fairbairn’s warning
begins to materialize with regard to the interconnected nature of one’s definition of
salvation subsequently affecting one’s perception of who accomplishes that salvation.45
Chapter 3 directly compares and contrasts the underlying salvation theology of Nicaea with
Prudentius’ concept of salvation. At this point, the implications and applications further
distance Prudentius from Nicaea. Notwithstanding his attentiveness to what the fourth44

The term “systematic” is used to describe inner-logic, meaning that this study will attempt to
articulate the various parts of Prudentius’ Christian belief and assess how they are related. For further
clarification on a systematic approach to patristic thought see Khaled Anatolios, Athanasius: The Coherence
of his Thought, Routledge Early Church Monographs (Abingdon: Routledge, 2005), 2.
45
Fairbairn, “Patristic Perspective,” 92.

11

century church has said about Christ, the poet seems less aware of why the church said
what it did about Christ.46 The study culminates with the conclusion, which includes a
synthesis of findings, implications, and questions for further study.

46

Fairbairn, “Patristic Perspective,” 92.

12

Chapter 1
Nicene Soteriology as Articulated by Athanasius
Introduction
Posing the question, “who do you say that I am?”47 Jesus Christ implored His firstcentury disciples to recognize Him. History reverberates the same question, and Christian
theology seeks to answer it by interpreting the person and work of Jesus Christ in context
with the being and action of God.48 The dialogue of the early church remained directly or
indirectly connected to this question.49 Writers such as Justin Martyr, Irenaeus (c. 130 – c.
200), Tertullian, and Origen laboured to articulate the God-Man identity of Jesus of
Nazareth.50 Nevertheless, instigating the debates surrounding the person of Jesus Christ
“was the fundamental question of how Jesus’ life and death were efficacious for human
salvation.”51 The early Christians fought to “safeguard the accomplishment of redemption”
and thus, opinions about salvation fuelled the conversation.52 Daniel Akin attributes the
early church’s course toward Nicene theology to the veneration of Jesus and the awareness

47

Matthew 16:15, NASB.
John Behr, The Way to Nicaea, vol. 1 of Formation of Christian Theology (Crestwood: St.
Vladimir’s Seminary Press, 2001), 1.
49
Hugh M. Scott, Origin and Development of the Nicene Theology (Chicago: Chicago Theological
Seminary Press, 1896), 8.
50
Weaver states the four most likely errors of the early writers: (1) blurring the distinction between
Jesus and God, leading to the conclusion that God the Father suffered and died on the cross, (2) separating
Jesus and God so as to propose two deities, (3) elevating Jesus’ divinity, leading to a view of His humanity
that suggests some sort of guise or apparition, and (4) elevating the humanity of Jesus so as to see Him as a
special creation or an adopted son of God. Natalie Kertes Weaver, The Theology of Suffering and Death: An
Introduction for Caregivers (New York: Routledge, 2013), 50-51.
51
Weaver, Suffering, 51.
52
Donald Fairbairn, Grace and Christology in the Early Church, Oxford Early Christians Studies
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 12. Fairbairn suggests that those who believed salvation was
primarily a human task saw Jesus Christ as their leading example. By this logic, the person of Christ “must
not simply be fully human, but his humanity must also have a measure of autonomy and must receive
prominence in one’s conception of his person, in order for his achievement of redemption to be of any saving
significance.” By contrast, those who believed salvation was primarily an act of God saw Jesus Christ as God,
present on earth. By this logic, the person of Christ “is ‘God with us’” and His presence must be a direct and
personal one. Fairbairn, Grace, 12. Cf. Weaver, Suffering, 50; Kwanbena Donker, “The Nature of Christ: The
Soteriological Question,” Biblical Research Institute Release 4 (May 2005): 2.
48

13

that salvation comes only through Him.53 In this trajectory, concerns for redemption lead to
the clarification of Christ’s person.
Ante-Nicene Salvation Theology
In its most elementary form, early Christians saw salvation as God’s triumph over
oppressive powers.54 As a result, patristic soteriology55 embodied a concern for rescue from
sin and death. Developing these initial ideas, Irenaeus offered a cohesive answer to what
salvation is from and also what it is for. To this end, his ideas greatly shaped later thinking.
Reflecting Paul’s interpretation of Jesus Christ as the new Adam,56 Irenaeus describes Him
as the new head of creation and the One who will sum up all things.57 As this figure,
“Christ reverses the disobedience of Adam” and “restores to the human race the existence
in the image and likeness of God that had been lost.”58 The Incarnation initiates what
Irenaeus calls recapitulation (anakephalaiosis), for it is Jesus Christ who sums up all
53

Daniel L. Akin, ed., A Theology for the Church (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2007), 209. In
line with Akin, Daniélou views Irenaeus’ proclamations as representative of this movement. Jean Daniélou,
Gospel Message and Hellenistic Culture, vol. 2 of A History of Early Christian Doctrine Before the Council
of Nicaea (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1973), 153. In his great Against Heresies, Irenaeus writes,
“They preserve with care the ancient tradition, believing in one God, maker of heaven and earth, and of all
things therein, through Christ Jesus, the Son of God; who in his exceeding love toward his creation submitted
to be born of a virgin, thus through himself uniting Man to God, and suffered under Pontius Pilate, and rose
again and was received in glory, and in glory will come as the Saviour of those who are saved and Judge of
those who are judged, and will send into eternal fire those who distort the truth and despise his Father and his
own Coming. And those who have believed this faith without the written word are, in our terminology,
barbarians; but, as far as their opinions and conduct and way of life are concerned, because of the faith they
are exceedingly wise and pleasing to God, walking in all righteousness and chastity and wisdom.” Irenaeus,
Against Heresies, in Five Books of S. Irenaeus, vol. 42 of Library of Fathers of the Holy Catholic Church
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1872), III.4.2.
54
Colossians 2:15, NASB; John 12:31, NASB; Francis Schüssler Fiorenza and John P. Galvin, eds.,
Systematic Theology: Roman Catholic Perspectives, 2nd ed. (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2011), 274.
55
“Soteriology” as a contemporary systematic category cannot be applied in the same way to the
patristic understanding of salvation. However, much of patristic theology is understood best in the context of
salvation and many early writers exemplify an ordered and methodical expression of salvation. For example
see the theology of Theophilus of Antioch. Rick Rogers, “Theophilus of Antioch,” in Early Christian
Thinkers: The Lives and Legacies of Twelve Key Figures, ed. Paul Foster (Downers Grove: InterVarsity
Press, 2010), 61. For these reasons, the term “soteriology,” connoting a logical explanation, remains an
appropriate description of patristic salvation theology.
56
Romans 5:12-21, NASB; I Corinthians 15:20-49, NASB.
57
Ephesians 1:10, NASB; Fiorenza, Systematic Theology, 274-275.
58
Fiorenza, Systematic Theology, 274-275; Christopher McMahon, Jesus Our Salvation: An
Introduction to Christology (Winona: Saint Mary’s Press, 2007), 160.

14

things.59 As a result of Christ’s work, the relationship between God and humanity is
restored, sin is destroyed, and human beings can become divine.60
Irenaeus viewed sin as a fall from a perfect condition and salvation as a return to
that condition. Fairbairn interprets Irenaeus’ view of original humanity as immortal, and
because of their decision to disobey God’s commandments they became mortal.61 Satan
captured humans in their disobedience, though they were originally God’s property. To
revert the fall, Irenaeus understood Christ as the One who reclaimed for humanity their
immortality and God’s rightful ownership.62 Therefore, his concept of salvation
emphasized sin, death, and captivity alongside the restoration of humanity’s original
condition.63 It is from this basis that two general theories of salvation began to emerge.64
First, that salvation is restorative and second, that salvation elevates humans from their
original state to a higher condition.65
The Nicene Creed of 325
As much as historical records are able to divulge, Arius (256 – 336) and Alexander
(c. 250 – 326) characterize the early stages of what metastasized into an empire-wide

59

Fiorenza, Systematic Theology, 274-275; Cf. Ephesians 1:7-10, NASB.
McMahon, Jesus, 160.
61
Fairbairn, Grace, 18.
62
Fairbairn, Grace, 18.
63
Fairbairn, Grace, 18. Irenaeus’ perception of salvation seems to be progressive, in that humanity
moves from a “state of childishness and imperfection to a condition of maturity.” Fairbairn, Grace, 19. “One
could argue,” responds Fairbairn, “that Irenaeus’ dominant idea is that salvation is a restoration to the original
condition, but when his concern is with the preservation of human freedom, he slides (probably
unconsciously) into a view that emphasizes the free action of man in elevating himself to a higher condition.”
See Fairbairn, Grace, 19.
64
Fairbairn, Grace, 18.
65
Fairbairn, Grace, 18. As these two theories of salvation developed, each took on a more definitive
concept. For instance, those who aligned with a restorative understanding of salvation, tended to believe that
humans were created as immortal and in perfect communion with God and only by the fall was this
interrupted. In contrast, those who aligned with an ascending understanding of salvation, tended to view
humanity’s original state in terms of opportunity, wherein God gave people the ability to obtain immortality
and perfect communion with Him. Fairbairn, Grace, 17-18.
60

15

controversy.66 Due to its viral effects, the Emperor Constantine arranged for Ossius (c. 257
– c. 359), bishop of Córdoba, to go to Alexandria with letters scolding the two instigators,
and he advised for them to reconcile.67 Thus, the Council of Nicaea in 325 was an attempt
to mend ecclesiastical differences.68
At this first ecumenical council of the early church,
three significant theological declarations were made regarding the Greek word
ousia, which means ‘being’ or ‘essence’ and represents ‘that-which-a-thing-is’. The
bishops gathered at Nicaea confessed that the Son was ‘from the ousia’ of the
Father, the Son possessed the same being or essence (homoousios) as the Father,
and, in the anathemas attached to the creed, condemned anyone who taught that the
Son was ‘of a different hypostasis or ousia from the Father.’69

66

Anatolios notes that at the beginning of this controversy, “Arius’s position was associated with the
provocative slogan ‘there was once when the Son was not,’ while Alexander strongly insisted on the doctrine
of the eternal generation of the Son.” Khaled Anatolios, Athanasius, The Early Church Fathers (London:
Routledge, 2004), 7. For a detailed description of Arius and his involvement with Nicaea see Ronald E.
Heine, “‘One God the Father’ and ‘One Lord Jesus Christ,’” in Classical Christian Doctrine: Introducing the
Essentials of the Ancient Faith (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2013). For an engaging and descriptive
essay on the development of Arian thought in relation to Nicaea see Frank Thielman, “The Road to Nicaea:
The New Testament,” in Evangelicals and Nicene Faith: Reclaiming the Apostolic Witness, ed. Timothy
George (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011).
67
Charles P. Arand, James A. Nestingen and Robert Kolb, eds., “A History of the Ancient Creedal
Texts: Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian,” in The Lutheran Confessions: History and Theology of the Book of
Concord (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress Press, 2012), 27. For a detailed description of the dialogue
between Arius and Alexander see letters of correspondence, including: “Arius’s Letter to Eusebius of
Nicomedia”; “Arius’s Letter to Alexander of Alexandria”; “Alexander of Alexandria’s Letter to Alexander of
Thessolonica”; “The Synodal Letter of the Council on Antioch, A. D. 325,” in The Trinitarian Controversy,
trans. William G. Rusch (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1980).
68
For a detailed description of the meeting see Theodoret, The Ecclesiastical History of Theodoret,
in Theodoret, Jerome, Gennadius, and Rufinus: Historical Writings, vol. 3 of Nicene and Post-Nicene
Fathers of the Christian Church, eds. Philip Schaff and Henry Wallace (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1892), 1.6;
“The Creed of the Synod of Nicaea: June 19, 325,” in The Trinitarian Controversy, trans. William G. Rusch
(Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1980).
69
Carl Beckwith, “Athanasius,” in Shapers of Christian Orthodoxy: Engaging with Early and
Medieval Theologians, ed. Bradley G. Green (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2010), 160. The Nicene
Creed of 325: “We believe in one God, Father Almighty, Maker of all things, seen and unseen; and in one
Lord Jesus Christ the Son of God, begotten as only begotten of the father, that is of the essence [ousia] of the
Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one essence [homoousios]
with the Father, through whom all things came into existence, both things in heaven and things on earth; who
for us men and for our salvation came down and was incarnate and became man, suffered and rose again the
third day, ascended into the heavens, and is coming to judge the living and the dead; and in the Holy Spirit.
But those who say ‘there was a time when He did not exist’, and ‘before being begotten He did not exist’, and
that ‘He came into being from non-existence’, or who allege that the Son of God is from another hypostasis
or ousia, or is alterable or changeable, [or created], these the catholic and apostolic Church condemns.” David
M. Gwynn, Athanasius of Alexandria: Bishop, Theologian, Ascetic, Father, Christian Theology in Context
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 64.

16

At the council the forefront tenets dealt with the person of Jesus Christ directly. It was not
until later, when Athanasius articulated the soteriological concerns that led to such a
defense of the divinity of Christ, that Nicene theology was recognized.
Because patristic theology was both an attempt to illuminate the mysteries of Christ
and a defense against critics and non-believers, the doctrines that came out of Nicaea were
developed over time.70 Therefore, Lewis Ayres argues that the Nicene Creed was not
originally intended as a
binding and universal formula of Christian faith with a carefully chosen
terminology defining the fundamental Christian account of the relationship between
Father and Son. The idea that the creed would serve as a universal and precise
marker of Christian faith was unlikely to have occurred to anyone at Nicaea simply
because the idea that any creed might so serve was as yet unheard of; and thus, it
evolved through the fourth century.71
For this reason, it is valuable to study the driving concerns behind Nicaea in order to better
understand its overall development. The claims of the Nicene Creed, though known by
many during the fourth century, were not fully understood or even agreed upon, but any
impetus should be more established theoretically. Ayres contends that the council “resulted
in more confusion than resolution, at least in the short term, and neither Arius nor
Athanasius ... was a primary figure in the immediate aftermath of the council.”72 However,

70

Robert Louis Wilken, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought: Seeking the Face of God (New
Haven: Yale University Press, 2003), 3; John M. Leavitt, ed., “Early History of Soteriology,” in The
American Quarterly Church Review, vol. 20 (London: Waterloo Place, 1869), 391.
71
Lewis Ayres, Nicaea and Its Legacy: An Approach to Fourth-Century Trinitarian Theology
(Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2006), 85-86.
72
Khaled Anatolios, “Discourse on the Trinity,” in Constantine to c. 600, vol. 2 of The Cambridge
History of Christianity, eds. Augustine Casiday and F. Norris (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
2007), 434. For a further discussion on Athanasius and Arius in dialogue about the statements of the Nicene
Council of 325 see Athanasius, Orations Against the Arians, in The Christological Controversy, trans. and ed.
Richard A. Norris, Jr. Sources of Early Christian Thought, ed. William G. Rusch (Philadelphia: Fortress
Press, 1980); Athanasius, De Synodis, in Athanasius: Select Works and Letters, vol. 4 of Nicene and PostNicene Fathers of the Christian Church, eds. Philip Schaff and Henry Wallace (Edinburgh: T&T Clark,
1892), 451-580; Athanasius, Four Discourses Against the Arians, in Athanasius: Select Works and Letters,
vol. 4 of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, eds. Philip Schaff and Henry Wallace
(Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1892), 306-447; J. N. D. Kelly, Early Christian Doctrine, 2nd ed. (New York: Harper

17

Athanasius’ early writings may be the best place to “enlarge on and offer a convincing
version of that original Nicene theology.”73
The major statements of the Nicene Creed propelled discussion about the person of
Jesus Christ.74 Nevertheless, it was the soteriological concerns that prompted thinkers to
clarify the identity of Jesus. Subtle though these undertones may be, they are a valuable
inclusion within the creed. Fairbairn points out that
The Creed affirms not only that ‘we believe in one God, Father all-sovereign,
maker of all things seen and unseen; and in one Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God’,
but also that this Son of God ‘for us men, and for our salvation, came down, and
was incarnated, and was made man, suffered, and arose on the third day.’75
It is Athanasius who later argues that the divinity of Jesus Christ and salvation through
Him are inseparable, for it is because “salvation and eternal life are given by Christ He
must be the Divine Son of God.”76
The Rightful Spokesperson for Nicene Salvation Theology
To be clear, it is doubtful that Athanasius played a significant role in the first
Council of Nicaea.77 Nevertheless, John Behr convincingly argues that more important than
his initial involvement is Athanasius’ theology in which he expounded “the central

& Row, 1960), 223-251; Frances M. Young, From Nicaea to Chalcedon, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker
Academic, 2010), 40-72.
73
Ayres, Nicaea, 99-100. Ayres points to a group of texts that define original Nicene theology,
rather than a unified systematic because many of the contributors would not have coincided well in terms of
theology broadly speaking. Ayres, Nicaea, 99. While in agreement with Ayres, this chapter focuses on
Nicene soteriology; thus, Athanasius’ system of thought offers a valid and formative representation of this
aspect of Nicene theology.
74
For a further discussion about Athanasius, Arius and the Christological controversy of the fourth
century see Rowan Williams, “Athanasius and the Arian Crisis,” in The First Christian Theologians: An
Introduction to Theology in the Early Church, ed. G. R. Evans (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2004).
75
Fairbairn, Grace, 1.
76
Scott, Origin and Development, 11.
77
Andrew Louth, “The Fourth-Century Alexandrians: Athanasius and Didymus,” in The Cambridge
History of Early Christian Literature, eds. Frances M. Young, Lewis Ayres and Andrew Louth (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 2004), 275. Louth suggests that Athanasius had some involvement in one or two
letters sent to Alexander before the council met; however, proof of this remains unclear. Louth,
“Alexandrians,” 275.

18

institutions of his predecessor, Alexander, into a full exposition of Nicene theology.”78 It
was, after all, Athanasius who “on the eve of the Council of Constantinople ... was
canonized and ... whose very name was synonymous with orthodoxy.”79 The doctrinal
controversies prevailed after Athanasius’ death; however, the dominant figures after him
were the Cappadocian Fathers, Basil of Caesarea (c. 330 – 379), Gregory of Nazianzus (c.
329 – c. 390), and Gregory of Nyssa (c. 335 – c. 395), “who in orthodox tradition
completed the work that Athanasius had begun.”80 In many ways, Athanasius was the voice
for a theology that originated before him and the sustainer of its essence long after his own
death. For this reason, he is the best resource for understanding the creed’s original tenets
and its inherent motivations.
It is suspected that Athanasius was born at the end of the third century and later
succeeded Alexander as bishop of Alexandria in 328.81 J. F. Johnson records that he was
given a Greek education, after being taken in as a young boy by Alexander, and that he
exemplified the influences of both his successor and of earlier Alexandrian thinkers, such
as Origen.82 Notably, the foundation of his work remains soteriological, as is best

78

John Behr, introduction to On the Incarnation, by Athanasius (New York: St. Vladimir’s
Seminary Press, 2011), 20.
79
Behr, Incarnation, 20. Leithart aptly adds that he “was a bishop until his death in 373, that is, for
nearly a half century after the Nicene council, and he was fixated on defending the Nicene formula,
especially the controversial term homoousios, ‘one substance.’” Peter J. Leithart, Athanasius, Foundations of
Theological Exegesis and Christian Spirituality (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011), 17, emphasis mine.
80
Gwynn, Athanasius, 65, emphasis mine; Robert L. Ottley, Doctrine of the Incarnation (Whitefish:
Kessinger Publishing, 2003), 41.
81
Due to his young age his succession to bishop was widely contested. Despite concerns he went on
to hold the position for “forty-six years, during which he had been exiled five times, for a total of some
seventeen years.” Behr, Incarnation, 19.
82
J. F. Johnson, “Athanasius,” in Evangelical Dictionary of Theology, ed. Walter A. Elwell, 2nd ed.
(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2001), 111. In contrast to previous Alexandrian thinkers, Gwynn notes that
“Athanasius was not a theoretical or intellectual theologian. The questions that inspired his teachings were
those that concerned his congregations and the wider Christian people.” As a result, even in his early works
Athanasius was “engaging with the fundamental doctrines of Christianity: the revelation of God and salvation
for man made possible through the Incarnation of the Son.” Gwynn, Athanasius, 66.

19

articulated in his double work Against the Gentiles-On the Incarnation.83 On the
Incarnation is a continuation of Against the Gentiles. In agreement with John Behr, “Both
need to be considered together, for the first work sets up the problem that the second
resolves.”84 Scholars such as Denis Edwards have argued that Athanasius’ early work lays
out his system of thought.85 Thus, in Against the Gentiles he explains how humans tainted
their ability to know God, turning from Him to idolatry.86 Human beings were originally
created to contemplate God and by their own decision turned their attention to created
things and suffered the fall.87 Continuing through the narrative, On the Incarnation argues
that this intimate contemplation of God can be renewed, but only by the Word “making
himself personally present in the created order, and overcoming the metaphysical or
ontological consequences of the Fall – corruption and death – by absorbing them through
his own encounter with, and embracing of, death.”88 In this way, part two portrays
redemption for humanity through Christ, victory over death, and the re-establishment of
communion with God.89 Of Against the Gentiles-On the Incarnation Behr writes that it is

83

Thomas G. Weinandy, Athanasius: A Theological Introduction, Great Theologians (Aldershot:
Ashgate Publishing, 2007), 11. Ayres suggests that “an original ‘Nicene’ theology” can be pointed to in terms
of “common themes apparent in texts from those most directly responsible for Nicaea’s language. We can
point to Alexander of Alexandria’s letters to Alexander of Byzantium, some fragments of Marcellus of
Ancyra, the creed of Antioch 325, some fragments of Eustathius of Antioch, and the few fragments giving
Constantine’s own opinion. To these we might add the Athanasius of Contra gentes and De incarnatione.”
Ayres, Nicaea, 99. For a detailed discussion on the dating of Against the Gentiles-On the Incarnation see
Anatolios, Athanasius, 26-30; James D. Ernest, The Bible in Athanasius of Alexandria (Atlanta: Society of
Biblical Literature, 2010), 44-50; Ottley, Doctrine, 24; Khaled Anatolios, Retrieving Nicaea: The
Development and Meaning of Trinitarian Doctrine (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2011), 101; Gwynn,
Athanasius, 65-66. Generally scholars are in agreement that Against the Gentiles-On the Incarnation is one of
Athanasius’ earliest works.
84
Behr, Incarnation, 22.
85
Denis Edwards, “Athanasius – The Word of God in Creation and Salvation,” in A Mosaic of
Selected Classic Christian Theologies, vol 1 of Creation and Salvation, ed. Ernst M. Conradie (Berlin: LIT
Verlag, 2012), 38.
86
Edwards, “Athanasius,” 38.
87
Louth, “Alexandrians,” 277.
88
Louth, “Alexandrians,” 277.
89
Edwards, “Athanasius,” 38. Athanasius’ stress on the Incarnation of the Word must not be
perceived as an alternative theology of Christ’s death and resurrection; rather, his two-part work is “an

20

Athanasius’s simple and direct language that communicates “the ‘real’ Nicene theology.”90
Therefore, it is the purpose of this chapter to argue that forasmuch as the immediate
concerns of Nicaea centre around the person of Jesus Christ, it is Athanasius who
articulates best the underlying soteriological impetus, wherein the Word Incarnate, by
means of His life, death and resurrection, is humanity’s intended and only redemptive
solution. A clear description of Athanasius’ soteriological vision, as depicted in his Against
the Gentiles-On the Incarnation, is necessary to showcase the essence of Nicene
soteriology. Following Athanasius’ lead, his reasoning will unfold in terms of identifying
the problem, God’s dilemma, and finally, His solution for the salvation of the world.
Athanasius’ Soteriological Impetus
In a well-formulated argument, Khaled Anatolios opposes a view of Athanasius’
work that narrows it to the Arian controversy, but instead purports an appreciation of his
coherent theological treatment of the Christian faith.91 He remarks that the scholarship was
missing “a systematic account of the overall inner logic of the Athanasian vision that shows
how the various aspects of his doctrine are mutually related.”92 Agreeing with Anatolios,
Athanasius exhibits a strong sense of order. For instance, he encourages his reader to
understand cause and effect: “For the account of such things, it is necessary to recall what
has previously been said, that you may be able to know the cause.”93 His intentionality in

apology for the cross.” Edwards, “Athanasius,” 38; Behr, Incarnation, 23. “In a comprehensive and
compelling manner,” Behr continues to argue, “Athanasius expounds the central mystery of Christian
theology, the incarnation, but in a manner that embraces all aspects of God’s work, from creation to
recreation.” Behr, Incarnation, 21.
90
Behr, Incarnation, 21.
91
Anatolios, Coherence, 1.
92
Anatolios, Coherence, 1. Athanasius’ “theology may be considered as formally systematic insofar
as he is consistently concerned to articulate the various ‘parts’ of Christian faith as intrinsically related.”
Anatolios, Coherence, 2.
93
Athanasius, On the Incarnation, trans. John Behr, intro. C. S. Lewis (New York: St. Vladimir’s
Seminary Press, 2011), 53.

21

order further suggests this planned schema. For example, he describes “first cause”
information, expounds an argument by continuing with phrases such as “for this reason,”
and leads his reader by telling them what “the next step is.”94 In turn, Athanasius is careful
to limit his work to what is known, rather than to what is speculation.95 In addition, the
dramatic narrative cannot be separated from his theological reasoning. For example, he
explains that the origin of humanity
is not distinct from the aim of our exposition. For speaking of the manifestation of
the Savior to us, it is necessary also to speak of the origin of human beings, in order
that you might know that our own cause was the occasion of his descent and that
our own transgression evoked the Word’s love for human beings, so that the Lord
both came to us and appeared among human beings. For we were the purpose of his
embodiment, and for our salvation he so loved human beings as to come to be and
appear in a human body.96
Further to the point, Anatolios notes that Athanasius’ writings span over “four decades
permeated with intense doctrinal debate” and yet,
he maintains a remarkable consistency in his theological vision and even
vocabulary, albeit with some notable developments and variance of emphasis ....
[His] soteriological vision, in turn, is based on a particular conception of the
relation between God and creation which is given foundational systematic
expression in Against the Greeks – On the Incarnation and then seems to be
presumed throughout Athanasius’s theological career.97

94

Athanasius, Incarnation, 73, 83, 93.
He writes, “We have spoken above in part, as far as was possible and as far as we were able to
understand.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 93.
96
Athanasius, Incarnation, 59.
97
Anatolios, Athanasius, 39. Harnack argues that Athanasius’ soteriology did not experience any
real changes, but Schaff and Wallace keenly observe a distinct fading of Origen’s influence from his earlier to
later writings. Philip Schaff and Henry Wallace, eds., “The Theology of S. Athanasius,” in Nicene and PostNicene Fathers, vol. 4 (New York: Cosimo, 2007), xviii. Gwynn argues that amidst his continuity of thought
(from Contra Gentes-De Incarnatione to the Orationes contra Arianos) “The language of the three Orationes
is far more explicitly polemical, and Athanasius reacted to the threat he perceived in ‘Arianism’ by placing
even greater stress on the Son’s full divinity. He also refined his presentation of the doctrine of deification
and the relationship between the divine Word and the human body in the Incarnation. These were differences
of emphasis not of interpretation. The fundamental principles of Athanasius’ theology remained unchanged,
as they would throughout his involvement in the fourth-century controversies.” Gwynn, Athanasius, 74.
95

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History as God’s Salvation Metanarrative
Genesis Establishes the Creator’s Being and Action
Athanasius interprets all of history as God’s grand salvation narrative.98 It is for this
reason that he begins his exposition of redemption with creation. His purpose is to establish
the being and action of the Creator. As Creator, God is the ultimate power, sustaining
authority and sole Creator. “As we give an account of [humanity’s salvation],” Athanasius
explains, “it is first necessary to speak about the creation of the universe and its maker,
God, so that one may thus worthily reflect that its recreation was accomplished by the
Word who created it in the beginning.”99 The logic here suggests that because only the
Creator can create, only the Creator can re-create. As Creator, God is the first cause, for
nothing pre-exists Him.100 Leithart is right to point out that in declaring that God creates,
Athanasius is suggesting that it is “the Father working through the eternal divine Son and

98

By insisting that Jesus Christ stands at the centre of God’s salvation narrative, “Athanasius is not
merely affirming that the historical Jesus is both God and man, but also a central Gospel tenet. He is
confirming both that God acts in history and that it is within history that God acts. History is the stage, for
Athanasius, upon which God acts, and through the Incarnation, he has actually done so as a man. At the very
heart of Jesus’ redemptive work is the historic event of the cross, for it embodies the healing power of all
creation and so establishes all that the Father originally intended for creation, especially humankind, that is,
eternal communion with him.” Weinandy, Athanasius, 12.
99
Athanasius, Incarnation, 53.
100
To affirm this conclusion, Athanasius argues against three parties of thought: (1) the Epicureans,
who “say that all things have come into being spontaneously and as by chance,” as a result they “fantasize
that there is no providence over the universe”; (2) the Platonic Greeks, who “declare that God made the
universe from preexistent and uncreated matter, as God is not able to make anything unless matter
preexisted”; and (3) “Others, again, from the heretics fabricate for themselves another creator of all things
besides the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 53, 55. To these, Athanasius disputes
saying, first “if all things came into being spontaneously without providence, as they claim, all things would
necessarily have simply come into being and be identical and without difference. Everything would have
been as a single body, sun or moon, and regarding human beings, the whole would have been a hand or eye or
foot .... Such order indicates that they did not come into being spontaneously, but shows that a cause preceded
them, from which once can apprehend the God who ordered and created all things.” Athanasius, Incarnation,
53. Second, “if [God] is not himself the cause of matter, but simply makes things from pre-existent matter,
then he is weak, not being able without matter to fashion any of the things that exist.” Athanasius,
Incarnation, 55. And third, “if, according to John, encompassing all things in saying, ‘all things were made
by him and without him was nothing made’ (Jn 1.3), how could there be another creator besides the Father of
Christ?” Athanasius, Incarnation, 55.

23

the eternal divine Spirit.”101 So that, correctly understood, God’s being and action are
intimately held together.
The Word as Creator
Athanasius expresses that God’s own Word creates, the Word who is Jesus Christ.
For “he made all things through his own Word, our Lord Jesus Christ.”102 Johnson observes
that it is before the Arian controversies that Athanasius articulates a concept of the Word of
God that was different from the present view.103 Prior to his explanation, there was a
proclivity to distinguishing God from a subordinate deity,104 a notion that Athanasius
rejects outright.
Concluding that all of creation was created by the Word of God, Athanasius presses
the point further, affirming that God also “governs and establishes this world through his

101

Leithart, Athanasius, 90.
Athanasius, Incarnation, 57.
103
Johnson, “Athanasius,” 112. At the heart of the debates between Athanasius and Arius stood the
issue of whether the Word was part of the created world or part of God Himself. Edwards explains that Arius’
followers seemed to understand the Word as created, whereas Athanasius located the Word in God, thus
defending the divinity of the Word. Furthermore, it is because of the fact that the Word belongs to God that
He “can really become incarnate in the world and thus transform the world in God. God and creation meets in
Christ the Word. The saving act of the incarnation is precisely about the union of God and the created
universe in Jesus Christ.” Denis Edwards, “God’s Redeeming Act: Deifying Transformation,” in How God
Acts: Creation, Redemption, and Special Divine Action, Theology and the Sciences (Minneapolis: Fortress
Press, 2010), 112, emphasis mine.
104
Johnson, “Athanasius,” 112. Daniélou argues, “Athanasius’s significance in Trinitarian theology
lies in his ability to separate wholly the generation of the Word from a theory about the universe and
consequently reject all subordinationism, as Marcellus has done, but at the same time asserting the existence
as a separate Person of the Word, with the traditional theologians, something that Marcellus had not done. By
this achievement he made possible a reconciliation of the movements of thought which were opposing each
other while retaining whatever of value each possessed. This new doctrine is evident in the fact that he is the
first to apply the word Pantocrator (Almighty) to the Word, a term hitherto reserved for the Father, and to
assert as a consequence the entire equality in the Godhead of the Father and the Son, while at the same time
subscribing to the eternal existence as a Person of the latter. This formula alone expressed realistically the
Christian datum.” Jean Daniélou, “Patristic Literature,” in Historical Theology, vol. 2 of The Pelican Guide
to Modern Theology, ed. R. P. C. Hanson (London: Penguin Books, 1971), 85. On the Incarnation
“emphasizes this innovation by linking the Incarnation consistently with the Atonement and in placing
Christ’s conquest of death at the centre of his theology. The interest is thus firmly shifted from the Word as
Creator to the Word as Redeemer, without, however, the doctrine of the original creation of man in the image
of God being played down. On the contrary, Athanasius sees in the image of God in man, which he does not
distinguish from the likeness, man’s calling to share the life of God.” Daniélou, “Patristic Literature,” 85-86.
102

24

Word, so that, guided and ordered by the Word, it is enabled to remain firm.”105 Behr
discerns that the Word’s creating and governing
should not be thought of as two separate and sequentially distinct actions. Rather, as
everything has been created by God through his Word, the order of the Word is, as
it were, imprinted upon everything, so that every aspect of his creation manifests
the creative work, the power, of the Word. Bearing the imprint of the Word, and so
making the Word present, the cosmos is maintained in existence by the Word, and
this creation Athanasius identifies, following Colossians, as the Church.106
The Word, therefore, is identified as being external to creation.
The Created
Athanasius’ perception of God and creation provides the overarching structure
wherein all other doctrines find their place.107 For Anatolios, the strength of this schema
comes from Athanasius’ ability to balance consistently the dissimilitude and relation
between God and creation.108 Creation, by its very nature, implies an ontological
distinction from its Creator. It is this distinction that Athanasius preserves “no matter how
intimately God unites himself with human nature or how elevated human beings are in
grace. God remains God and creation remains created.”109 Similarly, David M. Gwynn
articulates that “The Godhead, eternal and immutable, is utterly separate by ousia (essence)
and physis (nature) from the created order, brought into existence in time and mutable.”110
Yet, this does not pre-determine a distant God, for knowledge of Him and salvation “must
come from God through His love, expressed above all through the Incarnation [life, death

105

Behr, Incarnation, 34.
Behr, Incarnation, 34.
107
Anatolios, Athanasius, 39-40. In saying this, Anatolios provides a caveat, warning that “this
central focus on the relation between God and creation is at the same time always a Christological focus.”
Anatolios, Athanasius, 40. For a comprehensive essay on Athanasius’ concept of creation as it stood in the
wake of Origen’s philosophically Greek concept of creation see G. Florovsky, “The Concept of Creation in St
Athanasius,” Studia Patristica 6 (1962): 36-52.
108
Anatolios, Coherence, 3.
109
Leithart, Athanasius, 89.
110
Gwynn, Athanasius, 66-67.
106

25

and resurrection] of His Son.”111 In this way the Word of God is affirmed as Creator and
not created. Therefore, Thomas G. Weinandy is correct to observe that “it is the act of
creation that ontologically distinguishes God from all else” and this places Jesus, the Word
of God, as divine intermediary between Creator and created.112 To summarize, creation was
brought into existence from nothing by the Word.113
Humankind Differentiated
Athanasius goes on to demarcate the whole of creation from human beings. In the
act of creating, God “had mercy on the human race, in that being good he did not leave
them destitute of the knowledge of himself.”114 Without this component, human beings
“would not have differed at all from the irrational creatures if they had known nothing
more than the terrestrial animals.”115 Athanasius pronounces clearly the uniqueness of
human beings, though he views them as part of the greater creation.116 Human beings were
created in the image of God, which means that they have been gifted with rationality (free
choice and the ability to know God) and a sharing of the power of His own Word.117
Originally, the gift (grace) of being created in the image was, in Athanasius’ mind,

111

Gwynn, Athanasius, 66-67.
Weinandy, Athanasius, 14.
113
For Athanasius, this principle characterizes humanity’s existence in a way that projects them as
“inherently tending toward non-being.” Anatolios, Athanasius, 41; Athanasius, Contra Gentes, in Athanasius:
Select Works and Letters, vol. 4 of Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, eds. Philip
Schaff and Henry Wallace (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1892), §41.
114
Athanasius, Incarnation, 73.
115
Athanasius, Incarnation, 73.
116
God “made all things through his own Word.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 57, emphasis mine.
117
Athanasius argues, “of all things upon earth he had mercy upon the human race, and seeing that
by the principle of its own coming into being it would not be able to endure eternally, he granted them a
further gift, creating human beings not simply like all the irrational animals upon the earth but making them
according to his own image (cf. Gen. 1.27), giving them a share of the power of his own Word, so that having
as it were shadows of the Word and being made rational, they might be able to abide in blessedness, living
the true life which is really that of the holy ones in paradise. And knowing against that free choice of human
beings could turn either way, he secured beforehand, by a law and a set place, the grace given.” Athanasius,
Incarnation, 57.
112

26

“sufficient to know the God Word, and through him the Father.”118 In this way, Anatolios
observes that Athanasius places human existence as constitutive of God’s grace; that is to
say, “The aspect of ‘grace’ in the human being is the gift that is granted to humanity.”119
Recall that humanity was created from nothing and as such, Athanasius accepts a “radical
ontological instability” in which human beings need the grace of God to exist as they
are.120 As part of God’s gracious gift, human beings were created with free choice and the
capacity to know Him.121 Weinandy gives summary to Athanasius’ concept in noting
“human beings are able, after the likeness of the Word, to know and so be in communion
with the Father. Having been ontologically created by the Word and in the Word’s own
image, human beings are thus naturally empowered by that same Word to share equally in
the epistemological ability to know the Father.”122
It is only through the misuse of free choice that “humanity has lost access to the
knowledge of God and descended into a downward spiral of ignorance123 and moral

118

Athanasius, Incarnation, 75.
Anatolios, Athanasius, 41. Developing this idea further, Anatolios explains, “It is vital to
distinguish this dramatically dialectical conception from later schematizations of ‘nature’ and ‘grace’ in the
later Western tradition, where ‘nature’ refers to the inherent structure of the human being as created by God,
while ‘grace’ is associated with the unmerited gifts which are granted by God over and above the original act
of creation. For Athanasius, the aspects of ‘nature’ and ‘grace’ are both constitutive of human beings as
created by God, ‘nature’ referring to the whence of creation’s being, which is also an intrinsic orientation to
nothingness, and ‘grace’ to the reality of its establishment in being through the Word. It might seem that
Athanasius lays extreme stress on humanity’s fragility, which indeed he does. But it would be a mistake to
construe this as a ‘pessimistic’ account of the human condition. Ultimately, it is a conception of the human
being as an entity whose very existence is radically gifted. Precisely because its whole being is gifted,
humanity has no hold on being apart from that irreducibly radical gift.” Anatolios, Athanasius, 42.
120
Anatolios, Athanasius, 43. During the theological debates Athanasius insisted “that the Word is
the one who sustains humanity and compensates for the ontological poverty of its origination from nothing
and is not himself susceptible to the radical weakness of created being.” Anatolios, Athanasius, 43. It is for
this reason that Athanasius describes humanity as mortal, but made immortal with the gift of the image of
God. Athanasius, Incarnation, 59.
121
Athanasius, Incarnation, 57, 73, 75.
122
Weinandy, Athanasius, 14.
123
Even at this state of incessant idolatry, there was the possibility of knowing God. If a human
being turned back to God, giving up their idolatrous behavior, so as to keep the image of God, they could
contemplate Him again. In the same way, the image of God can be perceived through His creation. Behr,
Incarnation, 31-32.
119

27

depravity.”124 Human decision changes their being, “For the transgression of the
commandment returned them to the natural state, so that, just as they, not being, came to
be, so also they might rightly endure in time the corruption unto non-being.”125 In contrast
to God’s will, human beings chose themselves and fell into an idolatrous existence.126
Athanasius connects evil directly to what humans have done. For “evil is non-being, the
good is being, since it has come into being from the existing God – then they were bereft
also of eternal being. But this, being decomposed, is to remain in death and corruption. For
the human being is by nature mortal, having come into being from nothing.”127
Athanasius’ Basis of Thought
Athanasius’ account of God, creation, and humanity secures three foundational
assumptions that determine the expression of his interpretation of Nicene soteriology. First,
God establishes Himself as love in His act of creation by naming Himself Savior before
creating.128 “The Word of creation is the Word of salvation.”129 In this way Athanasius
replicates Irenaeus by declaring that creation and redemption are inseparable.130 That is
why all of history, for Athanasius, is salvation history. Second, he constitutes the purpose
for which humanity was created, and consequentially affirms that humanity is still

124

Anatolios, Retrieving Nicaea, 102-103. Contra Gentes “is an exposition of the extent to which
humanity had failed to ‘remain’ within the original structure of the relationship with God and had turned to
the non-being of evil.” Anatolios, Coherence, 36.
125
Athanasius, Incarnation, 59. Athanasius points to the fall as the problem of his dramatic narrative
suggesting that “God created the human being and willed that he should abide in incorruptibility; but when
humans despised and overturned the comprehension of God, devising and contriving evil for themselves, as
was said in the first work [Contra Gentes], then they received the previously threatened condemnation of
death, and thereafter no longer remained as they had been created, but were corrupted as they had contrived;
and, seizing them, death reigned.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 59.
126
Vividly Athanasius writes, “out of wickedness human beings devised for themselves the worship
of idols.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 51; Cf. Athanasius, Incarnation, 61.
127
Athanasius, Incarnation, 59.
128
Cf. Athanasius, Incarnation, 59; Revelation 13:8, NASB; 1 Peter 1:19-20, NASB.
129
Edwards, “Athanasius,” 50.
130
Anatolios, Athanasius, 50.

28

“destined for knowledge of and fellowship with [his or her] Creator.”131 By declaring the
divine nature of the Word he affirms, “the only means, to this end is Christ the Incarnate
Son of God.”132 Third, Athanasius’ balance of God’s transcendence and immanence in and
through Jesus Christ is explicit and consistent. John Behr aptly summarizes,
God is transcendent to all creation, ‘beyond all being and human thought.’ Yet this
transcendence is not such that it makes his presence in creation, nor the creatures
knowledge of God, impossible. As God is good, Athanasius affirms, he created all
things ‘by his Word our Savior Jesus Christ,’ so that through likeness to him
knowledge of their Creator might be granted to human beings.133
Beginning with the doctrine of creation (which really incorporates redemption, the Trinity,
Christology, and anthropology) gives Athanasius “a number of his most fundamental
metaphysical convictions.”134
The Plot of Athanasius’ Dramatic Narrative
The Problem
The first critical juncture in Athanasius’ drama of humankind is the problem. God
in His goodness created humanity with free choice, and humans used it to reject their
Creator. Even so, God, out of love for humanity, continued to provide avenues by which
humans could know Him.135 Nevertheless, stubborn and selfish humanity remained

131

Schaff, “Athanasius,” 1.xxi -1.xxii.
Schaff, “Athanasius,” 1.xxi -1.xxii.
133
Behr, Incarnation, 26-27. Anatolios adds, “Instead of assigning divine transcendence and
immanence to Father and Son respectively, he construes them as attributes that belong to divine being as such
and are harmonized through the category of philanthropia, God’s love for humanity. While God is by nature
inaccessible, he makes himself accessible to creation through his love.” Anatolios, Retrieving Nicaea, 104. As
a result, “No distinct mediating being is needed because the divine nature mediates its own transcendence
through God’s loving condescension. Simultaneously conceding that divine transcendence militates against
direct contact with creation and integrating his theology of creation with his theology of incarnation,
Athanasius characterizes the radical relation between God and creation, even in the very act of creation, as the
expression of God’s loving mercy.” Anatolios, Retrieving Nicaea, 104.
134
Leithart, Athanasius, 89-90.
135
Gwynn, Athanasius, 67.
132

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obstinate and ignorant.136 Given human weakness and the ontological instability of their
natural being, God foresaw the inevitable reality of human frailty and planned for a
positive outcome before even creating.137 For this reason, Athanasius does not interpret the
Incarnation of the Word as God’s reaction, nor as an arbitrary event. Rather, it was
intended, foreseen, and therefore, designed for a distinct purpose. Propelling the problem,
as Athanasius explains, is evil’s dynamic and progressive nature, for
even in their transgressions human beings had not stopped short of any defined
limits, but gradually pressing forward they had passed beyond all measure: from
the beginning they were inventors of evil and called death and corruption down
upon themselves; while later, turning to vice and exceeding all lawlessness, not
stopping at one evil but contriving in time every new evil, they became insatiable in
sinning.138
In consequence, the human experience began a “rapid descent into the nothingness which is
humanity’s only natural possession apart from God.”139 The determining factor for the
human situation in light of this tension “is the exercise of free will,” which determines the
movement “upwards, toward communion with God, or downwards, toward
nothingness.”140 Therefore, the problem was that humanity chose to fail at remaining in the
good of God and surrendered to the temptations of idolatry, corruption, and death.141 Sin,

136

Athanasius explains, “The grace of being in the image was sufficient to know the God Word, and
through him the Father. But knowing the weakness of human beings, God anticipated also their carelessness,
so that if they cared not to recognize God through themselves, through the works of creation they might not
be ignorant of the Creator. But since the negligence of humans descended gradually to lower things, God
again anticipated such weakness of theirs, sending the law and the prophets, known to them, so that if they
shrank from looking up to the heavens and knowing the Creator, they might have instruction from those close
by.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 75, 77.
137
Athanasius, Incarnation, 59.
138
Athanasius, Incarnation, 61.
139
Anatolios, Athanasius, 48. For Athanasius, a neutral state is an impossibility, “given humanity’s
inherent lack of hold on being.” Anatolios, Athanasius, 48.
140
Anatolios, Athanasius, 48. This same description of movement is also seen in Prudentius, the
major difference being that for the poet this tension remains after Christ’s death and resurrection, whereas for
Athanasius it does not.
141
Idolatry, in terms of the human body, was “a kind of barometer, measuring the perversity into
which humans have fallen, the degree to which their knowledge of God has been lost, and the extent to which
the image of God in them obscured, the consequence of which is corruption and death.” Behr, Incarnation,

30

therefore, is corruption of being, not simply unethical behavior.142 For Athanasius, it is the
“finality and irreversibility of sin” that remains at the heart of the problem.143
In this narrative humans are responsible for their own plummet to corruption (decreation), not God.144 Participation in evil leads to “insatiable sinning,”145 while
participation in good leads to sharing in the power of the Word, which is re-creation and
knowing God.146 Athanasius begins his explanation of the cross of Christ by first
recognizing the origin of idolatry, underscoring that it “is not ‘from the beginning,’ ...
[therefore it] is not a proper characteristic of created existence, but is rather a deviation
from the right relationship between God and creation.”147 In contrast to what has happened
in history, human begins were intended “for communion with God, through contemplation
of God’s Word and image” and evil is in no way a part of this original design, but instead
23-24. Furthermore, “The bulk of Against the Gentiles describes the prevalence of idolatry prior to the
coming of Christ, a situation which demands the drastic solution presented in On the Incarnation.” Behr,
Incarnation, 24.
142
Athanasius reasons, “If then there were only offence and not the consequence of corruption,
repentance would have been fine.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 65.
143
Anatolios, Athanasius, 63. Anatolios continues, “But if the power of sin lies in its capacity to lead
humanity into the condition of ‘remaining’ in its orientation to nothingness and so exploits humanity’s
inherent ontological weakness, the final and definitive ‘remaining’ in the ‘grace’ of participation in the Word
happens only through the humanization, death, and resurrection of the Word. Only the divine Word, who is
not subject to the ‘remaining in death’ that comes through sin’s confirmation of humanity’s inherent
nothingness, can definitely liberate humanity and cause it to ‘remain’ with God.” Anatolios, Athanasius, 63.
144
Athanasius portrays this corruption graphically stating, “Now nothing in creation had gone astray
in its notion of God, save the human being only. Why, neither sun nor moon nor heaven nor stars nor water
nor air altered their course; but knowing their Creator and King, the Word, they remained as they were made.
But human beings alone, having rejected the good, henceforth fabricated things that do not exist instead of the
truth, and ascribed the honor due to God, and the knowledge of him, to demons and human beings fabricated
in stone.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 143.
145
Athanasius, Incarnation, 61. Insatiable sinning, for Athanasius, is idolatry, a state in which God
is not known. He writes, that humanity “turned away from God and so darkened their own soul, that they not
only forgot the concept of God but also fashioned for themselves others instead.” Athanasius, Incarnation,
75.
146
Athanasius begins to explain that the human pattern of deteriorating into non-being is
safeguarded once and for all in the person of Jesus Christ, for “being good he bestowed on them of his own
image, our Lord Jesus Christ, and made them according to his own image and according to the likeness, so
that understanding through such grace the image, I mean the Word of the Father, they might be able to
receive through him a notion of the Father, and knowing the Creator they might live the happy and truly
blessed life.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 73, 75.
147
Behr, Incarnation, 25; Cf. Athanasius, Contra Gentes, §2. Athanasius sides with Origen’s
understanding of evil by not giving it an existence. Schaff, “Athanasius,” 1.xxiii.

31

was introduced through human sin, which “defaced His image in [humans]” and solidified
death as their final result.148 Thus, Athanasius considers this problem to be afflictive.
God’s Dilemma
In exploring the dilemma that is before God, the complicated nature of the problem
is accentuated as well as the stringent parameters for any solution. And so, Athanasius
poses the question: “Therefore, since the rational creatures were being corrupted and such
works were perishing, what should God, being good, do?”149 The author frames God’s
dilemma by four considerations. First, God could not go against His own law; death had to
ensue as punishment for rejecting His grace. Athanasius reasons,
with death holding greater sway and corruption remaining fast against human
beings, the race of humans was perishing, and the human being, made rational and
in the image, was disappearing, and the work made by God was being obliterated
.... and it was impossible to escape the law, since this had been established by God
on account of the transgression. And what happened was truly both absurd and
improper. It was absurd, on the one hand, that, having spoken, God should prove to
be lying: that is, having legislated that the human being would die by death if he
were to transgress the commandment, yet after the transgression he were not to die
but rather his sentence dissolved.150
As a result of God’s law, the corrupt had to die.
In the second consideration, Athanasius proposes that “it was improper that what
had once been made rational and partakers of his Word should perish.”151 God could not
destroy His good creation, showing negligence in caring for it and dishonoring Himself.
Anatolios posits, “if [God] were to let humanity perish, his own benevolence would be
defeated.”152 Therefore, Athanasius declares God as having mercy upon His creation and

148

Edwards, “Athanasius,” 39; Ottley, Doctrine, 26-27.
Athanasius, Incarnation, 63.
150
Athanasius, Incarnation, 63. Typically, this first consideration is emphasized by the later Western
tradition.
151
Athanasius, Incarnation, 63.
152
Anatolios, Retrieving Nicaea, 102.
149

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lowering Himself to their level and overcoming death, “lest what had been created should
perish and the work of the Father himself for human beings should be in vain.”153
The third consideration to the problem is that God could not require humans to save
themselves, particularly through the act of repentance.154 Recollect Athanasius’ position on
sin, whereby
the ontological gulf between the humanity created from nothing and the uncreated
God acquires an ominous dimension; it becomes a radical separation which
subverts the very purpose of human creation, which is communion with God.
Simple repentance from the human side, or a mere nod from the divine side, is not
enough to reverse humanity’s orientation toward corruption, precisely because this
orientation constitutes a confirmation of the ontological pull of its own nature.155
Therefore, the act of repentance still would not have appeased the penalty of death, nor
would it restore “human beings from what is natural, but merely halts sin.”156 Humans
could not fix the problem and live.
The final point of contention in God’s dilemma is due to humanity’s so-far-gone
condition. They are unable to know God because they are ignorant of all revelation.
Considering this, Athanasius testifies, “And everything was completely full of impiety and
lawlessness, and neither God, nor his Word, was recognized, even though he had not
hidden himself invisibly from human beings, nor given them knowledge of himself in one
way only, but had unfolded it to them in manifold ways and through many forms.”157
153

Athanasius, Incarnation, 67.
Cf. Athanasius, Incarnation, 65.
155
Anatolios, Coherence, 37. For this reason, “Nothing would suffice in such a crisis but the very
presence of the creative Logos Himself .... So He assumed a body akin to ours, a body capable of death,
capable also of being an instrument of restoration. This sacred body He constituted His organ, and by His
entire appropriation of our nature became our perfect representative before God.” Ottley, Doctrine, 26-27.
156
Athanasius, Incarnation, 65.
157
Athanasius, Incarnation, 75. According to Athanasius in Contra Gentes every part of creation
bore the imprint of its Creator, the divine Word. Edwards, “Athanasius,” 39. Humans could, “lifting up their
sight to the greatness of the heaven and discerning the harmony of creation, know its ruler, the Word of the
Father .... Or, if they were not ready for this, it would be possible for them to meet the holy ones, and through
them to learn of God the creator of everything, the Father of Christ .... They could also by knowing the law
cease from all lawlessness and live the life of virtue. For the law was not only for the Jews, nor on their
154

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Nevertheless, humanity “did not raise their gaze to the truth, but sated themselves even
more with evils and sins, so that they no longer appeared rational, but from their ways of
life were reckoned irrational.”158 Due to humanity’s decision to reject the Creator, God was
faced with the task of acting, but the perfect solution could only unfold in a particular
way.159 It is the result of this reality that Athanasius’ emphasis cannot stay on the dilemma
or the problem. For God, in His goodness, was not surprised by this dilemma. It was not
unforeseen! For Athanasius, God has named Himself Savior before creating and thus has
established the perfect solution to the dilemma before it ever existed.160
The Solution
The Word Incarnate161 is the only means of salvation.162 It is by His love for
humanity and the goodness of His Father that the divine Word became human for

account only were the prophets sent: they were sent to the Jews, and persecuted by the Jews, but they were
for the whole inhabited world a sacred school of the knowledge of God and the conduct of the soul.”
Athanasius, Incarnation, 77, emphasis mine.
158
Athanasius, Incarnation, 77.
159
Revelation was therefore offered in terms of God Himself, manifested in human form. Athanasius
further explains, “Human beings had neglected [God’s revelation through creation] before, and no longer
were their eyes held upwards but downwards. So, rightly wishing to help the human beings, he sojourned as a
human being, taking to himself a body like theirs and from below – I mean through the works of the body –
that those not wishing to know him from his providence and governance of the universe, from the works done
through the body might known the Word of God in the body, and through him the Father.” Athanasius,
Incarnation, 81.
160
The whole of his theological vision, from creation to redemption to re-creation concerns itself
with why God became man. To this Athanasius emphatically responds time and time again: for our salvation!
161
Athanasius’ use of the term Incarnation requires clarification. By it, he has not restricted himself
to the contemporary connotation, which often means “that God himself, without ceasing to be God, has come
amongst us, not just in but as a particular man, at a particular time and place,” first-century Bethlehem. Brian
Hebblethwaite, The Incarnation: Collected Essays in Christology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press,
1987), 1. This definition is not misguided, but it is a modern formulation. By Incarnation, Athanasius means
something much broader. Behr, Incarnation, 37. In contrast, Athanasius’ scope is not limited to the birth of
Christ; but rather, “The body, fashioned from the virgin, in which the Word dwells, as seen in the light of his
passion, cannot be separated from the body of Christ, that is, those who by faith in the cross are no longer
subject to the corruption of death.” Behr, Incarnation, 38. For Athanasius, “it is not a matter of choosing
between an emphasis on incarnation and an emphasis on death and resurrection, as it is for some
contemporary theologians. In his view, the incarnation of the Word involves taking on and overcoming death.
The death and resurrection of Christ are what overcomes the death that holds sway as the result of human sin.
In the view of Athanasius, the defeat of death and corruption is at the center of the saving work of Christ.
This event of salvation occurs by the Word taking bodily humanity, the body that is damaged by sin and

34

humanity’s salvation.163 The solution is that the divine Word Incarnate lives, dies, and
resurrects.164 Bolstering his argument for the divinity of Christ, Athanasius asks the
question:
For if after the Cross all idolatry was overthrown, while every manifestation of
demons is driven away by this Sign, and Christ alone is worshipped and the Father
known through Him, and, while gainsayers are put to shame, He daily invisibly
wins over the souls of these gainsayers, - how, one might fairly ask them, is it still
open to us to regard the matter as human, instead of confessing that He Who
ascended the Cross is Word of God and Saviour of the World?165
The question, simply put, is: How could this solution point to a mere human? There is
absolutely no way! Insightfully, Anatolios sees Athanasius’ explanation of the solution as
God responding to the fall of humanity with a “sinless ‘fall’ of God himself, through the
Incarnation and human death of the Word.”166 This fall, better termed as “loving
condescension,” represents for Athanasius the supreme act of love, which identifies “Jesus
Christ as both fully God, existing in mutual correlation to the Father, and yet made a
creature for the sake of human salvation.”167

doomed to death, in order to renew in humanity the image of the Word and bring it to resurrection life.”
Edwards, “Redeeming Act,” 113.
162
Athanasius clarifies, “that it was not for another to turn what was corruptible to incorruptibility
except the Savior himself, who in the beginning created the universe from nothing; and that it was not for
another to recreate again the ‘in the image’ for human beings, except the Image of the Father; and that it was
not for another to raise up the mortal to be immortal, except our Lord Jesus Christ, who is Life itself; and that
if was not for another to teach about the Father and destroy the worship of idols, except the Word who
arranges all things and is alone the true only-begotten Son of the Father.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 93.
163
Athanasius, Incarnation, 53.
164
For “he alone consequently was both able to recreate the universe and was worthy to suffer on
behalf of all and to intercede for all before the Father.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 65.
165
Athanasius, Contra Gentes, §1. In the debates against Arius this principle for Athanasius was
non-negotiable, for if the Incarnate Word was not God, this separation would consequently nullify the saving
work of the crucified Christ. Gwynn, Athanasius, 70.
166
Anatolios, Athanasius, 52.
167
Anatolios, Athanasius, 82. It is for this reason that Athanasius began with an explanation of God
as Creator and the relationship between the divine Word of God and creation, for “Jesus Christ is himself
what it is to be God. Created beings, brought into being from non-existence, are intrinsically ‘from outside’,
external to God, though they can come to participate in God. The Son, on the other hand, is God’s ‘own’
Word, and so is divine, not by participation, but in himself.” Behr, Incarnation, 34-35.

35

Despite Athanasius’ well-known defense of Christ’s divinity in the Arian debates,
the humanity, particularly the body of Christ, also holds a significant place in his system of
thought.168 Because of this, his perception of Christ and of humanity becomes integral for
understanding the effectual nature of Christ’s body for the salvation of human beings.169
After all, Christ’s body is the place of His descent, the place of human brokenness, and the
place of His triumph over human death.170 The human body of the Word of God is offered
as a sacrifice for all, thereby satisfying the death sentence and identifying with the
corruptibility of human nature so as to cover all with the Word’s incorruptibility.171
Therefore, the threat of death is vanquished “because of the indwelling Word, in [human
beings] through the one body.172 Suitably, the bodily death of Christ holds a central
position in Athanasius’ soteriology. He understands Christ’s death and resurrection to be
the historical events that liberate human beings from sin and death. However, for this to be
efficacious “the victory of sin and death must take place from ‘within’ the human being,
and not simply be ordained by God as an ‘external’ command.”173 Thus, it requires the
Word God, who is Himself human.

168

Describing the body of Christ, Athanasius argues that it was in fact a human body, for “If it was
constituted by a new miracle from a virgin only, yet being mortal it died in conformity with those like it. Yet
by the coming of the Word into it, it was no longer corruptible by its own nature but because of the
indwelling Word of God it became immune from corruption. And thus it happened that both things occurred
together in a paradoxical manner: the death of all was completed in the lordly body, and also death and
corruption were destroyed by the Word in it.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 95. For a stimulating take on
Athanasius’ position on the humanity of Christ see Andrew Louth, “Athanasius’ Understanding of the
Humanity of Christ,” Studia Patristica 16 (1985): 309-318.
169
L. Berkhof, Systematic Theology (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1939), 305.
170
Anatolios, Athanasius, 56. Unlike his Alexandrian predecessors, Athanasius is less concerned
with “how the human body is animated by the Logos, but with the soteriological dynamics of what the Logos
does with the human body in order to save us. Most primarily, for Athanasius, what the Logos does with his
human body for our salvation is to die on our behalf.” Anatolios, Athanasius, 57.
171
Athanasius, Incarnation, 69.
172
Athanasius, Incarnation, 69.
173
Anatolios, Athanasius, 57.

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The Word became flesh for the purpose of Christ’s human death on the cross, for
“the immortal Son of God needed to become man to die.”174 In Jesus Christ’s death, the
one perfect human is substituted for all human beings, thereby fulfilling God’s law on their
behalf.175 The cross, as it happened, was sacrificial, which, for Athanasius involves a
substitution.176 Echoing the scriptural accounts, Athanasius expands his understanding of
the work done at the cross to include a number of major motifs. However, “The most
important” motif, argues John. R. Meyer, is “the propitiatory and expiatory sacrifice of
Christ on the cross. The pre-existent Logos became a ransom for all, suffering ‘for us,’ and
acting as an advocate ‘on our behalf’ before the Father.”177 On the Incarnation
communicates two ways in which Christ’s work saves humanity: His sacrifice for the
purpose of substituting Himself for humanity and His revelation for the purpose of
restoring the knowledge of God.178 The cross is the clearest revelation of God as it
manifests God Himself as opposed to an image of Him. As the ultimate expression of His
love for humanity, it portrays the ultimate humiliation, death on a cross.179 Victory at the
cross of Christ means reconciliation with God. For Athanasius it also means
174

Steve Jeffery, Michael Ovey and Andrew Sach, Pierced for Our Transgressions: Rediscovering
the Glory of Penal Substitution (Wheaton: Crossway Books, 2007), 172.
175
Trevor A. Hart, “The Two Soteriological Traditions of Alexandria,” The Evangelical Quarterly
61, no. 3 (1989): 253-254.
176
John R. Meyer, “Athanasius’ Use of Paul in His Doctrine of Salvation,” Vigiliae Christianae 52,
no. 2 (May 1998): 150. Athanasius writes, “and by his death salvation has come to all, and all creation has
been ransomed. He it is who is the Life of all, and who like a sheep delivered his own body to death as a
substitute for the salvation of all, even if the Jews do not believe.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 131.
177
Meyer, “Salvation,” 150; Cf. Athanasius, Incarnation, 93-95.
178
Anatolios, Athanasius, 75.
179
Behr, Incarnation, 37. Athanasius writes, “But now he comes, condescending towards us in his
love for human beings and his manifestation.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 67. This theme of God acting out of
love directly impacts Athanasius’ position against Arius, for “the debate concerns two alternative readings of
salvation which respectively identify two very different characterizations of the nature of the Son in relation
to the benefits of his work. Either the Son is by nature the true God who humbled himself in order to bring
about our exaltation, so that his salvific work is the result of the abasement that he undertakes for our benefit;
or he was himself ‘promoted’ to divinity as a reward for his work in the flesh. The choice then is between the
God of loving condescension and the self-promoting, upwardly mobile God!” Anatolios, Athanasius, 53-54,
emphasis mine.

37

our renewal in this life and our transformation from lives of darkness to light, from
corruption to incorruption, from sinners to sons and daughters of God. The Word
who created and redeemed us is the same Word who becomes our co-worker in the
life of sanctification and by his grace through the Holy Spirit renders us holy. Our
transformation – our deification, as Athanasius prefers to put it – and our lives of
holiness serve as a testimony and witness to the world of Christ’s victory.180
Therefore, the work of Christ at the cross is efficacious immediately.181
Christ’s death at the cross is critical for understanding the efficacy of Christ’s work,
but Athanasius’ concept of salvation looks to the entire life of Jesus Christ as the
offering to the Father on our behalf. ‘He humbled himself’ Athanasius says ‘in
taking our body of humiliation, and took a servant’s form, putting on that flesh
which was enslaved to sin’. He became a servant instead of us and on our behalf
and in this same flesh ‘He sanctifies himself to the Father for our sakes ... that he
himself may in himself sanctify us .... that he may become righteousness for us, and
that we may be exalted in him, and that we may enter the gates of heaven which he
has also opened for us’. In other words Christ’s whole life of obedient sonship lived
in the power of the Spirit is a life lived for others, and not just a preparation for
death on the cross. It is only insofar as we are united to the one true Son in his
humanity that we have access to the Father, who when he looks upon us sees us not
as we are in ourselves, but as we are clothed with the righteousness of his Son.
Thus, says Athanasius, ‘because of our relationship to his body, we too ... are made
God’s sons.’182
Salvation, from the beginning to the end, is God’s work; as such, “the Gospel stands or
falls, then, on the singularity of Christ’s soteriological Sonship, which is, of course, the
point made by the homoousios to patri of the Nicene Creed (‘of one substance with the
Father’).”183 The means of salvation is the Word Incarnate alone.

180

Beckwith, “Athanasius,” 154.
It is through Jesus Christ, the God-Man, who identifies with humanity and dies for them, that
humanity’s encounter with the Logos is immediately restored. Meyer, “Salvation,” 167-168. Declaring the
immediacy of Christ’s work, Athanasius also projects His continuing work in the lives of believers. He
rhetorically asks: “Or how, if he is not acting – for this is a property of one dead – does he stop those active
and alive so that the adulterer no longer commits adultery, the murderer no longer murders, the unjust is no
longer grasps greedily, and the impious is henceforth pious?” Athanasius, Incarnation, 115.
182
Hart, “Soteriological Traditions,” 253-254.
183
Andrew Purves, “The Ministry of the Priesthood of Jesus Christ: A Reformed View of the
Atonement of Christ,” Theology Matters 3, no. 4 (July/August 1997): 1.
181

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Recall briefly Athanasius’ analysis of God’s dilemma in relation to the problem of
humanity’s corruption. The effects of salvation correlate to the way in which he constructs
the dilemma. First, God’s salvific action, through the Word Incarnate, appeased His own
law, “having legislated that the human being would die by death if he were to transgress
the commandment.”184 Therefore, death on behalf of all was a requirement of salvation.185
God, in the person of Jesus Christ, appeased this sentence by dying as a human.186 Critical
to this reasoning is the full humanity and full divinity of Christ. And so Athanasius argues
for both.187 The effect of God’s decision to bring about humanity’s salvation in this way is
that the faithful in Christ “no longer die by death as before according to the threat of the
law, for such condemnation has ceased.”188 The effect on the commanded punishment for
humanity’s rejection is that it is fully satisfied and thus, “if formerly death was strong, and
therefore fearsome, but is now despised, after the sojourn of the Savior and after the death
and resurrection of his body, clearly it is by him, the Christ who was raised upon the cross,
that death has been destroyed and conquered.”189

184

Athanasius, Incarnation, 63.
Athanasius, Incarnation, 95.
186
Athanasius explains, “For the Word, realizing that in no other way would the corruption of
human beings be undone except, simply, by dying, yet being immortal and the Son of the Father the Word
was not able to die, for this reason he takes to himself a body capable of death, in order that it, participating in
the Word who is above all, might be sufficient for death on behalf of all, and through the indwelling Word
would remain incorruptible, and so corruption might henceforth cease from all by the grace of the
resurrection. Whence, by offering holy and free of all spot, he immediately abolished death from all like him,
by the offering of a like.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 69. In effect, “Coming himself into our realm, and
dwelling in a body like the others, every design of the enemy against human beings has henceforth ceased,
and the corruption of death, which had prevailed formerly against them, perished. For the race of human
beings would have been utterly dissolved had not the Master and Savior of all, the Son of God, come for the
completion of death.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 69.
187
Cf. Athanasius, Incarnation, 89, 95; Athanasius, Incarnation, 103.
188
Athanasius, Incarnation, 95.
189
Athanasius, Incarnation, 111. It is the appeasement of God’s death sentence over humanity that
the Western tradition has typically elevated, as exemplified by writers such as Augustine, Anselm, and later
Reformers like Martin Luther.
185

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Second, God’s salvific action, through the Word Incarnate, rescues His own
creation from complete corruption, for it was incorrect that God’s good creation would
return to non-being and it was not suitable that the devil claim victory over that which was
created good.190 Athanasius determines that the work of Christ “befitted the goodness of
God.”191 As a result of God’s action, His human creations “no longer die as those
condemned, but as those who will arise do we await the common resurrection of all.”192
Life, for the believer, turns instantaneously from certain mortal death to promised
immortality with God.
Third, God’s salvific action, through the Word Incarnate, honors God Himself by
maintaining His Sovereignty over creation.193 Humanity, in no way, had the capacity to
reverse the downward spiral to non-being. No attempt could settle the score. Thus, it was
necessary for God to act by continuing to sustain the world. Athanasius describes the
unique position of the Word of God,
as being in all creation, he is in essence outside everything but inside everything by
his own power, arranging everything, and unfolding his own providence in
everything to all things, and giving life to each thing and to all things together,
containing the universe and not being contained, but being wholly in every respect,

190

Athanasius, Incarnation, 63.
Athanasius, Incarnation, 69. Athanasius explains with an analogy, “For if a king constructed a
house or a city, and it is attacked by bandits because of the carelessness of its inhabitants, he in no way
abandons it, but avenges and saves it as his own work, having regard not for the carelessness of the
inhabitants but for his own honor.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 69, 71. “All the more so,” he continues, “the
God Word of the all-good Father did not neglect the race of human beings, created by himself, which was
going to corruption, but he blotted out the death which had occurred through the offering of his own body,
and correcting their carelessness by his own teaching, restoring every aspect of human beings by his own
power.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 71.
192
Athanasius, Incarnation, 73; Cf. 1 Timothy 6:15; Titus 1:3. In demonstration of God’s rescue of
His creation being finished, Athanasius writes, “when death is played with and despised by those believing in
Christ [such as in the act of martyrdom], let no one any longer doubt, nor be unbelieving, that death has been
destroyed by Christ and its corruption dissolved and brought to an end.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 113,
emphasis mine. In Athanasius’ mind, this work is done and finished. The Word of God, Jesus Christ, has
conquered death, past tense.
193
Cf. Athanasius, Incarnation, 71
191

40

in his own Father alone .... Nor, being in all things, does he partake of all, but rather
everything bore life and was nourished by him.194
Thus, salvation is God’s own act.
Fourth, God’s salvific action, through the Word Incarnate, restores the image of
God in human beings, which means the recovery of His gifts of rationality, the knowledge
of Himself, and participation in the power of the Word.195 By means of revelation God
renews His image in humanity, “so that through it human beings would be able to once
again know him.”196 Athanasius clearly articulates that the only way this could have
occurred was through “the coming of the very image of God, our Savior Jesus Christ.”197
Pointing to John 3:5 he views the effect of salvation in terms of re-creation, for the person
is being “born again and recreated in that which is after the image.”198 Valerie A. Karras
observes that it is here that the argument for humanity’s being and Christ’s humanity come
to a head. For “the christological definitions of the ecumenical councils are grounded in a
relational-ontological [transcendent-immanent] soteriology based on humanity’s being
homoousios (one in essence, substance, or nature) in our humanity with Jesus Christ, who

194

Athanasius, Incarnation, 85, 87.
In contrast to the Western emphasis of Athanasius’ first point, this aspect remains the typical
emphasis of the Eastern tradition. Unlike the Western concept where “human beings have no natural
orientation toward God” the Eastern tradition sees the condition of the fall as broken communication with
God and thus confusion hides their natural orientation and so humans fail to move toward God and restore
that communication. Valerie A. Karras, “Beyond Justification: An Orthodox Perspective,” in Justification
and the Future the Ecumenical Movement: The Joint Declaration on the Doctrine of Justification, ed.
William G. Rusch (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 2003), 110. True to his Eastern roots, Athanasius spends
the bulk of his time expositing how the Word Incarnate restores the image in humanity and as a result
procures knowledge of Him and participation in the Word.
196
Athanasius, Incarnation, 79.
197
Athanasius, Incarnation, 79. He continues, “For neither by human beings was it possible, since
they were created ‘in the image’; but neither by angels, for they were not even images. So the Word of God
came himself, in order that he being the image of the Father (cf. Col. 1.15), the human being ‘in the image’
might be recreated.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 79. “For this purpose, then, there was need of none other than
the Image of the Father.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 79.
198
Athanasius, Incarnation, 81.
195

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is in turn homoousios with God the Father.”199 In agreement, Anatolios reiterates that it is
for this reason that Athanasius is so persistent in understanding Christ’s work as taking
place within the human being.200 Meyer notes that this internal transformation of the
Christian is bound together with Paul’s concept of a new Adam.201 In this sense, what
humanity was created for is what they are saved for, which begins presently. According to
Athanasius, “human beings were created for communion with God through contemplation
of his Word and Image, the Savior Jesus Christ.”202
Through the act of God becoming man “the Word not only renewed humanity but
restored its ability to know God ... as humanity had originally been made in the likeness of
God, so ‘the Word of God came in His own person, in order that, as He is the Image of His
Father, He might be able to restore humanity who is in the image.’”203 Athanasius sees
Christ revealing His Father through miraculous works, though His greatest display is in His
death and resurrection, because it is at this point that the Word fully displays God’s love
and care for humanity.204 The revelation of God the Father, as manifested in the Incarnate
Word, restores for humanity the knowledge of God.
199

Karras, “Beyond Justification,” 113. Karras maintains then, that, “the soteriology of the
ecumenical councils (and hence of Eastern Christianity) is based not on putting us juridically ‘right’ with
God, but on the existential healing of human nature through the person of Jesus Christ.” Karras, “Beyond
Justification,” 113. One of the ways that Athanasius underscores the “transformed relation between God and
creation through Christ is to assert that it is only through Christ’s saving work that humanity attains an
ultimate security ... in its communion with God.” Anatolios, Athanasius, 62.
200
Anatolios, Athanasius, 64.
201
Meyer, “Salvation,” 169; Cf. Galatians 3:26, NASB.
202
Behr, Incarnation, 27. This is evidence, admits Behr, of the fact that Athanasius “is more
concerned to determine, in the light of Christ, what is the proper characteristic or state of human existence, in
contrast to what we have actually seen throughout history, rather than to speculate about primordial
beginnings.” Behr, Incarnation, 27.
203
Gwynn, Athanasius, 68; Cf. Athanasius, Incarnation, 77, 79. Restoration requires more than
creation, Athanasius explains. For “when nothing at all existed, only a nod and an act of will was needed for
the creation of the universe. But when the human being had once been made, and necessity required the
healing, not for things that were not, but for things that had come to be, it followed that the healer and Savior
had to come among those who had already been created, to heal what existed. He became a human being for
this, and used his body as a human instrument.” Athanasius, Incarnation, 145, 147.
204
Cf. Athanasius, Incarnation, 93; Gwynn, Athanasius, 68; Athanasius, Incarnation, 85.

42

The Word Incarnate also procures for humanity participation in the power of the
Word. For Athanasius, the unique place that Christ has in mediating the relation between
God the Father and humanity enables “direct and immediate access to the Father.”205
Participation in the Word hinges on the gift of God’s image. For human beings to be
“created according to the Image is to be granted a participation in the one who is the true
and full Image of the Father ... the incarnate Word repaired the image of God in humanity
by reuniting it with his own divine imaging of the Father.”206 The reason that this can
happen at all is because Jesus Christ stands as “both eternal divine Image and restored
human image.”207 In light of this reality, Athanasius’ concept of participation in the Word
is transformed in the event of the Incarnation.208 Where previously human ascent, by
contemplation of God, was the primary mode of participating in the Word, after the
Incarnation it was placed within the humanity of the Word; thus, a monumental shift
occurred. With clarity, Anatolios summarizes this alternative reality, stating that
While Athanasius’s doctrine of creation emphasizes that humanity’s ontological
vulnerability is due to its origination from nothing, his articulation of Christian
salvation indicates that the definitive ‘remaining’ in divine grace and humanity’s
new access to this grace ‘from within’ constitutes nothing less than a ‘new origin’
for humanity. Humanity’s origin from nothing is now ‘transferred’ into the
humanity of the Word himself, whose sacrificial death has destroyed the intrinsic
bond, confirmed by sin, between humanity and nothingness: ‘For by the sacrifice of
his own body he both put an end to the law which lay over us, and renewed for us
the origin of life by giving hope of the resurrection.’ Thus, whereas apart from the
Incarnation, human existence is a movement of receptivity from nothingness to

205

Anatolios, Retrieving Nicaea, 107.
Anatolios, Retrieving Nicaea, 107.
207
Anatolios, Retrieving Nicaea, 107. As a result, Athanasius emphasizes “the continuity of
immediate connections between God and humanity” by showing an “abhorrence of obstacles and opaque
mediation.” Anatolios, Retrieving Nicaea, 107.
208
It is significant to note that participation in the Word prior to the Incarnation as well as after is
both explicitly from God in Athanasius’ treatment. For example, originally humanity was gifted participation
in the power of the Word. That gift was lost with the descent of humankind into corruption, but with the
Incarnation, through the identifiableness of Christ’s humanity with human being’s humanity, participation in
the Word was restored by God.
206

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God, a movement that always threatens to relapse into nothingness, those who are
united in Christ ‘now have the origin of their receiving in him and through him.’209
This shift has tremendous implications for how one is to understand the Christian life, good
works, and particularly participation by way of deification.
Gwynn observes that scholars typically describe Athanasius’ concept of
“participation in God” as deification or divinization. But, siding with Gwynn’s analysis,
Athanasius did not seem to mean what those two words often connote. Gwynn argues that
Athanasius did not hold to the belief that humans become gods in the same way that God is
God, “but through participation with the divine Word, made possible by the Incarnation,
humanity could be made perfect and free from sin and preserve the knowledge and unity
with God that was lost when men and women turned away into error.”210 His concept of
participation in God depicts the process of humanity becoming more like Christ. Thus,
categorizing Athanasius in terms of following the doctrine of theosis or deification remains
ineffective without a closer look at his system of thought, which illuminates his theory by
logical argument rather than weighted terminology.211
Ben C. Blackwell clarifies the discussion by defining the general meaning of
deification as present in the works of both Cyril (c. 376 – c. 444) and Irenaeus. He explains
that it is

209

Anatolios, Athanasius, 66, emphasis mine. A significant difference between Athanasius and
Prudentius develops. By this principle, the implications for the Christian life are starkly contrasted. For
Athanasius the subsequent action is gratitude; for Prudentius the subsequent action is acts of righteousness.
210
Gwynn, Athanasius, 69-70. Fairbairn argues that among early fathers there is a view of
deification or participation in God that explains it as adoption and therefore sharing in the communion that
the “Son of God has with his Father”. Donald Fairbairn, “Patristic Soteriology: Three Trajectories,” Journal
of the Evangelical Theological Society 50, no. 2 (June 2007): 294. In this view, “God bestows the fullness of
divine life in the person of Jesus Christ, and that through the person of Christ and the action of the Holy Spirit
[men and women] are made intimate partakers of the living God (theosis, divinization).” Catherine M.
Lacugna, God for Us: The Trinity and Christian Life (New York: HarperCollins, 1993), 3.
211
For a well-articulated essay on the misinterpretation of Athanasius’ perception of divinization see
C. R. Strange, “Athanasius on Divinization,” Studia Patristica 16 (1985): 342-346.

44

the process of restoring the image and likeness of God, primarily experienced as
incorruption and sanctification, through a participatory relationship with God
mediated by Christ and the Spirit. Through the Son and the Spirit believers become
adopted sons of God, even gods, by grace and not by nature, because they
participate in divine attributes.212
By protecting the Creator-created dynamic, believers do not participate in the divine
essence, rather they are “transformed by the personal presence of the Spirit and therefore
experience the divine attributes.”213 Athanasius ardently maintains the ontological
distinction between Creator and created.214 Yet, due to the Word’s mediation and
identification with humanity,215 there is a place for a vibrant and active Christian life.
Determined by the grace of Christ and through the power of the Spirit, human beings can
participate in God through the process of sanctification.
Through the work of the Word, humanity is given what God intended. Therefore,
according to Athanasius, practices like ascetic acts are not the
work of human beings upon themselves, who, by their own efforts, attempt to
transcend their human nature to what they consider divine. Rather ... it reflects the
possibility, opened by Christ in his Passion, to have communion with God, and
embody the Word. This is a possibility which is only actualised by the free and
unconstrained grace of God, but also, as we have seen, only through the free
application and struggle of human beings; it is, on the one hand, the work of human
beings, but, on the other, that which makes it fruitful is solely the work of God.216
Much in the same way, baptized believers witness to the indwelling of the Word by
practicing “virtues as chastity, sobriety, civil harmony, fortitude, charity, and most

212

Ben C. Blackwell, Christosis, Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2, Reihe
314 (Tubingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2011), 253.
213
Blackwell, Christosis, 253.
214
Anatolios asserts that “Athanasius can rely precisely on his ontology to make the point that
whereas our whole being is a participation in God, our nature is still absolutely distinct and ‘external’ to God,
not because we have any ‘structure’ which is ‘of itself’ independent of God, but because we participate in
God ‘from nothing.’” Anatolios, Coherence, 208-209.
215
For Athanasius, participation in God is determined by the sacrificial transaction that takes place at
the cross and by His humanness so that He can legitimately represent all of humanity before God. Meyer,
“Salvation,” 151-152.
216
Behr, Incarnation, 46.

45

important of all, martyrdom.”217 Therefore, all that encompasses the Christian life is the
believer’s witness to the work of the Word and his or her active participation in the
salvation that was accomplished at the cross and in the resurrection of Christ.
In telling of the redemption of humanity, Athanasius’ focus remains on the
immediacy of Christ’s work, as the cross symbolizes the climax of God’s salvation
narrative. Even so, he projects an understanding of the salvation experience that continues
for believers. His emphasis is not eschatological, for salvation in its fullness begins in time
and in history. But, there is a clear optimism and anticipation of the resurrection to come,
which is hoped for only by the resurrection of Christ’s body. He reasons, “But since the
Savior’s raising the body, no longer is death fearsome, but all believers in Christ tread on it
as nothing, and would rather choose to die than deny their faith in Christ. For they really
know that when they die they are not destroyed, but both live and become incorruptible
through the resurrection.”218 For his purposes, expressing the future hope of the
resurrection allows Athanasius to reiterate the victory over death that has already been won
by Christ, the Incarnate Word.
Renewal for Athanasius, though it is an outcome of salvation, is not simply
reverting to an original condition. The Incarnation has transformed even the concept of
renewal. As a created being, humanity originally possessed an ontological instability; by
nature they were susceptible to returning to non-being. As a result of the Incarnation,
Athanasius underscores “the definitive stability and security worked by Christ.”219 Also,
through Jesus Christ’s similitude with humanity and His divine essence, He was able to

217

Athanasius, Incarnation, 51, 52.
Athanasius, Incarnation, 109.
219
Anatolios, Athanasius, 61.
218

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accomplish salvation for humanity by way of the “‘internality’ of divine grace.”220 As a
result of this phenomenon, the nature of the human person is found in Jesus, and therefore
the divine Christ transforms it.221
Conclusion
Driven to sharpen the understanding of Jesus Christ, Athanasius does so from a
basic concern for God’s plan of salvation. He contemplates the Incarnation of the Word
and declares it to be foreordained and singularly unrivaled. Athanasius argues that the
salvation of humanity, the solution to the problem of sin, cannot be understood simply in
terms of a man dying for the world; the man had to be “the eternal and true Son and Word
of the Father.”222 It is from his redemptive first-principle that the early church father is able
to give full expression to the person of Christ as He is confessed in the Nicene theology of
the fourth century.

220

Anatolios, Athanasius, 61.
Anatolios, Athanasius, 61.
222
Gwynn, Athanasius, 70.
221

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Chapter 2
Prudentius’ Soteriology as Presented in his Liber Cathemerinon
Introduction
In order to speak intelligently to the alignment of Prudentius’ soteriology with
Nicaea, this study required a clear expression of Nicene soteriology. The previous chapter
engaged fourth-century salvation theologies and their relation to the Nicene conversations.
For clarity and definition, Athanasius, in his double work Against the Gentiles-On the
Incarnation, has articulated best the salvific thrust to the Christological confessions of
Nicaea. It is from a cohesive expression of God’s redemptive plan for creation through the
divine Word that he is able to argue for the confessions of Nicaea. Therefore, looking to
Athanasius’ soteriological vision, as it represents the spirit of Nicene soteriology, a
comparative is established.
It is from within his poetical verse that Prudentius explores, wrestles, and discerns
the biblical text for himself and for his reader. Therefore, these poetic texts are used to
trace his interpretive decisions, which indicate his hermeneutical strategies. A preliminary
excursus engages directly with Prudentius’ use of biblical narrative in his Liber
Cathemerinon in order to establish his predominant hermeneutical influence and method.223
The results demonstrate that the poet’s intellectual heritage and hermeneutical approach
can be placed within the Alexandrian tradition of the early church. Moving forward, this
influence necessarily dictates his worldview and consequently his theological convictions.
It is from this juncture that the new chapter begins. In order to establish Prudentius’
understanding of salvation narrowly, first his perception of God and His interaction with
the world must be understood broadly.
223

For this discussion see appendix 1.

48

The Broader Theological Framework and Overall Motifs
Steeped in the traditions of the early church, Prudentius holds to a biblical and
creedal overarching Gospel narrative. As if in familiar liturgical rhythm, his poetry retells
God’s creation act, Adam and Eve’s disobedience, the fall of all creation, redemption
through the person of Christ, and the world’s movement toward its final consummation at
Christ’s second coming.224 More specifically, God is upheld as the initiator of all creation,
and He has placed it under human responsibility as an illustration of humankind’s
subservient relation to God.225 In contrast to this intended order, the fall marks a disastrous
interruption in the God-human relationship.226 By Adam and Eve’s act of disobedience sin
is born and consequently stains the entire human race, henceforth, rendering humans as the
enemies of God.227 Prudentius believes that nothing but death can remedy the guilt of sin,
and thus he tells of Christ as the Second Man.228 He sees Satan at the centre of evil that, in
turn, affects the entire cosmos.229 As such, the devil “exercises dominion over
humankind.”230 Sin breeds a tension that manifests itself by way of humanity’s allegiance.

224

McKelvie, “Cosmic,” 6. Particularly expressive of this broad narrative is A Hymn Before Meat.
Prudentius reasons, “For He has given all things to man, and we take them with a hand that bears
dominion; all that sky or earth or sea produces in air or flood or field, all this has He put under me, and me
under Himself.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, III.36-40.
226
Prudentius retells that the “treacherous serpent beguiled the simple heart of the maid to seduce
her male partner and make him eat of the forbidden fruit,” as a result both parties were sentenced to death.
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, III.111-114.
227
As a result of Adam and Eve’s disobedience, “succeeding generations are corrupted and rush into
sin, and through copying their primitive ancestors, lumping right and wrong together, pay with death for their
rebellious deeds.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, III.131-135. In light of this initial incident, the
early church fathers tended to view sin as any “freely committed disobedience against God.” Roch A.
Kereszty, Jesus Christ: Fundamentals of Christology (New York: Alba House, 2002), 197.
228
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, III.131-145. In this way, he reiterates Paul’s claim in
Romans 8:19-22 that all of creation is longing for salvation and for the re-uniting of its intended relationship
with God. For “All things rough and rude were conscious of Thy birth, O Child; even the hardness of stone
was overcome and clothed the rocks with grass.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, XI.69-72.
229
Despite “a colorful invocation of the devil’s power to lead humans astray, Prudentius ultimately
lays the blame for sin upon human kind and its flawed will – ‘our sins are generated from our own minds’ –
that is, the free will given to humans by God the creator.” Conybeare, “Sanctum,” 226-227; Cf. McKelvie,
“Cosmic,” 14.
230
Kereszty, Jesus, 198.
225

49

However, Christ’s death and resurrection overturns this unnatural allegiance and reverts
creation’s order back to its original design.
The Problem: Sin and the Human Person
The world’s colossal problem is fundamentally Prudentius’ chief concern.231 Sin
has disjointed humanity’s relationship with God and altered the order of creation.232
Although attuned to the cosmic effects of sin, the poet’s attention in the Liber
Cathemerinon is narrowed.233 Prudentius’ lyrics are consumed with the effects of sin on the
individual human being.234 However, the poet’s angst cannot be fully sensed unless
understood alongside his own perception of the individual.
The human is made up of two distinct parts, body and soul. It is the union of these
two parts that defines humanity and the dissolution of its parts that defines its earthly
end.235 The soul is a created entity, “made by the mouth of God ... adorned with qualities
divine, filled with God, and like its creator, yet not itself God, since it is not a begetting but

231

Prudentius’ “doctrinal focus of the Hamartigenia is concerned with a true understanding of the
problem of evil and the consequences of sin in the world.” Dykes, Reading, 4-5. Moreover, in his brief
exposition of Prudentius lines of soteriology, Padovese exemplifies the poet’s fixation on the issues of sin as
he walks through Prudentius’ obvious themes: the sin of the first parents, the effect of original sin, and the
Lordship of the demon of man. Padovese, “Soteriologia,” 360-390.
232
In contrast to creation’s intended order (as reiterated in III.31-80), Prudentius lays out humanity’s
predicament due to sin. Adam and Eve are “Trembling before God for the guilt they felt, they were driven out
from the abode of innocence, and the woman, till then unwedded, came under a husband’s rule and was
commanded to submit to stern laws. The wicked serpent, too, that devised the guile, was condemned to have
its three-tongued head bruised by the woman’s heel; so the serpent was under the woman’s foot, as the
woman under the man.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, III.121-130.
233
In the Hamartigenia Prudentius echoes Romans 8:20-22 and views sin in the context of a colossal
battle between creation and the powers of darkness, which threaten to capture and enslave the individual.
Prudentius, Hamartigenia, Loeb, 506-649. This notion is further emphasized in his Psychomachia, wherein a
battle is described “between personified Vices and Virtues, each fighting and struggling to have dominion
over the soul.” Dykes, Reading, 6.
234
He petitions before God, “May this light give us a clear day and make us pure to meet it; let us
speak no guile and think no dark thought. So may the whole day pass that neither lying tongue, nor hands, nor
straying eyes commit sin, nor any guilt stain our body.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, II.97-104.
235
God, “by uniting two elements, one living and one dying, together, didst in Thy Fatherhood
create man .... But their sundering apart is the dissolution and the end of man: the dry earth receives his body,
the breath of air carries off the pure spirit.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, X.1-12.

50

a creation of God.”236 Similar to Athanasius, Prudentius intentionally maintains a
distinction between God and His creation. By its nature, the soul is not divine, although “it
is wise and capable of righteousness, and sits like a queen on the throne of the world; it
sees before, thinks, takes heed, speaks, contrives words and laws, is furnished with a
thousand forms of skill and can traverse the heavens in thought. In these respects the
creator fashioned the soul like himself, but otherwise unlike.”237 Limited and bound is the
soul to the body, for “at its birth the foul corruption of the flesh, which is subject to decay,
receives it, and when it has passed into the wasting body, makes it partaker of its own
impurity. Then sin comes about, because it arises from the mingling of the clay and the
pure spirit.”238 The person of Christ is for humanity the perfect example of how a person
can pursue and know things of the spirit (righteousness) while in a mortal frame. The
imbibed Greek dichotomy of Plato’s perception of the body and soul seems consistent
throughout the Liber Cathemerinon.239 In this sense, sin penetrates a person’s soul by way
of the body, marring what was once a pure entity.240 Nevertheless, the soul can be cleansed
of its filth through the physical act of baptism, but as it continues to exist in communion
236

Prudentius, Apotheosis, Loeb, 788-792.
Prudentius, Apotheosis, Loeb, 802-808.
238
Prudentius, Apotheosis, Loeb, 814-819.
239
For instance, Prudentius writes of divided provisions, for “our bodies and our souls with two
several kinds of sustenance Thou dost strengthen and invigorate.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb,
IV.34-36. And separate functions during rest, “while kindly repose spreads through all our body, and as sleep
floods it, lulls the heart to rest from labour, the spirit roams free through the air, quick and lively, and in
diverse figures sees things that are hidden; for the mind, whose source is heaven and whose pure fount is
from the skies, cannot lie idle when it is freed from care.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, VI.25-36.
240
In A Hymn For Cock-Crow he refers to the “natural light” of a person, which hints at an existence
that was once untainted. Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, I.33-36. Bolstering this inference, Prudentius
clarifies this notion in his Apotheosis as he writes, the soul “was indeed clean at its creation, when it gave life
to the raw clay with which it was united, in as much as it received its first disposition from the
uncontaminated source of nature and was formed by the divine purity; but then, being bidden to attach itself
to the heavy earth, it was too much charmed by agreeable temptations and grew cold, polluting its precious
flame with the more, and wickedly transgressing and trampling on God’s ordinance. Such is the soul’s first
character. Thus pure at its creation, it fell into sin through unclean alliance with the flesh; then, tainted by the
wicked deed of the first man Adam, it infected the whole race of men which springs from him; infant souls at
birth have inborn in them the first man’s stains, and none is born sinless.” Prudentius, Apotheosis, Loeb, 901914.
237

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with a body “it draws occasion to sin from the incitements of the flesh, and itself also at the
same time provokes sin in its comrade, avenging punishment lays hold of both wrongdoers
together since they sin with one mind, and burns the partners in sin with like torments.”241
Thus the soul exists in constant struggle, and Prudentius believes it must will to overcome
the corrupt temptations of the flesh and try to remember its original state.242 From within
this civil war existence, it is reasonable to suggest that the soul experiences varying degrees
of sinfulness, as it fluctuates between maintaining its righteousness and succumbing to the
corruption of sin. In his Psychomachia, Prudentius argues that a perfect human soul is one
that is ready for Christian salvation,243 thus it is the mandate of all individuals to avoid sin
and pursue righteousness for the sake of his or her soul and for the sake of his or her
salvation.
The Solution: The Incarnate Christ?
The world’s quintessential solution is professed in the language of the creeds,
claiming Christ as “a Second Man sent forth from heaven, not of clay as was that one
before, but God Himself putting on man without the body’s faults. The Word of the Father
becomes living flesh; pregnant by the shining Godhead, not by wedlock nor espousal nor
allurement of marriage, a maid inviolate bears it.”244 The Incarnation stands as a pivotal act
of God because God Himself enters time. It commissions the reversal of sin’s most
calamitous effects by offering the ultimate example. Therefore, it is right for Christ to be

241

Prudentius, Apotheosis, Loeb, 927-931. Due to the unique existence of body and soul united, sin
remains a constant threat, hence Prudentius’ considerable unease.
242
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, X.25-32.
243
Marc Mastrangelo, The Roman Self in Late Antiquity: Prudentius and the Poetics of the Soul
(Baltimore: John Hopkins University Press, 2008), 82.
244
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, III.136-145.

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the central figure in Prudentius’ work.245 The foremost example is A Hymn For Every
Hour, which reads like an ode to Christ, who grounds the Gospel narrative. Christ is
proclaimed as the very Word of God,246 the Son of the Father, and eternal Wisdom.247 With
all confidence, Prudentius heralds the Incarnate Christ as the “leader of salvation.”248
In the knowledge of Prudentius’ overarching theological structure, his conclusions
about salvation can be properly placed. Affirming God’s cosmic plan of redemption, the
Liber Cathemerinon rests its attention on individual deliverance.249 Salvation is complete
rescue from the devil’s domination, death, and the second death.250 God, through His Son,
initiates the possibility of future salvation for all humans by dying and conquering the

245

He writes, “He alone shall be my Muse’s theme, Him alone my lyre shall praise.” Prudentius,
Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, IX.3.
246
He declares, “O NAZARENE, Light of Bethlehem, Word of the Father, offspring of a virgin’s
womb.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, VII.1-2.
247
Prudentius affirms, “Thou didst come from the mouth of the Father and wert born of the Word,
yet in the Father’s heart as Wisdom Thou hadst understanding aforetime. Wisdom coming forth established
the heavens, the heavens and the day and all things else; by the power of the Word were all these made, for
the Word was God. But when the ages were appointed and the world set in order, the Creator and Artificer
himself remained in the bosom of the Father, until the thousands of years should roll past and He himself
deign to visit a world long given to sin.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, XI.17-32. Moreover,
praising Christ’s eternal nature he writes, “Recognise, O Child, the clear emblems of Thy power and
sovereignty, Thou for whom the Father fore-ordained a threefold nature.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon,
Loeb, XII.65-68.
248
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, XII.80. Adopting Nicaea’s overt Christological theology,
Prudentius also claims the creedal statements regarding the Trinitarian relationship of the Godhead. W.
Evenepoel, “Explanatory and Literary Notes on Prudentius’ Hymnus Ante Somnum,” Revue Belge de
Philologie et d’Histoire 56 (1978): 63. In a few examples he proclaims, “Be present, most high Father, whom
no man hath seen at any time, and Christ the Word of the Father, and Thou, kindly Spirit; O Thou who in this
Trinity art one essence and one light, God of God everlasting, and God sent forth of both”; “The Spirit reigns
eternal, He whom both Christ and His Father have sent”; “Christ our Lord and Thy only-begotten, who from
His Father’s heart breathes the Comforter; through whom Thy glory and honour and praise and wisdom, Thy
majesty and goodness and love extend Thy kingdom with its three-fold Godhead, uniting age to age for ever
and ever.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, VI.1-8; IV.14-15; and V.159-164.
249
This individualistic focus is the context by which his Psychomachia is also written. John
Petruccione, “Prudentius’ Portrait of St. Cyprian: An Idealized Biography,” Revue des Etudes Augustiniennes
36 (1990): 231.
250
He writes overtly, “‘Away,’ [Christ] cries, ‘with beds that belong to sickness, sleep, and sloth.’”
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, I.5-6. He also describes deliverance from the second death as he
writes, “He puts on the shape of mortal body, members doomed to die, so that the race that sprang from the
first man’s stock should not perish though the law of sin had plunged him deep in hell.” Prudentius, Liber
Cathemerinon, Loeb, IX.16-18.

53

powers of darkness. Therefore, Christ’s death is an act of deliverance.251 Recall that the
individual soul is trapped by sin because it yields to the domination of Satan over
humanity. Thus, Christ delivers humanity from sin and overthrows the domination of
Satan, but the actualization of salvation and its effects are given to the future. As such, the
hope of a future salvation instilled by His triumphant rescue (in historical time) subdues the
immediate expiatory work of Christ done at the cross (for all time). As a result, Christ’s
muted work requires significant human agency for the atonement of sin before the time of
the parousia and ultimately for the assurance of individual salvation. Christ’s death
provides hope to a sinful race. Hope, for Prudentius, expresses the potential of salvation,
not the guarantee.252 The coming of Christ, then, conquers the dominion of the devil over
humanity and opens the way for humans to step back into a right relationship with God.
This chapter argues that despite Prudentius’ bold Nicene-confessions of the
Incarnate Christ as humanity’s salvific solution, his Liber Cathemerinon exhibits a fixation
on the problem of human sin and its effect on individual salvation. In consequence, three
major hallmarks of Prudentius’ thought arise: an underwhelming notion of Christ’s atoning
work done at the cross, a movement toward a synergistic model of salvation, and an
anticipation of a future salvation that is actualized only at the eschaton. To demonstrate
these conclusions, observations and analysis will follow through a discussion of his
perceived means, effects, and final results of salvation.

251

Deliverance is described in terms of rescue, for humans “had fallen into the power of the false
robber, made over their soul to him, and plunged it in the smoking pit.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon,
Loeb, XI.37-40.
252
He affirms, “Wood it is whereby bitter things taste sweeter; for it is when fixed on the cross that
men’s hope is strong.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, V.95-96.

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The Means of Salvation
For Prudentius, God is affirmed as the ultimate authority. Therefore, He is rightly
depicted as the author of, and invitation to, salvation.253 The hymns declare this in terms of
His ability to control. For example, reflecting on his aged life, Prudentius states, “by now
what God is adding to my days is on the border of old age.”254 In A Hymn for the Lighting
of the Lamp, he asserts God’s sovereign reign by professing, “CREATOR of the glowing
light, our kindly guide, who dost divide the times in a fixed order of seasons.”255
Furthermore, God is exalted as Governor,256 Creator,257 Provider258 and Sustainer.259 All
titles warrant Prudentius’ belief that God is the source of all good and light.260 It is the
person of Christ who is identified as the proclaimer of humanity’s salvation. For “Our sins,
like foul night, make us lie snoring; but the voice of Christ from the height of heaven
teaches and forewarns us that daylight is near.”261
Authorship, for Prudentius, sets the stage for a particular perspective of salvation.
For example, God is understood as a transcendent initiator, who has put everything in order
for the plan of salvation to work. The potential for humanity to be saved is available, but
253

For instance, “now Christ, the awakener of our souls, calls us to life.” Prudentius, Liber
Cathemerinon, Loeb, I.3-4, emphasis mine.
254
Prudentius, Preface, Loeb, 4-5.
255
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, V.1-2.
256
For example, “may all things grave or light, our talk, our merriment, all that we are or do, be
governed by the threefold love from on high.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, III.18-20.
257
For instance, “Thy hand, then, it was, O Holy One, that made us from the moist earth. After His
own image He made us, and that our substance might be perfected, breathed with His mouth into us the
breath of life.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, III.96-100.
258
To illustrate, “What trumpet or lyre of old, with famous music of wind or strings, could fitly
praise the work of Him who is rich and almighty, and all that is provided for man’s enjoyment?” Prudentius,
Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, III.81-85.
259
As an example, “For the breath that is warm within me, for the blood that pulses unseen in my
heart, for the tongue ensconced within my mouth and beating nimbly on its sounding chamber, let me praise
the Father on high.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, III.91-95.
260
He writes, “So our halls shine, Father, with Thy gifts of noble flame; their emulous light plays the
part of day when it has gone, and night with torn mantle flees before it in defeat. But who would not discern
that the swift light has its source on high and flows from God?” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, V.2530.
261
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, I.27-31, emphasis mine.

55

God, in this case, tends to remain aloof and therefore human agency takes on a large role in
carrying out salvation. Though its effects are tempered by his fear of sin, Prudentius does
profess the Incarnational event as the solution to humanity’s problem. As a result, God
offers salvation as a possibility for all. It is the Incarnation that proclaims Christ as both
God and man. For, “He himself wears the work He made, and the creator thinks no shame
to bear what He brought to being, I mean the body and the living soul. The body He had
shaped with his fingers, soul He breathed upon it with his mouth.”262 As a result of God
putting on flesh, Christ becomes the Savior of all humanity.263 Prudentius claims total
dependence on the person of Christ for the hope of salvation because without the act of
God it would not be an option.264 McKelvie’s conclusion that “Prudentius’ Incarnational
approach to poetry is the hallmark of his poetic achievement”265 is thus only partially true.
Clearly, Prudentius returns to the Incarnational event as that which made possible the
salvation of humanity, but that single premise does not specify whether or not he sees
Christ alone as the means of salvation.
As it has been established, God is the initiator of humanity’s justification (right
standing before God), but its attainment rests significantly on human action as it
collaborates with God’s invitation to salvation. Ultimately, Prudentius’ hope of individual
salvation (deliverance from sin, death, and the torments of hell) is gauged by his own
capacity to ward off sin and pursue righteousness. In the prologue he describes a “profound
crisis of conscience” that prompts him to leave his civil responsibilities and “consecrate the
262

Prudentius, Apotheosis, Loeb, 776-778.
It is to Christ that Prudentius pleads, “with bright look turn Thy saving face, and with gladsome
countenance shine upon us.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, III.6-8.
264
He writes, “Without Thee, Lord, nought is sweet, and appetite finds no relish unless Thy grace, O
Christ, first flavour cups and food, while faith sanctifies all.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, III.1115.
265
McKelvie, “Cosmic,” 130.
263

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rest of his days to praising God in poetry.”266 The individual Christian life becomes a
necessary part of the atoning work, functioning to secure a person’s right standing before
God and an eternal future.
Prudentius identifies profitable actions with their motivation. In other words,
actions can be self-promoting or for God’s sake. As an example, his Preface begins with a
focus on actions that are self-promoting, and his initial question infers that self-propelling
or sinful actions are not profitable: “What profitable thing have I done in all this length of
time?”267 The rhetorical answer is intended to suggest – nothing. Going on to list all of his
life’s work he rests again on a new question: “Will such things, good or bad, be of any
profit after my flesh is dead, when death shall have wiped out all that I was?”268 In
response to himself, he argues “It must be said to me: ‘Whosoever thou art, thy soul hath
lost the world it cherished [in other words, count it all as loss, for your efforts belonged to
the world]; not to God, who will claim thee as His, belong the things for which it was
zealous.’”269 Therefore, Prudentius reasons that he ought to make up for that which he did
not do, if good deeds are profitable in life and death. In the former statement, Prudentius
realizes that his youth and worldly efforts are meaningless. In the latter statement, a
person’s actions have no bearing on their favorable status before God. A clue to the
direction of Prudentius’ thought exists in his final charge: “Yet as my last end draws near
let my sinning soul put off her folly. With voice at least let her honour God, if with good
deeds she cannot.”270 The course of action that this poet has decided to participate in is to
spend the rest of his life committed to making up for the time he wasted on worldly
266

Di Berardino, Patrology, 281.
Prudentius, Preface, Loeb, 6.
268
Prudentius, Preface, Loeb, 29-30.
269
Prudentius, Preface, Loeb, 31-33.
270
Prudentius, Preface, Loeb, 34-36.
267

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endeavors. His actions are now turned to praise, worship, and toward the advancement of
the faith, which, in his view, are profitable because they are for God’s sake.271 But, does
Prudentius believe they are necessary for salvation?
Baptism
Water baptism is a necessary response to God’s invitation to salvation. McKelvie
considers that A Hymn of the Fasting presents an order to salvation, rather than a
chronological order, whereby baptism is a valuable part.272 “Elijah’s asceticism,”
Prudentius writes, “brings him to personal perfection and Moses, a prophet of his people,
prays and fasts, but finally John announces the coming kingdom, forgiving sins through
baptism.”273 Striking similarities arise between Prudentius and Tertullian as they seek to
understand the role of baptism in the Christian life. For Tertullian a deep moralism
appears in the view that the sinner by repentance earns for [him/herself] salvation in
baptism … [he/she] regards God as Lawgiver and Judge, who looks upon sin as a
transgression and guilt, and therefore demands satisfaction, and in lieu of
satisfaction inflicts punishment. Sin committed after baptism require satisfaction by
penance. If this is rendered, the punishment is warded off.274

271

Dykes argues that Prudentius’ “own conception of his verse and its function is that he is a humble
servant, lacking in moral worth, who nonetheless makes a sacrifice of what he has. It will be an offering to
God. Prudentius believes that poetry can be an appropriate means of personal sanctification: it can make him,
as a writer, holy. Poetry is also a useful and pleasing tool for the instruction and salvation of literate
humanity. As he senses the end of his life approaching, he also see his verse as the one way left to him to
offer something to God: even if his soul is sinful, his writing will serve to fight against heresy, to open up the
catholic faith, to praise the martyrs and honour the Apostles.” Dykes, Reading, 10. The question remains as to
whether Prudentius views himself as justified and subsequently acting as a witness to that event, or if by his
writing poetry he adds to his own salvation apart from God’s justification.
272
McKelvie, “Cosmic,” 42.
273
McKelvie, “Cosmic,” 42.
274
L. Berkhof, The History of Christian Doctrines (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1975),
67-68. Evidence of similar thinking appears also in Augustine. For him “The historical life, death, and
resurrection of Jesus Christ are the foundation of the economy of salvation. Moreover, the human mediation
which brings a person into contact with these events in faith and the sacraments is also a constitutive element
of the economy. To attain the forgiveness of sins, one must believe and be baptized in the death and
resurrection of Christ (Confessions 5, 9, 16). To receive and retain the Holy Spirit, one must adhere to the
Catholic communion.” J. Patout Burns, “The Economy of Salvation: Two Patristic Traditions,” in Studies in
Early Christianity: A Collection of Scholarly Essays, eds. Everett Ferguson, David M. Scholer and Paul
Corby Finney, vol. 10 (New York: Garland Publishing, 1993), 235.

58

Prudentius echoes Tertullian strongly as he concludes that baptism is the means by which a
person is forgiven of past sin and receives the Holy Spirit.275 The act of baptism, therefore,
establishes the new allegiance to Christ (exemplified by works) and sheds the allegiance to
the devil (exemplified by sin). McKelvie points to the crux of A Hymn for Every Hour,
which is the famous crossing of the Red Sea and argues that it “prefigures the great victory
on the cross and the harrowing of Hell.”276 In Prudentius’ thinking, the Red Sea is also a
type of baptism. A Hymn for Epiphany confirms this idea stating, “Moses cleanses the
people in the waves in the crossing of the sea and purifies them with sweet waters, and
carries before them a pillar of light.”277 Here the poet is underscoring the absolution of past
sin through the act of baptism. Water baptism, for Prudentius, functions synergistically
with Christ’s work to abolish the sin of the individual person in order that he/she may
receive the hope of eternal salvation. Therefore, baptism stands as the rudimentary act of
atonement in the Christian life.
Baptism is the moment by which the Holy Spirit enters a person, marking it a
pivotal and necessary means of salvation. Prudentius explains,
for in the consecrated stream [John the Baptist] washed clean the marks of old sins,
but after he cleansed the tainted bodies the Spirit flowed shining into them from
heaven. From this baptism, the stain of sin removed, men came reborn, shining as
fair as does rough gold when it is refined, bright as the glistening sheen of silver ore
when it is purified and polished.278
275

He recollects, “when we were dipped in Jordan’s stream and our uncleanliness was done away.”
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, II.63-64. The poet’s belief in the salvific nature of baptism is present
throughout his writings as he explains from his Apotheosis, “For without the divine breath of the supreme
Lord the earth was dry and not yet fit for healing; but since the pure Spirit issuing from the heavenly lips
besprinkled a virgin’s soil, it has the power to heal; from thence it draws sap, and with its clinging moisture
spreads salvation, and pours in the light of day when it is washed in baptism.” Prudentius, Apotheosis, Loeb,
692-697.
276
McKelvie, “Cosmic,” 45.
277
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, XII.166-168. Concurring, Daniélou views the Exodus as
representing both “Christ’s victory over Hell, and the Sacramental Baptism.” J. Daniélou, From Shadows to
Reality: Studies in the Biblical Typology of the Fathers (London: Burns & Oates, 1960), 153-217.
278
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, VII.72-80.

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Upon entrance of the Holy Spirit, a person is purified, cleansed from past sin and marked
for salvation.279 Prudentius explains that as the Holy Spirit dwells in a human being, sin
cannot enter there, but if it does, the Spirit will depart.280
Repentance and Penance
The author’s depiction of the Holy Spirit coming and going from a human soul is
intriguing. On one hand, it underscores the negative effect that sin has on God’s own being.
On the other hand, it conveys that sin has not yet been fully conquered by God and thus, He
is driven from sin’s presence. Consequently, it is critical for one to avoid sin as to avoid
losing the Spirit of God, which is the assurance of salvation in Prudentius’ soteriology.
Concern on the part of the individual to remain free of sin in order to retain the Spirit of
God necessitates the acts of repentance and penance.281 It is reasonable to suggest that
Prudentius believes that only a person who houses the Spirit of God can pass from this life
into eternal salvation. Therefore, repentance and penance are necessary to take care of postbaptismal sin. If one follows Prudentius’ logic, any act that cleanses the soul from sin in
order to retain the indwelling of the Spirit of God is necessary for salvation. For this

279

As a picture of this reality Prudentius prays, “But thou, O Christ, put sleep to flight / And break
the iron bands of night / Free us from burden of past sin / And shed Thy morning rays within.” Prudentius,
Hymns, I.104-107.
280
He explains that “In His purity He enters chaste hearts, which are consecrated as His temple,
smiling brightly when they have drunk deep of God. But if He perceives sin or guile arising in the flesh now
dedicated to Him, swiftly He departs as from an unclean shrine. For the disordered conscience burns foully
with thick smoke as the fire of sin rages, and its blackness offends and drives away the good. Yet not alone do
purity and innocent desire make an everlasting temple for Christ in the depths of the heart within us, but we
must beware of the fever of excess that would stuff in food till the mass of it constricted the seat of faith in us.
Hearts that spare living leaves unencumbered receive better the inpouring of God; He is the soul’s true food
and savour.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, IV.16-33. O’Daly notes that Prudentius begins this
poem by presenting the Spirit in Nicene terms, as proceeding from Father and Son, “but then [the Spirit]
becomes an undifferentiated divine force entering into the lives of the morally pure.” O’Daly, Linked by
Song, 127. Prudentius’ reflections echo the Old Testament perception of the Spirit of the Lord being given
and departing. Cf. 1 Sam. 16:14; Psalm 51:11.
281
Here is an explicit example of Prudentius’ synergistic concept of salvation, for he attempts to
assure a future salvation by avoiding sin and pursuing righteousness.

60

reason, righteous acts, like ascetic disciplines, become the way by which individuals show
repentance and gain pardon for their sin. Prudentius aligns with a way of thinking that
guarantees the forgiveness of post-baptismal sin and re-establishes the indwelling of the
Holy Spirit, so as to reaffirm ones confidence in salvation.282 God remains the power
behind forgiveness for the purpose of abolishing the individual’s post-baptismal sin, but the
focus for Prudentius is reassurance that the soul is cleansed once again and the Spirit
remains. The poet maintains an understanding of salvation that is accessed primarily
through the continual abolition of sin. In this case he is concerned primarily with individual
human sin. Therefore, right standing before God (epitomized by the presence of the Spirit
of God), is brought about by the act of baptism and the resultant forgiveness of sin.
Without an understanding of Christ’s atoning work on the cross that is effectual beyond the
limits of time, Prudentius’ angst with regard to personal sin is warranted. In addition, his
theological construct questions the permanency of God’s decision and action toward
humanity. Acts of post-baptismal sin repel the Spirit, and affect the soul’s status before
God. Consequently, salvation is undetermined, ever changing and easily lost. In
determining this theological development in Prudentius, it clarifies for his reader his
personal interest in writing poetry. He writes with “the hopes of gaining salvation through
guiding his soul away from sinful tendencies and by voicing songs in honor to God.”283
One can begin to sense Prudentius’ own urgency and anxiety in wanting to secure his own
salvation, particularly in light of his focus on the perpetual problem of sin and its effect on
the individual soul.
282

Prudentius was not the only one to promote this kind of necessary moralism. Some of the earlier
church fathers (i.e., Tertullian, Clement) also found comfort in a works-based system of salvation; however,
and more importantly, at its core it deviates from a Pauline doctrine of salvation (Romans 5:1-2, NASB;
Ephesians 2:8-9, NASB). Cf. Berkhof, Christian Doctrines, 204.
283
Ballengee, Wound, 100-101.

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Righteous Acts
The perpetual plea for grace, through righteous acts, which atone for post-baptismal
sin, is also a necessary element to gaining and assuring one’s salvation. Based upon the
Holy Spirit’s movement in and out of an individual’s life, once again, the continual
forgiveness of sin becomes the best guarantee of personal salvation.284 The grace of God, to
forgive sin, is obtained through repentance, and is effectual for atoning post-baptismal
sin.285 The Liber Cathemerinon accentuates a variety of acceptable penitent works, such as
ascetic practices,286 penitent prayer, the Lord’s Supper, charity, and the sign of the cross.287

284

In Prudentius’ Psychomachia, he challenges the soul to maintain its separation from sin in order
to prepare itself for the second coming of Christ. He writes, “For what does it profit to have driven back with
the sword the earth-born regiments of the Sins, if the Son of Man coming down from high heaven and
entering the city of the cleansed body finds it unadorned and lacks a shining temple? Hitherto have we
labored hard in close battle one after another; now let the white plain dress of quiet peace be active in its
tasks, and our soldiers unharnessed hasten to build an abode for holy worship.” Prudentius, Psychomachia,
Loeb, 816-822.
285
Berkhof suggests that the emphasis on repentance as a necessary condition for salvation can be
traced to Origen, though he saw it in a less judicial sense than Tertullian. Origen makes it clear that a
congregation of believers is the church as there is not salvation found outside of the church. Berkhof,
Christian Doctrines, 74. This concept does not explicitly come out in Prudentius’ Liber Cathemerinon,
although some ways of obtaining grace reside within the church. Prudentius advocates for penitence as a
necessary appeal for God’s grace and in the event that He finds it pleasing, He will grant forbearance. He
explains, “Moved by such penitence, full soon / God’s grace repealed the stern decree / And curbed His
righteous wrath; for aye, / When man repents, His clemency / Is swift to pardon and to hear / His children
weeping bitterly”; “Yet in His clemency He grants / To penitence a brief delay, / That they might burst the
bonds of lust / And put their vanities away; / His sentence given, He waits awhile / And stays the hand
upraised to slay.” Prudentius, Hymns, VII.193-198; VII.115-120.
286
Historically, asceticism was a common form of devotion to Christ, though the more radical
ascetical church fathers acted out of an overwhelming sense of Christ’s imminent second coming. Therefore,
the only true concern for life was to prepare the soul for Christ’s return and to do that best one would
“withdraw from worldly affairs ... to focus on the otherworldliness.” Flüeler, Laster im Mittelalter, 31. In like
manner, Prudentius praises separation from worldly things, “dreading defilement and corruption from the
impure ways of towns.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, VII.64-65. Again, he emphasizes the
significant concern for avoiding sin and the reward of seclusion. He states, “and they say that thus remote and
separate from all the noise of the world he put from him a multitude of sins while he enjoyed the pure silence
of the desert.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, VII.28-30.
287
A deviation from the New Testament understanding of salvation is taking place here. Berkhof
denotes that “Faith was generally regarded as the outstanding instrument for the reception of the merits of
Christ, and was often called the sole means of salvation. It was understood to consist in true knowledge of
God, confidence in Him, and self-committal to Him, and to have as its special object Jesus Christ and His
atoning blood. This faith, rather than works of the law, was regarded as the means of justification.” Berkhof,
Christian Doctrines, 203-204. There is evidence however, that Prudentius was following a common idea in
the early church that repentance, manifested in the form of deeds, was a condition of salvation. As a result,

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“Softened by these and the like acts,” Prudentius postulates, “God restrains His short-lived
anger and turns propitious, mitigating His awful sentence; for His ready mercy willingly
cancels the guilt of men when they humble themselves, and show favour to their tears.”288
These practices cooperate with the death of the Incarnate Christ to wield about salvation for
the individual.289 And thus, Ann-Marie Palmer is right to suggest that Prudentius “sees his
role as a Christian poet as part of his claim to salvation.”290
Fasting
Fasting is particularly glorified in Prudentius’ Liber Cathemerinon. He explains,
“Nothing surely is purer than this rite, whereby the heart is enlivened through the cleansing
of its tissues, and the intemperate flesh subdued so that fat, exuding the stinking sweat of
excess, shall not constrict and choke the mind.”291 Fasting is seen as another way to dispel
sin, combat the devil’s schemes, and petition for God’s forgiveness.292 Thus, it is another

these deeds are understood to hold “expiatory value in atoning for sins committed after baptism.” Berkhof,
Christian Doctrines, 204-205.
288
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, VII.171-175.
289
He explains, “Not so surely does water put out fire, or the snows melt in the heat of the sun, as
the unclean crop of rebellious sins vanishes under the cleansing of a restoring fast, if kindly liberality be ever
joined with it. For it is a noble form of virtue too, to clothe the naked, feed the needy, give kindly aid to them
that beg for it, hold that rich and poor share one and the same humanity.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon,
Loeb, VII. 206-215. In another example he prays, “Accept our fast, our sacrifice, / And smile upon us, /
gracious Lord. / For by this holiest mystery / The inward parts are cleansed from stain, / And, taming all the
unbridled lusts, / Our sinful flesh we thus restrain, / Lest gluttony and drunkenness / Should choke the soul
and cloud the brain.” Prudentius, Hymns, VII.5-12. Furthermore, in Psychomachia he suggests that Virtues
fight off sin for the same purpose. He writes, “For O kind leader, Thou hast not exposed the followers of
Christ to the ravages of the Sins without the help of great Virtues or devoid of strength. Thou thyself dost
command relieving squadrons to fight the battle in the body close beset, Thou thyself dost arm the spirit with
pre-eminent kinds of skill whereby it can be strong to attack the wantonness in the heart and fight for Thee,
conquer for Thee. The way of victory is before our eyes if we may mark at close quarters the very features of
the Virtues, and the monsters that close with them in deadly struggle.” Prudentius, Psychomachia, Loeb, 1120.
290
Palmer, Martyrs, 121.
291
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, VII.6-10.
292
Prudentius explains, “Hereby are conquered indulgence and shameful appetite, the debased sloth
that comes of wine and slumber, filthy passion, immodest pleasantry, and all the plagues that dull our senses
are put down and feel the discipline of restraint. For if uncurbed a man abandons himself to drinking and
eating and does not duly control his body by fasting, then in the consequence the spark of the noble soul
wastes and cools off by reason and constant indulgence, and the mind falls heavily asleep in the sluggish
breast.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, VII.11-20. Moreover, fasting is an appropriate appeal for the

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way that a person can enter into God’s offered salvation and experience deliverance from
sin. Taken to its logical conclusion, any act that promotes purity and dispels sin plays a
cooperative part in acquiring God’s salvation for the individual.
The Lord’s Supper
The forgiveness of sin, which is necessary for salvation, might also be acquired
through the elements of the Lord’s Supper if Prudentius views this sacrament in a similar
way to baptism. However, the Liber Cathemerinon is considerably reserved in terms of
expressing the form and significance of this practice. In A Hymn for Every Hour,
Prudentius tells of Jesus feeding thousands with bread and fish as an analogous connection
to the Lord’s Supper, professing that “Thou art our meat and our bread, Thou our sweet
savour that never fails; he can never hunger any more who partakes of Thy banquet, not
filling a void in his belly but refreshing that by which he truly lives.”293 Echoing the Gospel
of John, Prudentius proclaims that Christ is the bread of life,294 but remains silent in terms
of developing a theology of the Lord’s Supper. Further study in Prudentius’ understanding
of the Lord’s Supper may launch a valuable conversation in terms of his views on salvation
being available from within the church.295 For instance, if partaking in the communion
meal is a necessary part to maintaining one’s salvation, it is plausible to suggest that

grace of God: “A public fast they now decree, / If they may thus Christ’s anger stay ... The royal head,
discrowned and bent, / As low he kneels God’s grace to sue.” Prudentius, Hymns, VII.163-164; VII.179-180.
293
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, IX.61-63. Prudentius alludes to a type of mystical feast as
he recounts the narrative of Exodus 26:14ff. Though any explicit connection to the Lord’s Supper remains
unseen.
294
John 6:35, NASB.
295
In many ways, Prudentius’ theology has followed that of his predecessors, particularly Origen,
Tertullian and Cyprian. Burns, “Salvation,” 225. In this case, these thinkers had much to say regarding the
place of the church as the only entity by which salvation (through Christ) can be found. According to these
church fathers “A person passes from sin to salvation by fulfilling the conditions which God imposes for
participation in Christ’s redemption …. Thus one must believe the teaching of Christ, receive baptism, and
belong to the communion of the proper Church in order to be freed from sin and raised to the glory of Christ.”
Burns, “Salvation,” 225. This theology fueled Tertullian’s push for asceticism as an act of obedience and
Cyprian’s defense of re-baptism. Burns, “Salvation,” 225.

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Prudentius has a similar stance on this issue as Origen, Tertullian, and Cyprian, though
unequivocal evidence for this theological nuance is lacking in the Liber Cathemerinon and
dialogue therefore remains speculative.
Martyrdom
So far, Prudentius has affirmed multiple means of salvation, as they participate
alongside Christ’s work. But one act supersedes all others in his soteriological system – the
act of martyrdom. It represents the only direct and assured means of acquiring eternal
salvation. Prudentius boldly affirms his position stating, “Therefore is death itself more
blessed, in that through the pains of death a way on high is opened for the righteous and by
their sufferings they pass to the skies.”296 Through sacrificial suffering, martyrs are able to
gain their salvation immediately. Like other aspects of his theology, Prudentius aligns his
thinking with Origen, Tertullian, and Cyprian. Each holds in veneration the absolute
sacredness of martyrdom, though their reasons are different. For instance, Tertullian is
adamant that a test of faith is required for salvation,297 and Origen conveys that
withstanding persecution from the state is a way of proving one’s devotion to God.298 In his
Exhortation to Martyrdom Origen speaks of this act as a second baptism for the remission
of sin, as if it were a baptism by blood.299 This line of thinking cannot be explicitly
detected in Prudentius’ Liber Cathemerinon, though there are inferences. For instance, the
296

Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, X.89-92. As another example Prudentius writes, “The
faith fought in arms, not sparing her own blood, for by death she destroyed death and spent herself to save
herself.” Prudentius, Peristephanon Liber, Loeb, II.17-20.
297
David A. Lopez, “Martyrdom and Salvation,” in Separatist Christianity: Spirit and Matter in the
Early Church Fathers (Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2004), 60-61.
298
Lopez, “Martyrdom,” 61-62.
299
Origen, Exhortation to Martyrdom, in Origen, ed. Rowan A. Greer. Classics of Western
Spirituality Series (Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1979), XXX.61-62. In the third century the majority of Christians
thought that martyrdom was the only way to treat major post-baptismal sins – though Cyprian took a less fatal
stance toward post-baptismal remission after the Decianic persecution. Lopez, “Martyrdom,” 65. As seen,
Prudentius promotes both views, advocating for grace to cleanse post-baptismal sin as well as promoting the
purging of sin through martyrdom.

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poet indirectly affirms the notion of salvific martyrdom when speaking of the children that
King Herod sentenced to die in his search for the baby Jesus. He writes, “Hail, martyrflowers, whom on the very threshold of life the persecutor of Christ destroyed, as the
stormy wind kills roses at their birth. You are Christ’s first offerings, a tender flock slain in
sacrifice, and before the very altar you play in innocence with palm and crowns.”300
Certainly Prudentius’ historical influences held similar ideas. For instance,
among more rigorist Christians such as Tertullian, death was preferable even to the
appearance of accommodation with the illegitimate, idolatrous authority of the
Roman state; this most profound act of rejecting accommodation was believed to be
a necessary step for one’s salvation. Among less rigorist Christians, such as
Clement of Alexandria [c. 150 – c. 215], martyrdom was promoted somewhat less
strongly, and was believed to be necessary for salvation only in situations in which
it became the sole defense against idolatry.301
Generally Origen, Tertullian, and Cyprian argue that “Affliction provides an opportunity to
endure suffering, which is intimately connected to one’s hope of salvation. Suffering is the
test of faith that must necessarily be passed to attain the gloria, the reward of salvation,
which is the goal of Christians.”302 Before Prudentius’ lifetime, the act of martyrdom was
thought to fulfill the commands of God and win the presence of God, “reenacting [Christ’s]
own death through the martyr and thus conquering death again for the martyr. Thus the
300

Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, XII.125-132. Cunningham articulates a similar
interpretation, as the innocent babies are “clustered before God’s altar and playing with the symbols of their
martyrdom, the palms and crowns.” Cunningham, “Contexts,” 65.
301
Lopez, “Martyrdom,” 57-58.
302
Lopez, “Martyrdom,” 61-62. Furthermore, “It is important to note that separatist Christianity had
not yet developed a sacramental means of dealing with postbaptismal sin, comparable to later penitential
traditions. While institutional means were developed for dealing with minor transgressions by individuals, no
such means were available to help the community cope with the major transgressions (and in large numbers)
of apostasy and idolatry. The only recognized means of purging these sins was baptism; yet baptism could
only be had once. Martyrdom, however, the ‘second baptism,’ could serve as well: ‘Let us also remember that
we have sinned; and that there is no remission of sins other accepting Baptism; and that it is impossible
according to the Evangelical laws to be baptized again with water and the Spirit for the remission of sins; and
that we have been given the baptism of martyrdom’. Origen in this passage draws a clear parallel between
baptism and martyrdom .... During the remainder of the third century, the question of the efficacy of these
alternative means of remitting sin [that Cyprian suggests] still remained undecided, but as a reaction to
Diocletian’s persecutions from 303 to 311 showed, the effectiveness of martyrdom for salvation was never in
doubt.” Lopez, “Martyrdom,” 63.

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martyr was immediately and fully saved, entering Heaven to enjoy the eternal vision of
God.”303 Historically, this rationale was pushed forward by some of Prudentius’ largest
influences; therefore, it is no surprise that he too follows this line of thinking.
Even though salvific martyrdom is implicitly present in his Liber Cathemerinon,
Prudentius exposes his position in Peristephanon Liber.304 J. Petruccione observes the
soteriological significance martyrdom has for Prudentius as he “attributes the conversion of
the city [Caesaraugusta] and its ultimate salvation at the Last Judgment to the efficacy of
the martyrs’ self-sacrifice.”305 He sees this act as an aid to those children of God who have
renounced the devil in baptism, but continue to struggle thereafter.306 Prudentius writes
explicitly, “A noble thing it is to suffer the stroke of the persecutor’s sword; through the
wide wound a glorious gateway opens to the righteous, and the soul, cleansed in the scarlet
baptism, leaps from its seat in the breast.”307 With the emphasis continually on the

303

Lopez, “Martyrdom,” 72.
Cunningham observes, “all of these poems [Peristephanon Liber] bear a relation to the
celebration of the annual feasts of martyrs.” Cunningham, “Contexts,” 58.
305
J. Petruccione, “The Martyr Death as Sacrifice: Prudentius, Peristephanon 4.9-72,” Vigiliae
Christianae 49, no. 3 (August 1995): 245. Furthermore, “In his portrayal of the martyr death as a sacrifice
that redeems and purifies a given community constituted by ties of shared blood, soil, and historical
experience, the poet voices views that were seldom expressed in the west and, in the east, most explicitly
formulated by Origen.” Petruccione, “Martyr Death,” 245; Joyce E. Salisbury, “The Bond of a Common
Mind: A Study of Collective Salvation from Cyprian to Augustine,” in Studies in Early Christianity: A
Collection of Scholarly Essays, eds. Everett Ferguson, David M. Scholer and Paul Corby Finney, vol. 10
(New York: Garland Publishing, 1993), 255-256. Clarifying further, “Prudentius, then, conceives of the
martyr death as a sacrifice at once redemptive and purificatory. Patristic authors rarely accord to human selfsacrifice such as decisive significance in the drama of salvation. Origen provides the closest parallels in his
commentary on John.” Petruccione, “Martyr Death,” 248. Origen carries this thought further by articulating
that “while Christ’s offering effected a global atonement, the martyrs’ deaths benefit only their fellow
countrymen.” Petruccione, “Martyr Death,” 248.
306
J. Petruccione, “The Persecutor’s Envy and Rise of the Martyr Cult: ‘Peristephanon’ Hymn 1 and
4,” Vigiliae Christianae 45, no. 4 (December 1991): 334.
307
Prudentius, Peristephanon Liber, Loeb, I.29-30. Throughout the Peristephanon Liber Prudentius
continues to emphasize the martyrs’ immediate transition from this life to the presence of God and the view
of martyrdom as a baptism by blood. Cf. Prudentius, Peristephanon Liber, Loeb, V.361-372; V.281-300; and
V.5-12. Speaking specifically of a baptistery he writes, “This is a spot chosen of Christ for raising tried souls
to heaven through blood, and for cleansing them with water. Here two heroes that were slain for the Lord’s
name won scarlet martyrdom by their noble death, and here too mercy flows in the limpid fount and washes
away old stains in its new stream. Whoso desires to ascend to the everlasting kingdom of the heavens, let him
304

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abolishment of sin and the devil’s power, he argues, “Believe ye that the victims’ spirits
were taken back to God? See how clearly here wild devils are subdued which like wolves
capture and devour men’s hearts, choking their very minds and mingling with their
senses.”308
For Prudentius, the martyrs also take on a mediatory role. As an example, St.
Vincent, having died under the Spanish governor Datianus, is “able to act as an effective
advocate for his devotees, approaching the Father’s throne.”309 Prudentius writes of the
patron martyrs in terms of their intercessory abilities,
With such concern for our perils do they work for us that they suffer no whisper any
man has uttered to go for naughts; they listen to our prayer and straightway carry it
to the ear of the everlasting King. Hence gifts flow generously on to earth from the
very fountain-head, pouring on the petitioners’ maladies the healing remedies they
sought for. For Christ in his goodness has never refused aught to his witnesses, witnesses whom neither chains nor cruel death deterred from confessing the one
God at the cost of their blood, yes, their blood, but such loss is repayed by life
prolonged.310
Confident of this reality, he implores the martyrs as he prays for himself, petitioning
“through the advocacy of the martyrs [that] he may attain to healing.”311
Beyond participating in their own salvation and offering mediatory aid to those who
pray, Prudentius also affirms that martyrs offer expiation to the community.312 He explains,

come here in his thirst, and he will find the way is made ready.” Prudentius, Peristephanon Liber, Loeb,
VIII.1-8.
308
Prudentius, Peristephanon Liber, Loeb, I.96-99.
309
Grig, “Torture,” 329.
310
Prudentius, Peristephanon Liber, Loeb, I.16-24. Again he articulates, “whose favour [the
martyrs] they may seek by prayer.” Prudentius, Peristephanon Liber, Loeb, I.12.
311
Prudentius, Peristephanon Liber, Loeb, II.579-580. Again he calls out, “and perchance under
Christ’s favour he [Fructuosus the martyr] will deign to give relief to my torments too, as he recalls my sweet
hendecasyllables.” Prudentius, Peristephanon Liber, Loeb, VI.160-162. In another story he writes, “My glad
return, my chance to embrace you, reverend priest, my writing these very words, I know that I owe to
Hippolytus [the martyr], to whom Christ our God has given power to grant one’s request.” Prudentius,
Peristephanon Liber, Loeb, XI.179-182.
312
“The Peristephanon Liber enjoys a number of fertility metaphors, where martyrs are seen as
extensions of Christ’s bloody sacrifice, as participants in the redemptive fertility of Christ’s blood.” Grig,

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“The sacrifice of holy blood has shut out the race of malign devils from all thy gates and
driven black darkness from thy cleansed city.”313 The impact of a martyr’s sacrifice on the
world of darkness is so effectual that it passes over to the people of the community. Is this
a similar expression of what Christ does for humanity according to Prudentius? Both
martyr and Christ expel the devil, sin, and death with a sacrificial act that extends to the
greater community.314 Due to the martyrs’ ability to renounce Satan and expedite their
eternal rewards, “their townsmen, indeed all Christians who [appeal] to their intercession ...
exorcise the powers of sin, throw off the devil’s yoke, and regain their identity as soldiers
of Christ.”315 Out of all the participatory actions that Prudentius affirms as means of
salvation for the individual, martyrdom is the most direct. Appealing entirely to Prudentius’
personal concerns for the problem of sin, martyrdom offers, in essence, the perfect
atonement offering.
Christ’s death and resurrection is the doorway through which humanity can enter
into the planned redemption of the world. In this sense, Christ’s crucifixion is a significant
event, but not the central theme. When Prudentius reflects on the work done at the cross,
his emphatic praise turns toward Christ’s victorious harrowing of hell and the defeat of the
devil.316 It is reasonable to suggest that Prudentius’ fixation on the problem of sin
perpetuates his view of Christ’s work as limited to conquering death, the devil, and sin. As

“Torture,” 330. For a fuller discussion see J. Ross, “Dynamic Writing and Martyrs’ Bodies in Prudentius’
Peristephanon,” Journal of Early Christian Studies 3 (1995): 325-355; Cf. Petruccione, “Martyr Death,” 251.
313
Prudentius, Peristephanon Liber, Loeb, IV.65-68. Cf. Peristephanon Liber, Loeb, IV.71-72.
314
Cunningham argues that “the matter of the sufferings has another dimension as well, although it
is one which is quite hard for us to estimate. At the time of Prudentius it seems clear that the passion of Christ
was not given elaborate or detailed treatment. Its reality is accepted but not stressed. On the other hand, the
martyrs were said to participate in Christ’s passion, and to a limited extent to suffer as Christ suffered.
Consequently, when Prudentius emphasizes and elaborates upon the sufferings of a martyr, he is also treating
of Christ’s passion in a vicarious way. He says as much himself.” Cunningham, “Contexts,” 65-66.
315
Petruccione, “Envy,” 336.
316
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, IX.70-105.

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such, his focus remains on the accounts of Christ’s victorious triumph over hell and the
grave. In consequence, Prudentius is more likely to fill the need for atonement with human
action. As it has been demonstrated, he does place a high priority on the cooperative action
of humanity in the atoning work of salvation, which creates a working sense of
sanctification that seems precursory to justification. As such, it leads only to a view of
salvation that is actualized in the future.317 As it is, Prudentius’ theological reasoning must
adopt another element (outside of Christ’s work) in order to fully appease humanity’s sin.
In turn, Christ’s exclusive salvific work is insufficient and Prudentius’ theology demands a
propitious solution.
The Effects of Salvation
To evaluate Prudentius’ understanding of the effects of salvation, his definition of
God’s saving act as complete deliverance from sin must be held in the foreground.318 In
order to persuade his readers of their need for God’s salvation, he consistently focuses on
the threat of the devil. Prudentius prays, “Imprisoned as we are by the world’s cruel
violence, as it were by a grim despot, Thou dost direct us and drive away the wild beast
that goes roaring round about and seeks to devour us, sharpening its teeth to frenzy with
rage, for that, O God supreme, we pray to Thee alone.”319 Thus, the most immediate effect
of salvation is that God hears the cries of His people and acts by offering a way for humans

317

What seems to be an over-emphasis on the role of human agency in the economy of salvation is
found in the earlier works of Theodore of Mopsuestia, who epitomized the Nestorian expression of
soteriology. Fairbairn, “Patristic Perspective,” 94. Prudentius seems dangerously close to some of Theodore’s
premises. In particular, Theodore did not regard salvation as being possessed by the believer in the present;
rather, he saw “salvation almost entirely as a future condition, a possession that will be [humanity’s] only in a
future world, but toward which the believer must strive in this world.” Fairbairn, “Patristic Perspective,” 93.
318
Cf. Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, I.45-48; II.9-18; IX.1-114; XII.74-76. Salvation is
primarily expressed as a rescue mission. Reiterating this focus in the narrative of Peter, Prudentius writes,
“For sin is committed before the herald of coming day sheds light on the race of men and brings an end of
sinning.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, I.53-56.
319
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, IV.76-81.

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to experience deliverance from the devil’s allegiance and the corruption of sin.
Furthermore, through the Incarnate Christ, God has prepared a way in which the benefits of
salvation are made available to all of humanity. As it has been established, individuals are
called into action in order to actualize God’s offer of salvation. The Incarnation does not
complete salvation; rather, it initiates the opportunity.320
Hades, Death, and the Devil
Prudentius articulates that it is Christ’s descent into hell and subsequent victory
over it that marks the salvation of those residing in hell.321 As a result, the effect of
salvation is the conquering of Hades, death, and the devil.322 In one sense, Christ’s death,
descent, and resurrection has already overcome the powers of darkness and in so doing has
demolished the bondage humanity had to the devil. He explains, “but us, who are in
continual subjection to the grievous power of sin, our Leader, disabling our enemy, sets
free from the darkness of death.”323 Salvation, through Christ, releases humanity from the
slavery of the devil, giving them the opportunity for a new allegiance to Christ.324

320

McKelvie, “Cosmic,” 35-36. Similarly, Tertullian “conceives of the incarnation as affecting
mankind chiefly through precept and example.” Berkhof, Christian Doctrines, 168. Prudentius’ failure to see
Christ’s work in its fullness goes against Athanasius’ vision of the salvific work of Christ, which he sees
completed in Jesus Christ. There is a kind of substitution in which Christ is put in the place of humanity
“offering his life on the cross as a holy sacrifice to the Father.” Thomas Gerard Weinandy, Jesus the Christ
(Huntington: Our Sunday Visitor Publishing, 2003), 151. This kind of substitutionary action on the part of
Christ for humanity’s salvation seems foreign to Prudentius’ Liber Cathemerinon.
321
He explains, “Yea, lest those below should have no part in salvation, in His goodness He enters
Tartarus. The door is forced and yields before Him; the bolts are torn away, down falls the pivot broken; that
gate so ready to receive the inrush, so unyielding in face o those that would return, is unbarred and gives back
the dead; the law is reversed, and the black doorway stands open to be retrodden.” Prudentius, Liber
Cathemerinon, Loeb, IX.70-75.
322
He asserts, “Then was the strength of death crushed, then was the law of hell subdued, then did
the stronger potency of day force night to flee.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, I.69-72.
323
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, XII.161-164.
324
Cf. Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, II.93-96. This understanding of humanity being under
the dominion of the devil is prominent in Justin Martyr, who suggests in his Apology that the “Son became
man to teach us the truth of God, freeing us from ignorance and so from the lies of Satan.” Weinandy, Jesus,
141. Origen continues this line of thinking and echoes Irenaeus’ use of the term “ransom” to denote Christ
paying for humanity’s sin. Weinandy, Jesus, 148. Shedd stresses this matter by suggesting that “characteristic
of the Early Patristic Soteriology” is that “the death of Christ is often represented as ransoming man from the

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Prudentius maintains a strong belief in human free will and thus, Christ’s work does not
guarantee that each individual person will choose to accept what has been offered.
However, in another sense the poet acknowledges that Satan is not fully subdued, even
though the event by which Christ overthrows hell has happened in time, the effects will not
be accomplished until Christ’s return. It is for this reason that he urges Christians to guard
themselves against the corruption of sin.325
Sin
Salvation absolves sin and charges the Christian to a life of righteousness and
obedience.326 God saves humanity from sin for a life of obedience, rather than Prudentius’
model whereby God responds to a life of obedience by saving humanity from sin. In the
Liber Cathemerinon, a clear distinction is made between those who are experiencing the
effects of salvation and those who are not. For instance, A Hymn Before Sleep portrays the
different visions while the body is at rest; those who are holy see visions of spiritual
revelation and those who are wicked and suffused in sin experience the terrors of deceptive
phantoms.327 As an example of Prudentius’ hermeneutic, which calls for multiple
meanings, this passage suggests that similar to the temporary rest of night, the human soul
will experience a temporary state after death until it is re-united with the body. Furthering
this concept, McKelvie argues that the two visions represent the punishments and rewards

power and slavery of the devil.” William Greenough Thayer Shedd, A History of Christian Doctrine, vol. 2
(New York: John F. Trow, 1863), 213.
325
McKelvie, “Cosmic,” 38-39. Salvation does proclaim Christ’s Lordship over Satan fully, but that
will be accomplished after Christ’s second coming. McKelvie, “Cosmic,” 38-39.
326
Cf. Romans 6:1-23, NASB; Colossians 3:1-17, NASB; Hebrews 10:19-25, NASB; 2 Corinthians
5:17-21, NASB.
327
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, VI.25-55. This type of explanation suggests that there are
benefits for the righteous in terms of safety and rest from temptation. The motivation here is the fight for the
soul to choose righteousness over the lures of the fleshly temptation for the ultimate good of the soul. “Such
is the sleep with which the righteous hero rests his mind, that with prophetic spirit it traverses the whole
heaven.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, VI.113-116.

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awaiting a soul in the interim.328 In pursuit of a holy life, Prudentius urges believers to
imitate Christ, the best example.329 This concept is heavily endorsed throughout the Liber
Cathemerinon almost to the point where imitation achieves a pure soul.330
Obedience begins as a transformative response to God’s offer of salvation. In his
poetry, Prudentius exemplifies this response to his readers by sharing his own sense of
conviction. Reflecting Paul’s biographical confession in Philippians 3:4-11, he
chronologically sorts out his own curriculum vitae confessing,
My first years wept under the crack of the rod; after that the toga corrupted me and
taught me to utter sinful falsehoods; then lewd sauciness and wanton indulgence, to
my shame and sorrow now, marred my youth with the filthy dirt of wickedness.
Next disputings armed my vehement spirit, and a perversely stubborn passion for
victory laid itself open to cruel falls. Twice with the law’s controlling curb I
governed famed cities, rendering civil justice to good men and striking terror into
evil-doers. Finally His Grace the Emperor advanced me in his service and raised me
up, attaching me closer to him and bidding me stand in the nearest rank.331
The author’s awareness of his own sinful existence and resulting realignment of priorities
in order to pursue God, reflects his understanding of the need for a response somewhere in
the process of salvation. In an expression of this desire, Prudentius petitions along with the
reader to “Let us awake! Reality is here. Gold, pleasure, joy, riches, honour, success, all the
evil things that puff us up, - comes morning, all are naught.”332 By God calling humanity to
life, Prudentius immediately outlines what life is not and, in turn, what it is. Life is not for
328

McKelvie, “Cosmic,” 48. The concept of the interim, particularly in purgatory-type descriptions,
is a digression from the creedal statements of the Nicene faith.
329
Slusser suggests that this action “began already during Jesus’ ministry and was sufficiently
central to the life of the primitive community that they were known as followers of a ‘Way’ of salvation.”
Michael Slusser “Primitive Christian Soteriological Themes,” in Studies in Early Christianity: A Collection of
Scholarly Essays, eds. Everett Ferguson, David M. Scholer and Paul Corby Finney, vol. 10 (New York:
Garland Publishing, 1993), 220.
330
Gregory of Nyssa argues fully for the purification of the soul,” which may be achieved “either by
our efforts in this life or by the purification hereafter.” Gregory of Nyssa, On the Soul and the Resurrection,
trans. Catharine P. Roth, vol. 12 of Popular Patristics Series (Crestwood: St. Vladimir’s Seminary Press,
1993), 77.
331
Prudentius, Preface, Loeb, 7-21.
332
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, I.92-96.

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selfish sin, for “beds that belong to sickness, sleep, and sloth,” but rather, it is for being
“pure and upright and sober and awake.”333 An active life, in response to God’s gift of
salvation, is carried out with gratitude and worship. For instance, while reflecting on the
biblical narrative of Daniel in the lion’s den, Prudentius suggests that in response, the
believer ought to offer thanks and praise. Just as Daniel “said ‘Amen, Alleluia’ in response
... we, being refreshed by Thy gifts, O God, the generous giver of all good things, return
thanks and dedicate our hymns to Thee.”334 Prudentius is also discouraging passive or
lukewarm responses to God. Certainly in his later years, his own life is marked by full
engagement. And yet, his attitude toward the Christian life, in many ways, is motivated by
the threat of sin and the devil’s schemes. In his Apotheosis he clearly warns that the
torch of faith alone is to be carried before our feet, that our steps may be straight.
But when we go astray in this darkness the enemy buffets us, carries us away
captive, tramples upon us, a cruel enemy who devours the provision laid out along
the way for the very passage of travellers, a thief who spoils Christ’s rich fields,
sowing wild oats in them to compete with the corn.335
It seems, for Prudentius, that the dangers of sin and the devil remain a constant motivator
for the actions of the Christian life.
Interim
Salvation also affects the interim destination of the soul in Prudentius’ writings.336
Evidence denotes his understanding of a holding place, a paradise for the saved after they
have experienced bodily death. Prudentius’ descriptions mimic imagery given in Luke’s
biblical account of paradise in Abraham’s bosom.337 Logic suggests that if he maintains a
333

Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, I.5-8.
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, IV.72-75.
335
Prudentius, Apotheosis, Loeb, 39-46.
336
“For whereas we see the body lying at rest bereft of the spirit, there remains but a short time ere it
seek again its union with the soul on high.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, X.33-36.
337
He writes, “But till Thou dost recall the mortal body, O God, and make it new, in what region
wilt Thou bid the pure soul rest? In the bosom of the holy patriarch shall it lie, like Eleazar with flowers all
334

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holding place for those who are saved (paradise), there must also be a holding place for
those who are not saved. The term purgatory is absent from the Liber Cathemerinon,
though its concept is alluded to particularly in A Hymn on the Burial of the Dead when he
says “The lifeless body we restore / To earth, must slumber free from pain / A little while,
that it may gain / The spirit’s fellowship once more.”338 Once again, he seems to align his
concept of the interim with Origen’s teaching that paradise is for the good, wherein they
receive further education, and the wicked pass through a period of judgment for the
purpose of purification.339 Similarly, Gregory of Nyssa speaks directly about this interim
space as a place to purify the soul in his Sermon on the Dead.340 Origen too asserts that
only a few people will enter “upon the full blessedness of the vision of God at once; the
great majority of them must pass through a process of purification after death.”341 This
theological nuance is also present in Prudentius’ thinking. Recall that salvation rests upon
an individual possessing the Holy Spirit, which is determined after baptism by the sinless
state of the soul. Therefore, if total absence of sin determines the true mark of salvation,
upon Christ’s second coming there will be very few people who directly go to paradise
about him, while the rich man, as he burns, looks upon him from afar. We follow Thy words, O Redeemer,
with which, in Thy triumph over the blackness of death, Thou dost bid the robber, Thy companion on the
cross, to walk in Thy steps. See now, for the faithful a shining way lies open to the spacious garden of
paradise, and they may enter that grove which the serpent took from man. There, I pray, good Leader, give
command that the spirit, Thy servant, be consecrated to Thee in the home of its birth, which it left to wander
in exile.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, X.149-168.
338
Prudentius, Hymns, X.33-36.
339
Berkhof, Christian Doctrines, 75. Clement carries this further to suggest that the reprobate have
an opportunity to repent in Hades. Berkhof, Christian Doctrines, 75.
340
Gregory clarifies, “If a man distinguish in himself what is peculiarly human from that which is
irrational, and if he be on the watch for a life of greater urbanity for himself, in this present life he will purify
himself of any evil contracted, overcoming the irrational by reason. If he has inclined to the irrational
pressure of the passions, using for the passions the cooperating hide of things irrational, he may afterward in a
quite different manner be very much interested in what is better, when, after his departure out of the body, he
gains knowledge of the difference between virtue and vice and finds that he is not able to partake of divinity
until he has been purged of the filthy contagion in his soul by the purifying fire.” Gregory of Nyssa, Sermon
on the Dead, in The Faith of the Early Fathers: Post-Nicene and Constantinopolitan Eras through St.
Jerome, ed. William A. Jurgens, vol. 2 (Collegeville: Liturgical Press, 1970), 58.
341
Berkhof, Christian Doctrines, 75.

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(excluding the martyr who gains direct access). Prudentius’ system of thought seems to
exemplify Origen’s concept of the interim, despite its lack of direct reference.
The Final Results of Salvation
Restoration and Redemption
The final result of salvation, for Prudentius, will be the restoration of all creation,
including humanity. Like Irenaeus, he understands God’s plan as working toward uniting
all things in Christ.342 Prudentius projects that when the “Earth’s blackness is split asunder
by the stroke of the sun’s dart,” then the “world resumes its colour under the glance of his
shining orb.”343 His confidence comes from his dominant trust in the sovereignty of God’s
will over all. In A Morning Hymn Prudentius draws a parallel between creation righting
itself and Christ’s second coming. “The dawn comes in,” he writes, “the sky is lightening,
Christ is coming.”344 Despite the recalibration of creation, Prudentius is most concerned
that the final result of salvation be a restoration of the intended dynamic between God and
humanity. He often uses the metaphorical language of light and dark.345 In this sense,
salvation is represented as “the restoration to light of the dark.”346 This concept of returning
to the original order can be detected in the works of Origen as well. Weinandy suggests,
“The deification of the soul of Christ becomes the paradigm ... for every human soul’s
ascent back to God. The goal of salvation is to reunite all souls to the Logos in their

342

Weinandy, Jesus, 143. Irenaeus sees reconciliation coming about primarily in three ways: (1)
through the incarnation of Christ, as God recapitulates man in Himself, (2) by being a descendent of Adam,
the man of Jesus recapitulates the entirety of human history to Himself and because He lived through all
stages of the human life he “sanctified the whole of human life” and (3) Jesus being the second Adam
“reverses the whole process of sin” through obedience. Weinandy, Jesus, 143; Cf. Kereszty, Jesus, 199.
343
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, II.5-8.
344
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, II.3-4.
345
Marion M. van Assendelft, Sol Ecc Surgit Igneus: A Commentary on the Morning and Evening
Hymns of Prudentius (Cathemerinon 1, 2, 5 and 6) (Groningen: Bouma’s Boekhuis, 1976), 33.
346
van Assendelft, Commentary, 33.

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original created status.”347 This movement of salvation from “birth to beatitude” is not
exclusive to Origen; it seems to begin with Justin Martyr and is later expounded fully by
Gregory of Nyssa.348
Where Prudentius is compatible with these thinkers, Athanasius included, is in their
understanding of Christ’s universal intention.349 Taken to its logical conclusion, Origen and
Gregory profess that all created beings are to gain final salvation by God.350 In Prudentius’
interpretation of the biblical narrative of Jacob wrestling, one could argue for a similar
conclusion, for he explains that Jacob “lost the strength to sin” as a result of the light
shining on his leg and laming him.351 In effect, this questions the final consequences of
human sin and jeopardizes personal responsibility. It could be argued that whatever the
human decision is, God’s decision trumps them all for humanity’s own good. Prudentius
explains that “These figures [Jacob and the other] teach us that man, sunk in darkness, if he
yield not to God, loses the strength to resume the fight; yet he will be more blessed in
whom the day, when it appears, finds the unruly body lamed and wasted with the
struggle.”352 Does the “yet” in this statement point toward a belief in universal salvation?
More convincing however is the evidence indicating that Prudentius does not take
the concept of universal intention to its ultimate conclusion. For instance he confesses that
hell does exist, but qualifies that only a few will end up there. He exposes this approach
when he writes,

347

Weinandy, Jesus, 147.
Burns, “Salvation,” 225.
349
Burns, “Salvation,” 225. Finishing A Hymn On The Burial Of The Dead with a prayer for the
person who has past, he expresses the desire for everyone to experience final salvation. Indeed he writes,
“There, I pray, good Leader, give command that the spirit, Thy servant, be consecrated to Thee in the home
of its birth, which it left to wander in exile.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, X.165-168.
350
Burns, “Salvation,” 225.
351
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, II.80.
352
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, II.85-92.
348

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The very Lamb of the Thunderer, red from the slaughter, who alone unseals the
book that has knowledge of things to be. His mighty hand is armed with a twoedged sword, and flashing this way and that it threatens two strokes at once. He
alone is inquisitor of soul and body both, and blade twice to be feared is the first
and second death. Yet in kindness too the Avenger blunts the edge of His wrath,
and suffers but few of the ungodly to perish for ever.353
Moreover, Prudentius clarifies his position on the final destinies of humanity explaining
that Christ “promises eternal salvation to those who believe, the salvation of the soul,
which alone does not perish but endures for ever and undergoes fortunes that differ; it
either shines with light or is sunk in darkness; if it has followed Christ, it enters into the
Father’s glory, but if it has separated itself from Christ it is delivered up to hell.”354 As
such, he does not claim universal salvation as God’s finale for all.
Resurrection
In understanding Prudentius’ soteriological premise, it is critical to define the
structure of his eschatological vision. There are four main categories that deserve
exposition: the resurrection of the body, judgment, the afterlife, and Christ’s eternal rule.
Prudentius captures the idea of Christ’s resurrection as prefiguring humanity’s bodily
resurrection.355 The poet seems to reflect a similar focus to that of Tertullian. For instance,
“it can be understood that [Tertullian] looked to the parousia, and perhaps only to it, as the
source of his hope for the future.”356 In the same way, Prudentius eagerly anticipates the
353

Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, VI.81-96.
Prudentius, Peristephanon Liber, Loeb, X.470-475.
355
McKelvie furthers Prudentius’ own words and suggests that the resurrection “literally provides
the crux of Christian soteriology.” McKelvie, “Cosmic,” 106. Buttressed by his own words in his Apotheosis
Prudentius confesses, “I know that my body rises in Christ; why dost thou bid me abandon my hope? I shall
come by the same paths by which He came against from trampling upon death; it is this we believe. And I
shall come whole; for I shall be restored not less nor other than now I am; my features, natural force,
complexion, will be the same as they are now in life; when the tomb is opened, the grave will send me forth
again without the loss of even a tooth or a nail. He who bids me return will not give back aught infirm; for if
it is infirmity that returns, then is there no restoration. What calamity has robbed me of, what illness or pain
has drained away, what consuming age with wasting decline has cut off, all will return, at my coming again,
to a body renewed.” Prudentius, Apotheosis, Loeb, 1062-1073.
356
Jaroslav Pelikan, “The Eschatology of Tertullian,” Church History 21, no. 2 (June 1952): 112.
354

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resurrection. He writes, “Soon will come the time when the warmth that bore them
company shall return to the bones, and wear again its old dwelling quickened with living
blood. Bodies that long lay dead and still and mouldering in their tombs will be carried into
the flying breezes in company with their former souls.”357 For him, it is Christ’s second
coming that brings forth this resurrection of the dead. Graphically portrayed in A Hymn
Before Meat he writes,
Yeah, it is even granted to restore the dead flesh after its decease, and once again
from its tomb the old form is reborn, when the mouldering dust comes together. I
indeed believe (and my faith is not vain) that bodies live as does the soul; for now I
bethink me it was in bodily form that God returned from Phlegethon with easy step
to heaven. The same hope awaits my members, which, though they are bidden to
rest scented with spices in the tomb of death, Christ my leader, who rose from the
like earth, calls to the glowing stars.358
Judgement
The principle of eschatological judgment is unclear in Prudentius’ Liber
Cathemerinon. His understanding of who must bear the judgment of Christ at the end times
is ambiguous. Various passages suggest that he understands God’s judgment to be only for
those who reject Him.359 McKelvie furthers this concept suggesting that Prudentius’ idea of
sleep “takes on an eschatological character as the daily experience of death and
judgment.”360 If this is an accurate assessment, the poet would affirm that judgment awaits

357

Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, X.37-44. It is for this reason that Prudentius advocates for
Christians to take great care of dead bodies as he writes, “This earnest care the provident piety of Christ’s
followers takes because they believe that all that are now sunk in cold slumber will presently be alive.”
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, X.57-60. He goes on to encourage, “Let none lament for his dear
ones, for this death is the renewal of life.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, X.119-120. “Do thou cover
the body entrusted to thee; He who is its maker and author will not forget it, and will seek again that which
He gave, the image of His own countenance.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, X.133-136.
358
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, III.191-205.
359
McKelvie points to A Morning Hymn where the “exaltation of God’s forgiveness continues,
clarifying that although the new light of day signifies a judgement of destruction for those who ignore God, it
is a call to re-commitment and penitence for the Christian” as seen in II.97-100. McKelvie, “Cosmic,” 28.
360
McKelvie, “Cosmic,” 37.

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the wicked, while a beatific experience awaits the righteous.361 This thinking amplifies the
critical nature of being found sinless upon Christ’s second coming – for salvation would
also deliver one from God’s judgment. In contradistinction to this presumption, Prudentius
includes verses that prophetically claim judgment for all souls.362
Eternal Life
The afterlife is given superlative imagery in Prudentius’ writings. It is, after all, the
ultimate reward of salvation, the epitome of deliverance from death and hell. In his mind,
this is what it all points toward. He writes of heaven as housing “the blest souls with one
accord unite,” where they will sing praise to the Saviour amidst a flower-filled utopia.363
This afterlife is ruled exclusively by the Triune Godhead and for Prudentius, holds a
mysterious wonder. The afterlife that he envisions is eternal. In it the righteous experience
a bodily state where there is neither “languor nor decay,” free from age and sickness.364 He

361

It can also be noted that the early church professed the Messiah-judge person of Christ, which
served as the motivation for repentance and hope for the afterlife. Slusser, “Primitive,” 218.
362
To illustrate, Prudentius writes “Then, when He had annulled death and restored man to life, He
ascended in victory the lofty judgment-seat of the Father on high, carrying back to heaven the illustrious
glory of His passion. Glory be to Thee, judge of the dead and king of the living, who on Thy Father’s throne
at His right hand art renowned for Thy merits, and shalt come from thence to be the righteous avenger of all
sins.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, XI.103-108. Similarly, he states “Then throned on high, the
Judge of all / Shall mortals to their reckoning call: / To these shall grant the prize of light, / To those
Gehenna’s gloomy night.” Prudentius, Hymns, XI.109-112.
363
Prudentius, Hymns, V.121-124. Creating such a picture he explains, “There all the ground is
covered and scented with beds of red roses; watered by running streamlets it pours forth rich marigolds and
soft violets and tender crocuses. There balsam, too, exudes in a stream from its slender shoot, the rare
cinnamon breathes its scent, and the leaf which the river by whose stream it grows carries from its hidden
source to its mouth. The blessed souls over the grassy meads sing their sweet song in harmonious concert,
and pleasantly sounds the melody of their hymns, as with white feet they tread the lilies. And the guilty spirits
too, in their crowds often have holiday from punishment in hell, on the night on which the holy God returned
to the world of men from the waters of Acheron, not like the morning star when it rises from Ocean and first
tinges the darkness with its shining torch, but a greater than the sun, restoring new day to a world saddened
by the cross of its Lord. Hell’s force abated, its punishments are mild, and the people of the dead, set free
from the fires, rejoices in the relaxation of its imprisonment, nor do the sulphurous rivers boil as hot as they
are wont. As for us, we pass the long night with pious gladness in festal congregations, in sleeping prayer we
earnestly heap up petitions that will be granted, and on the altar raised up making offerings to God.”
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, V.113-140. In this place he suggests that for “the faithful a shining
way lies open to the spacious garden of paradise, and they may enter that grove which the serpent took from
man.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, X.161-164.
364
Prudentius, Hymns, X.93-100.

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sees heaven as a celestial throne from which the victorious immortal body can watch the
eternal torment of the devil.365 Furthermore, he expresses the Lucan description of
paradise, in that it reflects a measurable proximity between heaven and hell, contrary to the
perception that there is a vast separation between the two.
In as much contrast as possible, Prudentius has filled the pages of his Hamartigenia
with images of heaven’s foil. He writes,
Therefore the Father, having foreknowledge, lit the fires of Tartarus dark-hued with
molten lead, and in gloomy Avernus dug channels for the pitchy bituminous
streams of hell, and down in Phlegethon’s gulf ordained that gnawing worms
indwell for the everlasting punishment of sin. For He knew that the life in our
bodies came from his breath, and that the soul that had its being from the
everlasting lips could not die, nor again could it return once more to heaven when it
was polluted with sin, but must be plunged in the depths of the burning pit. To
worms and flames and tortures He gave deathless endurance, so that the punishment
should not die away through length of years while the soul never died. The torments
keep alive, while they consume it, the stuff that is given them without limit of time.
Death itself turns its back on the everlasting lamentations and compels the weeping
victims to live.366
Christ’s Final Rule
Finally, Prudentius gives exhortation to Christ’s final rule as the crowning result of
salvation in the Eschaton.367 He projects the idea that Christ is King and the whole world368
is under His Lordship whether they are lost or saved.369 As such, Christ proclaims His
Kingdom to be eternal when Prudentius states “Christ Thy Kingdom shall for ever be, /
Thy grace, might, wisdom, glory ever shine, / As in the Triune majesty benign / He reigns
for all eternity with Thee.”370 He also places Christ as the King of the church, both past and

365

Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, X.109-112.
Prudentius, Hamartigenia, Loeb, 824-838.
367
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, XI.93-116.
368
“Rejoice, all ye nations, Judaea, Rome and Greece, Egypt, Thracian, Persian, Scythian: one King
is master of all. Praise your Lord every one, blessed and lost alike, the quick, the feeble, and the dead; no man
henceforth is dead.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, XII.201-208.
369
McKelvie, “Cosmic,” 56-57; Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, XII.204-208.
370
Prudentius, Hymns, V.161-164.
366

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present.371 This universal rule is expressed both through history and nature and is similar to
Tertullian’s concept of God’s final rule.372
Conclusion
Like other early church writers before his time, Prudentius’ work is marked by
theological curiosity, traditional stubbornness, mysterious caveats, and aged, cultural
debates. And beneath his rhetoric, there remains the voice of a Christian man seeking to
know better the God of the universe. Sensing that his poems were never systematic
treatises, it would be unfair to expect such a soteriology from him. But, with his learned
spirit, catechistic layout, and the desire to further explore the things of God it would be just
as unfair to assume theological ignorance in his works. Therefore, in an attempt to draw out
Prudentius’ soteriological themes from his poetical verse, a number of tensions lie beneath
the theological language of the Nicene confessions. Throughout the Liber Cathemerinon
Prudentius asserts God’s solution to sin in the Incarnate Christ and yet, a perpetual
attraction to the issue of humanity’s sin implicitly determines his perception of Christ’s
atoning work on the cross. As a result, this focus fosters a synergistic sanctification model
that ultimately works itself out in a heightened eschatological view of salvation, which
downplays the gift of immediate participation in God.

371

He proclaims, “He is King of the judges of former times who ruled over the race of Jacob, and
King of the church which now holds sway, King both of the new temple and the old.” Prudentius, Liber
Cathemerinon, Loeb, XII.185-188.
372
Pelikan, “Eschatology,” 109.

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Chapter 3
A Comparative Analysis
Introduction
Having gained the knowledge of Nicene salvation theology, as expressed by
Athanasius, and Prudentius’ soteriology proposed in his Liber Cathemerinon, it is now
necessary to make explicit salient comparative conclusions. This final chapter argues that
as the problem of sin dominates Prudentius’ soteriology it consequently diminishes the
significance and hope offered by the Incarnation of Christ, pushing him toward a worksbased concept of the Christian life. All of which stands in contrast to the soteriological
construct of fourth-century Nicene theology, which unquestionably emphasizes the solution
and leads to a grace-dependent and communion-oriented view of the Christian life. As
such, Prudentius’ use of the Christological confessions of the Nicene Creed cannot
foreshadow a salvation theology that subscribes to the underlying soteriological impetus of
Nicene theology. Prudentius’ confessions of the Christological tenets of the Nicene Creed
have not affected his own soteriological convictions, which being heavily influenced by
earlier Alexandrian and Greek thinkers, are considerably different than the foundational
understanding of salvation that stands behind the Nicene Creed. Therefore, proclamation of
doctrinal truth is not enough to align oneself with a particular theological system of
thought, and in order to understand the intended confessions of the creed, knowledge of its
underlying soteriological belief is absolutely necessary.
The Overarching Biblical Narrative
A similar biblical narrative stands as the backdrop for both Prudentius and
Athanasius as they seek to gain crucial knowledge about God’s actions and plans for the

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created world. For many patristic thinkers this blueprint was the unquestioned reality that
outlined the story of creation to the fall of humanity, and God’s subsequent movement
toward the redemption of all things.373 Common convention had thinkers working from
within this arc drama. Even more to the point, the concern for humanity’s salvation was
realized from within this narrative. Despite a similar starting point, it is this dramatic
narrative that drives Athanasius’ theological conclusions in a way that is noticeably absent
in Prudentius’ poems. The narrative becomes Athanasius’ foundation as well as his
standard for any logical connections. This biblical drama is the history of God’s creation,
and thus it is the progressive history (in the sense that history encompasses past, present,
and future) of God’s salvation of creation.374 Every aspect of his speech about God and
humanity relates intimately to this history. Conversely, Prudentius’ Liber Cathemerinon
does not share the same dependency upon this narrative, though it is recognized as the
accepted reality. In support of this observation O’Daly convincingly adds, “Attempts to
find a standard structural pattern in the poems ... are unconvincing.”375 The biblical themes
of the poem do not take a systematic or ordered form.376 Although Prudentius and
Athanasius adhere to the accepted reality of God and His relation to creation, for
Prudentius the biblical narrative does not exemplify a form of inner logic. Athanasius is
acutely conscious of using the biblical narrative as a baseline for further conversation about
the Christian faith, whereas Prudentius’ use of it follows conventional assumptions, but has
little to no awareness of his thinking’s effect on the narrative.377 Athanasius is convinced

373

Notably Irenaeus, Athanasius and Cyril.
Athanasius, Incarnation, 53.
375
O’Daly, Linked by Song, 17.
376
O’Daly, Linked by Song, 18.
377
Guided by overall themes rather than by the overarching narrative, Prudentius’ poetry tends
toward moral actions and an overt interest in symbols. Cf. O’Daly, Linked by Song, 18-19.
374

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that God’s creation is declarative of His intent to save humanity. Consequently, all human
history can be said to be salvation history. As a result of Prudentius’ less ardent concern for
this history, his soteriology tends to look to the future, rather than the past or present, for
evidence of God’s intent to save humanity. The Nicene Creed, however, is presupposed by
this narrative structure. Its Christological thrust begins and ends with the description of
God as Creator and His purposeful movement toward redemption.378 True to Athanasius’
assessment, the foundational narrative permeates the organization and meaning of the
Nicene Creed, intentionally driving its conclusions and claims.
The Significant Shift in Narrative Emphasis
From the biblical drama, Prudentius and Athanasius draw a clear distinction
between the characters. God remains God and humans remain human. However, Prudentius
characterizes this distinction primarily by its hierarchical structure. He suggests that
humans are subservient to God, which then reflects the order of creation as humans rule
over it.379 Athanasius prefers to define this character distinction by essence, for human
beings, while having been created in the image of God, are not God simply in that they do
not share His essence.
The differences continue. In his interpretation of the biblical narrative, Athanasius
reasons that there is a problem in terms of humanity’s relationship with the Creator and
God is faced with a dilemma. As a result, God offers a specific solution. Prudentius also
depicts the problem of human sin as it affects the relationship between the characters of the
narrative, but unlike Athanasius he offers only a general solution based on a more general

378

“I believe in one God, the Father Almighty, Maker of heaven and earth.” Nicene Creed.
Prudentius explains, “For He has given all things to man, and we take them with a hand that bears
dominion; all that sky or earth or sea produces in air or flood or field, all this has He put under me, and me
under Himself.” Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, III.36-40.
379

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perspective of the problem. What becomes evident is that each interpretation of the biblical
narrative produces different practical implications based on the point of emphasis in each
writer’s perceived plot line. Simply put, Prudentius’ chief concern is the problem, whereas,
Athanasius’ primary concern is the solution, which must be specific because of his
conclusions regarding God’s dilemma. Clearly this is a significant divergence from
Nicaea’s emphasis, for the creed explicitly underscores the specific solution to the problem
of sin in the Incarnate Christ. The creed establishes with precision and specificity who
Jesus Christ is by declaring Him as “the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father
before all worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made,
being of one substance with the Father, by whom all things were made.”380 The Christ of
the creed is the One who
for us men for our salvation, came down from heaven, and was incarnate by the
Holy Spirit of the virgin Mary, and was made man; and was crucified also for us
under Pontius Pilate; He suffered and was buried; and the third day He rose again,
according to the Scriptures; and ascended into heaven, and sits on the right hand of
the Father; and He shall come again, with glory, to judge the quick and the dead;
whose kingdom shall have no end.381
Clearly the creed articulates the unique particularity that is the solution to the problem of
human sin.
Prudentius’ focus on the problem arises, in part, from his concept of sin and its
effect on the individual human. Sin has deeply altered the order of creation, dislocating the
relationship between God and humanity. Disobedience is the factor that initially changes
the relationship between God and humans. Like Athanasius, Prudentius is aware of the
cosmic effects that sin has on all of creation, but chooses rather to concentrate on
humanity. Further still, he narrows his attention to the individual person, the individual
380
381

Nicene Creed.
Nicene Creed.

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soul. And for Athanasius there is more of a communal understanding of humanity. For
Prudentius, it is the body that corrupts the soul. Sin therefore, is the product of the soul
being shackled to the body.382 By consequence, Prudentius emits an overwhelming moral
tone.383 His Hamartigenia
focuses on human depravity as the effective cause of a distorted and disordered
‘creation’. It shows the reader that what we casually call ‘nature’ is no longer
‘natural’. [Dykes argues] that the Hamartigenia creates a reader whose vocation it
is to be responsible: to make choices and to take consequences .... The
Hamartigenia both ‘says’ that such a response is the reader’s vocation, and is itself
an agent in creating such a response.384
Dykes’ observation articulates well Prudentius’ moral motivation in his concern about sin.
Plainly stated the Hamartigenia describes the human person as a “moral agent” who is
“responsible for the way the world is.”385 Moreover, “the world ... becomes a microcosm of
the irresponsible choices indulged in by God’s free creatures ... The human will is, it
appears, stronger than both the devil’s wiles (it has the power to resist them) and God’s
universal salvific will (the human moral agent can choose not to be saved).”386 Prudentius
understands “that the inconsistencies of the world and the inconsistency of human
experience are signs not of the divine power as indifferent, still less of the divine power as
some half-sadistic games-master, but of the intrusion of bad choices, freely made.”387 In a

382

Throughout Prudentius’ works there is a conscious battle between creation and the powers of
darkness, which threaten to capture and enslave. In much the same way, there is a continual tension between
body and soul. Cf. Prudentius, Hamartigenia, Loeb, 504-620.
383
O’Daly recognizes Prudentius’ intimate connection between overarching Christian themes and
moral action. He argues that “these themes are closely related to the practice of the Christian life, to moral
self-examination and exhortation, daily prayer and regular fasting, what and how to eat, how to dress, human
dying, redemption, and resurrection, community and song, the role of poetry, the natural world as a key to
understanding the divine, the Bible as a book of symbols that reveal something of the nature of the divine and
its providential role in human lives.” O’Daly, Linked by Song, 18.
384
Dykes, Reading, 16.
385
Dykes, Reading, 18.
386
Dykes, Reading, 20-21. From this moral cosmology, “the world, distorted by human choice, is
replicated, in its turn, in a disordered poem.” Dykes, Reading, 247.
387
Dykes, Reading, 52. It is interesting that “The Hamartigenia is a Latin hexameter poem which
understands the world as being damaged by human choices, and shows that the first damage that was done

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similar view of the gift of free choice, both Athanasius and Prudentius charge humanity
with the responsibility of sin. Prudentius argues,
Mankind is responsible for evil in the world, and responsible for the submissions,
surrenders and concessions made to the devil .... However, despite the astuteness of
the father of lies, it is the human person, as a free moral agent, who is still
responsible for all the evil in the world. The human moral agent cannot transfer
responsibility to the devil, because the human moral agent has free will.388
The poet expresses his understanding of falling into a sinful life in terms of its
idolatrous nature when he wants to write about the faith as an offering to make up for the
time he wasted loving the world.389 In a similar tone, Athanasius describes the misuse of
humanity’s free choice as idolatry. His ideas closely resemble the Apostle Paul’s as he
explains to the Roman Christians that humanity, “Professing to be wise ... became fools,
and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the form of corruptible
man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.”390 Like Paul, Athanasius
asserts a concept of sin that expresses humanity’s propensity toward idolatry of self, rather
than worship of God.391
In the patristic period, a concept of sin was foundational to understanding the nature
of God’s salvation.392 Methodius of Olympus (died c. 311),393 who was a strong opponent

was at the Fall, the choice of Adam and Eve to sin. However, sin has occurred since this first event, and in
many various ways, yet the poem focuses on sexually related sin as the most effective cause of the perversion
of that goodness which still remains in the world after the Fall.” Dykes, Reading, 16. “It is a sin poem ...
where much is perverse, reversed and twisted.” Dykes, Reading, 27-28.
388
Dykes, Reading, 18.
389
Cf. Prudentius, Preface, Loeb, 31-33. Similarly, he writes in his Apotheosis of the soul being
lured and tempted once it was attached to the earth by way of a body. Giving into selfish desires echoes a
similar concept of idolatry of self that Athanasius expresses. Prudentius, Apotheosis, Loeb, 898-908.
390
Romans 1:22-23, NASB.
391
Cf. Athanasius, Incarnation, 61, 63.
392
For example, McMahon reasons that “if one conceives of sin as tantamount to a disruptive noise
that awakens a sleeping god (as in the Babylonia creation story, Enuma Elish), then one might expect that
salvation would entail placating, appeasing, putting to bed, or possibly even killing the irate god. If, on the
other hand, sin is understood as a crime against the sovereign ruler of the kingdom, then perhaps a kind of
punishment is in order, one that fits the crime.” McMahon, Jesus, 154.

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of Origen, took “a view of sin and moral ability” that was very different from “the later
Alexandrian school, as represented by Athanasius, [who] laid more stress upon the guilt of
sin and the need of grace.”394 Both writers acknowledge that sin is more significant than
immoral behavior.395 For Prudentius it is the fact that sin penetrates the human soul through
the fleshly body.396 Like Methodius, he tends to practice a synergistic reaction to sin in that
the human being, through moral action, can wrestle and win the battle between the good of
the soul and the bad of the flesh. For Athanasius sin is the rejection of God as God and the
misuse of free will to choose self over God.397 On this basis, the human being relies solely
on the grace of God in His gift of His image to overcome sin through Christ. Though there
are dangers to combining the Pelagian and Arian controversies, Anatolios warns, both
“were resolved in the ‘orthodox’ tradition by the same basic insight: our salvation can only
be worked by God.”398
While both writers recognize the reality of the problem, their interpretations and
emphasis differ. Undoubtedly this difference is enlarged in their attempts to understand the
solution. To be clear, both Prudentius and Athanasius proclaim that it is the Incarnational
event that makes a way for humanity to step into a right relationship with God. Moreover,
both writers declare the universal intention of God’s salvation. The person of Jesus Christ

393

Methodius was a well-educated man known also for his writing abilities. His works have
generally been ascribed to the end of the third, beginning of the fourth century. From this basic information,
and Prudentius’ known reading skills, it cannot be ruled out that he may have been familiar with Methodius’
works. Johann Peter Kirsch, “St. Methodius of Olympus,” The Catholic Encyclopedia, vol. 10 (New York:
Robert Appleton Company, 1911), http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10243a.htm (accessed May 29, 2013).
394
Scott, Origen and Development, 213-214.
395
This being a reflection of the scriptural witness, the writer of Hebrews reasons, “How much
severer punishment do you think he will deserve who has trampled under foot the Son of God, and has
regarded as unclean the blood of the covenant by which he was sanctified, and has insulted the Spirit of
Grace? For we know Him who said, ‘Vengeance is Mine, I will repay.’ And again, ‘The LORD will judge
His people.’ It is a terrifying thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:29-30, NASB.
396
Cf. Prudentius, Apotheosis, Loeb, 909-914.
397
Cf. Athanasius, Incarnation, 61, 83.
398
Anatolios, Coherence, 204.

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is proclaimed as the Second Man and declared to be the solution to humanity’s
predicament. In summary, it is the Incarnational event that makes possible the benefits of
salvation for all. It is Prudentius’ declarations, however, that seem less thought through. In
contrast, it is Athanasius who works out the dilemma that is before God. Emphatically he
assesses, “with death holding greater sway and corruption remaining fast against human
beings, the race of humans was perishing, and the human being, made rational and in the
image, was disappearing, and the work made by God was being obliterated.”399
At this point a basal question arises both in Prudentius and Athanasius that
solidifies their divergent patterns of thought from here on. For Athanasius the question is
posed: What then was God to do? For Prudentius, though never stated directly, but implied,
the question arises: What then is humanity to do? The ontological versus anthropological
basis realigns both writer’s concerns and method of reasoning in their attempts to offer a
solution to the dilemma of sinful humanity. Athanasius’ question allows him to rely on the
overarching narrative and to see the solution from God’s perspective. Prudentius’ question
causes him to re-evaluate the problem and offer a general solution that cannot express its
depth and assurance here and now.
Athanasius concludes that God foreordained the Incarnation of the Word. By
answering the question from God’s perspective he is able to reason the effect, necessity,
and singularity of God’s work through Christ. This reasoning opens up a number of
questions regarding the specificity of God’s action; without its contemplation, conclusions
about the solution remain general, and the practical outcome is limited to an
anthropological orientation, as in Prudentius. It is here that Athanasius and Prudentius
establish principles that determine the outcome of later implications.
399

Athanasius, Incarnation, 63.

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Emphasis Revealed by Salvation Defined
This divergence in plot emphasis is clearly evidenced in both definitions of
salvation. For Prudentius salvation is rescue from sin, death, and the devil. For Athanasius,
salvation is rescue from sin to new life, characterized by participation in God. Sergius
Bulgakov suggests that there is a propensity for a definition of salvation to be either from
or for, when in actual fact it must contain both/and as Athanasius articulates.400 Often the
Incarnation is
represented in Holy Scripture as the salvation of man from sin by the Lamb of
God’s sacrificially taking upon Himself the sins of the world. This corresponds to
the real and concrete accomplishment of the Incarnation ‘for us men and for our
salvation.’ But the first half of this formula of the Nicene Creed, ‘for us men,’ has a
more general meaning than its particular application in the second half, ‘for our
salvation.’ Furthermore, the texts ... 401 indicate not the immediate, redemptive goal
of the Incarnation but its final and universal goal: the goal of uniting all heavenly
and earthly things under Christ. In the juxtaposition of these two goals, there is no
either/or; there is only both/and. More precisely, the soteriological redemption is
the path to ‘our glory.’402
Because Prudentius’ definition of salvation emphasizes the first half of Bulgakov’s
observation (deliverance from death, sin, and the devil), any act that promotes purity and
dispels sin and darkness plays a cooperative part in acquiring God’s salvation for the
individual. Contrary to Prudentius’ scope, Athanasius understands salvation in a much
fuller sense. In an insightful bit of logic and a reiteration of Bulgakov’s perception of the
scope of salvation, Purves argues,
The Gospel has to overcome not only our sin unto death but also our inability to
offer to God the worship and service that God rightly commands. This is not merely
moral and technical incompetence to be overcome by renewed effort. Neither is it a
question of our becoming more religious. It is a mistake too to offer an account of
400

Sergius Bulgakov, The Lamb of God, trans. Boris Jakim (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing, 2008), 170.
401
1 Peter 1:19-20; 1 Corinthians 2:7; Ephesians 1:4, 5-6, 9-10, 3:9-11; Revelation 22:13; John 3:1617; 1 John 4:9, 19. Bulgakov, Lamb of God, 168-169.
402
Bulgakov, Lamb of God, 169-170.

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the agency of the Holy Spirit at just this point when that means bypassing the
vicarious priesthood of Christ. Christian faith teaches that between God and
ourselves stands the need for an atonement, not only as the means of dealing with
sin, guilt and death, but also as the means of our return to relationship with God
and service of God, to life in communion with God. Too often, a theology of
atonement has attended to the former without attending also to the latter, leaving us
still to our own devices, whether in faith looking for the fruits of sanctification in
order to have assurance, or in life and ministry looking to the success of our best
efforts in order to have confidence that our work is blessed by God. The effect is to
throw us back upon ourselves at the last moment, leaving both faith and ministry to
be worked out in terms of our own response, with no role for Jesus Christ at just
that point where we need him most with respect to the practice of faith and
ministry. This is a drastic and ultimately fatal abridgement of the Gospel.403
In a truncated way, Purves distinguishes Prudentius’ limitations in theological reasoning.
By narrowing his definition of salvation, the poet must conclude that humanity is left to his
or her own devices. Caught up in his focus on the problem, his logical and practical
outcome is to deny the Incarnate Christ’s place as Priest. In this way, he can still proclaim
Christ as the solution to humanity’s problem of sin, but the efficacy of the Incarnation in
terms of Christ’s atoning work is mitigated. One practical outcome that speaks to
Prudentius’ reasoning is that the effects of Christ’s work wait to be actualized in the future.
In contradistinction, the atoning outcome for Athanasius’ concept of salvation is
manifested in the believer immediately and continues throughout the future.404
Professing the Person and Work of Christ
The Starting Point
Prudentius and Athanasius profess, in their respective works, that Christ is the
Word of God, the Son of God, the second member of the Trinity, very God, and very Man

403
404

Purves, “Priesthood,” 3, emphasis mine.
Cf. Romans 8:8-23, NASB; Galatians 3:26, NASB; 1 John 3:1, NASB.

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as it is articulated in the Nicene confession.405 Nevertheless, both writers showcase very
different contiguous theologies, which in Prudentius’ case begins to disconnect his claims
about Christ from his underlying logic. In order to demonstrate this disassociation, a
necessary place to begin is with the assertions of Christ and the supporting claims of both
writers. Well-known is Athanasius’ insistent inseparability of creation and redemption as
his theological starting point. Following many of Irenaeus’ foundational principles here, he
argues that God establishes Himself as love in His act of creation by naming Himself
Savior before creating. As such, the being and action of God cannot be separated. In
support of this concept, Bulgakov strategically points to the scriptural testimony that
declares “the coming of Christ into the world, the Incarnation, is predetermined before the
creation of the world. That is, it is included in God’s pre-eternal plan for the world, in His
counsel concerning the world.”406 As a result “The Incarnation is not only the means to the
redemption; it is also the supreme crowning of the world, even in comparison with its
creation. In the Incarnation, God showed His love for creation.”407 By this definition, God
is a God of love by holding together the act of creation and His being as Savior.
Maintaining these two aspects, Bulgakov echoes Athanasius in that “The Incarnation was
accomplished in all its significance as it was pre-eternally established in God’s counsel, but
it was accomplished for the sake of fallen humanity.”408 In proclaiming the person and

405

“And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only-begotten Son of God, begotten of the Father before all
worlds; God of God, Light of Light, very God of very God; begotten, not made, being of one substance with
the Father, by whom all things were made.” Nicene Creed.
406
Bulgakov, Lamb of God, 168. Here, Bulgakov is referring to passages like: 1 Peter 1:19-20; 1
Cor. 2:7; Eph. 1:4.
407
Bulgakov, Lamb of God, 169, emphasis mine.
408
Bulgakov, Lamb of God, 170, emphasis mine. Pressing the issue further, Bulgakov argues against
the notion of the Incarnation as God’s reaction to human action. He writes, “As a result of the Fall, the
Incarnation was, first of all, the means to salvation and redemption. It preserved the totality of its significance
beyond the limits of redemption, however, for the Incarnation is not exhausted by redemption. The casus
irrealis here consists in supposing that, if man had not sinned, God could have left Himself unincarnate. The

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work of Christ, Athanasius safeguards his conviction that behind the entire redemption
story is a God who loves.409 It is this loving God that overshadows all of Athanasius’
conclusions about Christ and it is this loving God that cannot be sensed to the same degree
in the confessions of Prudentius’ poetic rhetoric. Without an understanding of God as
foreseer of the problem and solution, the problem for Prudentius is given greater
significance and humanity must play a greater part in the solution.
The Word God
If the starting place for Athanasius is God and His loving act of creation, the second
point of concern is a theology of the Word. Early on, the church father identifies the Word
as being God Himself. Therefore, He is rightly given praise as Creator and Sustainer. This
connection is less overt in Prudentius, for his language declares God the Father to be
Creator, Provider, Sustainer, but the question remains: Does he attribute these titles to the
Word? There is evidence to suggest that a lack of a theology of the Word could have been a
Latin influence. Daniélou claims, “The Muratorian Canon provides us with invaluable
evidence of the situation at the end of the second century with regard to Latin translations

Incarnation is thus made dependent on man, and in particular on his fall, on original sin, and, in the final
analysis, even on the serpent. But ... the mystery of the Incarnation was decided ‘before the foundations of the
world’; that is, it expresses the most fundamental and determining relation of God to the world and not only
to a particular event in the life of the world, even if an event that is of capital importance for us. The world
did not use man’s fall to compel God to make Himself incarnate.” Bulgakov, Lamb of God, 170.
409
This love, Tanner argues is in the fact that “The nature of God establishes the nature of both our
creation and salvation because God’s intent in creating us is to save us by giving us the character of God’s
own life. Behind the whole story of creation and salvation lies the general fact that God wants us to enjoy
what God is in unity with him.” Kathryn Tanner, “Creation and Salvation in the Image of an
Incomprehensible God,” in God of Salvation: Soteriology in Theological Perspective, eds. Ivor J. Davidson
and Murray A. Rae (Surrey: Ashgate Publishing, 2011), 61. However, one cannot mistake this for suggesting
that creation was necessary, for “the necessity of creation does not follow from the proper life of Divinity and
Divinity’s self-positing; there is no place for creation in Divinity itself. And in this sense, the creation of the
world can only be the proper work of Divinity, not in His hypostatic nature, but in His creative freedom. In
relation to the life of Divinity itself, the world did not have to be.” Bulgakov, Lamb of God, 119.

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of Greek texts.”410 The Monarchians were a strong presence in Rome who avidly “denied
the theology of the Word and were content with a Jewish monotheism.”411 As a result, the
Muratorian Canon bears witness to a movement away from a theology of the Word and
toward a development of Logos theology.412 Still closer to Prudentius and his poetic
contemporaries was Commodian (born c. 250), who was heavily influenced by Monarchian
ideas.413 These accusations are based on Commodian’s non-existent theology of the Word,
“which was very much in favour in the East, and which Tertullian and Hippolytus were
disseminating in the West during his time. Commodian stands in the tradition of the
Judaeo-Christian monotheism which acknowledged the Son of God only during the
incarnation.”414
It is in declaring the divine and human nature of the Incarnate Word that propels
Athanasius to conclude that He is the only means of salvation.415 Without a robust
understanding of the Incarnate Word as Christ (fully human, fully God) and as located in
God Himself, Prudentius cannot make the same conclusion.416 Prudentius’ limited concept
of the significance of the Word fractures the efficacy of Christ’s work and motivates him to
find other means of salvation that are supplementary to the Incarnate Christ. It is
Athanasius’ belief in Christ as the Incarnate Word that propels the declaration of His ability
to mediate God’s salvation directly and thus immediately affect humanity’s sinful
condition. Without a similar concept of the Word, Prudentius struggles to see how Christ’s

410

Jean Daniélou, The Origins of Latin Christianity, vol. 3 of A History of Early Christian Doctrine
Before the Council of Nicaea (London: Darton, Longman & Todd, 1977), 13-14.
411
Daniélou, Origins, 13-14.
412
Daniélou, Origins, 13-14.
413
Daniélou, Origins, 111.
414
Daniélou, Origins, 111.
415
Athanasius, Incarnation, 93.
416
For hints of Prudentius’ vision of Christ as fully God and fully human see Prudentius, Liber
Cathemerinon, Loeb, XI.41-72; XII.65-68.

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work is immediately efficacious. Moreover, it is clear, both in Athanasius’ own exposition
and in the language and structure of the Nicene Creed, that the identity of the Word
Incarnate stands as the foundation on which to move forward to express exactly what
Christ, the God-Man has done. Without this basic theology of the Word, the Christological
claims of the Nicene Creed are disparaged.
Jesus Christ’s Divinity and Humanity
The divine nature of the Incarnate Word is significant for Athanasius. Akin
observes “that if Jesus Christ is not divine, then his death provides only an example of how
the creature is supposed to obey the Creator, which means salvation is by works. But since
the Savior is God incarnate, then his atoning death was the act of God satisfying himself –
therefore salvation is by grace alone.”417 It is the divine nature of Christ’s personhood that
unites Him uniquely with God, the Father. In agreement, Prudentius emphasizes Christ’s
divinity as he boldly opposes Marcion who sees God as “the demiurge who creates a world
of contradiction and cruelty. This god is capricious and partisan. Marcion understands
Jesus Christ to be the saviour sent by the Heavenly Father, but He is sent to rescue us from
the God revealed in the Old Testament. He is not the fulfillment of what has previously
been revealed. ”418 It is in his Hamartigenia that Prudentius ardently debates this viewpoint
and elevates the divinity of Christ. Scholars, such as Dykes, have argued that Prudentius
purported adoptionist or docetic ideas, wherein the humanity of Christ is severely
mitigated.419 In support of Dykes’ proposal, some implications of these viewpoints are

417

Akin, Church, 697.
Dykes, Reading, 13.
419
Dykes, Reading, 250. Dykes suggests that “A comparable misalignment between title and poem
has been detected in the case of the Apotheosis. As the poem concerns itself with Christ, the Incarnation and
the doctrine of the Trinity, ‘Apotheosis’ could be read as meaning Christ’s divinization: to put it another way,
it could be seen as evidence of Prudentius’s adoptionism or docetism. A more orthodox reading of the title is
418

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evident in Prudentius’ Liber Cathemerinon. For example, he tends to downplay the
humanity of Christ as it identifies with human beings. Instead, it is Christ’s divinity that
allows Him to triumph over sin, death, and the devil.420 Furthermore, the Incarnation is
little more than the gateway by which Christ came to abolish sin.421 The Incarnation is
detached at a personal level from its value for the believer. Similarly, the death of Christ
remains in the realm of quelling sin, and thus, it cannot transform the very nature of
humanity.422 Without assurance of Christ’s humanity, His work cannot be the pinnacle of
salvation. It is from this position that Prudentius views the crux of salvation to be
eschatological.423 It is no doubt that Prudentius’ practical theology downplays the humanity
of Christ, though his professions of Christ follow the dual-natured confessions of Nicaea.
Clearly, maintaining the paradoxical nature of Christ (fully God, fully human)
throughout one’s theological reasoning vastly affects soteriological implications. As it has
been noted, beginning with a limited view of the nature of the Word and His participation
in creation leads to a disadvantage in Prudentius’ view of the person of Christ. Prudentius’
implications do not show evidence of grasping the Word Incarnate as fully human. In
contrast, Athanasius’ meditation on the humanity of Christ leads him to a number of key
conclusions: (1) immediacy of Christ’s work, (2) significance of Christ’s work, (3)
assurance of salvation for humanity, and (4) what participation in God looks like after the
Incarnation. It is these conclusions that cannot be determined in Prudentius’ thinking.

to see it as referring to the divinization of the human soul through its incorporation in Christ.” Dykes,
Reading, 250.
420
Cf. Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, XII.1-56; Prudentius, Apotheosis. Loeb, 1-1084.
421
Cf. Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, XI.43-48.
422
Cf. Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, I.69-72; IX.83-98.
423
Cf. Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, II.1-12; XII.185-204.

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Speculation suggests that it may have been due to his treatment of sin or an incomplete part
of his soteriology.
For Prudentius, the person of Christ is for humanity the perfect example of how a
person can pursue and know things of the Spirit (righteousness) while in a mortal frame.
This is not who the person of Christ is for Athanasius. Purves comments,
The danger for orthodoxy is likely always to lie in thinking of the incarnation itself
as the whole Gospel, which undercuts Christ’s ministry in our humanity in a docetic
... way. When the incarnation is not thought through in terms that include the
priesthood of the humanity of Christ it means, in fact, the rejection of the
atonement. It is not yet salvation just that God is in communion with us, and that
God has acted in Christ for us, but that we should be in communion with God. For
this, Christ must, from the side of our humanity, be our High Priest, offering by his
own hand vicariously our human sacrificial response to God, confessing our sin and
living the filial life that God requires, so that in and through him in his priestly
humanity is both the holy word of God to us and the righteous response of
humankind to God. This claim for the priesthood of Jesus Christ is no doubt large
and controversial, yet the actuality of the Gospel rides on the back of its truth.424
In summary, therefore,
The priesthood of Christ takes us into the center of the Gospel, not only at the point
of atonement for sin, but also at the point of our sharing in the fellowship of
Christ’s self- sacrifice, which is the sum of Christian life and ministry. It is Christ’s
priestly ministry that enables us to hold salvation and discipleship together as
Gospel. The great danger is always that at the last moment Gospel becomes its
opposite, in which everything depends upon us – our faith, our decisions or works
exercised as in a legal or commercial transaction. God in Christ acts in a two-fold
way in the flesh of our humanity as our atoning priest, bringing God to us and us to
God, to bridge the gulf which separated between what sin had made us, and what it
was the desire of God’s love that we should become. The redemption of us who
stand condemned in our sins is only truly and fully seen in its relation to the results
contemplated, namely, our participation in eternal life through our adoption as
children of God.425
Prudentius’ inability to have the dual-nature of Christ’s person permeate his theological
thinking has, in effect, disconnected him from an ability to reason humanity’s participation

424

Purves, “Priesthood,” 2. Furthermore, “the claim that Christ’s priesthood entails the singular
efficacy of his atonement strains the nerve of post-modernist inclusivism.” Purves, “Priesthood,” 2.
425
Purves, “Priesthood,” 4, emphasis mine.

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in God, through Christ. More severe yet, Purves emphasizes the devastating effects this
outlook can have on one’s concept of the atonement and salvation in its entirety. It is this
disconnect in Prudentius that separates Christ’s work from the Christian life.
The Image of God
The image of God in humanity stands out as a differentiating factor in this analysis,
for Athanasius upholds it as determining, and Prudentius does not see it as directly
affecting the efficacy of salvation through Christ. Common to the patristic period, the
concept says, “Humans are created in the image of God because, unlike other creatures,
they have reason or free will or the ability to rule over others as God does.”426 To some
degree, this perspective is identified in Athanasius’ writing, however he includes a number
of significant nuances.427 From this basic formula, Tanner argues that “The underlying
problem is simply the presumption that human beings have a definite nature to begin with,
that could be considered in itself and perfectly well specified in its own terms.”428
Avoiding the pitfalls that Tanner identifies, Athanasius views humanity’s nature as
necessarily existing as it is only with the grace of God’s gifts, for without them there is an
ontological vulnerability that would eventually collapse into non-being.429
What does being created in the image of God mean for Prudentius? To start, he
views the human soul as created and fashioned by God, given qualities that are divine, and
filled by God.430 However, unlike Athanasius, Prudentius is much less concrete on what
this means and the implications that affect humanity in relation to the Word’s Incarnation.
426

Tanner, “Creation,” 62.
Cf. Athanasius, Incarnation, 57.
428
Tanner, “Creation,” 62.
429
Cf. Athanasius, Incarnation, 59.
430
O’Daly clarifies this conversation by suggesting that Prudentius “considers this likeness to apply
to the human body as much as to the soul (see also Apoth. 797-9). In this he departs from much of early
Christian exegesis, which declares that the soul-mind alone is an image or likeness of the divine.” O’Daly,
Linked by Song, 106.
427

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It would seem that “likeness” for Prudentius refers to wisdom and ruler-ship. A question
arises: Do human beings need the grace of God to exist as they are? It is this concept that
becomes foundational in Athanasius’ system of thought. As created in the image of God,
human beings are able to participate in God. This principle determines how Athanasius
views the Christian life. Because of Christ, this dynamic has been transformed and humans
directly and immediately participate in God. Prudentius remains with a previous
understanding of participation, wherein contemplation of the Divine (and good works)
brings one closer to God, while sin corrupts and separates one from God. In this
explanation, the Incarnation seems to have little immediate effect on Prudentius’ view of
salvation.
Implications for Understanding Soteriology
By emphasizing different points of the narrative as they apply to the Christological
tenets of Nicaea, there are direct implications for understanding soteriology, particularly in
terms of its application. Both writers purport Nicene descriptions of who Jesus Christ is
and what He has done, but in assessing their greater theological frameworks, Prudentius’
commitment to the Nicene confessions can be questioned. Because these two thinkers have
diverged at critical junctures already, it is likely that practical implications will also show
similar differences. Such a comparison is the most significant, for it begins to connect
Prudentius’ practical and proclamatory theology. By examining the practical elements of
Christian faith, the disconnect between Prudentius’ declarations of Nicaea and alignment
with its underlying soteriology is most clearly seen.

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The Crux of the Biblical Narrative
First, just as each story has a climactic moment, the crux of the biblical narrative is
viewed quite differently for these two writers. In Athanasius’ thinking there is no doubt
that the solution is the climax to the narrative. It is the death of the Incarnate Word that
positions itself at the very heart of his thinking.431 In stark contrast, Prudentius orients his
narrative around future events, meaning that the climax of his salvation narrative is
eschatological.432 Athanasius centralizes and emphasizes the bodily death and resurrection
of Christ. It is, therefore, the victory “within” human beings that he is expositing;
Prudentius does not seem to hold to this emphasis. As a result, there is less stress on the
necessity of the Incarnation of the Word.
It is Christ’s death that urges Athanasius to contemplate the effect for humans, but
only because he foundationally understands the significance of Christ being the Word of
God. This is the concept of the high-priestly work of Christ and its immediate significance
for humanity. From this perspective, three consequences arise. “First, it is only on the basis
of Christ’s priesthood that the reconciliation between God and the world can be reclaimed
as the heart of the Gospel and the center of Christian life.”433 Second,
There is no possibility within our humanity of an adequate response to the word of
God or the reign of God, except as Christ makes that response for us. It is Christ as
our priest who stands before God as the person of faith, the Mediator given by and
431

Cf. Athanasius, Incarnation, 93.
This is reflected in Prudentius’ over-excitement about the future. In the analysis of his
soteriological system, it was found that his most focused area was the final results of salvation. Cf.
Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, II.1-12.
433
Purves, “Priesthood,” 3. Insightfully, Purves discerns a noticeable shift in contemporary mainline
protestant communities to abandon the atonement “in order to make way ... for the discussion of the
Christian’s moral and social responsibility. The major tension that has opened up within modern
Protestantism can be charted by the modernist tendency to give the prophetic ministry of Christ prominence
at the expense of his priestly and royal ministries. In this way, Protestant Christianity is in process of a
remarkable though reductionist redefinition as it journeys en route to the fulfillment of Kant’s vision of a
religion of ethical imperatives. It has been forgotten that social ministry is the fruit of atonement and
faithfulness to Christ’s reign; and that salvation is not reducible to successful social ministry.” Purves,
“Priesthood,” 3, emphasis mine.
432

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as God, yet standing wholly within our humanity, who proclaims and answers
God’s word, and who announces and lives God’s reign. It is to his answering and
living that we are joined, making Christian faith, life and ministry possible.434
And third,
to construe Christian faith, ministry and life on any other basis than a sharing in
Christ’s priesthood is to cast us back upon ourselves in order to make it practical.
This is a ... Pelagianism that arises out of an idealist theology construed as a
principal, that turns Jesus into a set of ideas that we must bring to application, and
which thereby is inherently abstract.435
In helpful fashion, Purves succinctly and correctly names Prudentius’ theoretical theology
as it stands in isolation from his practical theology. The bold Christological confessions of
the Nicene Creed, while profound statements of faith, cannot remain as such if they are not
applied and allowed to affect one’s practical theology. It would be reasonable to suggest
that Prudentius’ identification with the Nicene expression of the Gospel is limited to
proclamation, for the truth of its statements have not transformed his thinking in practical
terms. Making this connection explicit, Bulgakov suggests that “the high-priestly ministry
is usually considered exclusively from the point of view of redemption ... and the
Incarnation is linked to sin” as has been evidenced in Prudentius’ thinking.436 “But in
reality the high-priestly ministry is not limited solely to redemption from sin; its meaning
extends further,” which is Athanasius’ exposition of what Nicaea is saying.437 Christ’s
high-priestly ministry “establishes the universal deification of man’s creaturely being ....
However, the relation between redemption and the deification or sanctification of the
human essence ... is such that the former precedes and conditions the latter.”438 By
reversing this order, Prudentius limits his understanding of the practical consequences
434

Purves, “Priesthood,” 3.
Purves, “Priesthood,” 3.
436
Bulgakov, Lamb of God, 334.
437
Bulgakov, Lamb of God, 334.
438
Bulgakov, Lamb of God, 334.
435

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redemption has for the Christian life. In this way, Christ is seen as merely the proclaimer of
salvation, rather than being Salvation Himself.
The Christian Life as Participation in God
Second, the Christian life, the place of human action in salvation, and the concept
of participation in God differ from Athanasius to Prudentius. At the outset, it must be noted
that both men recognize the importance of the Christian life in the process of salvation,
though one sees it in communion with the Triune God already and the other sees it as a
precursor to future salvation. As such, human action for Prudentius is in service to accruing
salvation. For Athanasius, human action witnesses to the completed work of Christ. Both
echo the language of Paul in that Christians are called away from their former ways of
living to a new life, which is active and engaging. Athanasius encourages his readers to
turn from their previous lives toward a new one, renewing themselves and putting on a new
self that is in the likeness of God.439 As such, his view of human action is a response to the
already completed work of the Word. It is a witness, an acknowledgement, and praise of
what is done and continues to be done.440 By contrast, Prudentius views human action as
cooperative in and with God’s salvific work.441 In this dynamic, Christ is not the effective
sole substitute. Righteous works become the way in which individuals can show repentance
and gain pardon for their sin. Prudentius affirms a concept that guarantees the forgiveness

439

Cf. Ephesians 4:17-32, NASB.
Cf. Athanasius, Incarnation, 113-119. Barth captures Athanasius’ concern when he defines
discipleship. He explains, “The call to discipleship is the particular form of the summons by which Jesus
discloses and reveals Himself to a man in order to claim and sanctify him as His own, as His witness in the
world.” Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics: Index Volume with Aids for the Preacher, eds. G. W. Bromiley and
T. F. Torrance (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 1977), 453.
441
As an example, both writers hold a special place for education and study in the Christian life. For
Prudentius, scholarship in the form of poetry is understood as atoning, whereas for Athanasius study and the
task of writing his conclusions down are in response to the transformation Christ has brought about. In this
way, theological inquiry is essential to the life of the believer, but “the absolute lordship of Christ is
methodologically a priori of Christian reflection.” Anatolios, Athanasius, 84-85.
440

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of post-baptismal sin and re-establishes the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, so as to reaffirm
one’s confidence in salvation. By contrast, Athanasius finds the assurance of salvation in
the person and work of Christ as opposed to human agency.442 But for Prudentius,
continual abolishment of sin is required to access God’s salvation.443 Without reserve,
Hugh M. Scott explains that in this system, Christ is the author of salvation, but not its
finisher.444 As a result, “the domain of human sanctification only indirectly [relates] to the
redemption of Christ” and later thinkers would carry this trend toward “legalism,
sacramentalism, priestcraft, and all the excesses of monkish devotion.”445
For Athanasius, the Christian life, which includes good works, flows out of
professing the person and work of Christ as it continually witnesses to the reality of what
has taken place in the Incarnation of the Word (the internal transformation in humanity).
The Christian life is sanctifying, as it is a resultant witness to Christ’s atoning work.
Conversely, Prudentius’ attitude toward the Christian life is motivated by the threat of sin
and the devil’s schemes. Once again, this shows a mitigation of the human transformation
by the Incarnation of the Word. From this position, Prudentius’ expression of good works
becomes moralistic.446

442

In a similar way Cyril tends to emphasize God’s action, as opposed to human action, in
accomplishing salvation: “God gave us the initial beatitude; we lost it, and he gives it to us anew in
salvation.” Fairbairn, “Patristic Perspective,” 94.
443
How is this different from the Old Testament covenant with Israel and her continual need for
sacrifice? Cf. Hebrews 10:1-18, NASB.
444
Scott, Origin and Development, 200.
445
Scott, Origin and Development, 200.
446
It is important to keep in mind that “No ecumenical council dealt with disputes concerning
salvation until the fifth century, so the patristic era displays a remarkable lack of clarity or consensus on the
subject. For example, the Western church began to understand the doctrine of justification in terms of merit.
Since Latin was the language of the Western church, some of the misunderstandings may result from
problems in translating the Greek New Testament word dikaioo, ‘to justify,’ to the Latin meritum.” Alister
McGrath, Iustitia Dei: A History of the Christian Doctrine of Justification, 2nd ed. (Cambridge: Cambridge
University, 1998), 14-16. Moreover, “The Greek term means ‘to consider one as righteous’ while the Latin
word means ‘to be worthy.’ This subtly shifts justification from being God’s acquittal of the believing sinner
to the sinner’s transformation into a person worthy of God’s esteem. Early Latin writers such as Tertullian

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In the same way that Athanasius has structured his concept of salvation, Irenaeus,
before him, shows similar implications for understanding a life of communion with God.
Hart argues that the idea of adoption sits at the centre of Irenaeus’ thinking and causes him
to hold together a person’s being and their relationships.447 From this platform,
Participation, for Irenaeus, does not mean merely sharing in some qualities of God,
and it emphatically does not mean virtual absorption into God’s being. Instead,
Irenaeus uses the idea of participation in a decidedly personal way: through our
union with the natural Son of God, we become adopted sons and daughters, and
thus we share fellowship or communion with God. Sharing in God’s qualities (such
as incorruptibility) follows from this primarily personal way of looking at salvation.
By using the idea of participation in God to refer to adoption and communion,
Irenaeus plots ... a personal trajectory, which part of the Church will subsequently
follow in describing salvation.448
Distinctly different, Origen proposes a universe whereby “the very existence of the
physical realm is a result of sin ... [and] the pre-existence of the souls gives those souls a
kinship with God that the bodies, created later, can never have. This, in turn, prevents him
from seeing human beings as whole persons, and thus makes it difficult for him to see
salvation in personal terms.”449 The consequence of Origen’s thinking is present in
Prudentius. For Origen’s system to work,
salvation becomes the task of the human soul to achieve mystical union with God,
and this soteriology bears an unmistakable resemblance to the Middle Platonic
philosophy that had seeped into second-century Alexandrian Christianity through
Philo and Clement. This strong emphasis on salvation as the task of the human soul
leads Origen to view participation in God primarily as sharing in God’s holiness,
wisdom, and other qualities, not as sharing in his personal fellowship.450

began to teach that man can earn merit so as to make God his debtor and can satisfy his obligations to God
through deeds of penance.” McGrath, Iustitia Dei, 23; Cf. Akin, Church, 697.
447
Trevor A. Hart, “Irenaeus, Recapitulation and Physical Redemption,” in Christ in our Place: The
Humanity of God in Christ for the Reconciliation of the World, essays Presented to Professor James Torrance,
eds. Trevor A. Hart and Daniel P. Thimell (Exeter: Paternoster, 1989), 165–166, 180; Cf. Fairbairn, “Patristic
Soteriology,” 295.
448
Fairbairn, “Patristic Soteriology,” 297.
449
Fairbairn, “Patristic Soteriology,” 298.
450
Fairbairn, “Patristic Soteriology,” 298.

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Prudentius’ notion of participation in God seems to reflect Origen more readily than
Irenaeus or Athanasius. Even so, the resemblance increases as Fairbairn explains that
Origen’s
focus on the free human action to ascend to God, in contrast to a paradigm in which
God’s downward action is the primary focus, promotes a view of Christian life in
which our action is the key to union with God. His depiction of salvation as
participation in God’s qualities, as purification so that we can see God as he really
is, creates a climate in which the personal dimensions of salvation are
underemphasized.451
The Atonement
Third, theoretical and practical consequences of the atonement differ from
Prudentius to Athanasius.452 For Prudentius, the individual Christian life is a necessary part
of the atoning work and functions to secure a person’s right standing before God and
procure eternal life. In the poet’s case, baptism becomes the primary act of atonement for
the believer (with the exception of martyrdom).453 Baptism takes on many of the effects
that the Incarnation has for Athanasius. For instance, it establishes the new allegiance to
Christ. Water baptism functions synergistically with Christ’s work to abolish the sin of the
individual person so that he/she may receive the hope of eternal salvation. As such,
Prudentius envisions a Christ who is limited in His ability to atone immediately and fully,
thus, human agency holds a significant place in accruing assurance of one’s salvation.
Without an understanding of atonement that is effectual eternally and once for all454 the

451

Fairbairn, “Patristic Soteriology,” 300. Cyril too, views “salvation as a participation in God’s
qualities .... But like Irenaeus and Athanasius, and unlike Origen and Gregory of Nyssa, he places his
dominant emphasis on salvation as personal participation .... Christians receive both the status of adopted
sons and communion with the Father and the Son. Fairbairn, “Patristic Soteriology,” 304, emphasis mine.
452
For a succinct description of the history of redemption theology, including atonement-like
theories and the Incarnation’s effect on redemption and deification see Bulgakov, Lamb of God, 342-410.
453
Appealing entirely to Prudentius’ personal concern for the problem of sin, martyrdom offers the
perfect atonement offering. Whereas, Athanasius would argue that any other form of atonement was
unnecessary based on the value of the new covenant erected in Christ.
454
Hebrews 9:28; 10:10, NASB.

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poet’s angst regarding personal sin is well warranted. For Athanasius, the Incarnation and
atonement are inextricably held together.455 In the same vein, Purves argues that together
these two aspects of Christ’s priestly ministry are at the centre of the Christian faith, for it
is
through his incarnation he took on our human nature, and from within it healed it
and made it holy in himself, and which he offers up to God in and through himself
on our behalf. As Son of God, Christ represents God to us. He is the word of God,
Emmanuel. As Son of Man, Christ represents humankind to God. He is the
appropriate response to God from the body of the flesh. Christ’s priesthood in this
way is determined by who Christ is in the personal union of his incarnate
personhood, as wholly God and wholly human, and what God, the Father of our
Lord Jesus Christ, wills in and through him that we should be and do.456
Efficacy and Assurance
Fourth, the acceptance of the efficacy of Christ’s work and subsequent assurance of
salvation is also quite different in Prudentius and Athanasius. Righteous acts become the
token of assurance for Prudentius, as it is critical for one to avoid sin so as to avoid losing
the Spirit of God, which is acquired by a chaste heart. This concern necessitates the acts of
repentance and penance. Among these righteous acts, martyrdom stands alone in providing
optimal assurance of immediate salvation. In the place of Christ’s similitude with
humanity’s humanness, martyrs are believed to act as redemptive mediators. Their holy
blood, mimicking the Old Testament sacrifices, is expiatory for the community and their
sacrificial suffering accomplishes all that is required for immediate salvation. In
455

Purves, “Priesthood,” 1.
Purves, “Priesthood,” 1. “This priestly response,” Purves argues “is in act as well as word, and its
consequence is the cross, in which he bears in his body the terrible cruelty of our separation from God, and
offers the self-sacrifice in which priest and victim are identical, united in his person. His homologia or
confession of our sin as Apostle and High Priest ... as he enters within the veil of the holiness and judgment
of God, is a substitutionary atonement, an offering on our behalf in which the sinless one confesses our sin
before God. This is utterly an act of God’s grace and love, because Christ offers himself in unfailing
obedience from and to the Father, with whom he is unbreakably linked, and in an unbreakable link with us,
with whom he chose to join himself. Not only is God in Christ reconciling us to God, but also humankind is
in Christ being reconciled to God in a unique and once for all union of word and action in which the Mosaic
and Aaronic priesthoods of the Old Testament are united, fulfilled and transcended.” Purves, “Priesthood,” 2.
456

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consequence, the efficacy of Christ’s work, particularly His sacrificial death and glorious
resurrection, is mitigated and rendered insufficient. In the absence of Christ’s completed
work, Prudentius accentuates a futuristic climax to salvation, where all will, one day, be
completed. Subsequently, Prudentius is forced to find the assurance of salvation in the
supplementary acts of atonement.
For Athanasius, this rationale cannot be accepted. He understands that the Incarnate
Word, both His death and resurrection, needed to be a very unique sacrifice – so unique it
could not be replicated in any way, for it was the all-sufficient, one-time, sacrifice. For
Athanasius, the work of Christ completed at the cross is immediately efficacious. As such,
life for the believer turns instantaneously from certain mortal death to promised
immortality with God. There is surety in Athanasius’ thinking that does not resonate in
Prudentius. In Athanasius there is “The definitive stability and security worked by Christ”
to counter the ontological instability humanity is created with.457 As a result, the nature of
the human person is founded in Christ, which is no longer outside of God. Because
Prudentius does not exposit this change in humanity’s nature as a result of the Incarnate
Word, the nature of humanity remains the same and so there cannot be this same assurance.
Eschatology
Fifth and final, as a result of their differing emphases, the end result of the narrative
is significantly diverse. Both writers argue for a future resurrection because of Christ’s
bodily resurrection, but Athanasius expresses the future hope of the resurrection as an
opportunity to reiterate the victory over death won at the cross. Whereas, for Prudentius,
the details of eschatological salvation are expressed with deep longing and expectancy, for
they epitomize what is ahead, rather than the results of what has already taken place. For
457

Anatolios, Athanasius, 61.

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Prudentius sin reveals itself in a tension of allegiance. It is Christ’s death that overturns this
allegiance and reverts creation’s order back to the original design.458 Therefore, final
restoration is viewed as a re-uniting of the intended relationship with God. All returns to
what it once was. For Athanasius, there is a transformation that occurs with the Incarnation
of the Word that changes everything! Therefore, the end result of salvation is not a
reversion, but a re-creation.
Prudentius gives exhortation to Christ’s final rule as the crowning result of
salvation in the eschaton. Because Christ is King, the entire world is under His Lordship.
With Athanasius this Lordship begins on earth. A major difference therefore is that the
afterlife is highlighted in Prudentius. It is, after all, the ultimate reward of salvation. It
would seem that for Prudentius, this is what the whole of the Gospel narrative is moving
toward. It is the climax to the narrative. Whereas for Athanasius, it is the Incarnate Christ’s
death and resurrection that is climactic, and the afterlife continues to witness to this already
completed work.
Conclusion
Misinterpreted as a systematic handbook to Nicene theology, Prudentius’ bold
Christological confessions proclaimed throughout his Liber Cathemerinon remain less
attached to the intended theological structure supporting such claims. True to his Origenian
roots, Prudentius’ contemplations contain avenues of speculative thinking, whereas
Athanasius opts to project what is certain. At times, Prudentius’ tendency toward
458

For a description of life before the fall see Prudentius, Liber Cathemerinon, Loeb, III.101-110.
Dykes describes “‘Sponte’ [as] a sign of the world before the Fall, before sin, before law (an idealized prelapsarian world). We find this usage deftly being exploited by Prudentius, but already present amongst his
predecessors. That is, we find that when the world, although personified as human, works of its own free will,
and is not subject to human will, it is unfallen.” Dykes, Reading, 49. Moreover, Padovese notes Prudentius’
tendency to move toward an eschatology that returns humanity to this previous state. Padovese,
“Soteriologia,” 389.

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speculation misguides his practical implications farther away from his original
declarations. Both thinkers exhibit a basic concern for God’s plan of salvation for
humanity; however, Prudentius emphasizes that which humanity is saved from, while
Athanasius chooses to highlight that which humanity is saved for. Likewise, Prudentius’
consciousness remains on the problem of sin, while Athanasius centres around the
Incarnate Word as God’s foreordained and singular solution.459 Ultimately, Prudentius’
hope of individual salvation, which is ultimate deliverance from sin, death, and the
torments of hell, is gauged by his own capacity to ward off sin and pursue righteousness. In
Athanasius, this system of pursuing God is transformed by the Incarnation of the Word,
understood most precisely by Jesus’ death and resurrection.
Both authors articulate the necessity of the Incarnation differently. Prudentius sees
it as necessary before humans can participate in acts of righteousness, for this cannot
happen until the devil is overthrown and Christ is the figure who does that. For Athanasius,
the Incarnation is viewed as the only solution for human salvation based on the criteria set
forward by God, as outlined in his arguments for Divine dilemma. Moreover, both writers
seem to understand that salvation absolves sin and charges Christians to live a life of
righteousness and obedience (as Paul repeatedly stresses). However, in Athanasius’
understanding, God saves humanity from death for a life of obedience. Prudentius seems to
understand God as responding to a life of obedience by saving humanity from sin. As the
Hamartigenia proposes a moralistic cosmology,460 Prudentius’ Liber Cathemerinon does
the same; “Moral action affects the way the world is: not just mala moralia, but mala

459

Much like the writer of Hebrews points out, there is a significant contrast between Sinai and Zion
and to the believer the writer reiterates that it is because of Christ “you have come to mount Zion and to the
city of the living God.” Hebrews 12:22, NASB.
460
Dykes, Reading, 23.

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physica, are, in this schema, a human responsibility.”461 It is in this way that Prudentius
tends toward a synergistic view of salvation; whereas, Athanasius recognizes a grace-based
view of salvation, wherein the human can participate in God as part of his or her
sanctifying process. In both thinkers there is a decided place for human action. For
Prudentius it stands as a precursor to humanity’s salvation, but in Athanasius it is in
response to humanity’s salvation.
From this position, Athanasius’ concept of good works becomes an opportunity to
participate or commune with God and embody the Word, but it is actualized by the grace of
God. Participation in God remains works-focused in Prudentius because of the fact that the
Incarnational Christ leaves little impression or immediate effect on the believer. This is an
example of not simply using the right “terminology”, but also understanding what is meant.
For Athanasius, Christ’s death and resurrection is the climax of God’s salvation
narrative. Prudentius may write this way, but his overall theology suggests that he looks to
the future for salvation’s climax. More specifically, Christ’s crucifixion is not the focal
point of Prudentius’ Liber Cathemerinon. The poet’s focus on the problem of sin
perpetuates his view of Christ’s work as limited to conquering death, the devil, and sin. In
consequence, Prudentius is more likely to fill the need for atonement with righteous acts.
As demonstrated, he places a high priority on the cooperative action of humanity in the
atoning work of salvation, which creates a sense of sanctification that is precursory to
justification. His theological reasoning is forced to adopt another element, outside of
Christ’s work, in order to fully appease humanity’s sin. In turn, Christ’s exclusive salvific
work is insufficient, and Prudentius’ theology demands another propitious solution. His
underdeveloped theology of Christ’s work and person leads to an equally underdeveloped
461

Dykes, Reading, 23.

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theology of the Word of God. By contrast, Athanasius’ focus necessarily rests on Christ’s
work because of his a priori of the Word. This results in his emphasis on God’s solution as
opposed to the problem. The implications for Athanasius are that Christ’s work makes
possible humanity’s life in God. Subsequently the means of salvation is the Word Incarnate
alone, for “the Gospel stands or falls then, on the singularity of Christ’s soteriological
Sonship.”462 Although Prudentius uses the coined phrases of the creed, his poetry lacks the
reasoning that gives power and clarity to its expression. This being evidenced primarily by
the disconnect between his proclamations and practical implications. For the most part, he
looks to the future for an eschatological salvation that is accomplished and assured only in
the age to come. Athanasius expresses the unique transformation of the entire world
through the Incarnate Word, wherein salvation is manifested here and now and continues
through to the future.
Prudentius’ use of the Nicene terminology cannot claim him as a flagship for
Nicene theology. McDonald makes the point that simply using the requisite language does
not guarantee an accurate representation of the truth that it portrays.463 As one of the best
examples, Athanasius gives expression to what the full humanity and full divinity of the
Incarnate Word means, while Prudentius simply uses the language.464 Thus, theological
doctrine is important, but it can significantly deter one’s thinking if not understood.
Athanasius delves into the Christological confessions of Nicaea in order to give expression
and clarity to the issue of God’s plan of salvation for humanity. Limited by his inability to
articulate the truths of the Christological Nicene confessions, Prudentius remains fixated on

462

Purves, “Priesthood,” 1.
H. D. McDonald, “Development and Christology,” Vox Evangelica 9 (1975): 5-6.
464
Because Prudentius has minimized the reasoning behind his conclusions they are less effective
and tend to lead him to practical implications that stand outside of the intended theology of Nicaea.
463

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the problem, because the problem has not really been solved for him. Without the same
hope and assurance that the Incarnation gives to Athanasius, Prudentius is undoubtedly left
in his own angst looking ahead to the possibility of a future assurance.

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Conclusion
Synthesis
The goal of this study is to determine whether Prudentius’ understanding of
salvation, as presented in his Liber Cathemerinon, is truly consistent with Nicene
soteriology. Having reviewed Nicene soteriology, as exposited by Athanasius, it is clear
that Nicaea understood the Word Incarnate, by means of His life, death, and resurrection,
as God’s intended and humanity’s only redemptive solution. Thus, the Nicene Creed
answered the question of salvation theology with Who. By contrast, Prudentius defined the
Incarnation of Jesus Christ predominantly by the event’s ability to rescue sinners from the
despair of their sin; as such, it was viewed as the first example of a redemptive solution. In
turn, this kind of approach determined an ethics-driven salvation. Prudentius exhibited a
fixation on the problem of human sin and its effect on individual salvation rather than
emphasizing the unique solution offered in Jesus Christ, as Nicene theology did. All of this
was in light of the fact that the Liber Cathemerinon explicitly postulated the Christological
phrases of the Nicene Creed. And thus, a disconnect between Prudentius’ claims about
Christ, the solution, and his underlying salvation theology emerged. Ultimately,
Prudentius’ concept diminished the hope offered by the Incarnation of Christ, which led
him to a works-based concept of the Christian life. In contrast, Nicene soteriology
emphasized the sole solution and led to a grace-dependent and communion-oriented view
of the Christian life. This study demonstrates that Prudentius’ concept of salvation is
inconsistent with the foundational soteriology of Nicaea, even though his writings share the
Christological claims of the creed.

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Implications
The findings of this study suggest several implications, particularly for theology
and ethics. Generally, a constructive warning can be issued in terms of following
Prudentius’ paradigm.465 The poet’s line of thinking tends toward a dangerously pluralistic
understanding of salvation, which threatens the Gospel message and the significance of the
person of Jesus Christ. More specifically, there stands a warning against segregating
various aspects of theology, namely Christology from soteriology. Unlike Prudentius, it is
important to recognize both what the church was saying about Christ at Nicaea and why
they were saying it.466 Understanding patristic soteriology clarifies patristic Christology. In
recent years a number of pointed discussions have, by consequence, called for a reevaluation of Christology.467 In light of this focus, Fairbairn makes the argument that
understanding the Christological controversy of the patristic period matters

465

This warning does not go without modern examples. Systematic theologians since the fourthcentury have had similar conclusions to their thinking in terms of identifying and understanding the person of
Jesus Christ. Both Rudolph Bultmann and Paul Tillich, while working to conceptualize the person of Christ,
end up situating His identity and Incarnation to the peripheral edge of the Christian faith. Like Prudentius, the
practical implications of a rationale ultimately deems Christ ineffective and insignificant. For an introduction
to each theological system see Rudolph Bultmann, Jesus Christ and Mythology (Albans Place: SCM Press,
1960); Paul Tillich, Systematic Theology (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1957). In clear contrast,
modern theologians Dietrich Bonhoeffer and Karl Barth found the essence of Christian faith and practice on
the unique identity and work of Jesus Christ. For an introduction to the Christological claims expressed by
these theologians see Dietrich Bonhoeffer, Who is Christ for Us? eds. Craig Nessan and Renate Wind
(Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress, 2002); Karl Barth, Church Dogmatics, eds. G. W. Bromiley and T. F.
Torrance (Peabody: Hendrickson Publishers, 2010), especially vol. I.1, IV.1, IV.2, IV.3.1, and IV.3.2.
466
Fairbairn, “Patristic Perspective,” 92-93.
467
Two particular areas of study are the atonement and reflections on the doctrine of the eternal
generation of the Son. The former, initiated by Hans Boersma’s work, Violence, Hospitality, and the Cross:
Reappropriating the Atonement Tradition, has catapulted the discussion of Christ’s work into a variety of
avenues, directly effecting the way in which the person of Christ is understood. For works involved in the
greater conversation see J. Denny Weaver, The Nonviolent Atonement (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans
Publishing, 2011); John Sanders, ed., Atonement and Violence: A Theological Conversation (Nashville:
Abingdon Press, 2006); Anthony W. Bartlett, Cross Purposes: The Violent Grammar of Christian Atonement
(Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 2001); Andrew Sung Park, Triune Atonement: Christ’s Healing for
Sinners, Victims, and the Whole Creation (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2009); Theodore W.
Jennings, Jr., Transforming Atonement: A Political Theology of the Cross (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress,
2009); Graham A. Cole, God the Peacemaker: How Atonement Brings Shalom, New Studies in Biblical
Theology, ed. D. A. Carson (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2009). The latter topic has been recently reintroduced by Kevin Giles in his book, The Eternal Generation of the Son: Maintaining Orthodoxy in

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because our understanding of [it] influences our understanding of Scripture.
Whether we like it or not, whether we admit it or not, we are prone to find in
Scripture what we think the early church believed Scripture to be saying about
Christ. But if what we think they saw in Scriptures is not what they actually saw in
Scripture, then we could find ourselves reading the Bible looking for something that
the early church did not find here, something that may or may not be there. We
could potentially misunderstand the biblical teaching because we have unwittingly
misunderstood the patristic church’s understanding of the biblical teaching. This, in
a nutshell, is why theologians and theological students today should care about
patristic debates such as the Christological controversy.468
Re-evaluating Christology apart from its soteriological roots will not be able to adequately
express its critical and central impact on Christian theology and ultimately any person’s
Christian experience.
This study has necessarily highlighted the importance of understanding the
proclamatory statements of faith, particularly those of the early creeds. Consequently,
Prudentius has indirectly charged believers to be mindful of the importance of matching
proclamations with practical actions. Therefore, Christian ethics are intimately connected
with one’s understanding of Christ and more broadly speaking, the Trinitarian expression
of God’s being. In this vein, Catherine M. Lacugna suggests,
The uniqueness of Christian ethics stems from the uniqueness of the economy of
Christ and the Spirit; an ethics that makes little reference to the specifics of the
economy, even were it ethical norms to closely approximate the teaching of Jesus,
would hardly qualify as Christian. Christian ethics is not generic but christological
and pneumatological; christological because in baptism we undertake to live as
Jesus lived, pneumatological because the Spirit acts in us, conforming us to the
person of Christ and engrafting us into the life of God.469

Trinitarian Theology. Aptly, Giles makes the argument that this doctrine is agreed to be foundational to the
Christian faith, but when contemporary systematics are worked out, the effects on this particular doctrine are
overwhelmingly negative and practically Arian. In favour of Giles argument, he points to Fred Sanders, The
Deep Things of God: How the Trinity Changes Everything (Wheaton: Crossway, 2010). Giles’ argumentation
causes the modern concept of Trinity to be re-evaluated and once again the conversation redirects to Arius
and Alexander, in which the latter insists on the eternal generation of the Son. Re-visiting this aged
discussion, Giles has entered the contemporary debate, which at its heart is about the person and work of
Jesus Christ.
468
Fairbairn, “Patristic Perspective,” 85-86.
469
Lacugna, God for Us, 408.

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Moreover, Lacugna argues that there is indeed a close connection between proclaiming
who God is and ethical outcomes. She demonstrates in her book, God for Us, “that the
doctrine of the Trinity, properly understood, is the affirmation of God’s intimate
communication with us through Jesus Christ in the Holy Spirit. As such, it is an eminently
practical doctrine with far-reaching consequences for Christian life.”470 And so, “The
doctrine of the Trinity, which is the specifically Christian way of speaking about God,
summarizes what it means to participate in the life of God through Jesus Christ in the
Spirit.”471
Similarly, but in an older example, the subject of Clement’s Paedagogus is Jesus
Christ.472 Clement is careful to infer the eternal existence of the Son by identifying Jesus
Christ with the pre-Incarnate Word. The purpose of Paedagogus is to communicate the
identity, role, and actions of Christ, so as to orient each aspect of the Christian life
(personal and communal) as a response to God’s command. As a result, he orders
Paedagogus to reflect this logic. Clement simply sets his understanding of Christian
behavior in direct relation to God’s command. Broadly speaking, Book I composes the
foundation for Clement’s guidelines to proper living by establishing who God is and
humanity’s relation to Him. Clement defines the Christian life:
Virtue is a will in conformity to God and Christ in life, rightly adjusted to life
everlasting. For the life of Christians, in which we are now trained, is a system of
reasonable actions—that is, of those things taught by the Word—an unfailing
energy which we have called faith. The system is the commandments of the Lord,
which, being divine statutes and spiritual counsels, have been written for ourselves,
being adapted for ourselves and our neighbours.473

470

Lacugna, God for Us, ix.
Lacugna, God for Us, 1.
472
Clement, Paedagogus, I.7, Christian Classics Ethereal Library,
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf02.vi.iii.html (accessed November 21, 2012).
473
Clement, Paedagogus, I.13.
471

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Intentional participation in the Christian life follows reason and is achieved through
reasonable actions, which are taught by the Word. Book II then delineates guidelines for
personal living. Clement thematically expresses that intentional participation in the
Christian life is how one loves God. More specifically, loving God in terms of participation
is obediently responding to His commands. “And this is the love of God,” says John, “that
we keep His commandments.”474
By communicating explicitly and clearly the identity and role of Jesus Christ first,
Clement is able to create an argument wherein he demonstrates that proper Christian living
is in no way detached from the person of Christ. Rather, he works to explain the direct
connection between Christ’s work and the manifestation of one’s appropriate response to
Him. As such, his proposed guidelines for Christian living are less legalistic and more an
outcome to his theological premise. Because Clement has chosen to orient his view of the
Christian life through the person and work of Christ, every aspect is affected. Thus, the
underlying concern is for a believer to orient his or her life in response to God’s command
rather than subjectively concluding the right or wrong course of action as determined by
the current cultural ethic. “Grant to us who obey Thy precepts” he prays, echoing the
thoughts of the writer of Psalm 119, “that we may perfect the likeness of the image, and
with all our power know Him who is the good God.”475
Questions for Further Study
This thesis has also generated questions to be pursued in a future conversation.
Since this study limited its attention to Prudentius’ Liber Cathemerinon, questions arise as
to the sense of cohesive logic apparent in his full body of work. More specifically: Is

474
475

Clement, Paedagogus, III.11.
Clement, Paedagogus, III.12.

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Prudentius consistent in his theological reasoning throughout his works or is there a sense
of development? Focused aspects of Prudentius’ thinking also require further study; for
instance, the poet’s concept of the soul and its relationship to the body, his concept of evil,
and the degree to which Platonism influences his perception of Christianity.
Similarly, in regard to Prudentius’ political involvement, the question remains: How
politically tied to Nicaea was he? Religion and politics seem inseparable for Prudentius.
With the installment of Spanish general Theodosius as emperor in the East after Valens,
loyalty to Nicene beliefs in the East improved. In light of Prudentius’ close connection to
Theodosius, it is a wonder if the proclamations of the Nicene Faith were as much political
as they were religious for him. To this point, Daniélou articulates the close connection
between the Roman Empire and the fourth-century church. He explains, “the Latin authors
were more concerned than the Greeks with institutions of society, and closer to the heart of
the Empire and the Church. They were therefore led to tackle the problems of ecclesiology,
both in the concrete issues raised by the actualities of Church life and in the Church’s
historical confrontation with the ideology of the Empire.”476 And thus, the overlapping of
religion and politics seems to be that much more intimate for a person like Prudentius.
On a grander scale still, this study questions the value of theological inquiry arising
from literature, particularly ancient literature. For pieces that have been predominantly
studied from a literary perspective, the advances in translation and interpretative resources
today allow for greater theological clarity and subsequent inquiry. As a result, it is hopeful
that this study’s concept will predict more of the same in future patristic scholarship.

476

Daniélou, Origins, xvi.

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Conclusion
Clement was right; “the greatest and most regal work of God is the salvation of
humanity.”477 Those who met in counsel at Nicaea knew this to be true and diligently
sought to clarify this grand work by identifying both the person and work of Jesus Christ.
The Nicene Creed has and will continue to guide theological works. This study of
Prudentius’ soteriology charges contemporary Christian thinkers to probe earlier minds as
to their influences, logical outcomes, and imbued impulses. It also attempts to recognize
their longstanding imprint, though they be subtle at times. Beneath the costume of
culturally laden poetry, Prudentius is asking the universal question posed before him by a
Philippian jailor and after him by the rest of the world: “What must I do to be saved?” All
the while, Nicaea responds by noting that the question is altogether misguided. For it is
God who saves and how it is done is through the unique Incarnate life, death, and
resurrection of His Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.

477

Clement, Paedagogus, I.12.

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Appendix 1
The Hermeneutical Basis for Prudentius’ Liber Cathemerinon
Prudentius’ World and Poetic Expression
Historical Spain and the Early Christian Church
Prudentius is suspected to have grown up in Calahorra, Spain.478 The country’s
history depicts a mixture of conflict and transformation, tradition and innovation, tragedy
and victory, all of which is exposed in the eclectic identity of Prudentius’ poetry. Three
Greek colonies, established early on in northeastern Spain, introduced the worship of
Artemis, and later excavations revealed a temple to Asclepius in Emporion.479 After the
Punic Wars of the third century BC, Romans overwhelmed the Spanish peninsula and
claimed the majority rule after 133 BC.480 Rome remained the predominant political and
cultural power until the Germanic invasions of the fifth century AD.481 In addition to the
imperial cults and political transitions of Spanish culture, Christianity entered the scene,
though it cannot be determined exactly when.482 The martyrs of the Valerian persecutions
(257 – 259) indicate that despite the well-established imperial cult, “Christians were
already a strong minority.”483 Winrich Löhr estimates that by the beginning of the fourth
century AD Christians made up approximately two percent of the population of the western

478

210.

Carl A. Hanson, “Were There Libraries in Roman Spain?” Libraries & Culture 24, no. 2 (1989):

479

Stephen McKenna, Paganism and Pagan Survivals in Spain Up to the Fall of the Visigothic
Kingdom, Studies in Mediaeval History (Washington: CUA Press, 1938), 12.
480
McKenna, Paganism, 3-4.
481
McKenna, Paganism, 3-4.
482
McKenna, Paganism, 24. St. James is suspected to have preached in Spain as early as 44 AD and
St. Paul notified the Roman church around 57 AD of his plans to travel to Spain after Rome (Romans 15:24);
however, neither of these events is verifiable. McKenna, Paganism, 24.
483
McKenna, Paganism, 25. P. Theodorici Ruinart, in his Acta Martyrum, identifies the martyrs as
Bishop Fructuosus of Tarragona and two deacons, Eulogius and Augurius. McKenna, Paganism, 25.

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regions of the empire.484 The canons of Elvira depict these early believers as struggling to
reconcile faithful Christian living with the realities of imperial power.485 Prudentius
existed, therefore, in an environment that was heavily imbued with its pagan past and
fighting for its Christian future.486 It is from this cultural climate that he wrote Liber
Cathemerinon.
Biblical Narrative in the Liber Cathemerinon
It is estimated that Prudentius wrote and/or circulated his poetry between 385 and
388.487 Generally, the author exhibits a significant “familiarity with biblical texts.”488
Within his Liber Cathemerinon there are passages taken from the Psalms, Gospels,
Apocrypha, and Epistles.489 There is no evidence to indicate that Prudentius used the
Septuagint or Greek New Testament.490 John Petruccione concludes that it is highly
unlikely that Prudentius read Greek.491 In the knowledge of the language division between
East and West, Alan Cameron explains, “A (fast decreasing) number of Latin-speaking

484

Winrich Löhr, “Western Christianities,” in Constantine to c. 600, eds. Augustine Casiday and F.
Norris, vol. 2 of The Cambridge History of Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007), 9.
To further characterise the nature of this early Christian community, the Council of Elvira recorded “nineteen
bishops and twenty-four priests from thirty-seven local churches” in attendance and the majority of attendees
were “from the southern provinces.” Löhr, “Western Christianities,” 37.
485
Michael Kulikowski, Late Roman Spain and Its Cities (Baltimore: John Hopkins University
Press, 2011), 39-40. “Prudentius’s poetry embodies the Christian appropriation, not rejection, of Rome’s preChristian literary legacy and espouses continued belief in Rome’s imperial mission, tied now to the victory of
propagation of Christianity.” Dennis E. Trout, The New Westminster Dictionary of Church History: The
Early, Medieval, and Reformation Eras (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2008), 541.
486
There was also a stark divide in Christianity, a reaction against the original Latin-speaking
Christianity, which Daniélou explains, “was basically Judaeo-Christian in character.” This was “a movement
with the aim of freeing Latin Christianity from its Jewish ancestry and giving it a respectable pedigree within
the Latin tradition.” Daniélou, Origins, 137.
487
John McClintock and James Strong, “Prudentius,” in Cyclopaedia of Biblical, Theological and
Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. 8 (New York: Harper & Brothers Publishers, 1879), 717.
488
O’Daly, Linked by Song, 26.
489
O’Daly, Linked by Song, 26.
490
O’Daly, Linked by Song, 26.
491
Petruccione, “St. Cyprian,” 230; Cf. R. Henke, “Der Romanushymnus des Prudentius und die
Griechische Prosaspassio,” Jahrbuch fur Antike und Christentum 29 (1986): 59.

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westerners knew some Greek.”492 Furthermore, Dean P. Lockwood notes, “The knowledge
of Greek among the Christians was more practical than literary. With the decline in the
traditional education in the late Roman Empire and with the changing character of the
spoken Greek language, it was becoming increasingly difficult to acquire ancient Greek in
western Europe.”493 Therefore, probability suggests that Prudentius accessed the Scriptures
through a Latin translation. However, his use of Jerome’s Vulgate cannot be verified.494
Gerard O’Daly argues that “His Bible consisted of one or more of the Latin versions that
pre-date Jerome, the so-called Old Latin (Vetus latina) translations.”495 Anthony Dykes
explains that “an enduring issue for commentators has been to isolate the particular Bible
verses any particular poem or passage refer to.”496 Part of the frustration comes from the
fact that the Vetus Latina is “an assemblage of texts, which often has to be reconstructed
from ambiguous indications.”497 It is, after all, “an umbrella term which is used of all Latin
Bible texts before Jerome. These had diverse origins and were in no way the products of a
centralized plan or any universal exercise of authority.”498 Despite the language of

492

Alan Cameron, The Last Pagans of Rome (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011), 640.
Dean P. Lockwood, “Two Thousand Years of Latin Translation from the Greek,” Transactions of
Proceedings of the American Philological Association 49 (1918): 120.
494
O’Daly, Linked by Song, 26.
495
O’Daly, Linked by Song, 26. Furthermore, “Attempts to identify which tradition (the distinction is
now usually made between the ‘European’ and the ‘African’ traditions) of the Old Latin versions Prudentius
used has not always succeeded, but there is some evidence suggesting that he was familiar with the African
tradition, possibly reflecting the influence of African Christianity in Spain since the time of Cyprian of
Carthage in the mid-third century.” O’Daly, Linked by Song, 26. Daniélou point to the “evidence in the Acts
of the Scillitan Martyrs that such translations existed in Africa from 180 onwards.” Daniélou, Origins, 7. For
further studies see J. L. Charlet, “Prudence et la Bible,” Recherches Augustinienne 18 (1983): 3-149; P.
Burton, The Old Latin Gospels: A Study of their Texts and Language (Oxford: Oxford University Press,
2000).
496
Dykes, Reading, 12.
497
Dykes, Reading, 12.
498
Dykes, Reading, 12.
493

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Prudentius’ biblical text, both Greek and Latin influences directed his comprehension and
application of the text.499
Ideas, Culture, Theology, and Literature: Availability, Accessibility, and Transfer
An existing bishopric in Spain, during Prudentius’ time, signifies that “some
liturgical texts and books of the Bible were in the hands of Tarragonese Christians.”500
Also, Prudentius may have been exposed to sources through his education. Spanish
education was
based on the three-tiered system found throughout the Roman world. Students
entered school at the elementary level and were taught by a paedagogus. Those who
entered the second level were taught by grammaticae and typically matriculated in
their mid-teens. Their curriculum included arithmetic, geometry, grammar, music,
astronomy, and the rudiments of philosophy and rhetoric. The third level, taught by
a rhetorician (rhetor), was generally reserved for young male scions of influential
families. These students studied rhetoric and .... Many became lawyers and urban
officials while others pursued literary careers.501
He tells the reader that he “received a liberal education, was admitted to the Roman
bar, practiced as a pleader, and seems to have distinguished himself in his profession.”502
Astutely, Dykes perceives his education as an indication of an affluent family
background.503 Both a higher social status and a good education imply access to sources.
Prudentius gives no indication as to where he studied, but if it was in his hometown of
Calahorra, Gallic poet Ausonius (c. 310 – c. 395) praised the school for its rhetorical
instruction.504 If it was in Tarragona, “literary and archeological evidence shows that [it]
was a leading center of Christian activity in Spain and also an important locus of rhetorical

499

“In terms of chronology and location,” Dykes argues, “it certainly seems possible that Prudentius
had access to at least some revision of the Latin text of Genesis.” Dykes, Reading, 254.
500
Hanson, “Libraries,” 208.
501
Hanson, “Libraries,” 201.
502
McClintock, “Prudentius,” 716.
503
Dykes, Reading, 3.
504
Hanson, “Libraries,” 216.

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instruction.”505 It is expected that during the fourth century the schools and churches of
these two cities would have had “a collection of learning materials.”506
In addition to public collections, C. A. Hanson proposes that private libraries
existed in Spain.507 Owning these collections would have been individual teachers,508
scholars, and church leaders like Priscillian of Avila (unknown – c. 385), who seemed to
have access to “a wide variety of sources.”509 It is possible that Prudentius relied on local
collections only; however, his wide use of sources and ideas speculates that he had access
to “a varied and possibly extensive library.”510 Interestingly, there is evidence “of quite a
lively book market from Rome to Spain.”511 Nevertheless, Prudentius gives no indication
as to whether he bought or borrowed his books.
The Hermeneutical Method of a Poet
There is a sense of ambiguity in poetry that a formal exegete works hard to reduce.
Prudentius does not set out a systematic explanation for his use of the biblical text, yet he
does leave traces of interpretive decisions that do indicate his hermeneutical strategies. At

505

Hanson, “Libraries,” 210.
Hanson, “Libraries,” 200, 210.
507
Hanson, “Libraries,” 209.
508
Hanson notes that “a sizable share of the educators in Spain appear to have had Greek origins.”
Hanson, “Libraries,” 201. Therefore, it is probable to suggest that Prudentius was influenced by Greek
thinkers and had access to a host of Greek sources; however, this cannot be verified.
509
Hanson, “Libraries,” 209.
510
Hanson, “Libraries,” 210. Prudentius “shows a very evident familiarity with Vergil (above all),
with Lucretius, Catullus, Horace, Juvenal, Ovid, and with some writers who are less commonly read
(certainly in this present age) such as Calpurnius Siculus and Claudian.” Dykes, Reading, 2. Other
connections exist that suggest Prudentius’ access to these types of sources. For example, his civil role
afforded him travel to the court of Emperor Theodosius, which assumes exposure to the literature in Rome.
Also, he may have accessed sources through Spanish religious leader Bishop Hosius (Ossius) of Cordoba. A.
T. Fear, “Prehistoric and Roman Spain,” in Spain: A History, ed. Raymond Carr (Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2000), 21; Cf. S. J. Kaey, Roman Spain (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1988), 183. Also, he
may have had contact with the well-known translators Rufinus and Jerome, who made Origen accessible to
the Latin West. Henry de Lubac, The Four Senses of Scripture, vol. 1 of Medieval Exegesis (Grand Rapids:
William B. Eerdmans Publishing, 1998), 161; Cf. Kathleen Jamieson, “Jerome, Augustine and the
Stesichoran Palinode,” Rhetorica: A Journal of the History of Rhetoric 5, no. 4 (1987): 358-359. These
connections, however, remain speculative.
511
Hanson, “Libraries,” 203.
506

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this point, the focus turns from his own hermeneutical method to his hermeneutical
influences. Marc Mastrangelo begins this conversation by noting the “pagan intellectual
inheritance” of Prudentius, which inevitably shapes the way he views the world.512
However, a more specific question arises: What or who are Prudentius’ influences in terms
of biblical interpretation? O’Daly supposes that Prudentius “is heir to a long tradition of
biblical interpretation, particularly of non-literal exegesis of persons and events in the
Hebrew Bible.”513 Much in line with O’Daly, this study argues that despite the diverse
literary, philosophical and theological influences that affect Liber Cathemerinon,
Prudentius echoes the non-literal hermeneutic of Alexandria, as championed by Origen, in
his use of biblical narrative.514
The Tradition of Alexandrian Hermeneutics and Origen’s Contribution
Understanding Ancient Allegory: Its Purpose and Intention
The term allegory comes from the Greek alla (meaning “other”) and agoreuo
(meaning “proclaim”), which together suggests a “continuous stream of metaphors.”515 The
term developed in order to depict a narrative “with many parts pointing symbolically to

512

By “pagan intellectual inheritance” Mastrangelo refers to “the rich philosophical tradition that
Prudentius [imbibes], directly or indirectly, beginning with Plato and extending to the Epicurean and neoPlatonic traditions.” Marc Mastrangelo, “The Decline of Poetry in the Fourth-Century West,” International
Journal of the Classical Tradition 16, no. ¾ (2009): 121. In agreement, Neil articulates that “The Christian
authors of the fourth to sixth centuries whose work survives achieved a remarkable synthesis of GrecoRoman rhetoric and philosophy, which had its origins in Athens in its golden age, the fourth and fifth
centuries BC, the age of Plato and Aristotle.” Bronwen Neil, “Towards Defining a Christian Culture: The
Christian Transformation of Classical Literature,” in Constantine to c. 600, eds. Augustine Casiday and F.
Norris, vol. 2 of The Cambridge History of Christianity (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2007),
317.
513
O’Daly, Linked by Song, 27.
514
In terms of methodology, the biblical narratives from Prudentius’ Liber Cathemerinon have been
grammatically diagrammed in order to pursue the intended meaning of the text. For a detailed guide to
procedure see Joel James, Expository Study: A Practical Guide to Preparing Expository Sermons (South
Africa: Word of the Cross Press, 2008).
515
Coptic Orthodox Church Network, “The Allegorical Interpretation of the Scriptures,”
http://www.copticchurch.net/topics/patrology/schoolofalex/I-Intro/chapter3.html (accessed November 24,
2012).

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spiritual realities.”516 In its contemporary usage, the word allegory is either “(1) a kind of
literature or (2) a method of interpretation.”517 As a form of biblical interpretation it has its
roots in Alexandrian Judaism, particularly with Philo “who made a systematic use of it to
bridge the chasm between the Old Testament revelation and ... Platonic philosophy.”518
Allegorical interpretation, outside of a biblical context, goes even further back to
Theagenes of Rhegium (c. 529 BC – unknown), a pre-Socratic Greek, who attempted to
“express philosophical ideas with mythological imagery.”519 “The central idea of
[allegorical] biblical interpretation is that history follows a symbolic plan organized by
God: events recorded in the Old Testament have been made to happen so as to foreshadow
incidents in the life of Christ as these are set down in the New Testament.”520 Therefore,
the intention of allegory, as an interpretive tool, is to aid in understanding.
Allegory and Typology
In contemporary scholarship a significant debate has arisen over the need to clarify
allegory from typology.521 In the past, allegory has been distinguished “as a method in
which earthly realities are interpreted symbolically to refer to heavenly realities,” whereas,
516

Roy B. Zuck, Basic Biblical Interpretation: A Practical Guide to Discovering Biblical Truth
(Colorado Springs: Victor, 1991), 221.
517
Robert B. Sloan Jr. and Carey C. Newman, “Ancient Jewish Hermeneutics,” in Biblical
Hermeneutics: A Comprehensive Introduction to Interpreting Scripture, eds. Bruce Corley, Steve W. Lemke
and Grant I. Lovejoy, 2nd ed. (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2002), 61.
518
Coptic, “Allegorical Interpretation,” n.p.
519
Graeme Goldsworthy, Gospel-Centered Hermeneutics: Foundations and Principles of
Evangelical Biblical Interpretation (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2006), 94.
520
Gordon Teskey, “Allegory,” in The Spenser Encyclopaedia, ed. A. C. Hamilton (London:
Routledge, 2006), 53. Rightly, McGuckin gives clarification to those who view allegory as highly suspicious
and out-of-date. He writes, a “source of confusion surrounding the term allegory is the tendency of the
ancient interpreters to avoid it after the outbreak of the late fourth-century Origenist crisis, giving the false
impression that the practice it described was then abandoned. As a result of that controversy, the use of
‘allegoria’ was condemned, after the late fourth century, as the source of what anti-Origenists believed to be
the theological errors of Origen and his intellectual descendants. The general exegetical practice, however,
survived virtually unchanged under the new designation of ‘theoria.’” John Anthony McGuckin, ed., The
Westminster Handbook to Origen, The Westminster Handbooks to Christian Theology (Louisville:
Westminster John Knox Press, 2004), 50.
521
Karen J. Torjesen, Hermeneutical Procedure and Theological Method in Origen’s Exegesis,
Patristische Texte Und Studien (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter & Co., 1985), 6.

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typology is when “historical reality is interpreted as foreshadowing another, especially the
person and work of Christ.”522 It must be considered that modern distinctions may have no
bearing on patristic exegetical principles.523 To be frank, it is fair to assert, along with Earle
E. Ellis, that typology depicts “the basic approach of earliest Christianity toward the Old
Testament. It is not so much a system of interpretation as a historical and theological
perspective from which the early Christian community viewed itself.”524 Multiple
definitions result in a multiplicity of opinions, yet Stefan Nordgaard Svendsen
constructively discerns the common idea and candidly calls scholars to revisit what the
ancient writers are saying themselves. He writes,
all agree that whereas allegory links historical entities ‘vertically’ to noetic
archetypes, typology links such entities ‘horizontally’ to later historical ones, which
are then, in turn, perceived as their fulfillments and ultimate realizations .... certain
classicists and New Testament scholars have started to question the validity of the
dichotomy between allegory and typology. More concretely, they have raised the
issue whether a specifically typological method really existed in the ancient world
and whether, if it did, it could legitimately be construed as the opposite of allegory.
These scholars notice that no ancient writers show any awareness of a distinctively
typological hermeneutics.525
The Roots of Biblical Interpretation in Alexandria
Following the apostolic period, methods for interpreting the Scriptures began to
develop into schools, one of which was the Alexandrian school, which would later be
associated with an allegorical or non-literal method.526 Where did the non-literal influence
come from and how did it become the distinction of Alexandria? To begin, allegorical

522

Coptic, “Allegorical Interpretation,” n.p.
McGuckin, Origen, 49.
524
Earle E. Ellis, “The New Testament’s Use of the Old Testament,” in Biblical Hermeneutics: A
Comprehensive Introduction to Interpreting Scripture, eds. Bruce Corley, Steve W. Lemke and Grant I.
Lovejoy, 2nd ed. (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2002), 85.
525
Stefan Nordgaard Svendsen, Allegory Transformed, vol. 269 of Wissenschaftliche
Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 2, Reihe (Tubigen: Mohr Siebeck, 2009), 56.
526
Henry A. Virkler and Karelynne Gerber Ayayo, Hermeneutics: Principles and Processes of
Biblical Interpretation, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 1981), 52.
523

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interpretation was not uncommon to Hellenistic Cynic-Stoic philosophers, who reexamined the ancient Greek myths in a contemporary context by using allegory.527 Early
Jewish philosophers also used allegory, of which Pseudo-Aristeas and Aristobulus are
examples, but it was Philo who wielded the tool “to reconcile his Greek Bible with his
surrounding hellenistic culture.”528 Focusing this method to the Hebrew Bible, “Philo
argued that the literal meaning was immature; the full and mature significance of a text was
reached only through allegorical means.”529 Moreover, the biblical text was the means by
which an individual pursued true reality.530 In turn, true reality was hidden in the symbols
of the text.531 Resonances of Plato are to be heard here. Though influenced by the Stoic
philosophers, Philo ultimately stood in the exegetical tradition of Jewish allegory.532
Hence, the school of Alexandria assumed the method of allegorical interpretation,
“believing that [Scripture] hides the truth and at the same time reveals it.”533
The school of Alexandria differentiated itself from the school of Antioch primarily
because it understood spiritual meaning to “[hover] above the historical meaning of the Old
Testament events,” whereas the Antiochians “believed that the spiritual meaning of a

527

Sloan Jr., “Jewish Hermeneutics,” 61.
Sloan Jr., “Jewish Hermeneutics,” 61; Cf. Svendsen, Allegory, 17. It is valuable to keep in mind
the history of the Jews while proceeding through the development of their interpretive methods. As, Sloan Jr.
points out, “The oppression of Jews by Assyria, Babylon, Persia, Alexander, the Ptolemies and Seleucids, and
Rome, along with the Hellenistic spirit that infused the Greco-Roman world, provided the context against
which any Jewish attempt to make sense of their scriptural traditions took its shape. There is a positive
correlation between the complexities of Jewish history during the Greco-Roman period and the multiplicity of
(and often inventive) interpretative strategies adopted by Jews.” Sloan Jr., “Jewish Hermeneutics,” 57.
529
Sloan Jr., “Jewish Hermeneutics,” 61. At this point it is critical to hear Philo correctly. In no way
did he deny the historical value of the text. “In fact, Philo had something of a two-level approach, a literal and
an allegorical reading, even if the latter was the much preferred.” Sloan Jr., “Jewish Hermeneutics,” 63.
530
Robert W. Bernard, “The Hermeneutics of the Early Church Fathers,” in Biblical Hermeneutics:
A Comprehensive Introduction to Interpreting Scripture, ed. Bruce Corley, Steve W. Lemke and Grant I.
Lovejoy, 2nd ed. (Nashville: B&H Publishing Group, 2002), 92-93.
531
Bernard, “Hermeneutics,” 92-93.
532
Svendsen, Allegory, 17.
533
Coptic, “Allegorical Interpretation,” n.p.
528

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historical event was implicit within the event itself.”534 By such definitions, Origen
perpetuated the Alexandrian hermeneutic, for he stepped beyond the confines of the literal
text to pursue its spiritual meaning.535 It was Origen’s expression and systematization of
this hermeneutic, as it applied to both the Old and New Testaments, that solidified its use in
the church for centuries thereafter.
Origen’s Systemization of the Alexandrian Model for the Church
As an exegete, Origen’s speculative tendencies pushed the limits in his own day and
for generations after. Later Christians departed from his theological methods and
conclusions but continued to follow “his lead in pursuing many of the questions he had first
posed.”536 A. von Harnack credits Origen by articulating that “There has never been a
theologian in the church who desired to be, and indeed was, so exclusively an interpreter of
the Bible as Origen was.”537 Harnack’s accolades speak truthfully of Origen’s concern for
the interpreter. As such, he recognizes the intellectual and spiritual efforts required of the
task.538 Peter W. Martens is correct to begin with the interpreter in an assessment of
Origen’s interpretive principles. He argues that, for Origen, “the ideal scriptural interpreter
was someone who embarked not simply upon a scholarly journey, but, more ambitiously,

534

Virkler, Hermeneutics, 53.
McGuckin, Origen, 49. For an overview of Origen’s life and works see Rowan Williams,
“Origen,” in The First Christian Theologians: An Introduction to Theology in the Early Church, ed. G. R.
Evans (Malden: Blackwell Publishing, 2004).
536
McGuckin, Origen, 25.
537
Adolf von Harnack, Der Kirchengeschichtliche Ertrag der Exegetischen Arbeiten des Origenes,
vol. 2 of Die Beiden Testaments mit Ausschluss des Hexateuchs und des Richterbuchs, Texte und
Untersuchungen 42.2-3 (Leipzig: J. C. Hinrichs, 1919), II.4 A3.
538
Peter W. Martens, Origen and Scripture: The Contours of the Exegetical Life. Oxford Early
Christian Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2012), 6.
535

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upon a way of life, indeed a way of salvation, that culminated in the vision of God.”539 The
knowledge of Scripture, therefore, becomes the pathway to the knowledge of God.540
By reading through an assortment of Origen’s commentaries and homilies, the
reader quickly realizes “that as he expounds Scripture he has constantly in mind several
different schools of rival expositors of the text,” predominantly the Gnostics and the
Marcionites.541 Nevertheless, he maintains the conviction that Scripture is inspired, “not
simply because it contains divine ideas, nor because the breath of the divine Spirit breaths
in its lines ... but because it has God as its author.”542 It is from this premise that Origen can
establish “that prophesies of the OT have been fulfilled after they were made, and it was
through the coming of Jesus that revealed what once was hidden.”543 In addition, his
conviction of Scripture’s nature leads him to pursue its unity and thus he continually moves
toward expressing a grand narrative as it is told through both the Old and New
Testaments.544 It is also from this basis that Origen interprets Scripture with the use of
Scripture itself.545
Like Philo, Origen recognizes the value of both the literal and spiritual sense of the
text. The “mysteries in the form of the literal text” are hidden by the Holy Spirit “both as
an accommodation to the simple who could benefit from the literal text and as a goad to the

539

Martens, Origen, 6. Similar to Origen’s concept of the task of interpretation, Prudentius sees
writing poetry as participating in his own sanctification. From Origen’s perspective “those who studied
Scripture were far more than literary technicians. At its heart, proper inquiry into Scripture ... played a
privileged role in the interpreter’s journey toward salvation.” Martens, Origen, 12.
540
Joseph Wilson Trigg, Origen (Albans Place: SCM Press, 1983), 86.
541
R. P. C. Hanson, Allegory and Event: A Study of the Sources and Significance of Origen’s
Interpretation of Scripture (Louisville: Westminster John Knox Press, 2002), 135. Here again, there is a
striking similarity between Origen and Prudentius’ intentional defense, for Prudentius directly attacks
Marcion (Hamartigenia) and is vigilant to protect the Gospel from heresies such as Patripassianism,
Sabellianism, and Ebionism (Apotheosis).
542
Hanson, Allegory and Event, 187.
543
Joseph W. Trigg, Origen, The Early Church Fathers (London: Routledge, 1998), 32.
544
Hanson, Allegory and Event, 198, 200.
545
David G. Hunter, Preaching in the Patristic Age (Mahwah: Paulist Press, 1989), 47.

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intelligent who would work harder at understanding because of the difficulties associated
with spiritual reading.”546 More specifically, he approaches the Scriptures from three
angles: “bodily, soulish, and spiritual meanings.”547 In line with the tradition of the
Alexandrian school, Origen proposes a multi-tiered meaning to the text. Beyond the literal
meaning is the moral sense of the text, wherein it is “applied to the conduct and the piety of
the ordinary Christian,” Jean Daniélou articulates.548 The spiritual sense “is the disclosure
of what is present in a hidden form in the literal sense.”549 Therein, Origen uses allegory as
a tool to expose the spiritual sense. A less careful assessment concludes that Origen uses
allegory simply to read the New Testament into the Old.550 More accurately, John Anthony
McGuckin explains, “allegory allowed Origen to read the whole Bible as a revelation of the
progressive kingdom of Christ.”551 As a result, Origen’s conclusions were less instructive
and more meditative.552 His findings affected the Christian life in terms of progressive
sanctification as opposed to legalistic moralism.
Origen and Prudentius: A Hermeneutical Comparison
Peter’s Denials of Christ
Origen’s account of Peter’s denials in Contra Celsum seems to be the most literal as
he retraces the denials, his repentant attitude, and thereafter-physical reaction of tears.553
The historical details of the fuller narrative do not seem to serve Origen’s purpose. In his
546

McGuckin, Origen, 50. In his Contra Celsum Origen “tells us that one of the functions of the
literal sense is to attract people to study the Bible so that they may eventually venture upon the allegorical
sense.” Hanson, Allegory and Event, 238.
547
Trigg, Origen, Early Church Fathers, 33.
548
Hanson, Allegory and Event, 242.
549
Torjesen, Hermeneutical Procedure, 7.
550
McGuckin, Origen, 50.
551
McGuckin, Origen, 50.
552
Tadrous Y. Malaty, The Book of Genesis: A Patristic Commentary, trans. George Botros
(OrthodoxEbooks, 2004), 87.
553
Origen, Contra Celsum, in Translations of the Writings of the Fathers Down to A.D. 325, eds.
Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1872), II.18.

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Commentary on Matthew, Origen stresses the time of day that Peter denies Christ. “Peter
also denies Christ, not during the day” he writes, “Moreover, it was still in the middle of
the night, since the cock had not yet crowed.”554 Carrying through a negative connotation
of the night, Origen further explains the significance of the event happening in the dark. He
writes, “Those who fell away from Christ on the night he was betrayed did so because they
had not yet received the staying power of the Holy Sprit.”555 Here, Origen alludes to the
time in the narrative as symbolic of the time in the paschal story (the period before the gift
of the Spirit). When the sequence of events revolves around symbols rather than
chronological time, he is pushing the reader to consider a greater truth. Continuing in his
Commentary on Matthew, Origen underscores that Peter was held accountable for his
arrogance. “The other disciples only fell away from Jesus” he explains, “but Peter, who
thought that he could begin with deceit and end up with the truth, both fell away from Jesus
and also denied him because of the audacious promise he made that he would never fall
away.”556 At this point, Peter is held up as an example. The description of Peter, “who
thought that he could begin with deceit and end up with the truth” carries a universal tone.
Ronald E. Heine articulates, “Origen speaks of his experience with Scripture from the
perspective of standing within the text. He treats his hearers or readers in the same way ....
They are to view their own lives, with their particular conflicts, within the conceptual
framework provided by the biblical text.”557 It is in this way that Origen rises above the
literal narrative to pursue its moral meaning for every person. Peter’s attitude, consequent
554

Manlio Simonetti, ed., Matthew 14-28, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture, vol 1b of
New Testament (Downers Grove: InterVarsity Press, 2002), 251.
555
Simonetti, Matthew, 250.
556
Simonetti, Matthew, 252.
557
Ronald E. Heine, Reading the Old Testament with the Ancient Church: Exploring the Formation
of Early Christian Thought, Evangelical Ressourcement: Ancient Sources for the Church’s Future Series
(Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2007), 183.

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action, and the result on his relationship with Jesus can no longer remain a narrative unique
to Peter and Jesus. Rather, it becomes a commentary on the nature of God’s goodness in
comparison to humanity’s fickleness, and it demonstrates the inevitable result on the Godman relationship when humanity acts and thinks as Peter does.
In De Principii, Origen places Paul and Peter together as examples of “men of a
spiritual nature,” who have weighty sin.558 Paul, for instance, “having persecuted the
Church of God, and Peter to have committed so grave a sin as, when questioned by the
maid-servant, to have asserted with an oath that he did not know who Christ was.”559 Here,
Origen’s main concern is reconciling how a spiritual being can fall into such sin. Here
again, the trajectory of his interest does not lie in the narrated acts of Paul and Peter; rather,
he pushes past the plot to ask the theological questions. Essentially the circumstances of the
narrative have led him to contemplate the greater concern of humanity’s relationship with
the divine (spiritual). In this way, the literal text is not discarded; instead, it functions as the
jumping-off point to which a person can contemplate deeper truths.
Like Origen, Prudentius begins to treat the biblical narrative of Peter’s denials of
Christ by presenting a brief account of the event (Cath. I.49-52).560 The Lord is introduced
as the authoritative voice predicting the actions of Peter, who is given the role of the
second character (I.49-50). Prudentius informs the reader of Peter’s actions (that he would
lie (I.51)) and the result of his deed (that he would deny his Master (I.52)). The language
accentuates the relationship between these two characters immediately. Peter is the receiver
of the prediction, which gives him a subordinate role as he passively listens to the Lord

558

Origen, De Principii, trans. Frederick Crombie, I.8, Christian Classics Ethereal Library,
http://www.ccel.org/ccel/schaff/anf04.vi.v.i.html (accessed November 21, 2012).
559
Origen, De Principii, I.8.
560
References to the Liber Cathemerinon will remain in-text throughout the analysis portion.

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speak (I.49). Moreover, Peter’s Master is described as being dear to him, and yet,
Prudentius titles the Lord with Master, indicating the unequal nature of the relationship
(I.52). The effect is that Peter is the learner, listener, and responder, whereas the Lord is the
authoritative predictor, foreseer, and teacher. Prudentius’ depiction of this relationship puts
a greater weight on Peter’s negative action, as does its quantity (“thrice” (I.52)). Prudentius
returns to underline the relationship between these two characters later in the poem when
the cock’s crow is said to be “familiar” to Peter (I.63). Like Origen’s interpretation, the
emphasis forces the reader into comparing his or her own position with Peter’s. It is also
important to note that from the beginning the author is careful to relay the time sequence of
the actions of the characters. For example, Peter’s lies happen before the cock-crow (I.51).
Like Origen, Prudentius interprets Peter’s actions as relative to a symbol, the cock-crow.
From the beginning of the narrative, Prudentius tells the reader that the prediction
for Peter is negative. It will mimic the response of the “foul voltaries of the night” who
“Abhor the coming of the light” because they are “shamed before salvation’s grace” (I.4143). Also from the beginning, Prudentius introduces the authoritative actor and his action
as the cock and his crow (I.51).561 The prioritizing of the time sequence around a symbol
(the cock-crow) aids the reader in venturing beyond the literal meaning of the text, just as
in Origen’s interpretation. The emphasis is reiterated yet again when Prudentius gives the
reader the reason for the pre-determined result in Peter’s prediction. It is a law that the
action of sin is done before the action or proclamation of the authoritative actor, which is
the “herald of the sun” (I.53-54). Just as in Origen’s explanation, Peter’s action and the

561

This emphasis increases throughout the course of the poem, almost as if to intensify the drama.
By observation, the poem moves toward Christ’s conquer almost as if it equally is suggesting Christ’s second
coming. In this sense, the anticipation of the final event builds and so it seems to project the ever-increasing
imminent sense of Christ’s return.

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consequent result on his relationship with the Master are no longer bound to the literal
story.
Immediately following the emphasis on time, Prudentius moves toward application.
He addresses all of humankind as understanding that the authoritative action (the
proclamation of the dawn or its cry) causes the sinner to react in shame, which is the result
(I.55-56). In essence, the author has just halted the drama of the story to get his reader to
contemplate his or her own situation. It is as if he is beckoning the reader to consider for
him/herself what the result will be for them if the cock were to crow at that very
moment.562 Moving forward in the poem, Prudentius steps back into the chronological
events, all the while insinuating that the reader ought to remember the encouragement to
apply what is happening in the narrative to the reader’s own life. “Then,” he writes, Peter
wept (I.57). The physical action of Peter is described by bitterness and qualified by his
attitude of horror (I.57). Immediately following, the author gives a particularly physical
description of Peter’s denial, and thus the reader understands that it was because of his
physical action (his verbal denial) that he wept (I.58).563 After relaying the act of Peter’s
denial, Prudentius moves toward an interpretive assertion by proposing what he thinks
really happened. Despite all that has occurred physically, Peter’s spiritual status remains
untainted, and consequently, his ontological reality (“faith still reigned” (I.60)), which is
interestingly enough located in a physical place (“within his breast” (I.60)). It is at this
point that Prudentius urges the reader to make the jump from physical and literal
descriptions to spiritual realities. Much like Origen, he is concerned with the deeper truth,

562

O’Daly notes Prudentius’ thematic call “from sleep to virtue,” viewing sin as “a sleep of the
soul.” O’Daly, Linked by Song, 49; Cf. Romans 13:11-12.
563
There is an obvious identification of the flesh betraying the soul. To some degree, it resembles
Paul’s conflict of natures in Romans 7:15.

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which in this case is the status of a person’s soul rather than simple physiology (the action
of Peter’s mouth).564 Prudentius has chosen to interpret this portion of the narrative by
emphasizing the dichotomy between soul and body. His assertion suggests that the body
can do one thing, while the soul does another.565
Prudentius continues, explaining that never after the incident did his tongue (body)
betray his soul (I.61-62). The turning point, however, is with the authoritative action of the
cock’s crow (I.63). The response of Peter is an attitude change, in which he becomes
humble. It is also an action change, in which he is humbled from his previous action of
selfish vanity (I.64). Here again, Prudentius expects the reader to morally consider if these
are actions he/she ought to be taking along with Peter. Overtly patterning Origen’s
hermeneutical method, the reader is encouraged to “view their own lives ... within the
conceptual framework provided by the biblical text.”566
Prudentius continues to apply the text by relaying its allegorical meaning:
“Therefore,” he writes, it is the belief “That, as the world in stillness lay, / What hour the
cock doth greet the skies / Christ from deep Hades did arise” (I.66-68). The authoritative
character goes forward with his action and the person of Christ rises from Hades. More
excited still, Prudentius writes that subsequent to the crow of the cock and the rising of
Christ from Hades “the bands of death were burst, / Shattered the sway of hell accurst”

564

Mastrangelo confirms that “movement from the physical to the abstract is an allegorical strategy
of Prudentius in which the death of a vice represents the deconstruction of its fictional character into a set of
abstract qualities that inhabit the soul.” Mastrangelo, Roman Self, 142.
565
Origen alludes to a similar discussion by addressing the denial of Peter in a section devoted to
opposing powers. He writes, “there are certain sins, however, which do not proceed from the opposing
powers, but take their beginnings from the natural movements of the body.” He directly goes to Paul’s
explanation of this conflict in Galatians 5:17: “The flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the
flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other; so that ye cannot do the things that ye would.” “If” Origen
continues to ask, “the flesh lust against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, we have occasionally to
wrestle against flesh and blood.” Origen, De Principii, III.2.3.
566
Heine, Old Testament, 183.

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(I.69-70). The affective result of the cock’s crow is that death and hell are overcome and
“the hosts of the Night will dispel quickly” (I.72). The link between the literal and the
allegorical meaning of the text comes through the use of themes and symbols. For example,
the symbol of light and dark are representative of good and evil.567 The imagery of “dawn”
is personified and given the ability to “herald,” “proclaim,” and “cry”; the emphasis
suggests that the Divine stands as the “dawn,” the “sun,” and the “light.”568 Furthermore,
Peter and Christ are compared. Peter’s reaction to the cock-crow results in a change of
action (repentance) and a victorious ending – the release from his physical darkness and
sin. Christ’s response to the cock-crow also results in a victorious ending – a release from
the physical darkness of hell. In both Origen and Prudentius, there is a conscious effort to
move beyond the simplistic events of the story. In either interpretation, the literal narrative
is transposed into a personal story, which finally evolves into contemplation of God’s
relationship to humankind collectively.
Jacob Wrestles
In his De Principii, Origen establishes that “opposing powers, or the devil himself,
contends with the human race, inciting and instigating men to sin.”569 Working from I
Kings 22:19-23 he is convinced that “a certain spirit, from his own (free) will and choice,
elected to deceive (Ahab), and to work a lie, in order that the Lord might mislead the king

567

“The popular association of demonic powers with darkness, found in the Graeco-Roman and
Jewish traditions, is evoked, together with another popular belief ... that demons are put to flight by the
crowing cock ... their enemy.” O’Daly, Linked by Song, 49. This contrast of light to dark is utilized by Paul in
I Thessalonians 5:1-11.
568
I have left the identification of this symbol as “the Divine” simply because Philo and Origen paid
particular attention to the mystical significance of numbers and often sets of three would reflect the Trinity.
Coptic, “Allegorical Interpretation,” n.p. This may or may not have been Prudentius’ intention here. O’Daly
hesitates with a definitive answer as well, suggesting that “the light is not just the light of virtue and insight,
but is Christ’s light ... possibly even Christ as the light (John 1).” O’Daly, Linked by Song, 49, emphasis mine.
569
Origen, De Principii, III.2.1.

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to his death, for he deserved to suffer.”570 As such, principalities exercise the power to
influence humanity negatively. For this reason he takes seriously Paul’s warning, “not to
give place to the devil; but ‘put on,’ he says, ‘the armour of God, that ye may be able to
resist the wiles of the devil’ [Ephesians 6:13].”571 Humanity’s wrestling, therefore, is “not
against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the
darkness of this world, against the spiritual wickedness in high places [Ephesians 6:12].”572
The Scriptures tell “that there are certain invisible enemies that fight against us, and against
whom it commands us to arm ourselves.”573 Having established this premise, Origen
believes that there is a limit to the power of human nature and as a result, no human being
“could sustain, without destruction to himself, the whole simultaneous assault of these
opposing powers, unless indeed the might of Him alone were to work in him, who said, ‘Be
of good cheer, I have overcome the world’ [John 16:33].”574
What then is to be made of the angel of the Lord who wrestles with Jacob? In
Origen’s interpretation, Jacob could not have fought an opposing power on his own, but
when bolstered by “the presence of the Lord dwelling within [him], confidence in the
divine help [can lead him] to say, ‘The Lord is my light, and my salvation; whom shall I
fear?’ [Psalm 27:1].”575 Attempting to meet Origen at the level of his own spiritual insight,
Frances Young projects that this altercation was spiritual, “wrestling to endure sufferings,
to avoid being provoked into fierce anger, excessive sorrow, the depths of despair or

570

Origen, De Principii, III.2.1.
Origen, De Principii, III.2.1.
572
Origen, De Principii, III.2.1.
573
Origen, De Principii, III.2.1.
574
Origen, De Principii, III.2.5.
575
Origen, De Principii, III.2.5.
571

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complaint against God.”576 A moral meaning is easily established, and once again Origen is
attempting to move beyond the literal narrative toward spiritual truth. He perceives Jacob
as wrestling his opponent, with the help of the Lord, and prevailing.577 Origen’s primary
concern is once again on a grander scale. This narrative presses him to question the
relationship between spiritual beings and human beings. Further still, he must speculate
regarding the limits of human nature when tested against the supernatural.
Prudentius approaches Jacob’s wrestling at Jabbok in the same way he does Peter’s
denials of Christ and a brief record of the events is given. In contrast to the characterfocused Peter narrative, this story is recorded with a greater sense of drama as Prudentius
describes the place, the setting, and the environment: “Twas ‘neath the lonely star-blue
night” (II.73). Again, the author’s use of light/dark and night/day symbolism captures the
brooding atmosphere of the scene. He goes on to describe the what, where, when, and how
details: “Jacob waged the unequal fight, / Stoutly he wrestled with the Man / In darkness,
till the day began” (II.74-76). Prudentius specifies that the relationship between the two
fighters is clearly uneven (II.74). In his interpretation, Jacob fights bravely with “the Man”
in the dark and perseveres until daybreak (II.75-76). The changing drama of the story is
paralleled with the changing atmosphere. He writes, “when the sun rose” Jacob stopped his
fighting (II.77-78). The reason for his stopping was the condition of his “shrivelled thigh”
(II.78). Jacob’s weapon (his natural might) had “ebbed away / Vanquished” in the great
battle (II.79-80). Like Origen, Prudentius emphasizes the limitation of natural human
power, particularly when matched unevenly to supernatural power.
576

Frances Young, “Being Biblical, Being Broken and Blessed,” Lecture 4 in the St. Martin-in-theFields Autumn Education Programme, The Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last: The Bible Opened
for All, delivered by Francis Young at St Martin-in-the-Fields (London, 2012), 5.
577
Origen, Homilies on Genesis and Exodus, trans. Ronald E. Heine, vol. 71 of Fathers of the
Church (Washington: CUA Press, 1982), 235.

140

Prudentius moves into an interpretation of the text before his application. He
immediately relays to the reader that Jacob is not physically dead. In fact, his physical
injuries are not that severe. Therefore, the positive result is that he was not wounded in
“life’s fount, the heart” (II.82). But, (note the transition, once again, from the physical to
the spiritual) he quickly contrasts the positive results with the non-physical affects, which
in Prudentius’ interpretation are the desired results. “But lust was shaken from his throne,”
writes Prudentius, “And his foul empire overthrown” (II.83-84). Even though the physical
injuries are of little significance, the greater injury is to Jacob’s soul. Prudentius interprets
this narrative in terms of Jacob being defeated.578 Nevertheless, it is Jacob’s defeat that is
his greatest victory. In this sense, Jacob’s defeat is “apparent rather than real.”579
Prudentius tells the reader that the lesson of this narrative is “man is whelmed by
deadly night” (II.86). Like Origen, Prudentius seems to interpret humanity as it is up
against an unequal opponent. He does not establish, as clearly as Origen does, that the
opponent in this battle scene is a principality of the spiritual world, though his dark
imagery could infer, on a moral level, Jacob waging against the darkness of his own sin.
Prudentius accentuates the latter portion of the lesson, which is the exception. It is the
paradoxical win within a loss. Yes, man is whelmed by darkness unless “he own God
conqueror / And strive against His will no more” (II.87-88). Prudentius is expressing the
greatest paradox of the Christian faith - the idea that loss is truly gain (Luke 17:33), that
humility is exaltation (Luke 18:14b), that death is life (Philippians 1:21)! In the moral
sense, Jacob exemplifies every person, “who must lay down his own will and accept the
Will of God” (II.85-88). Rightly, O’Daly determines that “Jacob’s wrestling is a sign of his
578

O’Daly is quick to credit Charlet for noting that Prudentius could be patterning his interpretation
of Jacob’s action after Hosea 12:2-6. O’Daly, Linked by Song, 78.
579
O’Daly, Linked by Song, 77.

141

virtue.”580 The results of the fight are interpreted differently in Origen and Prudentius, and
yet they both have sought to (1) apply the narrative morally and (2) speculate on its deeper
spiritual truths.
Moses and the Exodus of Israel
Origen appeals immediately to Paul’s interpretive authority as he begins to explore
the exodus narrative. “Do you see how much Paul’s teaching differs from the literal
meaning?” asks Origen, “What the Jews supposed to be a crossing of the sea, Paul calls a
baptism; what they supposed to be a cloud, Paul asserts is the Holy Spirit.”581 There is no
doubt that this is also where Origen will go.582
From the outset, Origen intends to allow room for a much grander story. Picking up
the narrative with the Israelites in the desert, Origen immediately applies it to a wider
audience. He explains, “The children of Israel ‘departed,’ the text says, ‘from Ramesse and
came to Socoth. And they departed from Socoth and came to Etham.’ If there is anyone
who is about to depart from Egypt, if there is anyone who desires to forsake the dark deeds
of this world and the darkness of errors, he must first of all depart ‘from Ramesse.’”583 The
Israelite’s journey has become the reader’s journey.584

580

O’Daly, Linked by Song, 77.
Origen, Genesis and Exodus, V.1. A common feature of Origen’s hermeneutics, as is mirrored by
Prudentius, is the view that events of the Old Testament are types of sacraments. For example, “Just as Noah
was saved in the Flood, so are the believers by baptism (Comm. Rom. III, I) .... The crossing of the Red Sea
is our deliverance in baptism, by which we are rescued from the pursuit of the Egyptians, who represent the
demons (Hom. Exod. V, 5).” Daniélou, Gospel Message, 276.
582
Cf. Origen, Genesis and Exodus, V.1.
583
Origen, Genesis and Exodus, V.2, emphasis mine.
584
Origen does not hesitate to apply the text directly to an immediate context. For example, he
writes, “therefore, we can ‘see’ even today ‘the Egyptians dead and lying on the shore,’ their four-horse
chariots and cavalry drowned.” Origen, Genesis and Exodus, V.5.
581

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In his exposition, Origen takes the time to inch through the text to illuminate every
word or small phrase,585 as a result the layers of meaning begin to build. The first parting is
from Ramesse, which means “the commotion of a moth.”586 Immediately, Origen connects
this description to the Gospel warning against hoarding earthly possessions where moth
and rust will destroy them (Matthew 6:20). In response, the reader by extension is charged
to “sell all your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and
come, follow me. This” he clarifies, “is to depart ‘from Ramesse’ and to follow Christ.”587
The New Testament instruction functions to clarify the Old Testament narrative and unifies
the texts. Like the two narratives prior to this one, the exodus generates a number of
meanings. For instance, it transforms into a personal narrative, which then transforms into
the Christian’s narrative and a reflection on the passion of Christ. It transforms yet again
into the church’s narrative and its growing expectation of the second coming.
As Origen continues to proceed through the biblical narrative, each person, place,
or thing develops these multiple meanings.588 For example, he asks the reader to go back
and read again the words of Moses to Pharaoh: “We will go a journey of three days in the
wilderness and sacrifice to the Lord our God.”589 Explaining, he declares,
The first day is the passion of the Savior for us. The second is the day on which he
descended into hell. The third day is the day of resurrection .... But if according to
what we said above, the Apostle teaches us rightly that the mysteries of baptism are
585

As an example, the names of each town along the way are described according to their literal
titles, but Origen builds onto the literal text by paralleling the Israelite’s journey with the spiritual journey of
the human being toward God.
586
Origen, Genesis and Exodus, V.2.
587
Origen, Genesis and Exodus, V.2.
588
As an example, he writes, “‘They came,’ the text says, ‘to Socoth,’ The etymologists teach that
Socoth is understood as ‘tents’ among the Hebrews. When, therefore, leaving Egypt, you have dispelled the
moths of all corruption from yourself and have cast aside the inducements of vices, you will dwell in tents.
For we dwell in tents of which ‘we do not wish to be unclothed but to be further clothed’ .... Etham, they say,
is translated in our language as ‘signs for them,’ and rightly so, for here you will hear it said: ‘God was
preceeding them by day in a column of cloud and by night in a column of fire.’” Origen, Genesis and Exodus,
V.2.
589
Origen, Genesis and Exodus, V.2.

143

contained in these words, it is necessary that ‘those who are baptized in Christ are
baptized in his death and are buried with him,’ also arise from the dead with him.590
His language also includes references to who God is. For example, he records, “Moses is
ordered to strike the sea with a rod that it might part and withdraw for the people of God
who are entering the sea and the compliance of the elements might serve the divine will.
And when the waters, which they feared, became a ‘wall of the right and the left’ for the
servants of God, they were not destructive, but protective.”591 The relationship between
God and humanity is laid bare; the event declares that God is all-powerful and yet willing
to bend down to the aid of His children. In opposition to the Jews whom Origen rebukes for
stunting the text and squelching the Spirit, all of a sudden one of the cornerstone narratives
becomes a fruitful expression of the Gospel message. It passes on the history of God’s
action in and through His people, it retells of His merciful hand toward an obstinate and
sinful people, it convicts the immediate reader, it recollects the Savior and His passion, and
urges followers of Christ to pursue Him into the action of baptism, and it anticipates a new
resurrection and a new life with God. For Origen, the text can do all this only because it is
alive and active, divine in nature, the very Word of God.
The most noticeable commonality between the two interpretations is the attention to
detail. Instead of truncating the narrative, the exodus drama becomes Prudentius’ poem. He
takes time to develop characters, express relationships, and dramatically build the plot.592
The narrative begins by introducing the reader to the children of God and His relationship
to them: “The mighty children of the chosen name, / Saved by the merits of their sires, and

590

Origen, Genesis and Exodus, V.2.
Origen, Genesis and Exodus, V.5, emphasis mine.
592
Prudentius’ Psychomachia closely follows an allegorical reading of the Israelite’s exodus from
Egypt and parallels “the reader’s own journey from a conflicted soul to a fully committed Christian.”
Mastrangelo, “Decline of Poetry,” 326.
591

144

free / After long years of savage tyranny / Through the drear desert followed still that
flame” (V.37-40). A few stanzas prior God is represented as a flame before Moses (V.2932). As such, the guide in this stanza is the same God as the One who stood before Moses.
The children of Israel are portrayed as mighty, chosen, saved, and they exemplify a
dependent relationship to God (V.40). Similar to Origen’s expression of God, Prudentius
praises Him for being active in protecting and providing for His people by striking their
camp with the cloud (V.41, 43). The symbolism of night and day extends through this
poem as well. The location of Israel’s dwelling is night, but God is faithful and dwells
among them (“where’er they went, to lead their darkling way” (V.42)) manifesting Himself
as continual light (V.44).
In contrast to God’s supernatural eminence, the people of Israel are depicted as
quite human. For instance, once out of Egypt, their state of mind is surprisingly dull. The
reader listens to the lethargic pace of the Israelites and imagines them being pursued
intently by the most equipped army (V.57, 59). The stark contrast intensifies the drama and
stirs the reader to want to shake the supposed protagonists of the story. In a state of
forgetful weariness, the children of God trudge through the desert heat toward the Red Sea
(V.57-59).
To offset the humanity of Israel, Prudentius alternates the account with the battle
between God and Pharaoh. In contrast to the protection, care, and safety that God offers the
Israelites, the Egyptian King responds in an attitude of anger and jealousy, by calling
immediately upon his vast military resources (V.45-46). The King’s wealth, manpower,
and weaponry (V.49-52) are compared to God’s self-control and supernatural power. The
drama “is full of allegory, and portends the deeds of Christ, and the unwonted light that

145

shone in hell when he descended there before His resurrection.”593 Much like Origen’s
interpretation, there remains a call to the reader to respond to what they have heard. For
Origen, the invitation to baptism is clear, and with Prudentius it is the call to worship that
echoes long after the poem is read. The Word of God ought to invoke action, and both
interpretations have done that by treating the biblical narrative as active itself.
Conclusion
Origen’s hermeneutical treatment of the above three biblical dramas articulates a
method for pursuing the spiritual meaning of the text, which later Christians would embody
and actualize. Prudentius incorporates, knowingly or not, various elements from his
experiences, traditions, and faith; nevertheless, it is Origen’s allegorical-spiritual
hermeneutic that he reflects most in his use of biblical narrative. As it has been shown, both
Origen and Prudentius advance toward interpreting the Word of God from its nonfigurative expression. It is the literal text of the Bible that grounds any further exploration
of its meaning. Both thinkers transition to a personal and ethical application of the text. In
this transition, the inanimate nature of Scripture calls the reader into participation. The text
is dynamic, having the ability to engage the reader in his or her own time and circumstance.
For this reason, both Origen and Prudentius allow the text the freedom to step away from
its original historical or chronological context for the purpose of expressing a deeper truth.
Moreover, deeper truth is the pursuit of both Origen and Prudentius, who together utilize
allegory as a tool for the task. The contemplation of God and His relation to humanity
stands at the core of each interpretation. Thus, the interpreter is consistently pressed to
meditate on the reality of humanity’s natural existence in light of God’s supernatural being.

593

Edward Kennard Rand, “Prudentius and Christian Humanism,” Transactions and Proceedings of
the American Philological Association 51 (1920): 78-79.

146

Consequentially, it is from this theme that both Origen and Prudentius frequently return to
exploring the grander narrative of the Gospel message, in which the cosmic events of
God’s action toward a created being, that has turned its back on its Creator, moves steadily
toward its redemptive consummation.

147

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