St. Athanasius on the incarnation

1891·4.9 MB·English

by  Athanasius, Saint, Patriarch of Alexandria, d. 373

ATHANASIUS
^ST.
INCARNATION
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TRANSLATED BY
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ATHANASIUS
ST.
THE INCARNATION.

ATHANASIUS DE INCARNATIONS.
ATHANASIUS
ST.
THE INCARNATION.
TRANSLATED IIY
ARCHIBALD ROBERTSON,
ELLOWOFTRIHNAITTFYIECLODLLSEGHEA,LLO,XFDOURRDHA;MP.RINCIPALOF BISHOP
SK(<)\n KDITIOX, HHY
LONDON:
D. NUTT, 270-271 STRAND.
1891.
UNIFORM WITH THE PRESENT WORK.
ST. ATHANASIUS
ox
THE INCARNATION
EMtcJ> for tbc tlsc of Stuocnte, witb
Sntro^ction ant> Hotcg.
BY THE
REV. A. ROBERTSON.
8vo. 1882.(nil 89pp.) Cloih,3*.
APR 3 1999
PREFACE TO FIRST EDITION.
THE following pages are an attempt to discharge a
debt incurred by the Translator, in the opinion of
many kind friends, by the publication of an edition
oftheGreektextin1882. Thetranslation,originally
made for a class attending lectures [1879-1882] on
the Incarnation, has now been carefully re-written.
It is offered to the public under a strong sense of
serious imperfections, but stillinthehopethatitmay
prove a fairly accurate reproduction of the sense of
theoriginal.
Itaimsprimarilyathelpingthetheologicalstudent
who is workingat the Greek text but it may also
;
prove welcome, it is hoped, to those who wish to
read the work without having recoursetotheGreek.
Tothe latterclass some apology is due for what is
felt to be an awkward and not always very readable
style. The writerhas preferredto adhere as closely
as possible even to the redundancies and harsh turns
of the text, to producing a smoother result at the
cost ofliteral fidelity.
vi Preface.
ThetranslationsofNewTestamentcitationsfollow
the revised English version, except where once or
twice cogent reasons have appeared for departing
from it. Translations ofpassagesfrom the OldTes
tament are literal renderingsof the LXX. asquoted
by Athanasius. The LXX. orthography of proper
names has been followed, though not without some
misgiving in less familiarcases. In some cases,asin
thefrequentrecurrenceofparticleslikeXonrbv, TTU\IV,
&c., close adherence to the Greek has not always
beenthoughtnecessary; norhasthe Translatorbeen
ableto do justice to the parauomasia of Ao-yoc and
\oyiKog in an important passage.
Itis needless for him to add that he will thank
fully accept any criticisms or corrections. With
regard to the matter of the book, it has seemed
undesirable to repeat what was said in the short in
troduction to the Greek text. But for the sake of
readers who have notthat introduction before them,
a chronological table ofthe main eventsofthelifeof
Athanasius has been given, as well as avery concise
synopsis ofthe matterofthe work.
It remains forthe Translatorto express his grati
tude tothe Rev. Walter Lock, Fellow of Magdalen
and Sub-Warden of Keble College,Oxford,formany
very kind and useful suggestions at different times,
and for his help in revisingthe sheets ofthe present
translation.
HATFIELD HALL, DURHAM,
September1884.