Courage over Consensus

Third Day from Athanasius of Alexandria (Twelve Days of Christmas Gift Series)

Continuing our countdown to Christmas, today is Gift #3 in 12 Gifts of Christian Theology. This piece looks at Athanasius of Alexandria and what his life teaches us about courage, pressure, and the cost of conviction.

In the fourth century, a small, stubborn bishop from Alexandria became the most exiled man in Christian history. Athanasius was driven from his post five times by emperors, hunted by soldiers, and forced into hiding among desert monks. He was a public figure whose ideas shaped councils, split empires, and defined the future of Christianity. What makes him worth reading today is not only what he believed, but how seriously he believed ideas must touch real life.

Icon of St Athanasius.

Athanasius rose to prominence during a fierce debate over who Jesus was. Many Christians admired Jesus but treated him as a created being, elevated yet secondary. Athanasius saw this as a dangerous move, not because it offended doctrine, but because it hollowed out meaning. If the highest truth never fully enters human life, then faith becomes symbolic, moral, and comforting, but ultimately thin. He argued that when truth bends to consensus, meaning thins out. What begins as compromise ends as confusion. Even without sharing his belief that Jesus was God, I find his diagnosis sharp and relevant.

The next section is where Athanasius stops being history and starts becoming personal. It explores what his courage looks like when applied to modern pressure, silence, and the fear of standing alone. The rest of this reflection is for paid subscribers to 12 Gifts of Christian Theology.

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