C-R-O-S is for Co-opting a Really Old Saint

St. Athanasius of Alexandria

But first, speaking of Ed Schroeder, in that spring tributary issue, I called him a father of Crossings. That he is, but only in the sense of "Crossings" as our community (complete with its own language). In the broader sense of crossing, that is, diagnosing human situations and offering hope through the prognosis of the Christian Gospel--even Ed is not old enough to be a progenitor of that!

Neither is St. Athanasius, even though he pre-dates Ed by over 1600 years. I suppose it would be presumptuous to co-opt Athanasius as a member of the Crossings Community. But he does act like a member, doing what we do. And what we do, we can do thanks in part to him and his faithful transmission of the Gospel in his generation.

Carolyn Schneider who is a member of our community, and even of its board of directors, and professor of Theology at Texas Lutheran College to boot, wants to introduce Athanasius to us so that we can know him as a friend.

tbcm

CS: Athanasius, bishop of Alexandria, Egypt, was born around 298 and died in 373. This means that, in his teens, Athanasius witnessed the last of the imperial persecutions of Christians and the beginnings of the legalization of Christianity under Emperor Constantine. It was a turbulent time, especially for Christians, as they struggled to understand their drastically shifting circumstances and to determine how they should live in their new situation. What did it really mean to be a Christian? Who was Christ and what was His ultimate purpose? Though our specific circumstances today are not the same as those of the early church, the dynamics of massive changes and turbulence are still with us, and the questions the ancient crossers asked are still being asked.

TM: "Massive changes and turbulence" does describe our time. As prominent as that social situation is, both then and now, I suspect you think that there is a spiritual dimension to it that is not as much discussed.