On The Incarnation. (Book 2)

This is the 2nd book I have read this summer. On The Incarnation is a 4th century apologetic by St. Athanasius explaining the many reasons why Christ had to become man, be fully God and fully man, why he had to die by the cross, be resurrected and so on. The book starts with creation and the fall moving its way to the resurrection and it has brief sections of refuting the jews who say Jesus is not the Christ, and refuting Gentiles. This quick and amazing read tackles an issue that is still talked about and written on today, and can I repeat, it was written in the 4th Century! One reason to read this book is to follow Peters command in the second half of 1st peter 3:15, that we are to always be ready to give a defense for the hope that is in us. Another reason is by way of reading about why Christ had to do these things, we remind ourselves of the Gospel and all that Christ has accomplished for us. Which that is then in turn an encouragement and calling to continue living for Him.

I encourage you to pick up the translation with the introduction by C.S Lewis. That introduction entitled On The Reading of Old Books is an article that is a wonderful read within itself, and is linked here. In this article, Lewis makes an argument for why people should not only read books from their own day and age, but the books of old as well. I am doing my best to stay as close to his 1 old book for every 3 new ones as I can. Here is my reasoning, Christianity is 2000 years old and the authors of today are not the only ones who have things to say about it, also newer is not always better. Christianity has been passed on from generation to generation, so I would like to do my best to learn from the generations that have come before (which is also the third reason to read this book).