Athanasius' Life of Antony: A Commentary with Introduction, Text, and Translation (Oxford Early Christian Texts)

The Life of Antony, by Athanasius of Alexandria, is widely considered one of the most important and influential of all early Christian writings. Its protagonist, as heroicized by Athanasius, is the legendary first desert monk of Egypt who trounces fearsome demons, performs astounding miracles, and defends the church's integrity by confounding pagan philosophers and adherents of the Arian heresy. In short, the Antony of the Life is the quintessential Christian holy man and the avatar of Athanasius' ascetic, theological, and ecclesiastical ideals. With the Life, Athanasius invented an entirely new literary genre--monastic hagiography--which went on to become explosively popular for centuries to come. It is his most famous and most innovative writing, yet until now it has not received the kind of sustained, microtextual analysis that a proper commentary affords. This three volume set presents the first large-scale commentary, in any language, on this monumental Christian classic. Andrew Cain accesses an extensive array of ancient sources and takes a cross-disciplinary approach in comprehensively addressing stylistic, literary, historical, cultural, theological, text-critical, and other issues of interpretive interest. The voluminous introduction situates the Life in the broader context of Athanasius' episcopal career and probes the complexity of its literary architecture, its scintillating storytelling, and the nuances of its hagiographic construct of Antony. The introduction, commentary, and the accompanying critical Greek text and new English translation serve as an invaluable resource for future scholarly research on this key Athanasian writing. Read more