On the Incarnation of the Word

“A masterpiece.” — C. S. Lewis, who wrote the introduction to the most widely read modern edition, calling Athanasius a master mind who wrote so deeply on so great a subject with such classical simplicity.

Written around 318 AD by Athanasius of Alexandria — the young deacon who would spend five exiles defending Nicene orthodoxy against the Arian heresy — On the Incarnation of the Word is one of the great classics of ancient Christian theology. In 57 sections, Athanasius explains the dogma at the center of the faith: why God became man. Not as metaphor, but as the only remedy for a creation falling into corruption and death. The Logos took a human body to destroy death from within and restore the divine image in man.

The treatise moves from creation and the fall, through the inadequacy of repentance and law, to the necessity of the Incarnation itself. Athanasius demonstrates the reality of the Resurrection from the evidence of transformed lives, answers Greek philosophy and Jewish objections from reason and Scripture, and presses toward the claim that God became man so that man might become god — the doctrine of deification that shaped Orthodox theology for seventeen centuries.

The authoritative English translation for scholarly and devotional study since 1892.

Many modern reprints are low-quality scans or bulk website scrapes — no footnotes, no index, broken formatting, garbled Greek. On the Incarnation is one of the most reprinted patristic texts on Amazon, yet most editions strip the scholarly apparatus entirely. A work that has shaped the apologetics of the universal Church for seventeen centuries merits greater care.

The Argument of the Treatise

• Creation and the Fall (§§1–7): The image of God in man, the entry of corruption through sin, and the dilemma of redemption
• The Incarnation (§§8–19): The Word takes a human body to destroy death, reveal the invisible God, and restore knowledge of the Father
• Death and Resurrection (§§20–32): Christ's death on the Cross, the defeat of death, the witness of the saints and martyrs
• Against the Jews (§§33–40): Old Testament prophecy fulfilled — from Daniel's seventy weeks to the cessation of the Jewish polity
• Against the Greeks (§§41–45): If the Logos pervades creation, why not one human body? Answering Greek philosophy on its own terms
• The Fruits of Salvation (§§46–57): The end of idolatry, the spread of the Gospel, and the call to deification

For Whom This Edition Is Prepared

• Orthodox, Catholic, and Protestant Christians seeking patristic books on Christology and salvation
• Students of early Church history, theology, and the Arian controversy
• Scholars and seminarians studying the Incarnation and deification
• Readers drawn to the Alexandrian tradition and the ancient Church Fathers
• Parishes, monasteries, and theological study groups

The Holy Nativity Press Edition

• Authoritative text from the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, Second Series, Volume IV, translated by Archibald Robertson, M.A. (1892)
• 161 scholarly footnotes (1.1 per page) on patristic sources, scriptural citations, and theological context
• Subject index (355 entries) and scripture index (88 references)
• Professional typesetting in Garamond Premier Pro on cream paper
• 150 pages in pocket format (4.5 × 6.5 inches)

The Holy Nativity Patristic Library publishes the Early Church Fathers as individual annotated pocket editions — each with scholarly footnotes, subject and scripture indices, and professional typesetting.