SOURCE: González, Justo L. “The Theology of Athanasius.” In A History of Christian Thought, Vol. I: From the Beginnings to the Council of Chalcedon, pp. 291-302. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1970.

In the following excerpt, González explains that Athanasius did not develop a formal system of thought because his theological interests were of a practical, not an academic, nature.

One of the best patristic scholars of our time has said about Athanasius that “the history of dogma in the fourth century is identical with the history of his life.”¹ In fact, the life and work of Athanasius are so interwoven with the development of theological discussion in the fourth century that it is impossible to tell the history of that development apart from the biography of Athanasius. He became the symbol of the Nicene faith, and his repeated exiles and returns serve as a weather vane to show...