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Active c. A.D. 176 – 180

Athenagoras

of Athens

Worth knowing

  • His Embassy introduces him as "Athenian, philosopher, Christian".
  • His Embassy was addressed to the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus around A.D. 177.
  • It answers the three charges everyone brought against Christians: that they were atheists, that they ate people, and that they slept with their mothers and sisters. He answers each one in turn.

In Scholar’s Dream, Athenagoras has three books

Athenagoras’s quotes in the game

Every quotation from Athenagoras that a player meets in Scholar’s Dream, attached to the move that says it. Or see them as a plain list →

In Scholar’s Dream, books argue with each other, and each thing a book can do in a debate is called a move. Every quote below is spoken by one of those moves. Open “How it works in the game” under a quote to see the move, which books learn it, and which arguments it answers best.

“For who are more deserving to obtain the things they ask, than those who, like us, pray for your government, that you may, as is most equitable, receive the kingdom, son from father, and that your empire may receive increase and addition?”

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 37 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).public domain
How it works in the game: the move Embassy
HistoryArgument · power 50 · 100% accurate

In the gameAthenagoras’ open letter to the emperors: Christians are no atheists — they pray for the state and seek a quiet, obedient life. Rome could ask for no better subjects.

Learned byAthenagoras’ Corpus (Lv 1), Embassy (Lv 1)

“That same power can reunite what is dissolved, and raise up what is prostrate, and restore the dead to life again, and put the corruptible into a state of incorruption.”

Athenagoras, On the Resurrection of the Dead 3 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).public domain
How it works in the game: the move On the Resurrection
EschatologyArgument · power 55 · 100% accurate

In the gameThe God who made matter from nothing can surely gather it again — dissolved bodies reunited, the dead raised, corruption clothed in incorruption. Hope, argued.

Learned byAthenagoras’ Corpus (Lv 1), On the Resurrection (Lv 1)

“The Son of God is the Logos of the Father, in idea and in operation; for after the pattern of Him and by Him were all things made, the Father and the Son being one.”

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 10 (ANF, public domain).public domain
How it works in the game: the move Word Made Flesh
ChristologyArgument · power 70 · 100% accurate

In the gameFrom Athanasius: only the Creator can recreate.

Learned byAthenagoras’ Corpus (Lv 10)

Strong against
×4One Nature After the Unionan argument · why?

It holds the flesh in place — which is the one thing his union cannot do.

×4The Ugly Broad Ditchan argument · why?

Lessing’s ditch says history can never carry necessary truth. The claim on the table is that it did, once, on purpose — the Word made flesh, a fact about a Tuesday.

×3The Many Faiths, One Realan argument · why?

Hick says the faiths are level roads to one summit. Athanasius answers with a fact and not a view: God himself became a man. That cannot be one road among several, because it is not a road at all. It is an arrival.

×2Changeable by Naturean argument · why?

The Word who became flesh is the Word who made the world. He was truly tempted, but he was never a creature who might have gone the other way.

×2Devout Man Onlyan argument · why?

A devout man can teach, but he cannot remake the world. The Word who made creation became flesh to renew it, and that is why he is worshipped.

×2Exalted Creaturean argument · why?

Athanasius’ answer: only the one who made the world can remake it. A creature, however high, cannot save creation, because it is part of creation.

×2God by Gracean argument · why?

Athanasius says the Word who renews creation is the same Word who made it. That is who the Son is, not a title he was lent.

×2The Thaliaan argument · why?

The Word who became flesh is the Word through whom everything was made, time included. The one who made time did not begin within it.

×2The True Word: On the Godsan argument · why?

The Word who came down is the Word who made the world. Coming into his own creation does not change the Creator.

×2Thirty Aeonsan argument · why?

The thirty levels exist to keep God away from matter. John 1 answers that he came down all of them himself — the Word, made flesh.

“And this is also for our advantage, that we may lead a peaceable and quiet life, and may ourselves readily perform all that is commanded us.”

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 37 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain) — the sentence following his prayer for the emperors Marcus Aurelius and Commodus, c. A.D. 176; he is echoing 1 Timothy 2:1–2.public domain
How it works in the game: the move We Pray for Caesar
RationalityArgument · power 55 · 100% accurate

In the gameThe charge was disloyalty. Christians would not burn incense to the emperor, but they prayed every day for his life, his armies, his senate and his peace, to the only God who could grant them.

Learned byAthenagoras’ Corpus (Lv 14)

Strong against
×2The True Wordan argument · why?

Tertullian answered the charge of disloyalty: Christians pray every day for the emperor, his armies and his empire. They refuse only to worship him.

“Man, therefore, who consists of the two parts, must continue for ever. But it is impossible for him to continue unless he rise again.”

Athenagoras, On the Resurrection of the Dead 15 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).public domain
How it works in the game: the move Body and Soul
AnthropologyArgument · power 60 · 100% accurate

In the gameGod made humans body AND soul, and judges the whole person — so the whole person must rise. The book steadies itself in its own integrity (Defend may rise).

Learned byAthenagoras’ Corpus (Lv 18)

Passages you can read in the game

Longer excerpts the Scriptorium holds on screen for a player to sit and read, word for word.

“If, therefore, the world is an instrument in tune, and moving in well-measured time, I adore the Being who gave its harmony, and strikes its notes, and sings the accordant strain, and not the instrument. For at the musical contests the adjudicators do not pass by the lute-players and crown the lutes.”

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 16 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from Athenagoras’ Corpus

“But among us you will find uneducated persons, and artisans, and old women, who, if they are unable in words to prove the benefit of our doctrine, yet by their deeds exhibit the benefit arising from their persuasion of its truth: they do not rehearse speeches, but exhibit good works; when struck, they do not strike again; when robbed, they do not go to law.”

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 11 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from Athenagoras’ Corpus

“What, then, are those teachings in which we are brought up? ‘I say unto you, Love your enemies; bless them that curse you; pray for them that persecute you’ … who of them have so purged their souls as, instead of hating their enemies, to love them; and, instead of speaking ill of those who have reviled them … to bless them; and to pray for those who plot against their lives?”

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 11 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from Athenagoras’ Corpus

“But the Son of God is the Logos of the Father, in idea and in operation; for after the pattern of Him and by Him were all things made, the Father and the Son being one. And, the Son being in the Father and the Father in the Son, in oneness and power of spirit, the understanding and reason (nous kai logos) of the Father is the Son of God.”

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 10 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from Athenagoras’ Corpus

“Who, then, would not be astonished to hear men who speak of God the Father, and of God the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, and who declare both their power in union and their distinction in order, called atheists?”

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 10 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from Athenagoras’ Corpus

“We, deeming that to see a man put to death is much the same as killing him, have abjured such spectacles… For it does not belong to the same person to regard the very foetus in the womb as a created being, and therefore an object of God’s care, and when it has passed into life, to kill it.”

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 35 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from Athenagoras’ Corpus

“But why — for do not, like the multitude, be led astray by hearsay — why is a mere name odious to you? Names are not deserving of hatred: it is the unjust act that calls for penalty and punishment.”

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 1 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from Embassy

“Let the life of the accused persons be investigated, but let the name stand free from all imputation.”

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 2 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from Embassy

“For we have learned, not only not to return blow for blow, nor to go to law with those who plunder and rob us, but to those who smite us on one side of the face to offer the other side also, and to those who take away our coat to give likewise our cloak.”

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 1 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from Embassy

“For who are more deserving to obtain the things they ask, than those who, like us, pray for your government, that you may, as is most equitable, receive the kingdom, son from father, and that your empire may receive increase and addition, all men becoming subject to your sway?”

Athenagoras, A Plea for the Christians 37 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from Embassy

“For if, when they did not exist, He made at their first formation the bodies of men, and their original elements, He will, when they are dissolved, in whatever manner that may take place, raise them again with equal ease: for this, too, is equally possible to Him.”

Athenagoras, On the Resurrection of the Dead 3 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from On the Resurrection

“That same power can reunite what is dissolved, and raise up what is prostrate, and restore the dead to life again, and put the corruptible into a state of incorruption.”

Athenagoras, On the Resurrection of the Dead 3 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from On the Resurrection

“It is surely far more probable, yea, most absolutely true, to say that what is impossible with men is possible with God.”

Athenagoras, On the Resurrection of the Dead 9 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from On the Resurrection

“Would any one have believed, unless taught by experience, that in the soft seed alike in all its parts there was deposited such a variety and number of great powers… of bones, and nerves, and cartilages, of muscles too, and flesh, and intestines, and the other parts of the body? For neither in the yet moist seed is anything of this kind to be seen.”

Athenagoras, On the Resurrection of the Dead 17 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from On the Resurrection

“Man, therefore, who consists of the two parts, must continue for ever. But it is impossible for him to continue unless he rise again.”

Athenagoras, On the Resurrection of the Dead 15 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from On the Resurrection

“Although all human beings who die rise again, yet not all who rise again are to be judged… seeing that all are to rise again, those who have died in infancy as well as others, they too justify our conclusion that the resurrection takes place not for the sake of the judgment as the primary reason, but in consequence of the purpose of God in forming men.”

Athenagoras, On the Resurrection of the Dead 14 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from On the Resurrection

“For the resurrection is a species of change, and the last of all, and a change for the better.”

Athenagoras, On the Resurrection of the Dead 12 (trans. Pratten, ANF 2, public domain).
from On the Resurrection

Words Athenagoras’s books borrow from others

Moves these books can learn whose quotation comes from somebody else. The citation on each one names who actually said it.

“For in him we live, and move, and have our being. As some of your own poets have said.”

Acts 17:28 (WEB) — Paul at the Areopagus, quoting the Athenians’ own poets back to them.
How it works in the game: the move Affirm
Status

In the gamePick the part of the opponent’s case that is true and affirm it. That point can no longer be used against you, and the opponent’s Defend falls sharply. It deals no damage. Affirm something false and you have only agreed with an error.

Learned byAthenagoras’ Corpus (Lv 18), Embassy (Lv 11)

“Many things human beings conceptualize as opposites can be overcome when viewed from a biblical perspective that refuses to accept the (humanly constructed) opposition.”

Forrest, Chatraw & McGrath, The History of Apologetics — a short excerpt from a modern work, cited as such; the category is theirs, not a father’s.
How it works in the game: the move Diagonalization
Biblical TheologyArgument · power 85 · 100% accurate

In the gameThe biblical refusal of false opposites: what the world splits in two, Scripture holds together. A method the great books share.

Learned byAthenagoras’ Corpus (Lv 25)

More from the research (5)

Real, sourced quotations found while researching Athenagoras’s books for the game. They are not shown anywhere in the game itself.

"And when we say that those women who use drugs to bring on abortion commit murder, and will have to give an account to God for the abortion, on what principle should we commit murder? For it does not belong to the same person to regard the very foetus in the womb as a created being, and therefore an object of God's care, and when it has passed into life, to kill it; and not to expose an infant, because those who expose them are chargeable with child-murder, and on the other hand, when it has been reared to destroy it."

A Plea for the Christians 35 (ANF 2).
verified in primary source

"But the fallacy of this is very clearly shown, from the fact that, although all human beings who die rise again, yet not all who rise again are to be judged: for if only a just judgment were the cause of the resurrection, it would of course follow that those who had done neither evil nor good — namely, very young children — would not rise again; but seeing that all are to rise again, those who have died in infancy as well as others, they too justify our conclusion that the resurrection takes place not for the sake of the judgment as the primary reason, but in consequence of the purpose of God in forming men."

On the Resurrection 14 (ANF 2).
verified in primary source

"For if the whole nature of men in general is composed of an immortal soul and a body which was fitted to it in the creation, and if neither to the nature of the soul by itself, nor to the nature of the body separately, has God assigned such a creation or such a life … but to men compounded of the two, in order that they may, when they have passed through their present existence, arrive at one common end … it unavoidably follows, since one living being is formed from the two … that the whole series of these things must be referred to some one end."

On the Resurrection 15 (ANF 2).
verified in primary source

"…for some call sleep the brother of death, not as deriving their origin from the same ancestors and fathers, but because those who are dead and those who sleep are subject to similar states, as regards at least the stillness and the absence of all sense of the present or the past. If, therefore, we do not refuse to call by the name of life the life of men full of such inequality from birth to dissolution … neither ought we to despair of the life succeeding to dissolution."

On the Resurrection 16 (ANF 2).
verified in primary source

"Would any one have believed, unless taught by experience, that in the soft seed alike in all its parts there was deposited such a variety and number of great powers … I mean of bones, and nerves, and cartilages, of muscles too, and flesh, and intestines, and the other parts of the body? For neither in the yet moist seed is anything of this kind to be seen, nor even in infants do any of those things make their appearance which pertain to adults. … As, therefore, in this matter … the succession of natural occurrences makes things credible which have no credibility from the phenomena themselves, much more does reason, tracing out the truth from the natural sequence, afford ground for believing in the resurrection."

On the Resurrection 17 (ANF 2).
verified in primary source

Who else was alive

Athenagoras against everyone else in the game.

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