This book offers a fresh interpretation of the relation between Greek thought and ancient Christian theology through an analysis of three foundational and controversial thinkers: Origen, Eusebius of Caesarea, and Athanasius. Rather than opposing certain cagegories such as philosophy besides scripture, or orthodoxy besides heresy, the author examines how language about Christ and the world functions as a theological model. This allows the recovery of the theological and religious significance of certain ideas such as subordination or the obedience of Christ, which were rejected by later orthodoxy. As an urban teacher, civic apologist, and ascetic bishop, each of the three theologians discussed offered a distinctive Christian response to the religious and ecclesiastical ideas of the third and fourth centuries. Each cosmology and Christology therefore reveals particular concerns about individual and social identity and salvation in the developing Christian community.
