What did Athenagoras the philosopher and dean of the School of Alexandria say about the resurrection of the dead?

Athenagoras is considered among the first Christian scholars to attempt to prove the doctrine of resurrection to pagan philosophers, not only through biblical evidence, but also through philosophical arguments. His work is considered to be among the best examples of early Christian writings on this topic.¹¹⁶² Despite containing certain flaws, it reveals a depth of understanding.¹¹⁶³

This work is composed of twenty-five chapters, divided into two parts. The first part contains negative arguments refuting the objections of the philosophers to the resurrection of bodies (chapters 1–10), while the second part presents his positive arguments and evidence

1159 Boniface Ramsey, Beginning to Read the Fathers (Paulist Press, 1985): pp. 213–216.

1160 See St. Justin Martyr, Second Apology 12 (ANF 1:192).

1161 See Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, The School of Alexandria Before Origen (Sydney: Pope Shenouda III Coptic Theological College, 1995): pp. 217–235; and Berthold Altaner, Patrology , trans., Hilda C. Graef, 2nd ed. (Herder and Herder, 1961): p. 130f.

1162 Athenagoras of Athens, On the Resurrection of the Dead (ANF 2). See also Fr. Tadros Yacoub Malaty, The School of Alexandria Before Origen (Sydney: Pope Shenouda III Coptic Theological College, 1995): pp. 224–235; Berthold Altaner, Patrology , trans., Hilda C. Graef, 2[nd] ed. (Herder and Herder, 1961): pp. 130–131.

1163 Bernard Schmid, Manual of Patrology (St. Louis, Mo.: B. Herder, 1899): pp. 96–97.

for the truth of the resurrection (chapters 11–25). One could say that the first part deals with the topic of God and resurrection, while the second part deals with humanity and resurrection.

In the first part, he lays out the objections of the philosophers to resurrection based on the belief that God lacks the knowledge, the power, or the will to resurrect. He responds concerning knowledge by pointing out that if God created bodies in the first place, He must also know how to bring them back to life. Concerning power, he argues that if God can create out of nothing, He can also recreate even that which has decomposed and scattered, and whose elements have returned to the earth, or been taken up by human or beast. And concerning the will to resurrect, is it plausible that God would fear to raise a person lest injustice befall him, or because it might disgrace God in some way? The truth is that anyone raised from the dead would never suffer injustice, nor could such a resurrection bring disgrace upon God in any way, since it is God Himself who wills it.

In the second part, he offers arguments for resurrection based on the nature of humanity:

• a. It is necessary that human beings should be raised, for God created us as rational beings destined to live forever (chapters 11–13).

• b. The human being is composed of body and soul; a unity destroyed by death but eternally restored by resurrection (chapters 14–17).

• c. It is only fitting that the body should share with the soul in the reward of the world to come just as it shared in striving in this world (chapters 18–23).

• d. Humanity was created for an eternal joy that is never attained in this world — only in the next (chapters 24–25).

Octavius , too, defended Christianity, saying that it is easier for God to raise dead bodies to life than it was for Him to create them out of nothing in the first place. He also says that nature itself confirms resurrection: “See, therefore, how for our consolation all nature suggests a future resurrection. The sun sinks down and arises, the stars pass away and return, the flowers die and revive again, after their wintry decay the shrubs resume their leaves, seeds do not flourish again. unless they are rotted: thus the body in the sepulchre is like the trees which in winter hide their verdure with a deceptive dryness. Why are you in haste for it to revive and return, while the winter is still raw? We must wait also for the spring-time of the body.”¹¹⁶⁴