A Study Day led by Russell Jefford, providing an introduction to the life and work of St Athanasius (c. 295 - 373 AD). For Athanasius the Trinity was not an abstract concept but rather a (theo)logical necessity based on his understanding of salvation as physically rooted in the Incarnation (the achievements of which are ‘more than the waves of the sea’). No knowledge of Church history or theology is assumed. To register your interest and/or for further information visit OrdinaryTheology.com or contact Russell Jefford at info@ordinarytheology.com.

St Augustine famously saw in the creation week of Genesis 1 a framework by which world history could be organised and the progress of humanity’s salvation described. He developed the scheme over the rest of his life as he worked with various parts of Scripture. This lecture will highlight an example of some of the afterlife of Augustine’s approach in an obscure exegetical tradition of the early middle ages that read the eight parables Jesus tells in Matthew 13 as providing alternative descriptions for each of Augustine’s ‘ages’ (aetates) of human history. Developed through numerological connection with the Beatitudes and…