The first person that I have chosen to write on for Black History Month is a man by the name of Athanasius. Many people may not have heard of him, but he is one of the early church fathers. Athanasius was born in the year of 296 AD. He was a dark skinned Egyptian and was nicknamed, “black dwarf” as well as “the noble champion of Christ.” There was a heresy going around known as Arianism where people believed that Jesus wasn’t eternal, but that he had been created by God at some point in time. Arianism was taking over and Athanasius would not have it. He wrote many works against Arianism, On the Incarnation being a prominent one in the battle against Arianism, and was at the First Council of Nicaea in 325 AD. The council sided with Athanasius and many others and declared Arianism to be heresy. He became the Bishop of Alexandria in 328 AD, but had been exiled five times spending seventeen of his forty-five years as Bishop in exile. Why was he exiled? He was falsely accused of murder, illegal taxation, treason, and sorcery because he stood up for the deity of Christ. In 367 AD, Athanasius also listed the 27 books he saw to be divinely inspired and believed should make up the New Testament canon. Athanasius died in 373 AD. All of those books make up the canon that we use today. This is just a short biography of this hero in the faith and there is so much more to learn about him and many others heroes in the faith.
Resources:
131 Christians Everyone Should Know – Christian History Magazine
Contending for our All – John Piper
The Great Theologians – Gerald R. McDermott
Rerouted 