The Fatherhood of God from Origen to Athanasius

The fatherhood of God has a central, if increasingly controversial, pleace in Christian thinking about God. Yet although Christians referred to God as Father from the earliest days of the faith, it was not until Athanasius in the fourth century that the idea of God as Father became a topic of sustained analysis. Dr Widdicombe shows how this development took place, starting with the great third century writer, Origen, and continuing with Arius and the famous 'Arian controversy' about the divinity of Jesus Christ, and Athanasius. In the context of modern debate, this is an illuminating and important new study, which will help us consider whether it is either desirable or possible to call God Father.