Abstrakt
This study focuses on Athanasius' account of idolatry in his double treatise Contra Gentes and De Incarnatione Verbi. It seeks to show the importance of this topic within Athanasius' theological framework by drawing the links with creation, fall, and incarnation as the central themes of thiswriting. The author suggests that a helpful way to identify such links is by looking into Athanasius'use of metaphors of motion. Therefore, the bulk of the article examines the way in which thesemetaphors are used to explain the origin of idolatry and the solution to the problem of pagan worshipin
Contra Gentes, and it also explores the key role of the incarnation in De Incarnatione. The authorargues that Athanasius' description of humanity's movement to God by means of the soul, creation, and Scriptures in Contra Gentes is best understood as stressing the effectiveness of the incarnation in De Incarnatione rather than as standing in tension or contradicting it.