Review: Athanasius by Simonetta Carr – Christian Biographies for Young Readers

Simonetta Carr’s latest volume Athanasius from the series Christian Biographies for Young Readers has been released. In this she continues her wonderful effort to provide resources for children and parents, masterfully filling a large hole in quality children’s books teaching Church History.

 

 

I love Church History. I love learning from godly men & women of the past who have followed Christ and wrestled with God’s Word. I enjoy teaching Church History and drawing from Historical Theology when I preach. However, for quite some time there have been an inadequate number of quality resources available for teaching children in this area.

 

Simonetta Carr is working to correct this with this series.

 

Athanasius is her fourth volume in this series following Augustine of Hippo, John Calvin, & John Owen.

 

Like her other volumes, Athanasius is beautifully illustrated with original art, archaeological photos of historical sites, helpful maps, & images of historical artefacts. All of this makes for a very informative and pedagogically friendly tool for educating children on events, places, cultures, etc.

 

Like the previous volumes, Athanasius contains a helpful “Did you know?” section near the end of the book. This contains a series of facts about Athanasius and key events surrounding his life. (I recommend reading this first as the data here will help put the content of the rest of the book into proper context.)

 

The final section of the book contains the text of the revised Nicene Creed. This is, not only a critical historical creed of the church, but essential for understanding the role Athanasius played in the history of the church.

 

Unlike the other historical figures in this series thus far, Athanasius provides unique challenges for any historian, let alone one writing for children. The information we have on Athanasius is minimal compared to the likes of a John Calvin or even August of Hippo. In addition, some of what has been passed down is speculative at best.

 

Simonetta skilfully summarises the key facts regarding Athanasius life, the time in which he lived, and the theological context in which he ministered. She writes in an engaging style which captivates and keeps children’s attention while at the same time, assumes they can process a sufficient level of information. Nothing is dumbed down. She helpfully explains when details given are derived from history and therefore less certain while not confusing the main storyline of the historical account.

 

Of course Athanasius played a key role in defending the deity of Christ and the doctrine of the Trinity leading to the formulation of the Athanasian (likely written after Athanasius’ death, but reflecting his beliefs) & Nicene Creeds. He lived and ministered in an extremely volatile and difficult time in church history with persecution and theological controversies.

 

In reading a book like this, children (and parents) will gain wonderful insights into the life of one of God’s faithful servants who suffered, and served so faithfully for his Lord and Saviour so that others (each of us) who came after him would have a sound understanding of Who Jesus was and what He accomplished for His people.

 

Ultimately the reader will see the steadfast faithfulness of God through history to ensure that He will be known for Who He really is as revealed in His Word.

 

One minor suggestion comes in regards to the author’s assumption throughout the book that the reader attends a church where one of the historical creeds of the church are read publically on a regular basis. Although, it would be wonderful if that were the case, I wonder if that is true for the majority of the readers. (It will certainly not be true for most readers here in New Zealand.) I would think those parts of the book which refer to this practice could be reworded so as not to assume that the children who are reading the book attend a church which follows this practice. Again, I would love to see more churches following this practice, yet, I would not want children reading the book to conclude that their church isn’t a “good” church because they do not.

 

I cannot recommend this book (along with the others in the series) enough. If you have or know children from ages 5 to 14 get these books, read them to the young ones and encourage the older ones to read them again and again.