Why Disney Will Never Make a Movie about Athanasius...

If you have young kids than you have probably become an expert on Disney films and have been able to see the patterns and guess the moral of the story before the denouement occurs. Normally a marginalized character faces adversity and overcomes in the end. With the mantra of "just believe in yourself" being the key to the solution of the protagonist's problems, we leave the experience with renewed expectations on our own life. As a sidenote, I credit American Idol's success to this mantra. Especially in the early stages of the season when the audience gets to see deluded people who genuinely believe in themselves and yet unfortunately cannot combine that belief with any talent.

With this in mind, Athanasius may seems like a shoe-in for a Disney film. Athanasius was a Church Father who was influential in the 4th century. He was marginalized throughout his life by being repeatedly banished by the emperor and being called "the black dwarf", because of his skin color and short stature by those who opposed him. If I were to stop here, I think everyone would agree that this has all the necessary ingredients of a Disney movie.

But I doubt we will ever see a Disney movie about Athanasius, and here is why; Athanasius was one of the primary advocates against Arianism (the belief that Jesus Christ was not divine), and argued relentlessly for the scriptural teaching that Jesus was not only divine but also that unless Jesus was divine he could not have procured our salvation. This is a powerful argument which casts the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus in a cosmic redemptive context and keeps us from falling into the trap that Jesus was a just a good man or a good teacher or a good martyr who "believed in himself."

We owe a lot to Athanasius for the work he did in arguing for this biblical position amongst the believers of his day. Arianism still exists today in various forms. Hopefully, the theological descendants of Athanasius will continue to argue, persuade and suffer so that the whole world will come to a clear understanding of the scriptural doctrine of the deity of Jesus Christ.