Feast Day of St Athanasius

Today is the feast day of St Athanasius in the Western tradition, and I am reminded of how highly T. F. Torrance regarded this Father of the church, particularly for his insistence that the Holy Spirit, like the Son, is homoousios (consubstantial) with the Father. A friend who studied with Torrance in Edinburgh said that Torrance's practice was to set up an icon of Athanasius at the front of the classroom when he lectured, and it became difficult to tell who was speaking--Torrance or Athanasius! (There's a Torrancian/Barthian parable here re: witnessing to what is other than ourselves . . .)