With this volume David Gwynn offers an admirably learned, fluent and concise introduction to Athanasius of Alexandria, the controversial and colourful church Father. After an overview of his ‘Life and writings’ (pp. 1–17), chapter ii narrates the career of Athanasius (pp. 19–54): the contested election in 328, the years of combat against ‘Melitian schismatics’ and ‘Arian heretics’, the exiles and the triumphal returns (including the ‘golden decade’ 346 to 356), his going underground from 356 to 361, all the while conducting a furious polemic against his enemies, his attempt to end the Antiochene schism, the final more serene years. Parts of the biography of the man whom his enemy Eusebius of Nicomedia publicly denounced as ‘rich, powerful and capable of anything’(Apologia secunda 9,4) read like a novel: the drama of his flight from the Council of Tyre on a raft, his ambushing of Constantine on the road to Constantinople, his hiding in Alexandria in the house of a consecrated virgin. Gwynn, however, is fully aware how difficult it has become to separate the resistance myth from the reality: Athanasius invented himself as the paragon of orthodoxy, unjustly persecuted by ‘Arian heretics’ who were bent on undoing the orthodox faith proclaimed at the Council of Nicaea. This self-image is a half-truth at best: none of his opponents ever attacked his orthodoxy. Why precisely his election was contested is as unclear (pp.25f) as are the exact reasons for his condemnation by the Council of Tyre in 335 (p. 28). However, one need not doubt that he was from the start attacked by an alliance of Melitians and followers of the Alexandrian presbyter Arius. And there must have been real conflict and real violence as a contemporary letter (Papyrus London VI [P.Jews] 1914), suggests (pp. 28–9). Moreover, the Alexandrian bishop acquired a bad reputation with successive emperors, Constantius ii suspecting him – not without reason – of high treason. Chapter iii offers a rounded portrait of Athanasius the theologian (pp. 55–103), highlighting the early Arian controversy, the major works (Contra gentes, De incarnatione and the Orationes contra Arianos), his later engagement with the question of the Holy Spirit and Christology. Gwynn rightly points out that Athanasius’ simplistic construction of an ‘Arian heresy’ is missing important nuances of Eastern Trinitarian theology. In the longer run however, Gwynn contends, there was more to Athanasian positioning than the polemical distortions of a master polemicist fighting his corner: ‘Athanasius was completely sincere in his conviction that any theology that denied the ontological unity of Father and Son must lead to the errors that he condemned. Against such heresy, the co-eternal and co-essential Son of God was the only safeguard for Christian revelation and salvation’ (p. 85). In this chapter Gwynn could have perhaps delved more deeply still into possible sources of Athanasius' thought, such as Eusebius of Caesarea. Chapter iv deals with Athanasius the ascetic (pp. 105–30): This aspect has been much illuminated by the more recent work of scholars such as D. Brakke. Gwynn justly emphasises that Athanasius managed to forge a lasting alliance between the Alexandrian bishop and Egyptian monasticism. In his ascetical writings (the exact contours of whose corpus are still unclear: p. 105) he formulated an ideal of intense Christianity that was flexible enough to accommodate different forms of monasticism and whose insistence on free will and individual progress did not delegitimise ‘normal’, non-ascetic Christianity. He was averse to ascetic extremism (particularly Manichaeism) and insisted on doctrinal orthodoxy. Moreover, he paved the way for recruiting able monks as bishops (see his Letter to Dracontius): ‘The mutual bond between the ascetic movement and the hierarchical Church that Athanasius forged in Egypt has lasted down to the present day and created a reservoir of strength upon which he and later Alexandrian bishops would draw’ (p. 121). Chapter v explores Athanasius as Father, i.e. his pastoral work (pp. 131–57). Although we know more about his life than about almost any other ancient Christian bishop – an obvious exception being Augustine – Gwynn rightly observes that since ‘no authentic example of a complete Athanasian sermon survives’ (p. 132), the everyday business of the bishop is difficult to uncover: ‘Yet without an appreciation of his pastoral context we cannot fully understand Athanasius’ motivations or actions’ (p. 131). Here Gwynn draws on the Festal letters and is thus able to bring out some of the bishop’s pastoral concerns, such as the Lenten fast of forty days which he seems to have introduced in Alexandria, the maintenance of orthodoxy, the celebration of unity at Easter, the charity for the poor – the control of which was important because it was ‘an important marker of the legitimate bishop of Alexandria’ (p. 138) – the canon of Scripture, the spiritual reading of the Psalms. The last chapter sketches the legacy in the Greek East, the Latin West, and in the Syriac, Armenian and Coptic traditions (pp. 159–93). It is important to realise that Athanasius was not universally recognised as a controversialist: whereas Hilary of Poitiers endorsed his self image as orthodoxy personified, Jerome was far more interested in the ascetic Athanasius (pp. 174, 178f.). The Coptic tradition likewise neglects Athanasius the polemicist (it did not collect his theological works) in favour of his pastoral and ascetic writings (p. 192). A brief conclusion (pp. 195–7) tries to formulate Athanasius’ continuing relevance: Gwynn concedes that ‘the complex questions that split the fourth-century Church no longer strike a chord with modern audiences’ (p. 196). Yet he does not hesitate to acknowledge ‘Athanasius’ genius’ for integrating his lively and riotous flock, and thus avoiding a split between an ascetic elite and the majority of Christians: ‘The virtues of asceticism were not the exclusive preserve of a holy man such as Antony but could be emulated by every believer in his or her own measure’ (p. 196). A rich, up-to-date and appropriately polyglot bibliography completes the volume. This is an introduction as it should be and its evident qualities recommend it to students, scholars and the wider educated public alike.