This research investigated Athanasius’ understanding of the atonement. It first orientated the reader by defending the category of ‘atonement’, briefly outlined Athanasius’ context, the goals of the study, and defended the use of a theological and textual approach rather than a historical and narrative methodology. It then proceeded by means of a sustained reading of substantial extracts from Athanasius to establish his understanding of the atonement. These explorations were organized topically, beginning with his views on creation and humanity, and then turning to his account of the fall and its progress and effects, before then examining his atonement views with regards to creation, the image, the law, and the demonic. The final chapter then summarized the main findings and explored the most important of these at some length. There are three major findings from this research. The most evident, because it has informed the structure of the dissertation, is that Athanasius’ atonement thinking can only be understood against the backdrop of his exposition of creation, humanity, and the fall, rather than another theological topic such as the Trinity. The second is that Athanasius’ thinking on the atonement reflects fundamental principles and assumptions evident in some of his most significant topics, suggesting that this topic is also close to the heart of his theological vision. Finally, that his concept of the atonement is multivalent rather than monistic, with more than one mechanism, or ‘model’, on display. Three of these, creation, image, and law, can be compared to each other and their atoning mechanisms can be shown to operate by principles that vary along differing axis. The fourth, the demonic, is more radically different still, acting as an intensification and personification of the problem and solution matrix of the previous three categories. Athanasius’ atonement thought is irreducibly pluralistic.