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Lecture 6: Irenaeus
22 September 2015
Irenaeus
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Outline
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Controversies over canon
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Issues with OT
Issues with NT
Gnosticism
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Issues with the Old Testament
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First, which Old Testament are we talking about
 Hebrew Scriptures
 Aramaic Versions
 Septuagint
 Other Greek Versions
Portrayal of God in OT, when read only literally,
 God seems anthropomorphic
 God seems to be the author of evil
 God seems to be capricious
Other issues
 Contradictions among some of the OT Books
NB: These are all exactly the issues that will cause Augustine to
abandon Catholicism as a young man
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What is the Septuagint?
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Septuagint Mean 70, sometimes referred to as LXX
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Legend (1st C BC)
72 Jewish Scholars invited to Alexandria in c 200 BC to
translate Scriptures into Greek
Legend says that 72 scholars translated exactly the same
way independently of each other
Septuagint becomes canonical for Greek speaking
Jews
Includes works of special importance to Jewish
community in Alexandria: 1, 2 Maccabees, Wisdom,
Sirach
Used by Paul and the Evangelists when quoting
Scripture
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Formation of Jewish Hebrew Canon of
Scripture
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Early Rabbinic Judaism; only form of Judaism to
survive Jewish-Roman Wars of 65-73 and 133-135.
Compilation of TANAKH
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Pentateuch (Torah)
Prophets (Nevtim)
Writings (Kethuvim)
Some Books not included in Hebrew Canon
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Not written in Hebrew: Sirach, Wisdom of Solomon
Not recognized by Babylonian Jews: I Maccabees
But many of these books are honored in Judaism as
important (I Maccabees) but not Scriptural
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Early Ways to Refer to ‘New Testament’
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‘Scripture’ in New Testament = Old
Testament
The Way = Jesus, following Jesus
Rule of Faith: canon
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From Greek meaning ruler or standard; measurer
See 1 Clement 7:2
‘New Testament’ used in late 2nd C
(Tertullian)
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Issues with the New Testament
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By the Second Century there was a significant number of
Christian and pseudo-Christian works in circulation
Some books in the canon were contested
 Some groups wanted John’s Gospel as most important, some
only wanted Luke’s Gospel
 Primacy of Paul or Gospels
 Uncertain about Book of Revelation
Other literature which we recognize as having great value, but
not canonical may have been canonical for some groups
 Shepherd of Hermas
 Clement’s Letters to Corinthians
Some books that had a Christian flavor to them; these groups
had much in common with mystery religions: gnosticism
 Gospel of Truth
 Apocryphon of John
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Marcion
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Wealthy sea captain from Asia Minor
Contemporary of Justin Martyr
Settled in Rome, originally part of Catholic community; generous
donor
Falling out over Scripture;
 Rejected the Old Testament; creator God is evil
 Rejected All of New Testament except Paul’s Letters and parts of
Luke’s Gospel
 Took a very literal approach to reading Scripture
He sponsored his own version of Christianity
Had the resources to spread his version of Christianity around
Empire
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Gnostics
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Unlike Marcion, many different contributors to gnosticism (knowledge);
what follows is a composite
For Irenaeus, primary gnostic was Valentinus;
Valentinus had a competing Christian school in Rome
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Rejected the OT, because of philosophical (Platonic) considerations
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Large following in Rome and Asia Minor;
Other prominent gnostics are associated with Alexandria
OT gives a false picture of God;
Material world is inferior, or even evil
Two gods, one good, one evil creator
Accept fanciful ‘gospels’ that contain secret truths available only to the
initiates (common with mystery religions);
Knowledge comes from divine illumination of the gnostic believer into
special, hidden mysteries
Much recent knowledge of gnosticism comes from discoveries at Nag
Hammadi, Egypt in 1945
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Gnostic Cosmology (composite)
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Because they rejected OT, needed a different
cosmology
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Alternate explanation to creation
Relied on “Platonism”
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World eternal
But goes through cycles of material destruction
and renewal
Reincarnation
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Gnostic Theology (composite)
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Two gods
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Good god as a trinity with spirit and Sophia
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Good spiritual god
Evil creator god
Jesus as a demi-god born of Sophia
Jesus only appears to be human (docetist)
Gnostics pray to God and Sophia, Jesus their son
Stories of heavenly relationships become quite
fantastic
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Gnostic Anthropology (composite)
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Heavenly realm filled with souls looking at God
When souls look away (or cool) fall to earth and take on human
bodily form
 Body belongs to evil god
Some few humans have divine insight into heavenly realm
 Gnostics – true believers
 Psyches – learners
 Somatist – majority trapped in their bodies
Because body belongs to evil god, gnostics either think body and
its functions unimportant (licentious) or body to be severely
disciplined (encratite)
 In either case, martyrdom is of no value
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Tatian: Mentioned by Irenaeus
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From Syria
A student of Justin Martyr in Rome
Compiled (as did Justin) a Gospel synopsis,
or harmony
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Diatesseron
Very influential in Syriac Christianity; used
liturgically into the 5th C
Apostasized, joining an encratite sect
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Comparison of Early Heresies
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Docetists
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Marcion
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Reject OT
Accept a few ‘pseudo-Christian’ works (Gospel of Peter)
Very high Christology: Jesus God, not man
Key philosophical issue: impassibility of God
Rejects OT
Rejects most NT; only allows Paul, some of Luke
Literal interpretation of canon
Gnostics
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Reject OT
Accept many ‘pseudo-Christian’ works
Jesus son of God and Sophia
Allegorical interpretation of New Testament
Key philosophical issues: theodicy
Two gods: evil creator god, good spiritual god
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Irenaeus (d. c 180)
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Knew Justin Martyr’s works, may have know Justin
Martyr; also knew Polycarp (student of Ignatius and
perhaps John the Apostle)
Born in Asia Minor; sent to Lyons in Gaul to be
bishop after a brutal persecution
Like Justin Martyr, wrote in Greek
Some key issues for Irenaeus:
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What constitutes Canon
Apostles as guarantors of Truth
How to think about Jesus Christ and Mary
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Map of Roman Empire and Spread of
Christianity, Second Century
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The Genius of Irenaeus
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God as Creator and Ruler implies the unity of
Scripture (OT and NT)
Mary and Jesus as the restoration of humanity;
‘undoing’ the sin of Eve and Adam
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Key theological concept of recapitulation
‘Proper’ Scripture is determined by the Truth of its
teaching
‘Proper’ interpretation of Scripture is determined by
wisdom of Apostles
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But this is not a hidden wisdom available only to a few
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Works by Irenaeus
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On the Detection and Refutation of the Knowledge,
Falsely so Called (Against the Heresies)
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Proof of the Apostolic Teaching
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Only portions of original Greek are extant
Complete Third Century Latin is extant
Complete Books IV and V available extant in Armenian
Version you will read is based primarily on Greek portions
Discovered in 1907, Armenian version
Other works treatises, letters, sermons are now lost
Works by Irenaeus were well known in Christian
community of his time: Tertullian refers to them
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Structure of Against Heresies
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Arranged in 5 books; books written as
installments and sent individually
Book I
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An analysis of the false teachings
Describes how the false teachers use Scripture
Gives a ‘genealogy’ of heresies (relies on Justin
Martyr for this)
Book II
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Attack on specific points of gnosticism
Based as much on philosophy as Scripture
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Structure (cont.)
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Book III
 Proofs of true teaching drawn from Scripture
 Genealogy of true Scripture: Evangelists, Paul, Apostles
 Apostolic Succession; Roman bishops
 Importance of teaching publicly
 Focus on New Testament
Book IV
 Proofs from Jesus that God of OT is his Father
 Jesus reveals the Father
 Importance of preaching of presbyters and bishops who are in line of
apostolic succession
 Interpret the OT in the light of the NT
Book V
 Eucharist
 Importance of body and resurrection of the dead
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The Importance of the Imago Dei
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Human dignity, man’s special place in creation; a creation that is
good
Dignity of all persons who live and strive for the truth
Importance of the resurrection of the body and, therefore the
importance of what you do with your body
Jesus restores man’s place in the goodness of creation
Read Weinandy “St. Irenaeus and the Imago Dei”
 How Irenaeus supports the goodness of God’s creation, and of human
beings in particular
 The importance of Jesus; humans created in likeness to Son; our bodies
manifest Son’s image
 How to grow as imago Dei
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How Irenaeus Will Be Used (Misused?) by
Some Modern Philosophers
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Irenaeus describes Adam and Eve as
children; need for humanity to grow in God’s
grace
Used by modern process theologians as an
alternative to original sin
Also used as an alternative to neoPlatonic
definition of evil as an absence of good
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John Hick, Evil and the God of Love
But then why is recapitulation so important to
Irenaeus?
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Assignment
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Read Carefully Against Heresies
 Especially Books III, IV, V
 Prepare for class discussion
Read CCC 51-53, 279-324, 516-518 to see how some
of Irenaeus teaching about the Truth have been
handed down
Write a 1-2 page paper on Against Heresies
 Don’t forget clearly marked thesis sentence
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