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Irenaeus, St

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church | 2000 | | Copyright

Irenaeus, St (c.130–c.200). Bp. of Lyons from c.178. He is generally supposed to have been a native of Smyrna, and both in his life and thought he forms a link between E. and W. His main work, the Adversus Omnes Haereses, is a detailed attack on Gnosticism, which then posed a serious threat to the Church. In modern times a second work, The Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching, has been found in an Armenian translation. Irenaeus is the first great Catholic theologian. He opposed Gnosticism, not by setting up a rival Christian Gnosis, but by emphasizing the traditional elements in the Church, especially the episcopate, Scripture, and the religious and theological tradition. He developed a doctrine of the ‘recapitulation’ or summary, of human evolution in the Incarnate Christ, thereby giving a positive value of its own to Christ's manhood. Feast day in the W., 28 June; in the E., 23 Aug.

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E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Irenaeus, St." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Irenaeus, St." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-IrenaeusSt.html

E. A. LIVINGSTONE. "Irenaeus, St." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of the Christian Church. 2000. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O95-IrenaeusSt.html

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Irenaeus, St

The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions | 1997 | | Copyright

Irenaeus, St (c.140–c.200). Church father. He heard Polycarp as a boy, so is generally supposed to have come from Asia Minor. He studied at Rome, then became presbyter and later (c.178) bishop of Lyons. The tradition that he was a martyr is late and unreliable. The most important work of Irenaeus is his Detection and Overthrow of the Falsely Named ‘Knowledge’ (usually known as Against Heresies). This is a detailed attack on gnosticism, especially the system of Valentinus. With him is associated the notion of ‘recapitulation’: based on Romans 13. 9 and Ephesians 1. 10, the idea in Irenaeus is that Christ is the consummation and completion of God's purpose and design, summoning up all that God intended in creation and dealing in his own person with the defects which had entered in.

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JOHN BOWKER. "Irenaeus, St." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. 27 May. 2012 <http://www.encyclopedia.com>.

JOHN BOWKER. "Irenaeus, St." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Encyclopedia.com. (May 27, 2012). http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-IrenaeusSt.html

JOHN BOWKER. "Irenaeus, St." The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997. Retrieved May 27, 2012 from Encyclopedia.com: http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O101-IrenaeusSt.html

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