Table Of Contentchristian theology in context
SERIESEDITORS
TimothyGorringe SereneJones GrahamWard
CHRISTIANTHEOLOGYINCONTEXT
Anyinspectionofrecenttheologicalmonographsmakesplainthatitisstillthought
possibletounderstandatextindependentlyofitscontext.Workinthesociologyof
knowledgeandinculturalstudieshas,however,increasinglymadeobviousthat
such divorce is impossible. On the one hand, as Marx put it, ‘life determines
consciousness’. All texts have to be understood in their life situation, related to
questionsofpower,class,andmodesofproduction.Notextsexistinintellectual
innocence.Ontheotherhand,textsarealsoformsofculturalpower,expressing
andmodifyingthedominantideologiesthroughwhichweunderstandtheworld.
This dialectical understanding of texts demands an interdisciplinary approach if
theyaretobeproperlyunderstood:theologyneedstobereadalongsideeconom-
ics,politics,andsocialstudies,aswellasphilosophy,withwhichithastraditionally
beenlinked.Theculturalsituatednessofanytextdemands,bothinitsowntime
andinthetimeofitsrereading,aradicallyinterdisciplinaryanalysis.
Theaimofthisseriesistoprovidesuchananalysis,culturallysituatingtextsby
Christiantheologiansandtheologicalmovements.Onlybydoingthis,webelieve,
will people of the fourth, sixteenth, or nineteenth centuries be able to speak to
thoseofthetwenty-first.Onlybydoingthiswillwebeabletounderstandhow
theologiesarethemselvesculturalproducts—projectsdeeplyresonantwiththeir
particularculturalcontextsandyetneverthelessexceedingthosecontextsbybeing
received into our own today. In doing this, the series should advance both our
understandingofthosetheologiesandourunderstandingoftheologyasadiscip-
line.Wealsohopethatitwillcontributetothefastdevelopinginterdisciplinary
debatesofthepresent.
Irenaeus of Lyons
Identifying Christianity
John Behr
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For my students
Preface
It is an honour to be asked by the editors, Timothy Gorringe, Serene
Jones,andGrahamWard,towritethisvolumeonIrenaeusofLyonsfor
their series Christian Theology in Context.Irenaeus presents an unusual
challengeforsuchatask,as,ontheonehand,heisthefirstprolificauthor
oftheChristiantradition,andyet,ontheotherhand,theinformationthat
we have to contextualize what remains of his work is rather slim. We
knowsometantalizingdetails,teasedoutinChapter1,abouthisearlylife
in Asia Minor; yet we know neither how he arrived in Lyons nor any
details of his life there. As for Christianity in the city and surrounding
region,wehaveonlythesparsestdetailsoutsidethescarceallusionsthat
Irenaeushimselfmakes;thesehavealsobeendiscussedinChapter1.We
do,ofcourse,knowsomethingofthemoregeneralhistoryofthecityand
area,abouttradewith,andimmigrationfrom,theEast,aboutGaulunder
Roman rule, and some reports of the pagan religions that had been
practisedthere,butthisprovidesuswithverylittletohelpusunderstand
Irenaeus’ theological context in Gaul. All this is in stark contrast to the
abundant materialthatwe havefromafewdecadeslaterforcontextual-
izing Origen within the rich intellectual and religious history of Alexan-
dria, the detailed account by Eusebius of his life, travels, and eventual
move to Caesarea, and his own voluminous work with its plentiful
contextualizingcomments.
WhilethereareonlyafewpointsinIrenaeus’majorwork,Againstthe
Heresies, that allow parts of its five books to be dated, the nature of the
workissuchthatitsrealcontextisthehistoryanddiversityofChristianity
inRomeoverthecourseofthesecondcentury:itistothisthatIrenaeus
responds,andsoIhavepresentedthis,inChapter1,asthebackgroundto
Irenaeus’lifeandwork.Irenaeus’response,however,andhiselaboration
of ‘Orthodoxy’ and ‘Heresy’, have their own history of interpretation,
which has undergone significant modifications over the last couple of
centuries and especially in recent decades. As such, this is another ‘con-
text’ for situating and interpreting Irenaeus, which I have addressed
outsidethemainbodyofthiswork,intheIntroductionandConclusion.
Thus the contextualizing of Irenaeus undertaken in this contribution to
the series is multi-faceted: Irenaeus’ own historical context and our own
contextaswereadIrenaeusinhis,allowinghim,inturn,toaddressus.
Preface vii
The following two books regretfully appeared in print too late to be
takenintoaccountinthiswork:PaulFosterandSaraParvis(eds)Irenaeus:
Life, Scripture, Legacy (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2012); Anthony Brigg-
man, Irenaeus of Lyons and the Theology of the Holy Spirit (OECS; Oxford:
OxfordUniversityPress,2012).
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Contents
Abbreviations x
Introduction 1
1. IrenaeusofLyons:AmbassadorforPeace,Reconciliation,
andToleration 13
VienneandLyons 16
TheChristianCommunitiesinRome 21
IrenaeusandFlorinus,EleutherusandVictor 47
IrenaeusandPolycarp 57
TheChronologyofIrenaeus’LifeandWritings 66
2. AgainsttheHeresies 73
Structure 74
RefutationandOverthrowal(haer.1–2) 103
3. TheGloryofGod(haer.3–5) 121
TheConciseWord 124
TheArcoftheEconomy 144
TheWorkofGod 162
TheSymphonyofSalvation 185
LivingHumanBeings,theMartyrs 198
Conclusion 205
Bibliography 211
Index 233
Description:This book provides a full, contextual study of St Irenaeus of Lyons, the first great theologian of the Christian tradition. John Behr sets Irenaeus both within his own context of the second century, a fundamental period for the formation of Christian identity, elaborating the distinction between ort
