{"title":"Conclusion","authors":"Anthony Briggman","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198792567.003.0006","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198792567.003.0006","url":null,"abstract":"The Conclusion summarizes previous findings and locates Irenaeus in the Christian tradition. Irenaeus was the first Christian to attribute infinitude to God and possibly the first to attribute simplicity to God. Irenaeus, and not Origen, is also the first to affirm the eternal generation of the Word-Son. This being the case his conception of divine generation is more advanced than Theophilus of Antioch and Tertullian. Irenaeus is the first theologian after the New Testament writings to affirm both the eternal unity and diversity of the divine being. He is also the first to attempt to explain, by utilizing Stoic mixture theory, how the two realities of the incarnate Word-Son function as one reality. The bishop of Lyons, therefore, emerges as a subtle and eclectic thinker able to use philosophical and rhetorical ideas in order to substantiate his understanding of the apostolic tradition and the hypothesis of Scripture.","PeriodicalId":279995,"journal":{"name":"God and Christ in Irenaeus","volume":"63 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"121050995","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Christ and his Work","authors":"Anthony Briggman","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198792567.003.0005","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198792567.003.0005","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter 2 through 4 lead on to Chapter 5. Having established Irenaeus’ understanding of the nature of the divine being, the Word-Son, and the person of Christ, this chapter shows that central aspects of Irenaeus’ account of the economic activity of Christ are grounded upon his understanding of God. It constitutes the final movement in my argument that scholars have underappreciated—or failed to appreciate altogether—the significance of metaphysics to Irenaeus’ theology. This chapter consists of two sections. The first focuses on AH 3.18.7, wherein Irenaeus founds essential features of the economy of salvation upon the divinity of Christ—namely, the security of salvation, the reception of incorruptibility, and the adoption as children of God. The second section shows that Irenaeus’ understanding of the revelatory activity of the Word-Son in the Old Testament theophanies and incarnation is based upon his conception of the divine being as infinite and incomprehensible.","PeriodicalId":279995,"journal":{"name":"God and Christ in Irenaeus","volume":"22 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"132223271","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Word-Son","authors":"Anthony Briggman","doi":"10.1093/oso/9780198792567.003.0003","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1093/oso/9780198792567.003.0003","url":null,"abstract":"Chapter 3 investigates the standing of the Word-Son in relation to God the Father. The first section explores the contours of Irenaeus’ doctrine of reciprocal immanence and identifies features left unexplained. The second section explains these features by studying the logic that appears in the earlier polemical arguments of Against Heresies 2. The third section continues examining the polemical arguments of AH 2, but now with a focus upon the comments Irenaeus makes about the production of a simple, spiritual substance—his comments about divine production. Taken together these sections further establish Irenaeus’ understanding of the intra-Trinitarian relationship of the Word-Son to the Father, including the nature and generation of the Word-Son. In contrast to characterizations of Irenaeus’ theology as economic or modalistic, we see that Irenaeus affirmed an eternal and distinct coexistence of the Word-Son with God the Father as the one God.","PeriodicalId":279995,"journal":{"name":"God and Christ in Irenaeus","volume":"977 1","pages":"0"},"PeriodicalIF":0.0,"publicationDate":"2018-12-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"134155877","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}