Irenaeus of Lyons · Early Christian theology and polemic · c. 180–190
The surviving works and fragments of a second-century Christian writer, above all Against Heresies, defending the apostolic faith against Gnostic systems through sustained appeals to Scripture, creation, incarnation, resurrection, and the unity of God's purpose.
View recommendation →The crucifixion in history, Scripture and the Qur'an
…crucified in His place, while Jesus assumes Simon's appearance, stands nearby and laughs (Against Heresies 1.24.4). The Second Treatise of the Great Seth, preserved in the Nag Hammadi library and commonly dated to the late second or third century, also separates the heavenly Savi…
Read article →Which Gospel does the Qur'an affirm?
…e Injeel. The resulting selection is then said to confirm the Qur'an. Nothing could count against the conclusion because disagreement is automatically classified as corruption. The method also borrows from the very documents it distrusts. The red letters have not descended from h…
Read article →Why the final seven is unfinished, future, and centred upon Israel and Jerusalem
…ichrist, a three-and-a-half-year reign, a temple setting, and Christ's subsequent coming (Against Heresies, V.25 and V.30). In the early third century, Hippolytus explicitly called Daniel's remaining week "the last week" at the end of the world and correlated its two halves with…
Read article →What the historical evidence proves—and what it does not
…e air". He describes what Christ prepared for His people as "this ascension into heaven" (Against Marcion, V.15). In On the Resurrection of the Flesh (41-42), he distinguishes the dead who rise from believers found alive in the flesh. The latter are transformed, put on immortalit…
Read article →A history of interpretation, polemic, and forgotten tension
…logical argument also hardened at times into collective accusation and degrading rhetoric against Jewish people. Other evidence complicates the story. Writers who spiritualised Israel's promises could still expect a future Jewish conversion. Some anticipated a rebuilt Jewish temp…
Read article →