Irenaeus of Lyons and the Mosaic of Christ Preaching Scripture in the Era of Martyrdom

221 Pages·2017·2.47 MB·English

by  Bushur

Irenaeus of Lyons and the Mosaic
of Christ
Recent theological scholarship has shown increasing interest in patristic exege-
sis. The way early Christians read scripture has attracted not only historians, but
also systematic and exegetical scholars. However, the Christian reading of scrip-
ture before Origen has been neglected or, more often, dominated by Gnostic per-
spectives. This study uses the writings of Irenaeus to argue that there was a rich
Christian engagement with scripture long before Origen and the supposed confl ict
between Antioch and Alexandria.
This is a focused examination of specifi c exegetical themes that undergird Ire-
naeus’ argument against his opponents. However, whereas many works interpret
Irenaeus only as he relates to certain Gnostic teachings, this book recognizes the
broader context of the second century and explores the profound questions facing
early Christians in an era of martyrdom. It shows that Irenaeus is interested, not
simply in expounding the original intent of individual texts, but in demonstrating
how individual texts fi t into the one catholic narrative of salvation. This in turn,
he hopes, will cause his audience to see their place as individuals in the same
narrative.
Using insightful close reading of Irenaeus, allied with a fi rm grounding in the
context in which he wrote, this book will be vital reading for scholars of the early
Church as well as those with interests in patristics and the development of Chris-
tian exegesis.
J ames G. Bushur is director of Deaconess Formation and associate professor of
Historical Theology at Concordia Theological Seminary, USA. He has published
widely on Patristics and the early Christian Church and has been an ordained
minister for over twenty years.

Irenaeus of Lyons and
the Mosaic of Christ
Preaching Scripture in the Era
of Martyrdom
James G. Bushur
First published 2017
by Routledge
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© 2017 James G. Bushur
The right of James G. Bushur to be identifi ed as author of this work has been
asserted by him in accordance with sections 77 and 78 of the Copyright,
Designs and Patents Act 1988.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or
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registered trademarks, and are used only for identifi cation and explanation
without intent to infringe.
British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
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ISBN: 978-0-415-78846-5 (hbk)
ISBN: 978-1-315-22520-3 (ebk)
Typeset in Times New Roman
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Dedicated to my wife, Lori, and our three children, Lydia,
Jacob, and Luke, in whose faces I see God’s love for me and
the call to become more than what I am.

Contents
Acknowledgments xi
Abbreviations xiii
1 Reading scripture in an age of martyrdom 1
Why Irenaeus and the second century? 1
Martyrdom: the context for Irenaeus’ work 5
Martyrdom and the disharmony of the world 6
Martyrdom and the early Christian catechumenate 10
2 Creatio ex nihilo and the freedom of humanity 19
Creating all things e x nihilo 20
Creation and freedom in ancient philosophy 21
Apologists and the two-step theory of creation 23
Valentinian cosmology: exploiting the two-step theory 25
Irenaeus: renovating the c reatio ex nihilo doctrine 27
God contains all things 27
God needs no instruments 29
God’s will as the substance of all things 31
Creatio ex nihilo a s the foundation for freedom 32
The freedom of God 33
The freedom of humanity 36
Human freedom in AH iv, 37–38 37
Conclusion 43
3 The recapitulation of all things in Christ 51
Martyrdom and the question of Christian identity 51
Recapitulation all things in Christ 53
The origins of recapitulation: Logos-Christology 54
Recapitulation as the fulfi llment of creation 58
viii Contents
Christ’s recapitulation of humanity 63
Recapitulation and the ontological freedom of humanity 68
Conclusion: recapitulation as a way of reading scripture 71
4 The mosaic of Christ (AH i, 8–9, iv, 33–34): reading
scripture within the Eucharistic gathering 81
Human fl esh as the sacred text of divine revelation 81
The aesthetic character of the divine image 82
The Valentinian reading of scripture: images without an archetype 84
The formation of the fl esh as the hypothesis of scripture 86
Finding stability: The archetype becomes visible 91
The Eucharistic fl esh of Christ as the stability of scripture 94
Fixing the fl esh to the wood: Irenaeus’ reading of Isaiah 2:3–4 99
5 The virgin birth (AH iii): a new kind of generation 107
Second-century readers: relating the new to the old 107
Irenaeus’ fourfold gospel 110
The virgin birth: confessing Christ (AH iii, 16) 115
The virgin birth: a new generation (AH iii, 19) 118
The virgin birth: an ancient sign (AH iii, 21–22) 122
6 The new fulfi lling the old (AH iv) 133
Irenaeus’ reading of the Old Testament: introducing AH iv 133
The patriarchs: Abraham’s joy (AH iv, 5–7) 134
Love’s fulfi lling of the law (AH iv, 9–13) 139
7 Power made perfect in weakness (AH v) 153
The battle for the apostle Paul 153
The man born blind: weakness and the formation of
humanity (AH v, 15) 158
Jesus’ temptation: weakness and the economy of the tree
(AH v, 16–21) 165
8 Conclusion: “Joining the end to the beginning” 177
Irenaeus and his opponents: what have we learned? 177
Tradition: the truth that is handed over 178
Ontology: a new ground of being 180
Irenaeus’ reading of scripture: what have we learned? 182
The scriptures and the cosmological narrative 183
The scriptures and the preaching of the church 185
Contents ix
Characteristics of Irenaeus’ exegesis 187
Preaching the text 187
Ontological meaning 188
Joining the end to the beginning 190
Index 199