Irenaeus on Natural Knowledge
Over a century of research has produced little agreement on the question of whether Irenaeus of Lyons recognized a natural knowledge of God. This article raises the question anew by considering the interpretive issues surrounding the passage at the center of the debate, Against Heresies 2.6.1. It ch...
| Published in: | Church history and religious culture |
|---|---|
| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
|
| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Brill
2015
|
| In: |
Church history and religious culture
|
| Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains: | B
Irenaeus, Lugdunensis 140-202
/ God
/ Cognition theory
|
| IxTheo Classification: | KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity NBE Anthropology VB Hermeneutics; Philosophy |
| Further subjects: | B
Irenaeus of Lyons
natural knowledge
revealed knowledge
Reason
Ratio (The Latin word)
ancient epistemology
ancient philosophy
|
| Online Access: |
Volltext (Verlag) |
| Summary: | Over a century of research has produced little agreement on the question of whether Irenaeus of Lyons recognized a natural knowledge of God. This article raises the question anew by considering the interpretive issues surrounding the passage at the center of the debate, Against Heresies 2.6.1. It challenges past readings and offers one of its own. I contend that an affirmation of natural knowledge plays the leading role in the argument of AH 2.6.1. This being the case, this text does not undermine references to natural knowledge that appear elsewhere in Irenaeus’s corpus, as Th.-André Audet would have us believe, but supports them. Irenaeus, then, does indeed recognize a natural knowledge of God, the product of discursive reasoning about the creation and providence of God. |
|---|---|
| ISSN: | 1871-2428 |
| Contains: | In: Church history and religious culture
|
| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1163/18712428-09502009 |