'To Behold its Own Delight': The Beatific Vision in Irenaeus of Lyons

The aim of this essay is to give a high-level overview of Irenaeus's beatific vision, and to suggest that for him, the beatific vision has a temporal dimension (now and future) and a dimension of degree (lesser now, greater in the future). His beatific vision is witnessed as it intersects with...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Perichoresis
Main Author: Arnold, Brian J. 1983- (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sciendo, De Gruyter [2019]
In: Perichoresis
Year: 2019, Volume: 17, Issue: 2, Pages: 27-40
IxTheo Classification:KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity
NBC Doctrine of God
NBF Christology
NBQ Eschatology
Further subjects:B Irenaeus
B Beatific Vision
B seeing God
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Summary:The aim of this essay is to give a high-level overview of Irenaeus's beatific vision, and to suggest that for him, the beatific vision has a temporal dimension (now and future) and a dimension of degree (lesser now, greater in the future). His beatific vision is witnessed as it intersects with at least four main ideas in his writing—the Trinity, anthropology, resurrection, and his eschatology. Irenaeus famously held that ‘the glory of God is living man, and the life of man is the vision of God' (AH 4.20.7), which speaks to the reality of seeing God in the present, but he could also look forward in anticipation to beholding the face of God in the resurrected body in the new creation. What made the latter possible is the gradual beholding of God in the present that makes one prepared to see God's glory in the future. Additionally, the visio Dei is Trinitarian. We behold God in Christ, since God the Father is invisible, and it is the Holy Spirit who prepares us incrementally to see God.
ISSN:2284-7308
Contains:Enthalten in: Perichoresis
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.2478/perc-2019-0015