Getting To Know Irenaeus

Friends,

For our next couple meetings, we're going to burrow into great books from the Christian tradition and see what we find there. First up is a slim paperback that collects key passages from the writings of St Irenaeus of Lyons.

Irenaeus (130-200ish) was a pastor/bishop in Gaul, now France. But he was born and raised in Asia (Minor), where he was pastored by a man named Great Fruit (Polycarp). Polycarp had himself been discipled by St John. So that's cool.

I really love Ireaneus. He sticks close to Scripture as he defends the faith of the orthodox church- what became known soon enough as her "creed." His vision circles back again and again to the incarnation of the Word, his atoning death for our sins, the triumph of the resurrection, and the future resurrection of us flesh-and-blood humans. He's simpler than later church fathers: less speculative, more biblical. In short, he was a baller.

We're working on date, time and location. But I wanted to get you this note so you'd have time to pick up "Scandal of the Incarnation" and start taking yourself to school.

Grace and peace!

Phil