Scholarly Frameworks for Reading Irenaeus: The Question of Theophanies

Irenaeus’ understanding of Old Testament theophanies and their exegesis is one of the loci of marked disagreement in scholarship. After a detailed survey of the various scholarly positions, this article argues against the oft-repeated judgment that Irenaeus’ treatment of theophanies would set forth a theological corrective to, or even an explicit rebuttal of, Justin of Neapolis’ Logos-theology, and shows that Irenaeus’ exesis of theophanies is also consistent with that of authors who have read Adv. haer. (Tertullian, Clement of Alexandria, and Origen). If the bishop of Lyons participated fully in the tradition of interpreting Old Testament theophanies as “Christophanies,” it follows that some strands of scholarship are severe misreadings of Irenaeus.

“The Final Word”?: The Qur?an and Karl Rahner in Dialogue

Muslim-Christian conversation has historically broken down over three Qur’anic objections to Christian doctrine. The Trinity, the Incarnation, and the Crucifixion all seem to be repudiated in Islamic scripture. Karl Rahner, one of the Catholic scholars who drove Vatican II’s theological agenda, did not comment much on Islam, so putting him in dialogue with a tradition about which he was relatively uniformed might initially seem strange. Nevertheless, and perhaps because of his distance from Islam, his thought might allow fresh angles with which to approach these core difficulties. In particular, his concept of divine modalities—which for him render Christianity “radically” monotheistic—makes him a useful dialogue partner for Islam, one of whose primary tenants is that God is one and not three. His focus on Logos theology gives him an inroad to the Qur’anic explanation of Christ as “the word of God.” Finally, his “theology from below” allows for an experiential rather than metaphysical understanding of God’s presence amongst humanity. This paper offers a Rahnerian grounding from which to approach the doctrine of God in Muslim-Christian dialogue.

‘Divine Offspring’: Richard Hooker’s Neoplatonic Account of Law and Causality

Richard Hooker’s (1554-1600) adaptation of classical logos theology is exceptional and indeed quite original for its extended application of the principles of Neoplatonic apophatic theology to the concrete institutional issues of a particular time and place-the aftermath of the Elizabethan Religious Settlement of 1559. Indeed, his sustained effort to explore the underlying connections of urgent political and constitutional concerns with the highest discourse of hidden divine realities-the knitting together of Neoplatonic theology and Reformation politics-is perhaps the defining characteristic of Hooker’s distinction mode of thought. Hooker’s ontology adheres to a Proclean logic of procession and reversion (processio and redditus) mediated by Aquinas’s formulation of the so-called lex divinitatis whereby the originative principle of law remains simple and self-identical as an Eternal Law while it emanates manifold, derivative and dependent species of law, preeminently in the Natural Law accessible to human reason and Divine Law revealed through the Sacred Oracles of Scripture. For Hooker, therefore, ‘all thinges’-including even the Elizabethan constitution in Church and Commonwealth, are God’s offspring: ‘they are in him as effects in their highest cause, he likewise actuallie is in them, the assistance and influence of his deitie is theire life.’

Irenaeus as Logos Theologian

Despite the prevalence of “Logos” as a christological title in his works, Irenaeus of Lyons has not been considered a Logos theologian due to an untenable presupposition that the Greek doctrine of the Logos has no place in the biblical thought of Irenaeus. The purpose of this article is to study Irenaeus’ use of “Logos” in explaining the nature and work of the Second Person, particularly in his pre-incarnational state. Furthermore, I read Irenaeus in conjunction with Justin’s Logos theology to demonstrate that Irenaeus alters the dominant understanding of Logos theology in the second century. In Irenaeus’ works, the title “Logos” functions to unite the Father and Son in one, equal divine nature, allowing the Son to work on behalf of the Father in creation as an agent of creation and revelation.