Irenaeus and the imago Dei : an analysis of the Irenaean schema of the imago Dei with respect to his opponents and contemporary Christian influences

Hannah, Thomas N.

Etd

Irenaeus and the imago Dei : an analysis of the Irenaean schema of the imago Dei with respect to his opponents and contemporary Christian influences

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MLA citation style (9th ed.)

Hannah, Thomas N. Irenaeus and the Imago Dei : an Analysis of the Irenaean Schema of the Imago Dei with Respect to His Opponents and Contemporary Christian Influences. rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/6a907ada-b4ea-49a3-836b-df7f1d5f8e4d.

APA citation style (7th ed.)

H. T. N. Irenaeus and the imago Dei : an analysis of the Irenaean schema of the imago Dei with respect to his opponents and contemporary Christian influences. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/6a907ada-b4ea-49a3-836b-df7f1d5f8e4d

Chicago citation style (CMOS 17, author-date)

Hannah, Thomas N. Irenaeus and the Imago Dei : an Analysis of the Irenaean Schema of the Imago Dei with Respect to His Opponents and Contemporary Christian Influences. https://rim.ir.atla.com/concern/etds/6a907ada-b4ea-49a3-836b-df7f1d5f8e4d.

Note: These citations are programmatically generated and may be incomplete.

Creator

Hannah, Thomas N.

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In Copyright

Abstract

This thesis intends to explore Irenaeus’ schema and use of the imago Dei throughout Against Heresies and Demonstration of the Apostolic Preaching. Since Irenaeus is arguably the first post-apostolic Christian to develop the doctrine of the imago Dei he is cited and utilized across the board in academic discourse on the imago Dei. However, very few scholars have presented Irenaeus’ schema and use of the imago Dei with appropriate nuance. The historical analysis of Irenaeus’ views in the last 60 years have tended to misrepresent his thought in the following ways: 1) by not taking into consideration the polemical background of his development of the doctrine, 2) by overemphasizing or underemphasizing the division between similitudo and imago in Irenaeus’ schema without consideration of all pertinent texts, or 3) by truncating his views in order to synthesize his usage in a concise manner. This project will intend to avoid these pitfalls by making two key moves. First,§1-3 of this thesis will attempt to portray the development of Irenaeus’ schema with respect to his setting (§1), his opponents’ views (§2), and possible Christian writers contemporary to Irenaeus (§3) so that his doctrine may be appropriately situated within his historical context. Second, §4 of the thesis will analyze each relevant text in Irenaeus’ works (§4.1-4.2) and synthesize the findings with respect to each pertinent text (§4.3). In thesis §1-3, two observations will be made: first, Irenaeus appears to borrow little from his opponents and peers with respect to the imago Dei; second, Irenaeus’ emphasis upon form-substance physicality with respect to the imago Dei was likely developed in response to his opponents. In thesis §4, I will propose that Irenaeus’ schema of the imago Dei has two primary categories: the first category is a priori to his schema, for Irenaeus the Son is the ontological imago Dei who serves as the divine mediator after whom we were formed (as the prototype for mankind) and after whose image we are being reformed (as the archetype for mankind); the second category concerns Irenaeus’ use of the imago Dei in his economy of salvation. This second category shows a diverse application of Irenaeus’ schema of the imago Dei within a cohesive system of thought. In thesis §5, I will weave the sections of the thesis together in response to two key question groups that will be introduced in §1.1.

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