Section 06: Anthropology
St. Irenaeus is the first great theologian of the human being, and Orthodox anthropology is largely his legacy. This section presents his two governing intuitions: that the human person, formed by the two “hands of God” and made to behold Him, is the glory of God; and that this person was created not as a finished perfection but as a child made to grow into the likeness of God under divine pedagogy.
Contents
| File | Topic |
|---|---|
| The Glory of God Is a Living Man | Gloria Dei vivens homo (Against Heresies 4.20.7) — the full sentence with its often-omitted second half, “the life of man is the vision of God”; the two hands of God (Son and Spirit) forming Adam (4.pref.4, 5.6.1); flesh–soul–spirit; the image–likeness distinction Irenaeus originates |
| Infancy and Growth | Adam created as a child (Demonstration 12; Against Heresies 4.38) and God’s pedagogy of growth; the Fall as a child’s deception rather than titanic rebellion, stated carefully against the Augustinian reading; death as a merciful limit on sin (3.23.6); the maturation arc completed in Christ; modern interest (Behr; theodicy) |
How to Use
- Read The Glory of God Is a Living Man first for the structure of the human being — how it is made, of what, and for what end.
- Read Infancy and Growth for the dynamic that animates the structure: the human being as a creature designed to mature from image toward likeness, with the Fall, death, and Christ all located within that arc.
Cross-References
- For the typological and recapitulative reading of Genesis that underlies this anthropology, see Exegesis.
- For the image–likeness distinction, the psychosomatic unity of the person, and ancestral sin versus original sin in the wider tradition, see Orthodoxy Guide: Theological Anthropology.
- For the doctrine of theosis to which Irenaean growth is ordered, see Orthodoxy Guide: Theological Anthropology.