Re: [asa] Ireneaus and "Good"

From: George L. Murphygmurphy@raex.com <Murphygmurphy@raex.com>
Date: Thu Sep 06 2007 - 11:51:11 EDT

David -

From Irenaeus of Lyons, On the Apostolic Preaching (Crestwood NY, St. Vladimir's Seminary, 1997), p.47:

"The man was a young child, not yet having a perfect deliberation"

and

"It was necessary for him to reach full-development by growing in this way."

Also relevant is a statement from Theophilus of Antioch on the prohibition of the Tree of Knowledge:  "Adam, being as yet an infant in age, was on this account as yet unable to receive knowledge worthily."  [In "Theophilus to Autolycus," Volume 2 of The Ante-Nice Fathers, p.104.]

Shalom,

George

> > > Following is a clip from a letter in the current "Science and Christian Belief."  Does anyone know where to find this reference to Ireneaus?  > > However, there is a Christian tradition which goes back to Ireneaus in the late second century AD (well before modern science)that sees in Genesis 1-3 evidence that God did not intend the Garden of Eden, let alone the world as a whole, to be a paradise for pampered pets, but rather a training ground for the development of moral and spiritual beings. In this context the traditional 'freewill defence' argument in theodicy, which also goes back before the modern scientific understanding of the origin of the world, has been able to see a place for such things as earthquakes and disease in God's purpose. >   >

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