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This paper examines the notion of Adam and Eve as “children” in the thought of Irenaeus, through an investigation of the language and contextualization of this theme throughout his works. First, the language is probed for its insights into Irenaeus’ actual conception of the primal humans, with emphasis on determining the extent to which such language can be taken literally. Second, Irenaeus’ conception is examined in light of his views on creation, materiality, and time, extracting thence the means of further clarifying his language of Edenic “childhood.” Finally, the problems and strengths of this concept are set out from within the context of Irenaeus’ larger anthropology. It was necessary for man to be first created; and having been created, to grow; and having grown, to become mature; and having become mature, to multiply; and having multiplied, to grow strong; and having grown strong, to be glorified; and having been glorified, to see his Lord. 1 Scholars have long understood the anthropogonic discussion of Irenaeus of Lyons to be central to his whole conception of both the divine-human economy and the ultimate salvation of humankind. For Irenaeus, in a way peculiar to his own witness in the early Church, the details of humanity’s coming into being are intimately tied together with the manner in which that same humanity will eventually be perfected; the “whence” and the “whither” of human history are, as Gustaf Wingren once noted, “the |
