La theologie d'Irenee. Lecture des Ecritures en reponse a l'exegese gnostique: Une approche trinitaire (review)

In his preface, Andre Benoît notes that some 35 years ago when he wrote S. Irénée, introduction a l’étude de sa théologie (Paris, 1960) he had hoped to complete the introduction with the theology itself. Benoit recognizes in Fantino’s present work the realization of that project, for which he expresses a gratitude that will be shared by all serious students of the second century. The study’s point of departure lies in Fantino’s earlier L’Homme image de Dieu chez S. Irénée de Lyon (Paris, 1986). There Fantino argued that for Irenaeus the development of the human person is to come to know God and to live with God; thus the human person must become an image perfectly like the Incarnate Son by gift of the Holy Spirit, and so be rendered an adopted child of God. In the earlier study Fantino focused on how the Irenaean anthropology deploys the concepts of image and likeness, linking them by a dynamism rooted in a third notion, similitude. Humans are in the image of the Incarnate Son in their very flesh and blood. The likeness corresponds with the presence of the Spirit in the human person. The likeness is gradually grown into through the work of the Spirit, to which human beings accede by use of their freedom, in which lies their similitude to God.

In the present book Fantino moves to the correlative of such an anthropology, the properly Irenaean synthesis developed in response to gnosticism. This synthesis is “a trinitarian theology conceived as a reflection on the economy which, beginning from the Scriptures, leads to situating the Father, Son and Holy Spirit not only by relation to creatures, but also among them” (6). These ideas are developed in chapters 4 and 5, which form the heart of the book. Fantino sets the context for his theological analysis in the preceding three chapters. In chapter 1 he presents a study of the Irenaean understanding of theological reflection, the essential element of which is faith animating a life rooted in the Church in which, once received, faith is developed by the Holy Spirit. Faith provides the indispensable context for the work of theology, which must make reference to the Scriptures, doctrinal teaching, and apostolicity. Here Fantino establishes a pattern to which he returns regularly, examining the concepts of succession, tradition and heresy within the hellenistic cultural world, in judaism, among gnostics, and in the great church. His broad knowledge of ancient texts and modern scholarship serves him well.

Chapter 2 is devoted to the history of the concept “economy,” a concept little used by the Fathers prior to the gnostics. Fantino shows that Irenaeus takes up this concept then in use among the Valentinians, joins it to other ideas like recapitulation, and uses it to unify the notions of creation and salvation, and to structure the connection between the two Testaments.

The Valentinian doctrine of the economy forms the subject of chapter 3. There Fantino reveals his familiarity with the gnostic literature, both the texts and the contemporary debates. He reviews the history of the phenomenon, distinguishes in it the stages known to Irenaeus, and gives a fresh reading of the sources Irenaeus used. Fantino holds that, from its beginnings to Valentinus, gnosticism can be understood only in relationship with Judaism and Christianity. The gnostics of that period, at least in the principal branches, presented themselves as authentic Christians. What separated them from the great church was their attitude to the world and to doctrine. This analysis takes Fantino to his study of gnostic use of scriptures, of myth, and of the economy. Through exegesis gnostics discover in the Scriptures the myth which expresses gnosis. The myth found in all the valentinian texts shows a three stage economy: 1) the First Principle produces the...