A antropologia de S. Ireneu como resposta à antropologia gnóstica

Abstract

The historic-cultural panorama of the first three centuries of Christianity allow us to understand, not only how the classic vision of Man, especially Neoplatonist philosophy, shaped this perspective; but also helps us to understand how the Judaeo-Biblical anthropology, also influenced by the Hellenistic context, bestowed the decisive mark on the Christian view of man.In this cultural context and under the influx of other religious traditions, emerged Gnosticism proposing a docetic and dualist type of anthropology. Since it is not possible to deal in depth with the whole problem, we have attempted a possible synthesis of Gnostic anthropogony to its soteriology, in order to better situate the anthropology of St. Irenaeus. Irenaeus' anthropology, in fact, completely opposes Gnostic thought. The first elements of contrast with Gnosticism appear in the biblical exegesis of both the passages in the book of Genesis (Gn 1: 26-27 and Gn 2: 7) and in the Pauline texts dealing with anthropological subjects. The human body, another topic, is a dimension depreciated among the Gnostics but exalted by Irenaeus who, like other ecclesiastical writers, deems the human body to be an essential mean for the realization of human salvation. Salus carnis and the divinization of the human being constitute the realization of the plan of divine salvation that began to manifest visibly with the incarnation of the Word.
The redeeming work of Jesus Christ is described and developed by the Bishop of Lyon within the Trinitarian action of the Father, who, through "his hands" the Son and the Spirit, not only creates Man "in His own image and likeness" but also restows the same image and likeness to the human being after he had lost them for sin.

Date of Award	9 Jan 2018
Original language	Portuguese
Awarding Institution	Universidade Católica Portuguesa
Supervisor	Isidro Lamelas (Supervisor)