Stephen O Presley, The Intertextual Reception of Genesis 1–3 in Irenaeus of Lyons

Abstract

Irenaeus of Lyons is known as an early Christian apologist and theologian of creation. He has also been called the first biblical theologian. All of these elements are in view in Stephen Presley’s The Intertextual Reception of Genesis 1–3 in Irenaeus of Lyons (Leiden: Brill, 2015). A revision of his PhD at the University of St. Andrews, completed under the supervision of Mark Elliott, the study also pays a debt to D. Jeffrey Bingham, both as the teacher who first helped Presley conceive of the project and as the editor who brought it to print in Brill’s The Bible in Ancient Christianity series. It is easy enough to find accounts of Irenaeus that focus on his anti-Gnostic polemic. Such accounts seem bound to call “problematic” his description of the Ebionites, Marcion, Valentinus, and others. It is also common to see the spotlight trained on Irenaeus the trinitarian theologian. Both accounts tend to prioritize his proto-creedal commitments over his exegetical operations. Either way, whether one is thinking of Irenaeus and the heretics or Irenaeus and the scriptures, it can be difficult to avoid the impression that his work is important for some reason other than his ability to read well. The great value of Presley’s study, which builds on two earlier monographs on the use of Genesis in Irenaeus, is its exhaustive description of precisely how Genesis 1–3 functions across all five books of Adversus haereses. Irenaeus is given his due as an apologist, with acknowledged limitations, and as a theologian, especially of creation, but it is his handling of scripture that takes center stage. Presley treats “every verifiable echo, allusion, and citation of Gen 1–3” in Haer., together with the scriptural intertexts that are drawn into the orbit of Gen 1–3 (pp. 5, 241). On this account, Irenaeus emerges as a biblically minded theologian of creation whose handling of Christian scripture is marked by hermeneutical complexity and sophistication. 907982 PRE0010.1177/1063851220907982Pro Ecclesia: A Journal of Catholic and Evangelical Theologybook review book-review2020