Asceticism and Anthropology in Irenaeus and Clement
John Behr
Abstract
This book examines the ways in which Irenaeus and Clement understood what it means to be human. By exploring their theological perspectives through their writings, the author also offers a theological critique of the prevailing approach to the asceticism of Late Antiquity. For Irenaeus, asceticism is the expression of man living the life of God in all dimensions of the body, that which is most characteristically human and in the image of God. Human existence as a physical being includes sexuality as a permanent part of the framework within which males and females grow towards God. In contrast, ... More
This book examines the ways in which Irenaeus and Clement understood what it means to be human. By exploring their theological perspectives through their writings, the author also offers a theological critique of the prevailing approach to the asceticism of Late Antiquity. For Irenaeus, asceticism is the expression of man living the life of God in all dimensions of the body, that which is most characteristically human and in the image of God. Human existence as a physical being includes sexuality as a permanent part of the framework within which males and females grow towards God. In contrast, Clement depicts asceticism as man's attempt at a godlike life to protect the rational element, that which is distinctively human and in the image of God, from any possible disturbance and threat, or from the vulnerability of dependency, especially of a physical or sexual nature. Here, human sexuality is strictly limited by the finality of procreation and abandoned in the resurrection.
Keywords:
Irenaeus,
Clement,
asceticism,
Late Antiquity,
human sexuality,
human,
God
Bibliographic Information
| Print publication date: 2000 |
Print ISBN-13: 9780198270003 |
| Published to Oxford Scholarship Online: October 2011 |
DOI:10.1093/acprof:oso/9780198270003.001.0001 |
