Sunday Quote: Irenaeus on Error

“Error, indeed, is never set forth in its naked deformity, lest, being thus exposed, it should at once be detected.  But it is craftily decked out in attractive dress, as as, by its outward form, to appear to the inexperienced (ridiculous as the expression may seem) more true than the truth itself.”

- Church father Irenaeus (Against Heresies 1.2)

[HT: SB]

Historical Apologist: Irenaeus

Irenaeus (c. 130-200) was a church father who wrote in Greek against the Gnostic heresies of the day. Irenaeus is known for his argument that Christ came to actualize all those perfections that God had intended humans to have but that were lost through the sin of Adam and Eve. He is also known for having inspired a "soul-making" theodicy, which justifies suffering as part of the process whereby humans hecome all they can be.1

1. C.Stephen Evans, Pocket Dictionary of Apologetics & Philosophy of Religion (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2002), p. 62.