Against Heresies

Description

Before the discovery of the Nag Hammadi library of gnostic documents and scriptures, Against Heresies (Adversus haereses, by its original Latin name) was the best known portrayal of various gnostic ideologies that survived throughout the centuries. Written around 180 by the bishop Irenaeus, it is one of the rarest ancient documents still available in its original form, and contains a detailed description of the gnostic concepts upheld by many of Irenaeus’ contemporaries, along with carefully chosen points on why they were against the universal (Catholic) teachings promoted by Rome.

Irenaeus (2nd cent – c. 202 CE) was the Bishop of Lugdunum in Gaul and an apologist who was later appointed Saint Irenaeus. His writings had a great impact on the formative years of the Catholic Church, and they greatly influenced Christian theology in the ideology it formed throughout the next centuries.

The official purpose that Irenaeus had in mind when he wrote Against Heresies was to provide early Christians with a guideline encouraging them to steer clear of radical gnostic ideologies promoted by men like Valentinus, who only considered their own followers to be worthy of salvation. With that goal in mind, Irenaeus took to learning everything he could about various gnostic teachers and the ideologies they had imparted, and began writing what was going to become the most expansive work that ever described the Church’s position against spiritual ideas that were considered heretical and dangerous.

According to some scholars, the real reason behind Irenaeus writing Against Heresies wast o protect Christians in faraway Asia, where they were only assisted by a few bishops per several communities. Historians believe those were the major locations where a more extensive understanding of both gnostic and Church teachings was required.


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