55. St. Irenaeus of Lyons: Against the Heresies Book 1(Ancient Christian Writers) Hardcover – January 1, 1991

I have been very impressed with the Ancient Christian Writers series. These books are very high quality and comfortable to read.

This is an extremely dry theological book. It reads more like an Audobon Field Guide, except the subject is Gnostic Heretics instead of Birds. This is due to the dryness of the Gnostic Teachings that St. Irenaeus was trying to refute. Nevertheless, St. Irenaeus admirably accomplishes the task of identifying and refuting the major heretical groups of his era. Additionally, because "Against the Heresies" identifies the need to separate Good Scripture from Bad Scripture, which resulted in the final Cannon of the New Testament as seleced by the Council of Carthage of 397 AD.The book starts out with a review of Gnostic Cosmology. We have one Deity falling in love with a female Deity (who comes out of nowhere) to have a Godling Child to whom they give a ridiculous name. The Godling grows up and the cycle repeats. Senseing humor, St. Irenaeus asks why such important beings such as gods would want to go to all this trouble to give their kids ridiculous names. He goes on to imply that such a weak foundation to Gnosticism propogates to the various Gnostic Cults covered in the rest of the book, the "Field Guide" portion.Is it easy reading? No Way!!! In fact, it to me several false starts before I got the willpower to read it to completion. Is it an important book? There could be no New Testament without it, so YES, this Book is Vital. To be quite honest, only one in ten thousand people would ever be interested in reading this book; On the other hand, it is a Godsend to that one Person.

Irenaeus' work in refuting the Gnostics of his day provides an acute understanding of the problems facing the early orthodox church. Had Irenaues not dedicated himself I have to wonder what free-reign the Gnostics would have had as oral tradition declined and interpetation developed as a reliable understanding of truth. Irenaeus focused his attention on the Valentinian Gnostics and especially criticized the Gnostic Marcus. The notes in the book are remarkably helpful in determining what Gnostic heresies may have been preached against by the New Testament writers. Whats disappointing about the books is that the publisher only provides book one of Irenaues five book volume. The reader is forced to search on-line for the refutation volumes (the most important part) to understand Irenaeus principle view. The book is copyrighted in 1992 and part of an extended volume of ancient christian writers, therefore I'm not optimistic that further volumes will follow. I would still encourage any theological minded individual to make this book part of their library. As for the harden Catholic that previously used this book review as a proselytising forum, The translater (Dominic Unger) just lightly touches on the subject in the preface. As for Irenaeus, his argument is ment in the ecumenical sense of the Church of Christ that share the same tenets of faith. To classify Evangelicals in the same manner as the Gnostics is a dishonest exaggeration and she should have spent more time reading the book rather then writing a misleading agenda.

To anyone interested in reading up on the earliest of heresies, this is the book for them! Heresy is when a post-baptized Catholic, in Christ, turns from the original teachings of the Catholic church of Christ, and decides to accept the man-made doctrines of other denominations by excluding the Sacred Traditions of our fathers (appointed by Christ). The bible warns of man-made doctrines! Protestantism and it's branch offs, accepts man made traditions (ie. scripture only). In turning to these new, truly man-made doctrines, they have chosen to divorce the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church that is Christ's. To be Catholic and then turn from it, is divorce. Protestants of course allow members to divorce and remarry. It's ironic that this is how their church was started. Rather than staying in the marriage and fixing it, divorce is chosen. However, Jesus promised HIS church to be one and united. For those in search of the real truth, the true Church of Christ, one needs only to search the history of the first actual, physical church of Christ to accept the Sacred value of the Catholic Church traditions. This book is just what the physician (Jesus) orders. Find out where the traditions came from and how Heresies began. In this book, Irenaeus proceeds to list the succession of the Bishops of Rome to his own day! He adds that "in this order, and by this succession, the ecclesiastical TRADITION from the apostles, and the preaching of truth have come down to us" I say, the study of Church history, is the end of Protestantism! Read! Your salvation depends on it!! The Catholic Church is the ONLY church NOT founded by a sinner! Do the research! Start here!

With an excellent array of notes explaining his decisions in translating the thirty-one chapters of Book One of Irenaes's Against the Heresies, Unger has produced an admirable and accessible scholarly edition. Any translation is simultaneously an interpretation, and Unger has elucidated his choices in a minute and clear manner. Moreover, his introduction is quite helpful in setting the scene regarding Irenaeus's audience, style, and purpose.