Against the Heresies, Volume I, Book I #55

Publication Data: New York, NY/Mahwah, NJ: Paulist Press, 1992
Format: hardcover
Number of Pages: x + 300
Dimensions (l × w × h): 22.2 cm × 14.6 cm × 2.8 cm
ISBN-10: 0‒8091‒0454-7

   
St. Irenaeus of Lyons
Translated and Annotated by Dominic J. Unger, O.F.M. Cap.
With Further Revisions by John J. Dillon

No. 55 of Ancient Christian Writers: The Works of the Fathers in Translation

“It is this work, commonly called Adversus haereses, or, Against the Heresies, which established Irenaeus as the most important of the theologians of the second century and merits for him the title of founder of Christian theology. The Adversus haereses is a detailed and effective refutation of Gnosticism, and it is a major source of information on the various Gnostic sects and doctrines.”
—“Introduction”

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION
Title and Authenticity
Time of Composition
Irenaeus’s Readers
Purpose and Plan of Adversus Haereses
Style
Scripture and Tradition
Manuscript History
Printed Editions
TEXT
Preface
   Chapter 1: The Valentinians’ Absurd Explanation of the Origin of the Aeons
   Chapter 2: The Defection of Wisdom outside the Fullness and Her Restoration by Limit. The Emission of Christ and the Formation of Jesus
   Chapter 3: The Valentinians Misuse the Scriptures in Support of Their Errors
   Chapter 4: The Formation of Achamoth and of the Material World from Her Passion
   Chapter 5: The Formation of Demiurge and of Man
   Chapter 6: The Threefold Element in Persons. The Formation of the Savior. Salvation is through Knowledge, Hence Good Works are Useless
   Chapter 7: The Three Classes of Persons and Their Eternal Lot
   Chapter 8: The Valentinians Pervert the Scriptures in Order to Prove Their Fabrications outside the Fullness
   Chapter 9: Refutation of the Gnostic Use of the Scriptures
   Chapter 10: The Rule of the Truth Is One in the Church Throughout the World
   Chapter 11: The System of Valentinus and His Followers
   Chapter 12: Tenets of the Followers of Ptolemaeus and Colorbasus
   Chapter 13: The Deceitful Arts and Wicked Practices of Marcus
   Chapter 14: The Marcosian System in Numbers and Letters
   Chapter 15: The Account of Silence to Marcus about the Generation of the Twenty-Four Characters of Jesus
   Chapter 16: The Absurd Interpretations of the Marcosians
   Chapter 17: The Marcosian Theory That Created Things Were Made after the Pattern of the Invisible Beings
   Chapter 18: The Marcosians Distort Passages of the Pentateuch to Support Their Fabrications about Creation
   Chapter 19: The Marcosians Allege the Scriptures Prove That First-Father Was Unknown before Christ’s Coming
   Chapter 20: The Marcosians Use Apocryphal and Spurious Writings, and They Pervert the Gospels
   Chapter 21: The Heretical Notions about Redemption
   Chapter 22: Deviations of the Heretics from the Ancient Faith
   Chapter 23: The Tenets and Practices of Simon Magus and Menander
   Chapter 24: The Errors of Saturninus and Basilides
   Chapter 25: The Tenets of Carpocrates
   Chapter 26: Tenets of Cerinthus, of the Ebionites, and of the Nicolaitans
   Chapter 27: Tenets of Cerdo and Marcion
   Chapter 28: Tenets pf the Encratites, Tatian, and Others
   Chapter 29: The Barbeliotes
   Chapter 30: Tenets of the Ophites
   Chapter 31: Tenets of the Cainites
Conclusion
NOTES
List of Abbreviations
Notes to Introduction
Notes to Text
INDEXES
Old and New Testaments
Authors
General Index