La lectio divina d’Irénée de Lyon : canon, exégèse, et l’exemple du mariage

  • Cyril Pasquier ELTE
Keywords: Irenaeus of Lyons, Lectio Divina, biblical canon, marriage, apostolic succession

Abstract

Saint Irenaeus of Lyons, a pre-monastic author, cannot be said to be a specialist of Lectio Divina. He is too ancient and too polemical. Furthermore, what we consider today as Scripture was still in a formation process at his time. The oral tradition often took precedence over written texts. Nevertheless, together with the Rule of faith and the Apostolic succession, the Holy Writ is a pillar of Christian revelation, according to Irenaeus. This standpoint provides him a key role in the formation of the biblical canon. Though the canon in the second century is not yet a defined list of biblical books as we know it today, it is already a structured series of writings with a threefold status : prophetic, evangelical and apostolic. On these grounds, Irenaeus confidently unfolds his theological argumentation in an anti-gnostic context and for the promotion of a theology of the body and the flesh. The theme of marriage is a good illustration of this strong and flexible biblical hermeneutic and this approach can be useful for our Lectio Divina today.

Author Biography

Cyril Pasquier, ELTE

Cyril Pasquier, theologian and researcher at the Department of Religious Studies, ELTE; Budapest pasquier.cyril@btk.elte.hu

Published
2025-06-24
Section
Articles