Adversus haereses 4,38,3 – „maturizarea” și pericolul heterodox

Abstract

This paper approaches the problem of reaching maturity in Adversus Haereses 4,38,3 and indicates the heterodox danger connected with a certain kind of reading this passage. The present analysis argues for the need to reconstitute Man’s irineic „maturity” as a gradual process, which should be considered in an analogous fashion to how its theologian, St. Irenaeus of Lugdunum, regarded Man’s „growth”. The paper defends the coherence of this theological concept against both John Hick’s heterodox interpretative attack and against an unorganized kind of exegetical reconstruction of the passage in question. Referring to a recent Romanian example of such an unorganized exegetical reconstruction, the present analysis illustrates it as a type of research which bears the blame for enabling such an attack like Hick’s.