God, Ownership, and Economic Language in the Second Century CE: Irenaeus of Lyon’s "Against Heresies" as a Case Study

The present paper attempts to discuss the relationship between Christians and the divine counterpart in the second century of Christianity. By focusing on selected passages from Irenaeus of Lyon’s Against Heresies/Adversus Haere- ses, I aim to identify a set of key features that can define the mutual relation- ship between Christians and God within the wider framework of the repre- sentation of Christians as members of a household where the only adminis- trator is God. Against this theoretical background, analysis of the relation- ship between divine and human agents within the context of God’s owner- ship of the land and the entire material world will focus primarily on the commercialization of theological language in Irenaeus of Lyon’s Against Here- sies. Furthermore, I will connect the economic vocabulary used by Irenaeus to the concept of divine economy as conceived and described by Irenaeus himself. Throughout his Against Heresies, Irenaeus frequently employs the term econ- omy with reference to both the divine creation process of the material world and the rules and dispositions imposed by God within his regulatory inter- vention. This shows that the Christian belief in God’s authority over the land was perceived in terms of economic rules and regulations, as a contractual relationship between divine and human agents.