Friday, September 15, 2006

St. Irenaeus: The government is on His Shoulders


I am taking a class called Christian Thought and Culture at Regent College. The class is composed of lectures that, as the class name suggests, reflect on the intersection of Christian thought and culture. This week our reading is from Irenaeus. Irenaeus was one of the earliest church fathers and most well known for his thoughtful, incarnation-drenched, anti-gnostic, theology. Here's a quote I liked:

'A child is born to us, and a son is given to us, and the government is on his shoulders' (Is. 9:6)... The words 'the government us upon His shoulder' figuratively signify the Cross, to which His arms were nailed. The Cross was and is ignominy for Him--and for us, for His sake. And yet it is the Cross which He calls His government, the sign of His kingship.'

St. Irenaues, The Scandal of the Incarnation

1 comment:

mrteague said...

GOOD STUFF!