Irenaeus.

With exemplary scholarship and clarity, the Dominican authors of these two valuable books on Irenaeus treat his theology in relation to the Gnostics and the Church of his time. Both insist on the importance of debates over the meaning of Scripture, though Fantino is especially concerned with the role of doctrinal tradition, perhaps exaggerating its consistency.

Both point out that Irenaeus' arguments could often have been used by his opponents (for example Minns, 26-7, Fantino, 68n). Minns seems somewhat more critical of Irenaeus' argumentation than is Fantino; for example he rejects the argument that God could have created humankind perfect, but 'humankind, being in its infancy, would not have been able to sustain it' (p. 73; 4. 38. 1).

Minns, like Fantino, rightly emphasises Irenaeus' reliance on earlier Christians but points out that he could not have agreed with Justin that there are two gods (p. 47); he was closer to …