Irenaeus' High Mariology: What it Does Not Prove
Two principle quotations from Irenaeus give the strong appearance of a high Mariology. The question remains: How high? Let us first give the two quotations: 1. “Eve was disobedient; for she did not obey when as yet she was a virgin. And even as she, having indeed a husband, Adam, but being nevertheless as yet a virgin... having become disobedient, [Eve] was made the cause of death, both to herself and to the entire human race ; so also did Mary, having a man betrothed [to her], and being nevertheless a virgin, by yielding obedience, become the cause of salvation, both to herself and the whole human race .” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies , Book 3, Chapter 22, Paragraph 4) 2. “And thus, as the human race fell into bondage to death by means of a virgin, so is it rescued by a virgin ; virginal disobedience having been balanced in the opposite scale by virginal obedience.” (Irenaeus, Against Heresies , Book 5, Chapter 19, Paragraph 1) The first thing to note is the use of typology and recapitu