In this episode, we interview Dr. Michael Haykin about his article “Fundamentum et Columnam Fidei Nostrae: Irenaeus on the Perfect and Saving Nature of the Scriptures”. Michael introduces us to Irenaeus of Lyons (c. 130-195), one of the first great Christian theologians. What was the Christian Faith Irenaeus inherited, articulates and defends - and what were the views and ideas he saw as a threat to it? In this interview, we learn about Marcion, Gnosticism, and how the debates this second century Christian pastor-theologian was involved in are relevant to the issues of today. 

“Fundamentum et Columnam Fidei Nostrae: Irenaeus on the Perfect and Saving Nature of the Scriptures” by Dr. Michael Haykin; found in Do Historical Matters Matter to Faith? Edited by James K. Hoffmeier and Dennis R. Magary (also see here) 

Against Heresies by Irenaeus of Lyons 

Other books by Dr. Haykin: 

Rediscovering the Church Fathers: Who They Were and How They Shaped the Church 

Amidst Us Our Beloved Stands: Recovering Sacrament in the Baptist Tradition 

Other Resources: 

Christianity at the Crossroads by Michael Kruger (also here); The Heresy of Orthodoxy by Michael J. Kruger and Andreas J. Kostenberger 

The Early Christian Fathers, edited and translated by Henry Bettenson 

“’The Truth Above All Demonstration’: Scripture in the Patristic Period to Augustine” by Charles E. Hill; found in The Enduring Authority of the Christian Scriptures, edited by D.A. Carson 

Thy Word Is Truth by Edward J. Young 

The Virgin Birth of Christ; Christianity and Liberalism by J. Gresham Machen 

The Gnostic New Age by April DeConick 

“Did Irenaeus subordinate Scripture to unwritten tradition? The inference has been commonly drawn, but it issues from a somewhat misleading antithesis. Its plausibility depends on such considerations as (a) that, in controversy with the Gnostics, traditions rather than Scripture seemed to be his final court of appeal, and (b) that he apparently relied upon tradition to establish the true exegesis of Scripture. But a careful analysis of his [Against Heresies] reveals that, while the Gnostics’ appeal to their supposed secret tradition forced him to stress the superiority of the Church’s public tradition, his real defence of orthodoxy was founded on Scripture. Indeed, tradition itself, on his view, was confirmed by Scripture, which was ‘the foundation and pillar of our faith”. Secondly, Irenaeus admittedly suggested that a firm grasp of ‘the canon of the truth’ received at baptism would prevent a man from distorting the sense of Scripture. But this ‘canon’, so far from being something distinct from Scripture, was simply a condensation of the message contained in it. Being by its very nature normative in form, it provided a man with a handy clue to Scripture, whose very ramifications played into the hands of heretics. The whole point of his teaching was, in fact, that Scripture and the Church’s unwritten tradition are identical in content, both being vehicles of the revelation. If the tradition conveyed in the ‘canon’ is a more trustworthy guide, this is not because it comprises truths other than those revealed in Scripture, but because the true tenor of the apostolic message is there unambiguously set out.” (Early Christian Doctrines by J.N.D. Kelly, pp. 38-39) 

“Was the Burning in Your Bosom from God?”; “The Magical Mormon Scriptures”; Joseph Smith: Behind the Mask; Temples Made With Hands?; Bart Ehrman vs. The Bible (Pastor Jason Wallace) 

Mormon/LDS Sources: 

“Strange Creeds of Christendom” by LeGrand Richards 

“The Only True God and Jesus Christ Whom He Hath Sent” by Elder Jeffrey R. Holland 

“Are ‘Mormons’ Christian?” ; “Becoming Like God” (Gospel Topics Essays) 

“Lightning Out of Heaven”: Joseph Smith and the Forging of Community by Terryl Givens 

“Joseph Smith Translation: The Doctrinal Restoration” by Elder Bruce R. McConkie