Against Heresies is Irenaeus’s five-book examination and refutation of rival Christian teachings. He begins by describing the elaborate accounts of God and creation taught by followers of Valentinus and other teachers. He then argues against these systems, turning increasingly to Scripture and to the teaching handed down from the apostles.
Irenaeus rejects accounts that separate the highest God from the maker of the material world. He insists on one Creator and a coherent history linking the Old and New Testaments. His arguments range from the interpretation of biblical passages to Christ’s real humanity, human freedom, the Eucharist, and the resurrection of the body. Throughout, he appeals to the faith publicly taught in the churches against claims to hidden knowledge.
Written in the late second century, the work belongs to Irenaeus’s ministry in Lyon, in Roman Gaul. Its Christian community had recently suffered persecution, while rival teachers disputed how creation, revelation, and salvation should be understood. These disputes give the treatise its concern with shared doctrine, apostolic authority, and the unity of the churches.
The complete five Books and their prefaces appear in Alexander Roberts and William H. Rambaut’s translation, from Ante-Nicene Fathers, Volume I. The edition retains the introductory note, Elucidation, and editorial notes. The separate Fragments are excluded.
