Spirit, Bodies, and the Transformation of the Social

In this paper, I propose an approach to a theology of social transformation in dialogue with Irenaeus’ thought, bringing the aesthetic concept of glory—divine and creaturely—into dialogue with theo-political societal transformation.

Irenaeus’ view of the power of divine glory to transform humans and humanity may provide conceptual raw material for a constructive political theology and theo-political aesthetic of sustainable systemic transformation. Drawing on Irenaeus’ Adversus haereses, Epideixis, and other extant writings, I begin by sketching the theocentric character of Irenaeus’ understanding of politics and his embrace of symphonically-differentiated unity. I consider the socio-political implications of Irenaeus’ juxtaposition of paradigmatic models of change—Christ’s radical work of recapitulation—and progressive models of growth—the Holy Spirit’s multivalent work of fostering spiritual progress in human lives across the spectrum of the divine οἰκονομία and in the collective homo by whom Irenaeus tells a communal story with a unified protagonist.