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Book Review: Cultural and Rhetorical Readings of the Gospel of John

unity of the divine plan’ (p. 108). Chapter seven, entitled ‘From Christ to the Kingdom’ may anachronistically be described as presenting Irenaeus’ ecclesiology. Here Minns suggest that for Irenaeus, ‘Gentile Christians may have displaced the Jewish people as heirs to the promises made to Abraham, but they have not yet come into that inheritance.’ (p. 127). The link with Christology is striking, for in this interim period the Church is seen as being on a pilgrimage, the goal of which is Christ and his full revelation in the glory and likeness of God. This chapter also explores Irenaeus’ understanding of baptism and eucharist. The concluding chapter offers a helpful examination of the contribution Irenaeus makes to the development of Christian theology and thought. This is a first-rate book, which remains the premier introduction to the theology and thought of Irenaeus. Minns writes with great clarity and has the virtue of majoring on those topics which were of chief significance to Irenaeus himself. Such careful focus ensures that this book admirably achieves its purpose of clearly representing the ideas of Irenaeus as they can be reconstructed from his surviving writings. This book should be on the shelf of everybody interested in the history of Christianity in the second century, or in the development of Christian theology.