Irmãos de fé, irmãos hereges: a narrativa da diferença em Ireneu de Lyon - século II EC
Paleochristianity; 2 - Irenaeus of Lyons; 3 - Christian Gnosis.
The plurality of interpretations of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth was a reality in early 2nd century CE.
Several were oral and written discourses circulating between the Christian communities. This issue demonstrates
not only the different intellectual forces which, in the midst of the followers of the Way, spread their views on
this belief. This factor denounces the presence of interpretative divergences and the need to control these new
voices that come to stand out between the paleocristan communities.
In an attempt to build a collective identity based not on Jesus but on Jesus as interpreted by episcopal forces,
eaders gain prestige amid the power relations present in the religious field. In this sense, there are discursive
efforts, such as that of Bishop Irenaeus of Lyons in the region of Gaul, to record and refute the interpretive
diversity on the Nazarene in his work Adversus Haereses, written between 180-185 CE. Being this ancient
writing observed as literature, will be verified the use of a performance speech, according to the conceptual
analysis of performance developed by Paul Zumthor. With a perception focused on transdisciplinarity, which
emphasizes the relations of discontinuity, complexity of the theme and alterity, the tension of these various
Christianity categorized by Irenaeus as a true and false gnosis becomes latent.In this work, the bishop of
Gaul seeks to reidentify the diverse as a heretic, that is to say, not a Christian, and on the other, to reiterate
the legitimacy of the discourse of his political group, which is treated as the sole holder of the true
understanding of the christian experience. Thus, not only what was written by the leaders, but also what
could be read, taught by the masters or who could be received as a "brother of faith" in the communities
would also be of concern. With a theatrical writing aimed at the construction of the other, such an effort by
Irenaeus of Lyon seeks not only to re-signify the Christian experience but also to demonstrate a discursive
strategy in the midst of the power relations existing in this period.