Prolegomenon to Irenaeus’ Epistemology: The Source of <b> <i>Adversus haereses</i> </b> 2,13,2 and the Five Powers of the Mind Tradition

Abstract In AH 2,13,2 Irenaeus describes the activity of the mind as unfolding in a five-stage process, with each stage having a distinct name: ennoia , enthymēsis , phronēsis , boulē , and dialogismos . His account manifestly draws on philosophical psychology and epistemology, which has led scholars to assume he is using a source written by a member of one of the classical schools, a Stoic, Platonist, etc., whence he also derives his terms for the mind’s activity. This article argues to the contrary that Irenaeus drew the terminology for the five stages of the mind’s movement from his opponents. The terms themselves better fit a Jewish or Christian milieu than as technical terms of philosophical psychology. Such was the milieu of Irenaeus’ opponents, and indeed, nearly identical psychologies appear in cognate Nag Hammadi texts as well as later Christian texts, such as the Acts of Thomas , and as the Manichaean five-powers tradition. It is possible to arrange these sources so as to explain the presence of the five-powers tradition in each, including Irenaeus, without appealing to an unknown philosophical antecedent. Having established this, the article concludes by answering objections to the thesis and offering a prospectus for further research.