That we might love him the more : an Irenaean theodicy built on Christ crucified

[B]ut when He became incarnate, and was made man, He recapitulated in Himself the long history of human beings, and furnished us, in brief, with salvation (Irenaeus of Lyons. Against Heresies [= AH] III.xviii.1).This thesis attempts to clarify the mystery of evil through an analysis and contemporary restatement of Irenaeus of Lyons' theology interpreted as a 'Christocentric theodicy.' 'Theodicy' is here defined as God's response in the Gospel of Jesus Christ to suffering and the theological interpretation of that response. The response begins and ends with the cross as proclaimed in the Eucharist, that is, with God's own self-offering. It is argued that God allows suffering because He knows that only by the thankful union of our fallen knowledge of sin and death with the offering of Christ can we attain to a knowledge of eternal life: our adoption by the Father. Put otherwise, God's love for creation, and, therefore, His nature as a good and just Being, can be seen in the economy of salvation where evil is allowed to exist so that it might be transformed into good. The Introduction states the primary assumptions and limitations of the thesis' argument. Part I examines Irenaeus' Christocentric theology with particular emphasis on his understanding of the economy of salvation. Part II, building upon Part I, argues for a contemporary 'economic' or 'Christocentric' theodicy. The Conclusion recapitulates the whole thesis