Choose Hard for Body, Mind, & Soul
PODVIG LETTER NO. 0
St. Irenaeus of Lyons
A second-century bishop who received the apostolic faith and handed it on.
4. BOOKS WORTH PEDDLING
Two Books to Carry into the Month
ON THE APOSTOLIC PREACHING
by St. Irenaeus of Lyons
Translated and introduced by Fr. John Behr
If you want to meet Irenaeus before studying him, begin here. In this compact account of the apostolic faith, he moves through Scripture as one continuous story—from creation and covenant to Christ and the life of the Church.
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John Behr’s translation and introduction make this brief second-century work unusually approachable. Read it slowly, with a Bible nearby. Notice what Irenaeus received, how he understood it, and what he believed must be handed on.
121 pp. paperback · $22.00
BECOMING HUMAN
by Fr. John Behr
John Behr asks a deceptively simple question: What does it mean to become human? His answer looks toward Christ—especially the crucified Christ who declares, “It is finished.” Humanity is not merely something we possess. It is a calling into which we must
grow.
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Small, beautifully illustrated, and deceptively deep, this book opens Irenaeus’s vision of growth and maturity without burying it beneath academic machinery. Read one meditation at a time. Let word and image work together.
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​136 pp. hardbound · $32.00
FURTHER READING
The Irenaeus Shelf
Against Heresies
by St. Irenaeus of Lyons
The Scandal of the Incarnation: Irenaeus Against the Heresies
Selections and introduced by Hans Urs von Balthasar
Irenaeus of Lyons: Identifying Christianity
by Fr. John Behr
Irenaeus: An Introduction
by Denis Minns
5. FOR THE COMMONPLACE
A Sentence Worth Keeping
"The life of man consists in beholding God."
~St. Irenaeus, Against Heresies IV.20.7
Copy this sentence by hand into your commonplace book.
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Beneath it, write the name of one person whose attention, habits, and way of life helped form your own.
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What did this person repeatedly behold? What did you learn to behold through them?
6. A QUESTION TO CARRY
Received & Handed On
What have I received, and what am I responsible to hand on?
Do not rush to answer. Carry the question through the month.
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Notice what has been entrusted to you, where it may ask for fidelity, and what carrying it faithfully may be making of you.