Journal: Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society
Volume: JETS 68:1 (Mar 2025)
Article: The Role Of The Unitary Model Of Anthropology In Patristic Apologetics
Author: Jeremiah Mutie

JETS 68.1 (March 2025) p. 101

The Role Of The Unitary Model Of Anthropology In Patristic Apologetics

Jeremiah Mutie

Jeremiah Mutie is professor of theology and church history at Southern California Seminary. A version of this article was presented at the ETS annual meeting in San Antonio, TX, on November 16th, 2023.

Abstract: Christians in the early church generally held either a unitary or instrumentalist model of anthropology. Although both models served as the foundation for early-church apologetics, this article argues that the unitary model was better equipped to tackle key apologetical issues such as the creation, incarnation, and bodily resurrection. The thesis is defended through an analysis of two leading proponents of both anthropologies in the early church: Irenaeus of Lyons and Origen of Alexandria.

Key words: Anthropology, unitary, instrumentalist, apologetics, creation, incarnation, bodily resurrection.

Debates among Christians concerning the composition of man date back to early Christianity. Historically, there have been two major models on the relationship of the material and immaterial aspects of man. These are, first, the instrumentality model of anthropology, which locates the person in the soul with the body serving as its instrument, and second, the unitary model which sees the person as a unity of the body and the soul.

The thesis of this article is that, in the early church, the unitary model provided a better arsenal than the instrumentalist model in the defense of such doctrines as creation, the incarnation, bodily resurrection, among others, against the views of Gnosticism because it viewed the body (and matter at large) positively. In other words, those who held to the unitary model of anthropology insisted on the indispensability of the body with the corollary doctrine of bodily (perhaps sometimes overly materialistic) resurrection and the enjoyment of life in a literal millennium and the new heaven and earth thereafter. The thesis will be defended by contrasting two of the leading proponents of each of these models in the early church: Irenaeus of Lyons (the unitary model) and Origen of Alexandria (the instrumentality model).

I. Introduction

Christian debates about the composition of man have been going on since the time of the early church. Indeed, throughout the history of the church, there has been no shortage of literature dealing with the question of the relationship of the

JETS 68.1 (March 2025) p. 102

body and the soul.1 As Christopher Gousmett demonstrates, even though there have been many anthropological views, in patristic anthropology, two view...