Irenaeus flourished toward the end of the second century as a bishop in Lugdunum (modern Lyons, France). He is important for several reasons, but scholarly interests in Irenaeus have focused chiefly on his place in the history of Christian thought and his churchmanship. Although his mission/evangelistic work is routinely mentioned by church historians, little effort has been made to extract from his apologetical-catechetical writings something of his missiology. As a native of Asia Minor, he engaged in cross-cultural work among the pagan Celtic peoples of southern Gaul. Two aspects of his missiology are probed: cultural adjustment in linguistics and his motivation for the task. Missiologically, he stands as a thoughtful combination of missionary-theologian-churchman.
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