Some recent scholarship has claimed Irenaeus as an early proponent of a non-violent atonement theory. In response, this essay argues that by tracing out tracing out the themes of the guilt of Adam and Eve, the justice and judgement of God, the passion of Christ, and their relations in the thought of Irenaeus of Lyons, it becomes evident that Irenaeus was not an early proponent of a non-violent atonement theory.

This article offers a brief engagement with Richard B. Hays's 2014 book Reading Backwards, with occasional reference to its 2016 successor, Echoes of Scripture in the Gospels. Beginning with a genealogy of Hays's notion of figural exegesis, the article calls attention to the bold theological claims that cash out his understanding of figural exegesis. It then proceeds to a critical dialogue that questions Hays' identification of his understanding of figural exegesis with that of the church fathers. Irenaeus and John David Dawson are drawn upon to argue for a significant difference between ancient practice and the post-critical hermeneutics evinced throughout Reading Backwards. The two approaches are by no means as easily drawn together as Hays seems to suggest, and the difference has significant implications for understanding the role God might play in how we relate the Old Testament to the New.