Tuesday, October 14, 2014

Irenaeus on the Tetramorph, Gospels, and the Four Corners of the Earth

I always found the ancient "four elements" (air, earth, fire, and water) interesting and new that they often corresponded to temperaments or humors int eh ancient world. When I was reading Irenaeus it peaked my interest when he discussed how Ezekiel's (and Revelation's) four living creatures (the tetramorph) corresponded to the gospels, the four corners of the earth, and the four temperaments. After looking into it more, here is a table I developed that compares all of those types of things I could find.


To be fair and complete, there are other theories as well. Some other theologians disagreed with Irenaeus on which gospel was represented by which animal. Also, some have claimed that the location and population of the 12 tribes of Israel prophecy of Jesus and the Gospel as well.  Here is a diagram of that.


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