Recapitulation (ἀνακεφαλαίωσις/ anakephalaiōsis), as developed by Irenaeus of Lyon (c. 180–200 CE), describes the fittingness or symmetry in God’s purpose to save humanity. Irenaeus uses the “summing up of all things in Christ” (Eph 1:10) as a foundation but deploys recapitulation as a hermeneutic guide, a mechanism for salvation, and as a summary of the Adam-Christ typology.
Background
In rhetoric, recapitulation is summing up an argument in order to persuade. It “both r…