but also its home and vehicle. Clement believed that the first humans were innocent until they were trapped by the pleasures of the body. The first humans, by misusing their body, misused their free will and sinned. Origen Like Clement, Origen (185-254?) was an African. Also like Clement, Origen considers the human body a prison of the soul. Only the soul existed in paradise, according to Origen, the body was taken on by Adam and Eve; as they were cast out of paradise. The body tends to be oriented toward lust and sin, but it is also a creation of God. God created the body like a work of art in his image. This creation reflects God's intelligence. The human body is (eikon) somehow similar to God. To be completed as a mirror of him, is the task for every Christian. Unlike the human body, the soul is an image of God. The body cannot be an image of God, otherwise God would look like a human being with a human body. Only the soul can see God, but it is caught between the flesh and spirit. It constantly has to make a choice between the two. Origen suggests, that Christians should free themselves from bodily restrictions as much as possible in this life. The body is important however, in the context of resurrection. Origen believes that only the resurrection of the body makes any sense. While he heeds Saint Paul, that the resurrection of the body will mean a new body, he insists, its identity must be recognizable. Yet, he states, our hope for resurrection is not one for worms, and our souls do not yearn for another decayable body. Irenaeus The body, formed in the image of God, and the soul, which has adopted the Spirit of the Father, in harmony, make up the perfect human being, according to Irenaeus (died around 202). The Greek Gnosis and some Christians had looked down on the human body as inferior. Irenaeus defends the body because it is the creation of God and a negative view would cast shadows both over God and his creation. The story of creation in the book Genesis (later quoted by Pope John Paul in his lectures on the body) shows, that the first human being, Adam, was indeed an image of God. Adam had supernatural life, immortality, super-natural sanctity and a closeness to God. Since