Christology(christology)
Christology is that part of
Christian
theology
that studies and defines who
Jesus Christ
is. It is generally less concerned with the minor details of his life; rather it deals with whohe was, the
incarnation
, and the major events of his life (his birth, death,and
resurrection
).
Important issues in Christology include:
- was Jesus human, divine, or both
- whether a divine nature was identical or subsidiary to the fundamental nature of the Uncreated God.
- whether he actually performed miracles
- whether he rose from the dead, and if so, whether his resurrection was of the body or strictly of the soul
Christology may also cover questions concerning the
Trinity
, and what, ifanything, Christ accomplished for the rest of humanity.
There are almost as many Christological views as there are variants of Christianity. The different Christological views ofvarious Christian sects have led to accusations of
heresy
, and subsequent
religious persecution
.
Some Christological viewpoints
Some important controversies have included the controversy with
Arians
overChrist's divinity and relationship with the Father, which led to the adoption of the
Nicene creed
, the controversy over
Nestorianism
, andthat over
Monophysitism
(and its derivates
Monothelitism
and
Monoenergism
) which lead to theadoption of the
Chalcedonian
view of Christology. Othercontroversies included that with
Docetists
and the
Adoptionists
.
We can describe most of these views in terms of whether they believed Christ had a divine nature, human nature or both; and ifboth, in terms of how the two natures coexisted or interacted. All of these views will be presented in simplified form; see therelated articles for more complete treatment.
- Perhaps the earliest dispute within Christianity centered on whether Jesus was God. A number of early Christians believedthat Jesus was not divine, but was simply the human
Messiah
promised in the
Old Testament
. The inclusion of the genealogies of Jesus Christ at
Matthew
1:1-17 and
Luke
3:23-38 are sometimes explained by this belief. An alternative explanation is that they were inopposition to
Gnostic
Christian doctrines that Jesus Christ only had the illusion ofa human body and, thus, no human ancestry at all. The belief that Jesus was only human was opposed by church leaders such as
Paul
, and eventually came to be held only by small, marginal sects suchas the
Ebionites
and (according to
Jerome
) the
Nazarenes
.
- The
Chalcedonian
view is that Christ possesses twonatures, divine and human, which are united in the one person of Jesus Christ without either nature losing any of itsproperties nor uniqueness but without any seperability. This view is the dogma of the Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches,having been defined by the
Council of Chalcedon
. It is alsothe view of the
Anglican
church and the vast majority of
Protestant
churches.
- The strict
Monophysite
view is that the human nature of Christ wasdissolved or consumed by the Divine.
- The Miaphysite view is that Christ exists as a hybrid nature, simultaneously human and Divine, unique in the universe.
- The
Arian
view is that Christ is not fully divine, but was created byGod for the purpose of accomplishing our salvation.
- The
Docetist
view is that Christ was never fully human, but onlyappeared to be human. Semi-docetism only partially denies humanity, usually by asserting that Christ was not subject totemptation nor to any of the normal human frailties of hunger, fatigue, or fear of death.
- The
Adoptionist
view is that Christ was born a man only, but becameGod's son by adoption when he was baptized in the Jordan.
- The
Nestorian
view is that the Son of God, and the man, Jesus, sharedthe same body but retained two separate personhoods.
-
Psilanthropism
...
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, nature, hristology, views, christolgy, christological, christolgoy, god, cristology, important, christoloyg, resurrection, christoogy, terms, hcristology, two, chritsology, belief, chrisotlogy, controversy, chrstology, death, christologi, included, christoolgy, humanity, christloogy, miracles, christlogy, son, chrisology, jerome, christoloy, sharedthe, chirstology, marginal, chrsitology, retained, crhistology, according, chritology, uniqueness
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