Study Notes – Conciliar Christology To be read in conjunction with: Loewe, William P. "Classical Dogma," in Edilberto C. Jimenez (ed.)., Introduction to Doing Catholic Theology (Quezon City, Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University Office of Research and Publications, 2006), 233-248. 

Christology

o been talking about Christ all this timeo who is Christ?o study of the nature and being of Christ

not his life not his works

Christology studies Christ’s NATURE and BEING

 The great councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon.And the Word was made flesh…

introduction of the priest Arius

o from whom springs the Arian heresy

Cultural concerns at the close of the NT period

1. Jewish conviction of monotheism2. Vs. Christian tradition of praising or honoring Jesus as divine

How can these two be reconciled? How can Jesus be divine and yet there should be only one God right?

-- after all the fighting... Various ways of approaching the problem. 

Adoptionism (heresy)

o The Father “adopted” Jesus when the latter was baptized by John the Baptist in the River Jordan

o Implication: before that period in time, Jesus was not the Son of God

1. was not divine while in the manger in Bethlehem2. Magi and shepherds were worshipping a mere human?

Monarchians / modalism (heresy)

3. The three Persons of the Trinity are just three modes of being

1. God was the Father in the OT2. Becomes the Son in the NT3. And is now the Holy Spirit in the time of the Church (today)

4. heretical because it removes the relationality of the Trinity

in this paradigm, there really are no three distinct Persons just one entity wearing different masks, so to speak

note that I used entity rather than Person in the bullet point above this

would like to emphasize that a Person can only exist in relation to other persons

o you are a person in relation to other persons (i.e. you are your parents’ daughter/son, a friend’s friend, etc.)

o if you’re alone in a room with a bunch of dogs, you’re just another mammal to them, not a person

you are simply the owner of said animals; though you may see them as family, such a relationality cannot actualize in the real world

you may develop a love for them, but there is no possibility for them to reciprocate said love coz they lack reason and will

The Word of God        

Greek: Logos (reason) for the Jews, this concept was embodied in the term Word

1. God creates through speaking (“let there be light”)

if you think about it, only an intelligence (meaning something with will) can speak (“speak your mind”)

parrots only imitate

The word of God (his will) is sent to the prophets

o and they speak in his nameo Moses, Elijah, etc.

and then eventually the will of God is sent through a human person

Subordinationism (heresy)

o The Word or Logos is not equal to the Father; it is subordinate

1. Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Origen

o Justin Martyr (one of the early Church fathers)

1. his teachings somewhat leaned in this direction2. Born circa AD 1003. Conversion to Christianity circa AD 1304. Martyrdom circa AD 165

 

Tertullian

o First major Christian thinker to write in Latino concept --> Spiritus (divine stuff)

Extruding the Logos (e.g. the Logos squeezed out from the Father like toothpaste from a tube)

The Logos is made of divine “stuff” that issued from the Father What is the problem here?

The Son is divine to a degree as if the Father and Son “share” divine “stuff”

Origen

o Belongs to the East (Greeks)o The Son participates in the divinityo the Son is not by essence divine

1. in a sense the Father just shares his divinity with the Son

4. How do the Greeks see reality?

Everything on a ladder God at the top Everything below God participating in the perfection that is God

Problem? Transcendence disappears.

o In the Christian worldview, God is not at the top of the ladder

o God is separate from the ladder itself

Arius

o Exposed to Origen’s thoughto He merely brought the problem out in the openo Said that there cannot be “degrees” in divinity

If Jesus was not fully divine, then he was NOT DIVINE AT ALL Moreover, not fully human as well

The Logos functioned in him in place of the human soul

4. Arianism -- Jesus is not divine

3. some sort of demigod or super hybrid

 

Homoousios

o Homo – common/oneo Ousia – being

common/one being

Athanasius (Church Father)

o What is proper only to the Person

the Son is everything that the Father is except that He is not the Father

have the recognition that Jesus is indeed divine

 Nicene-Constantinopolitan CreedWe believe (I believe) in one God, the Father Almighty, maker ofheaven and earth, and of all things visible and invisible. And in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God, and born of the Father before all ages. (God of God) light of light, true God of true God. Begotten not made, consubstantial to the Father, by whom all things were made. Who for us men and for our salvation came down fromheaven. And was incarnate of the Holy Ghost and of the Virgin Maryand was made man; was crucified also for us underPontius Pilate, suffered and was buried; and the third day rose again according to the  Scriptures . And ascended into heaven, sits at the right hand of the Father, and shall come again with glory to judge the living and the dead, of whose Kingdom there shall be no end. And (I believe) in theHoly Ghost, the Lord and Giver of life, who proceeds from the Father (and the Son), who together with the Father and the Son is to beadored and glorified, who spoke by the Prophets. And one holy,catholic, and apostolic Church. We confess (I confess) one baptism for the remission of sins. And we look for (I look for) the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. Amen."

 Council of Chalcedon

Alexandria vs. Antioch (two schools of thought fighting it out)

o Alexandria

Stressed divinity of Jesus Extreme version: logos replaced the human soul of Jesus

2. Antioch

Stressed the humanity of Jesus Difficulty of Jesus’ unity as one person What was not assumed is not saved.

Jesus assumed everything about us except sin What was assumed by Jesus was taken up into heaven when he

ascended, and was thus saved If part of us was not assumed, then that part, whatever it is, is

not saved

 

Nestorius, Patriarch of Constantinople

1. advocated the concept of the Christotokos (heresy)

1. doctrine which states that Mary gave birth only to the human nature of Christ

2. Cyril of Alexandria’s accusation: Christotokos divides Christ into two natures

Human Christ Divine Son of God

Council of Ephesus

o Dogma of the Theotokoso Holy Mary, mother of God , pray for us sinners …

mother of both human and divine nature of Jesus, not just the human nature

you cannot separate   the human and divine nature of Jesus

she had to be mother to BOTH

 After all is said and done…

Perfection in humanity and divinity.

o What was not assumed is not saved.o Even the soul of Jesus is human (not replaced by the logos)

if Jesus had no human soul, would our human souls be saved?

The Two Natures of Christ

o Without confusion, without change (human and divine)o Without division, without separation (one being)

1. Hypostasis (Person)2. leading to the dogma of the hypostatic union

One person One subsistence 100% human, 100% divine Not part human, part divine; 50/50 Do not reduce it to a mathematical formula

Just conceive that in the ONE PERSON of Jesus Christ, there are TWO NATURES – human and divine

We are only fully human (we only have one nature - human) JC is fully human, fully divine at the same time Implications?