Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Theology (Quezon City, Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University Office of Research and Publications
Theology (Quezon City, Philippines: Ateneo de Manila University Office of Research and Publications
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
The great councils of Nicaea and Chalcedon.
And the Word was made flesh…
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
3. The three Persons of the Trinity are just three modes of being
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
and then eventually the will of God is sent through a human person
Subordinationism (heresy)
Tertullian
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?
Origen
Everything on a ladder
God at the top
Everything below God participating in the perfection that is God
Arius
o Exposed to Origen’s thought
o He merely brought the problem out in the open
o 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
Homoousios
o Homo – common/one
o Ousia – being
common/one being
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 Creed
We 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
o Alexandria
Stressed divinity of Jesus
Extreme version: logos replaced the human soul of Jesus
2. Antioch
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
mother of both human and divine nature of Jesus, not just the human nature
you cannot separate the human and divine nature of Jesus
After all is said and done…
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?