Christology Flashcards
What two things does a good Christology address?
o Person of Christ
o Work of Christ
What will a Christology ask of the Person of Christ?
- How he is fully human and fully human
* Explain how he’s one (person)
What will a Christology ask of the work of Christ?
• What salvific work did he do?
Who does Athanasius say is the Image of God, after whom human beings have been made in the image and likeness?
Jesus Christ
Athanasius identifies an aspect of human beings that needs to be renewed, what is it that needs to be renewed?
The image of God in human kind
Athanasius - Who is it that is able to recreate this aspect of human beings? And why is that “person” able to recreate this aspect of human beings?
The Word of God
He alone is the image of God.
Athanasius - What are the two different kinds of actions that Jesus did, what examples does he provide for each kind of action, and what does each kind of action prove about Jesus?
Ordinary Acts – being born, taking food > recognized as being present with the body, not merely an appearance
Extraordinary acts – cleansed lepers, made the lame walk > proved himself to be the son of God
What is the “double account of the Savior” that is the “basic meaning and purport of Holy Scripture”?
- Fully divine human because he took FLESH not necessarily soul and mind
- Humanity is limited to the body and the soul and mind play no logic to this argument
(This is standard Orthodox Christianity at the time but neglects Jesus’ human nature)
Athanasius - How does Jesus’ divinity use his body?
- Jesus’ body is an INSTRUMENT of His divinity
- bore the weaknesses of the flesh while the flesh renders assistance from the works of the Godhead for it was God’s body.
Athanasius - How are “the proper works of the Logos himself… accomplished”?
“through the instrumentality of his own body”
Divine mind in a human body
Athanasius points out that Jesus’ miracles involved the use of his human body, what exactly do these examples show that he possessed (the exact wording is important)?
They showed that he possessed a body in reality and not as matter of mere seeming.
Athanasius - Why is it that “human beings no longer continue as sinners and dead persons?”
The Logos has become human and made flesh his very own, these passions no longer affect the body because the Logos has come to dwell within it.
Accoriding to Athanasius, why did “the Logos dwell among them (human beings)” and why is it that he “became flesh”?
To redeem the members of the human race
What is “the purpose and point” of the Logos’ communication of the attributes of deity, holiness, and eternal life to his humanity (the humanity of Jesus)?
Through his mediation, human beings, made sharers in the divine nature…being set free from corruption they will reign eternally.
Apollinaris - What will no one deny “is knit together”?
The earthly body and the Godhead
Apollinaris - What are the two things that are mingled in the person of Christ?
The uncreated is comingled with the creature
What “is constituted” as a result of the mingling in the person of Christ according to Apollinaris?
One nature is constituted out of parts severally
What does the flesh receive that it does not possess according to Appolinaris?
Impassibility, a heavenly way of life, royal authority, being worshipped by the whole creation, being graced with the name above every name.
Apollinaris explains that “the human race is saved… by the assumption of flesh (by the Logos)”. Exactly “what was needed” according to Apollinaris?
- Salvation comes through the incarnation because
o The divine mind (Logos) avoids sin
o The Logos adapted the flesh to himself
o When other human beings unite themselves to the Logos by faith the can share in the divine attributes that Jesus has.
Apollinaris - What are the three parts that make up a human being?
Spirit, Soul, and Body
According to Apollinaris, Jesus doesn’t have one of the human parts. Which one?
Human spirit because he has a Divine Spirit/Mind
Apollinaris - If human beings “are made up of three parts, while he (Jesus) is made up of four”, then what is Jesus?
Man-God
What is Apollinaris’ case for the unity of God?
Nature: says that the union happens on the level of nature when the divine and human mix to make a divine-human hypostasis
o two natures mixed to form one hypostasis
o can’t be both fully human and divine because he would be worshipping himself
- One Will
o Only has the mind/will of God
- One Activity
o Jesus does divine stuff guided by the divine will
o Body used as an instrument
Indwelling is Theodore’s way of describing how the divine nature (person) is united to the human nature (person) in the person of Jesus. How should indwelling “fittingly be described as taking place”?
- by good pleasure
Theodore - What does “good pleasure” mean?
- the best and noblest will of God
What type of union is indicated by the notion of indwelling?
A union of will – like marriage where you choose to marry someone; divine person + human person
Theodore - How does God indwell Christ?
- as in a son; it was in this sense that he took pleasure in him and indwelt him.
According to Theodore, what notion isn’t appropriate to explain the union that exists in Christ and what notion is appropriate?
Mixture is not.
Union is.
- Theodore firms up how Jesus is fully human and fully human because it is one union with two hypostases.
Theodore - Do the natures remain distinct when they are united to each other?
The natures are distinct
Theodore - What are the two natures that may be distinguished in the person of Christ?
The nature of God the Word and the nature of his person
Theodore - Are both natures in Christ complete?
Yes, there is no hypostasis without its person
Theodore has a particular name for the type of union that unites these natures/persons, what type of union exists “in the case of Christ”?
Personal Union
What type of union does Theodore use as an example to explain his concept of the union in Christ, this personal union of two natures?
Marriage
- weak conception of unity
Theodore summarizes his understanding of the diversity and unity in the person of Christ, what is distinct and what is one?
The natures are distinct but the person affected by the union is one
Whose theology does Nestorius follow?
Theodore
Whose theology does Cyril follow?
Apollinaris
o Except denies one composite nature based on a mixture
o Affirms that Jesus was fully human
What issue is Cyril and Nestorius debate?
Is Mary the theotokos? (bearer or mother of God) Or is she the anthropotokos? (the bearer of a human being)
How strong of a union between Jesus’ union of divinity and humanity is it
Did Mary “give birth to the Godhead” according to Nestorius’ Sermon”?
No - “for what is born of the flesh is flesh.”
What “is/was not in itself God” according to Nestorius ?
That which is formed in the womb; that which was created by the spirit, that which was buried in the tomb.
According to Nestorius, we should “begin to tremble at the Lord’s incarnation, speaking in divine terms of” what?
theoDochos
Of the “form” which received God (theodochos) together with the divine Logos as the inseparable image of the divine authority.
How does Cyril present his Christology?
- Divine and human natures united at the hypostases level;
NOT two persons OR a Guman/Hod/Mixture
- stronger conception of unity; fully god and human and both human and divine experiences to the one person.
True or False
Cyril believes the Logos become “a human being by an act of will or ‘good pleasure’” or “by merely taking on a person
False – argument against Theodore
“While the natures which were brought together into a true unity were different”, why according to Cyril, is there nevertheless “one Christ and one Son out of the two”?
because of the unspeakable and unutterable convergence into unity, one Christ and one Son out of the two
Why is the Logos said “to have undergone a fleshly birth by making his own the birth of the flesh which belonged to him”?
“for us and for our salvation,” united human reality hypostatically to himself
What happens “if we set aside this union in the order of hypostasis (and thus hold to a union of will) as if it were pointless or unseemly”? fall into the assertion of two Sons
fall into the assertion of two Sons
What did the holy fathers boldly call the holy Virgin according to Cyril’s Second Letter?
God’s mother, theotokos.
Cyril - Why is it appropriate to call Mary theotokos?
The holy body which was born of her, possessed as it was of rational soul, and to which the Logos was hypostatically united
According to Nestorius, the term “Christ” is “an expression which signifies” or “is common to” what?
Signifies the two natures – human and divine
Nestorius - What is the “more exact manner of speech” that should be used of the “holy Virgin”?
Mother of Christ, NOT mother of God
- Christotokos: true to scripture because humanity suffered and died while his divinity didn’t
- “Jesus” and “Christ” refer to both natures
Nestorius - What is Jesus’ body in relation to the Son’s deity?
The temple of the Son’s deity.
Nestorius says the temple is united to the Son’s deity “by a complete and divine conjunction”: what is the result of this “divine conjunction”?
So that the nature of the deity associates itself with the things belonging to the body and the body is acknowledged to be noble and worthy of the wonders related in the Gospels.
How is Nestorius’ argument of the indwelling similar to Theodore?
o Should not ascribe divine qualities to human nature; you don’t worship the temple
• Must talk about them distinctly and separately
• Makes for a weak conception of the unity
Cyril’s letter to John of Antioch contains the text of what is known as _____.
the Formula of Reunion of 433
Antiochene, meaning Theodore/Nestorius, or Alexandrian
“unconfused union”
Antiochene
Antiochene, meaning Theodore/Nestorius, or Alexandrian
“the holy Virgin is Mother of God (theotokos)”
Alexandrian/Cyril
Antiochene, meaning Theodore/Nestorius, or Alexandrian
“the divine Logos was made flesh and became a human being from the moment of conception”
Alexandrian
Antiochene, meaning Theodore/Nestorius, or Alexandrian
“united to himself the temple”
Antiochene
What is the basis for the confession of “one Christ, one Son, one Lord” in the Formula of Reunion?
For a union of two natures has occurred
- better translation = union out of two natures
o “out of” hedges towards unity
In his letter to John of Antioch, Cyril explicitly states the reason why he engaged in the debate: why did he wage “almost the whole of the struggle on account of the faith”?
Because of our conviction that the holy Virgin is the Mother of God
Based on Ambrose’s discussion how many wills does the person of Jesus have?
2 Wills - explains the internal conflict in Gethsemane; human and divine wills want different things but ultimately agree
Wills work together and function in harmony and communion which explains how Jesus can act as one person but still have two natures.
Why is it about how the natures function within his person that enables Jesus to be able to speak “the things of God” and speak “the things of man”?
- always the one person of Jesus speaking but sometimes activity is a result of the divine nature and sometimes the human nature.
Leo - Are “the characteristic properties of both natures and substances… kept intact” when they “come together in one person”?
Yes – what makes him human and divine remain distinct despite the union and therefore has two natures
Why is it, according to Leo, that “the Word does what belongs to it, and the flesh carries out what belongs to it”?
the natures act in communion with each other; each nature has a will
What can we read and say “because of this unity of person, which must be understood to subsist in a twofold nature”?
he is coeternal and consubstantial with the Father, but in weakness of human nature
What is the faith by which “the Catholic church lives and grows”? that in christ Jesus there is neither humanity apart from real divinity nor divinity apart from real humanity
that in christ Jesus there is neither humanity apart from real divinity nor divinity apart from real humanity
What did Eutyches confess according to Leo?
that before the union our Lord was of two natures, but after the union one nature
