Christology

In Christianity, Christology (from the Greek Χριστός, Khristós and -λογία, -logia), translated from Greek as 'the study of Christ', is a branch of theology that concerns Jesus. Different denominations have different opinions on questions such as whether Jesus was human, divine, or both, and as a messiah what his role would be in the freeing of the Jewish people from foreign rulers or in the prophesied Kingdom of God, and in the salvation from what would otherwise be the consequences of sin.^[1]^[2]^[3]^[4]^[5]

The earliest Christian writings gave several titles to Jesus, such as Son of Man, Son of God, Messiah, and Kyrios, which were all derived from Hebrew scripture.^{[web 1]} These terms centered around two opposing themes, namely "Jesus as a preexistent figure who becomes human and then returns to God", versus adoptionism – that Jesus was human who was "adopted" by God at his baptism, crucifixion, or resurrection.^{[web 1]}

From the second to the fifth centuries, the relation of the human and divine nature of Christ was a major focus of debates in the early church and at the first seven ecumenical councils. The Council of Chalcedon in 451 issued a formulation of the hypostatic union of the two natures of Christ, one human and one divine, "united with neither confusion nor division".^[6] Most of the major branches of Western Christianity and Eastern Orthodoxy subscribe to this formulation,^[6]^[7] while many branches of Oriental Orthodox Churches reject it,^[8]^[9]^[10] subscribing to miaphysitism.

^ Ehrman 2014, p. 171.
^ O'Collins 2009, pp. 1–3.
^ Ramm 1993, p. 15.
^ Bird, Evans & Gathercole 2014, p. 134, n. 5.
^ Ehrman 2014, p. ch. 6–9.
^ ^a ^b Davis 1990, p. 342.
^ Cite error: The named reference Olson1999 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
^ Armentrout & Boak Slocum 2005, p. 81.
^ Espín & Nickoloff 2007, p. 217.
^ Beversluis 2000, pp. 21–22.

Cite error: There are <ref group=web> tags on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=web}} template (see the help page).

[FOOTNOTEEhrman2014171-1] Ehrman 2014, p. 171.

[FOOTNOTEO'Collins20091–3-2] O'Collins 2009, pp. 1–3.

[FOOTNOTERamm199315-3] Ramm 1993, p. 15.

[FOOTNOTEBirdEvansGathercole2014134,_n._5-4] Bird, Evans & Gathercole 2014, p. 134, n. 5.

[FOOTNOTEEhrman2014ch._6–9-5] Ehrman 2014, p. ch. 6–9.

[FOOTNOTEDavis1990342-7] Davis 1990, p. 342.

[Olson1999-8] Cite error: The named reference Olson1999 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).

[FOOTNOTEArmentroutBoak_Slocum200581-9] Armentrout & Boak Slocum 2005, p. 81.

[FOOTNOTEEspínNickoloff2007217-10] Espín & Nickoloff 2007, p. 217.

[FOOTNOTEBeversluis200021–22-11] Beversluis 2000, pp. 21–22.

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