Some Christologies

Some Christologies

Thomas Allen

    Over the centuries, several explanations have been presented about the relationship of Jesus, Christ, and the Son of God. Some of these views follow.
    1. Adoptionism. According to the Adoptionists, Jesus was a full flesh and blood human, but at some point in his life, usually at his baptism, but also at his conception or resurrection, God the Father adopted Jesus as his Christ and Son. Jesus was not divine by nature. Paulianists are an example of Adoptionists.
    2. Separationism. According to the Separationists, Jesus was born as a man. However, at some point, usually at his baptism, God the Son, Christ, entered Jesus and empowered him. Thus, Christ was the God nature, and Jesus was the human nature. Just before the crucifixion, the God nature, Christ, left the human nature, Jesus. Valentinians are an example of Separationists.
    3. Docetism. According to the Docetists, Jesus was completely divine; he was God himself. Thus, Jesus was not really human; he only seemed human. Moreover, he did not really die or suffer on the cross; he only appeared to have suffered. Marcionites are an example of Docetists.
    4. Patripassianism or Modalistic Monarchianism. According to the Patripassianists, Jesus was one of the three manifestations or modes of God; the other two manifestations were the Father and the Holy Spirit. Thus, Jesus was God himself because God is unipersonal. Jesus was the incarnation of God. For Patripassianists, God himself came to earth as Jesus Christ and suffered on the cross. Sabellians are an example of Patripassianists. Today, Oneness Pentecostals represent Patripassianism.
    5. Creationism. According to Creationists, Jesus was specially created as the Son of God and Christ before his conception — usually God’s first creation. Jesus was this preexisting being incarnated, and this preexisting being is usually thought of being to Jesus what the soul is to other men. In any event, he is not eternal and is subordinated to the Father. The Christ of the Creationists is neither deity nor human; he is a super-angelic being. Arians are an example of preexisting Creationists. Today, Jehovah’s Witnesses represent Creationism.
    6. Begottenism (for want of a better term). According to Begottenism, Jesus had only one nature: human; he was never divine or had a divine nature. He was born a man, lived as a man but without sin, died as a man, and was resurrected a man. Jesus is literally the Son of God, i.e., God is his father, who is miraculously endowed and exceedingly divinely inspired far beyond any prophet with an extremely close relationship with God. Jesus came into being when God begot him in the womb of Mary to be his Messiah. The divinity of the Son is that of the Father residing in him and acting by him. Although Jesus only has a human nature and never has a divine nature, some Begottenists believe that he was deified whereas other reject this notion. A major difference between Begottenism and Adoptionism is that Begottenists maintain that Jesus was begotten as the Messiah; he was the Messiah from conception. Most Adoptionists believe that God adopted Jesus as the Messiah after he was born. Photinians and  Socinians are examples of Begottenists. Today, Christadelphians represent Begottenism.
    7. Humanism. Jesus is just a man, a “mere” man, the son of Joseph, albeit an extraordinary man. He lived an righteous life, whose example and teachings should be followed. Apparently, he has no more of a special relationship with God that any other man. He was just another holy man like Zoroaster, Buddha, and Mohammed. Naturally, he is void of any divinity. Today, Unitarian-Universalists represent Humanism.
    Note: Both Monophysites and Dyophysites, which follow, are Nicaean Trinitarians. They believe in three Gods, yet not three Gods, but one God. As stated in the Athanasian Creed, “So the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God; And yet they are not three Gods, but one God.”
    7. Monophysitism. According to the Monophysites, Christ, the Incarnate Word, had only one nature: either divine or a composite nature of the human and divine, i.e., Miaphysitism. Related to Monophysitism was Apollinarianism, which maintained that the divine Logos functioned as the mind of Christ, who possessed a real, imperfect human body. Today, Monophysitism as Miaphysitism survives in the Oriental Orthodox Churches. Also, Monophysitism is found in liberation theology.
    8. Dyophysitism. According to the Dyophysites, Jesus is fully human and fully God. He possesses two natures, human and divine, in one person, without confusion of substance. That is, Jesus is 100 percent human and 100 percent God united in one person without any confusion of the two natures. Dyophysitism is the doctrine of Orthodox Christianity. It is expressed in the Athanasian Creed as follows: “Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is God and man. God of the substance of the Father, begotten before the worlds; and man of substance of His mother, born in the world. Perfect God and perfect man, of a reasonable soul and human flesh subsisting. Equal to the Father as touching His Godhead, and inferior to the Father as touching His manhood. Who, although He is God and man, yet He is not two, but one Christ. One, not by conversion of the Godhead into flesh, but by taking of that manhood into God. One altogether, not by confusion of substance, but by unity of person.” Closely related to the Trinitarians are the Nestorians, who also believe the Nicaean Trinitarian Creed; however, they rejected the doctrine of “Mary the Mother of God” and were thus declared heretics. Nestorians were also condemned for declaring that Jesus had two natures: divine and human. Nestorianism survives today in the Assyrian Church.
    Except for Monophysitism, Patripassianism, and some interpretations of Dyophysitism and most followers of Humanism, all of the above Christologies maintain a supreme God who is eternal, immortal, immutable, and impassible. Because Monophysites, Patripassianists, and some Dyophysites have God suffering and even dying on the cross, their God is not eternal (the eternal cannot die), immortal (although he comes back to life), immutable, or impassible (an impassible being cannot suffer). Obviously, two different Gods are being worshiped. One God is eternal, immortal, immutable, and impassible; the other is mortal, mutable, and passible.

Copyright © 2018 by Thomas Coley Allen.

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Development of the Nicene Creed – Part 5

Between Origen and Arius

Thomas Allen

[Reference Note: As this article relies primarily on First Three Centuries by Alvan Lamson, page numbers enclosed in parentheses are to Lamson’s book. References to other works are enclosed in parentheses with the work’s title or the author’s name listed in “References” at the end of this article.]

Writers Between Origen and Arius
    The distinction between Tritheism and Monarchianism was becoming sharper. Because their mode of defending the unity of God, Monarchians were often accused of Patripassianism and “the denial of the divinity of Christ, by maintaining that the Logos as a separate subsistence formed no part of his nature” (p. 253).
    During this era, Tritheism, was becoming the orthodoxy while Monarchianism in the form of Sabellianism was becoming its chief opponent. However, in attacking the Monarchians, some opponents, such as Dionysius of Alexandra and Methodius of Olympus, laid the foundation of Arianism.
    In its hostility toward Sabellius, Paul, and their kindred, “the doctrine of the self-subsisting personality of the Logos, or Son, was more strenuously insisted on than ever” (p. 257). This emphasis on the self-subsisting personality of the Son contributed to the rise of Arianism, which strongly contrasted with the Monarchian doctrine of Sabellius and Paul.
    Dionysius of Alexandria (d. 264) was Pope of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria between 248 and 264. He was a student of Origen, and about 232, he became the head of the Catechetical School of Alexandria.
    In his dispute with the Sabellians, Dionysius became tainted with heresy. He was charged “with placing the Son in the rank of ‘a creature’ in repelling the errors of Sabellius, going into the opposite extreme; making not only a ‘diversity of persons’ but a ‘difference of substance’” (p. 258). Thus, he was accused of sowing the seeds of the Amonoeans, who were a branch of the Arians. (Amonoeans “made a clear distinction between God and Christ. God was the deity that always had existed, Christ was only created by him. From this, God and Christ could not be considered equal or similar. In consequence, Christ was also denied the consubstantiality, that of two natures in him; a human and a divine” [“Amonoean”].)
    According to Dionysius, “‘the Son of God is something made and begotten; neither is he by nature (a son) proper, but is in substance foreign to the Father, as is the husbandman to the vine, or the shipbuilder to the ship; and being a creature, he was not before he was begotten’” (pp. 258-259). Although he maintained the subordination of the Son, he held that the Logos “is not simply the second person of the Trinity in His virtual existence. . . . He is already God” (Pressense, p. 363). “‘Dionysius summed up his doctrine in this formula: ‘We expand the indivisible Monas [one deity] into the Trias [three deities], and we bring back the Trias undiminished to the Monas.’ This singular formula sets aside absolutely the idea that the Son is of a different nature from the Father” (Pressense, p. 364).
    “As to the term ‘consubstantial’ Dionysius says that he did not find it in the Scriptures, and he therefore felt justified in rejecting it” (p. 259). He used consubstantial in the sense, for example, a human progeny is of the same genus with the parent. “In this sense, consubstantiality did not imply numerical identity” (p. 260). Thus, following the older Fathers, Dionysius held that the “the Father and the Son might be pronounced ‘consubstantial,’ as they were beings of the same specific nature (that is, both divine), though as distinct from each other as Peter and John, or the husbandman and the vine, the maker of the ship and the ship” (p. 260).
    Gregory Thaumaturgus (c. 213 – 270) was a student of Origen and Bishop of Pontus. He claimed that the Father and the Son, “are one in substance, and distinct only in thought” (Pressense, p. 358). Nevertheless, he seemed to consider the Logos as created or produced. Therefore, he was charged “with depressing the Son to the rank of a ‘creature,’ or ‘work,’ — something produced” (p. 261). Except for the eternity of the Son, which Origen held, Gregory seemed to have adopted all of Origen’s views of the Son. Gregory believed that the Son “to be of inferior dignity to the Father, and did not believe in their numerical identity” (p. 261).
    Theognostus (c. 210 – c. 270) was an Alexandrian theologian and a disciple of Origen. According to Theognostus, “‘[t]he substance of the Son is not anything procured from without, nor accruing from nothing; but it sprang from the Father’s substance, as radiance from light, or vapour from water; for neither is the vapour, nor the radiance, the water itself, or the sun, nor is it foreign to it. The Son is an effluence from the substance of the Father, without the substance of the Father undergoing any partition; for as the sun remains the same and is not diminished by the rays which flow out from it, so neither does the substance of the Father undergo any change through the Son who bears its image’” (p. 262). He considered the Logos to be a creature, “yet he affirms that He [the Son] neither came forth from nothing nor from any created source, but from the very bosom of God” (p. 359).
He used “consubstantial” before the Council of Nicaea used it. However, he does not assert “numerical identity of substance in the sense of the later Athanasian orthodoxy” (p. 262).
    Pierius (d. after 309) was a Christian priest in Alexandria and the head of the Catechetical School of Alexandria. He believed that the Father and Son were two substances and two natures. The Holy Spirit was “‘inferior in glory to the Father and Son’” (p. 263).
    Methodius (d. c. 311) was the Bishop of Olympus in Lycia and later of Tyre of Phoenicia. He disagreed with Origen on several points, but apparently not with his doctrine of the Trinity, which was the orthodoxy at this time.
    According to Methodius, “the Father was the principle out of which the Logos, which was before in him, proceeded” (p. 264). Apparently, he knew nothing “of the eternity of the Son, as a self-subsistent being” (p. 264). To him, the Son was “‘first begotten of God — before the ages’” (p. 264). In power and dignity, the Son was inferior to the Father. Later, Methodius was condemned for supporting Arianism.
    Lucian of Antioch (c. 240 – 312) was a presbyter and theologian. Most of the Arian leaders were his disciples — therefore, followers of Arius were often called Lucianists. He rejected the Sabellian principle that the Logos had no separate personality and was not a self-subsistent being.
    Cyprian (c. 200 – 258) was the Bishop of Carthage. He declared God to be One and Supreme and that He was without a partner or equal. Of the Son, he believed him to be “the ‘Word,’ or the ‘Son of God,’ who is ‘sent,’ is the ‘Power of God, his Reason, his Wisdom, and Glory’ (p. 269). When Cyprian “speaks of the Holy Spirit as becoming ‘clothed with flesh’” (p. 269), he confounds the Spirit with the Logos as did many early Fathers. At other times, Cyprian “distinguishes the Spirit from the Logos, making it inferior in dignity to Christ himself” (p. 269).
    Although he called Christ God, he meant the Son of God and clearly denied his supremacy. The Father sanctified and sent the Son into the world. God the Creator is the Father of Christ. “Cyprian never thought of a numerical identity of the Father and Son, but regarded them as two distinct beings, the Father being the Fountain and Giver of all the power and dignity possessed by the Son” (p. 220).
    About the Christians of the first three centuries, Lamson writes, “The ancient Christians had not learned that refinement of logic by which he who sends and he who is sent are made one. They went on the assumption, that they must necessarily be two” (p. 270). (Lamson may have meant this statement sarcastically. Liking the sophistication of Athanasius and later Trinitarians, these ignorant Christians’ belief in two beings was necessary: one to send and the other to be sent. Unlike the later Athanasians, they did not realize that one could send oneself and give the appearance of two by merely changing the title or office [mode or manifestation?] of the sender and sent. This notion of the Trinitarians seems to be approaching the heresy of Sabellianism.)
    Novatian (c. 200–258) was a scholar, theologian, and presbyter of the Church of Rome. He wrote more than most on the doctrine of the Trinity.
    According to him, the Son was inferior to the Father and, therefore, not his equal. He testified “to the old doctrine of the undivided supremacy of the Father, and the derived nature and inferiority of the Son. The Spirit he places still lower” (p. 291). Novatian described God the Father as “‘the most perfect Creator of all things.’ . . . ‘Maker of all things, containing all; moving, vivifying all.’ . . . — ‘without origin and without end,’ whom ‘no words can adequately describe and no mind comprehend;’ [and is] ‘immutable, one, without equal, unbegotten, infinite, incorruptible, and immortal’” (p. 272). Like other ante-Nicene Fathers, he never applied these epithets to the Son. “Novatian believed Christ to be both God and man, but not in the modern or Athanasian sense” (p. 272). In Christ, the Divinity of the Word was “united by ‘concretion’; or commixture with human nature, constituting an indivisible unity” (p. 272). Although Christ was God and man, he was not the supreme God, He was “man as born of man, God as born or begotten of God, according to the doctrine of the old Fathers, that what is born of God is God, that is, divine, consubstantial with God, as what is born of man is man, that is, human, consubstantial with man, numerical identity being excluded, there being only identity of kind or species” (p. 272). Thus, he is man who is of man and is God who is of God. “So Christ is God and man. He has his origin from God, and sustains the same relation to him as a human being sustains to its father” (pp. 272-273). Nevertheless, the Son was inferior to the Father and dependent, and he was a distinct being from the Father.
    Unlike the Trinitarians who followed, Novatian read the Bible in its most natural and obvious sense. For example, when Christ said that the “Father is greater than I,” Christ literally meant what he said: His Father was superior to him. Christ was stating that he was a distinct being from the Father, and that he occupied a second place. (Novatian was unaware of the two-natures doctrine that the Trinitarians would later develop to explain away any comment that Jesus made about himself that conflicted with the Trinity Doctrine.)
    About omnipresence, Novatian held that “the Father himself, the supreme one, the only true God, is infinite, and cannot be contained within any limits of place; cannot ascend or descend, but contains and fills all things. Not so the Son, who is capable of ascending and descending, and can be enclosed within space” (p. 275). Thus, God the Father is omnipresent; the Son of God is not.
    To explain the Father as God and Christ as God without having two Gods and without resorting to Sabellianism, Novatian resorted to the Logos-doctrine. Thus, the Son is “a divine being, having, after he was begotten, a distinct personal subsistence, but being subordinate to the Father, not co-equal and co-eternal with him” (p. 275). The Father is one God “‘of whom, when he willed, the Word or Son was begotten.’ He was ‘always in the Father,’ as his unbegotten virtue or energy, but had no distinct personal subsistence. . . . ‘The Father precedes him’ (the Son), in that as Father, he must be prior, since ‘he who has no origin must of necessity precede him who has an origin’” (p. 276). Further, “‘[i]f he [the Son] were not begotten, there would be two unbegotten, and so two Gods’” (p. 276) Since the “‘Son does nothing of his own will, or his own counsel, but in all things obeys the precepts and commands of the Father’” (p. 276), there are not two Gods, but one God. (For more of Novatian’s arguments to save the unity of God, see Lamson, pp. 275-276.) This is a brief sketch of his explanation of two Gods not being two Gods. In short, “supreme divinity is not to be ascribed to Christ. He is not co-equal, or co-eternal with the Father. . . . Christ was God, but not the one infinite God; not self-existent; not having a personal, individual being from eternity, but deriving his origin, divinity, power, and authority from the only Supreme and Unbegotten God, the self-existent and Eternal One” (pp. 276-277).
    Novatian asserted the inferiority of the Spirit. He did not consider the Spirit to be God or Lord. Moreover, he did not give the Spirit a personality and certainly did “exalt the Spirit into one of three co-equal persons” (p. 277).
    Dionysius of Rome (d. 268) was the Bishop of Rome, i.e., the Pope between 259 and 268. He repudiated the opinions of Tertullian, Hippolytus, Sabellius, and Dionysius of Alexander. In opposition to the Sabellians, he declared that the Deity consisted of three divine persons and not three manifestations. He rejected the notion of three distinct divinities. “He asserts His [Logos] eternal divinity. ‘It is not lawful to divide into three deities the glorious and divine Monad [one, unity]. It is necessary that the Word should be united to the God of the universe, that the Holy Spirit should dwell and abide in Him, and that the sacred Triad [a group of closely related three] should be resolved at length into a sublime unity in the Almighty God, the Creator of all Beings. We must believe in one God, the Father Almighty, in Jesus Christ His Son, and in the Holy Spirit. The Word [Logos] is one with the God of the universe. Thus do we hold fast at once the divine Triad and the holy doctrine of the divine unity’” (Pressense, p. 417). He was closer to stating what would become the Trinity Doctrine than the other ante-Nicene Fathers. Dionysius “is the forerunner of the school of authoritative metaphysics. With him, the age of free doctrinal creations seems to pass away” (Pressense, p. 418). (Thus, religious liberty died in Christianity until the after the Reformation.)
    Arnobius (d. c. 330) was a Christian teacher and apologist. “[H]e maintained the supremacy of the Father, and makes the Son a different being and subordinate” (p. 278). God the Father is “‘alone unbegotten, immortal, and everlasting,’ the ‘Father, Governor, and Lord of all things’” (p. 278). God the Father sent Christ, the Son, who spoke by the command of the Father. Christ “‘giver of immortality,’ as the ‘Supreme King has appointed him to that office’” (p. 278).
    Lactantius (c. 250 – c. 325) was a student of Arnobius and a teacher and writer. He believed that the Son was not eternal, but was begotten by the Father. The Son was the firstborn and was alone worthy of the divine nature. However, the Son was subordinate to the Father. Therefore, the Son was not eternal or equal to the Father. Moreover, the Son “is of a ‘middle nature or substance between God and man’” (p. 280). Christ “‘taught that there is one God, who alone is to be worshipped; neither did he once call himself God. . . . Because he was thus faithful, assuming nothing to himself, but fulfilling the commands of him that sent him, he received the dignity of a perpetual priesthood, and the honours of the highest king, and the power of judge, and the name of God’” (p. 280). Thus, the Fathers and Son are “two beings, entirely distinct, one [the Father] first and supreme, the other [the Son] subordinate; one giving, the other receiving” (p. 281). Unity existed with the Father and the Son; they are one in will, affection, and consent: “‘[T]he Son faithfully obeys the will of the Father, nor ever does nor did anything except what the Father has willed or commanded’” (p. 281). However, at times Lactantius seemed to consider the Father and the Son to be one of mind, spirit, and substance.
    Lactantius denied the personality of the Holy Spirit. However, at times, he confounds the Spirit with the Logos.
    The orthodox doctrine of the Trinity between Origen and Arius showed as much, if not more, support for Arius as for Alexander and Athanasius. The orthodox doctrine of the Trinity that had developed before the Arian controversy differed significantly from the Trinity Doctrine that developed after the Council of Nicaea. When the Arian controversy began, the doctrine of the Trinity declared the Son to be pre-existing. Nevertheless, the Father preceded him, i.e., unlike the Father who had no beginning and was, therefore, eternal, the Son had a beginning and was, therefore, not eternal. (Origen was an exception as he speculated about “‘beginningless’ creation, and a ‘beginningless generation of the Son’” [p. 285].) Therefore, the Son was not coeternal with the Father as maintained by the Trinity Doctrine. Further, the Son was inferior to the Father and was a distinct being from the Father, i.e., of a different essence or substance. Because he was begotten of God, the Son “partook in some sort of the same specific nature (that is, a divine), just as an individual of our race partakes of the same nature or essence with the parent from whom he sprang (that is, a human)” (p. 284). Again, the orthodox doctrine of the Trinity just before the Council of Nicaea differed significantly from the modern Trinity Doctrine. Moreover, the Son was both God and man, but not in the Athanasian sense. The Holy Spirit was not eternal and was subordinate to the Son and the Father. Furthermore, it lacked a personality.

References
Alford, H.W. The Manual of the Scriptural Doctrine of the Trinity, Investigated and Defended. Dover, New Hampshire: The Trustees of the Freewill Baptist Connection, 1842.

Allen, Thomas. “Early Church Theories of Christ.” Franklinton, North Carolina: TC Allen Co., 2009.

“Amonoean” http://looklex.com/e.o/amonoean.htm. Downloaded July 6, 2009.

Arendzen, John, "Docetae," The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909. V. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05070c.htm. Downloaded July 12, 2009.

Arendzen, John. “Manichæism.” The Catholic Encyclopedia. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910. IX. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09591a.htm. Downloaded July 4, 2009.

The Creed of Nicaea – Agreed at the Council in 325, http://www.earlychurchtexts.com/public/creed_of_nicaea_325.htm, Downloaded October 29, 2017.

“Docetism.” http://looklex.com/e.o/docetism.htm. Downloaded Jul. 5, 2009.

Fleming, Thomas. “A Plague on Both Their Houses.” Chronicles, Vol. 39, No. 3, March 2015, page 9.

Hase Charles. History of the Christian Church. Translators Charles E. Blumenthal and Conway P. Wing. New York: D. Appleton, 1870.

Lamson, Alvan. First Three Centuries: Or, Notices of the Lives and Opinions of Some of the Early Fathers, With Special Reference to The Doctrine of the Trinity. Reprint. and revised with notes, Ezra Abbot, editor: Boston, Mass.; 1875 reprinted with additional notes, Henry Ierson, editor: London: British and Foreign Unitarian Association,

The Lost Books of the Bible. 1820; reprint. Cleveland, Ohio: World Publishing Co., 1929; reprint, 1979, New York, New York: Crown Publishing Co.

Milner, Vincent L. Religious Denominations of the World. Philadelphia: Bradley, Garretson & Co., 1872.

“Montanism.” Encyclopædia Britannica. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Montanism. Downloaded November 12, 2017.

Pressense, E. De. The Early Years of Christianity: Heresy and Christian Doctrine. Translator Anne Harwood. New York: Nelson & Phillips, n.d.

“Q&A.” Grace in Focus. November/December 2017, page 46.

Walker, Williston. A History of the Christian Church. New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1921.

Copyright © 2017 by Thomas Coley Allen.

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Part 4    Part 6

Early Church Theories of Christ

Early Church Theories of Christ
Thomas Allen

What follows is a catalogue of some of the early (first five centuries) church sects and their beliefs or theories about Christ and his nature. They are listed in alphabetical order.

Most of these sects have been condemned as heresies although some of their beliefs can be found in well-established churches today. Heresy does mean that it is wrong. It means that the church people with the most political power disagreed with them and, therefore, condemned them. Occasionally, the civil authority favored some of these condemned sects, so they could continue to practice. When their protector died and was replaced by an adherent of the orthodox (consensus or majority) position, the condemned sect was suppressed and often persecuted. Overall, when the civil authority favored orthodoxy, the orthodox seemed more inclined to persecute the heretics than the heretics did the orthodox when the civil authority favored the heresy.

When discussing theories of Christ or any other theological doctrine, one needs to keep in mind Virgil Vaduva’s admonition: "There is no such thing as consensus theology. If it’s consensus, it isn't theology. If it's theology, it isn't consensus. Period."[1] Because the consensus of orthodoxy is that Trinitarianism is the correct theory of Christ does not make it correct or incorrect. Consensus should be irrelevant. If anything, the consensus should cause one to be skeptical because the majority is usually wrong.

Most of what is known about some of these sects has been written by their enemies. As many of the following theories not only conflict with orthodoxy, they also conflict with each other, some of them must be wrong. All of them including orthodox Trinitarianism may be wrong.

The book of John is a favorite for deriving theories about Christ. It is used to defend nearly every theory from orthodox Trinitarianism to the wildest Gnosticism.

These theories, including orthodoxy (Trinitarianism), seem to be short on Scriptural support and long on Greek, Persian, or Babylonian philosophy. The theorists appear to have started with the theory and emphasized any Scripture that supported it and disregarded or explained away any Scripture that conflicted with it.

Adoptionists
Adoptionism or Dynamic Monarchianism is a form of Monarchianism. It appeared in the second and third centuries.

Monarchianism was an attempt to reinforce monotheism and was a rejection of Trinitarianism. It stressed the unity of God; only God was the deity.

"The Adoptionists taught that Christ, although of miraculous birth, was a mere man until his baptism when the Holy Spirit made him the Son of God by adoption."[2] Thus, Jesus was "a mere man who was endowed with the Holy Spirit."[3] The man Jesus is the adopted son of God. "Adoptionism defined God to be a single unity, while Jesus Christ was of divine nature only temporarily, for the period his mission lasted. Jesus [w]as a human being possessed by a spiritual entity. This possession, or spiritual adoption, happened either at the time of Jesus’ baptism or his ascension. He was the Son of God by the virtues of his high degree of divine wisdom and power."[4]

Adoptionism reappeared in the eighth century and survives today in Unitarian theology.

Amonoeans
Amonoeans were followers of a form of Arianism taught by Aetius.

Amonoeans "made a clear distinction between God and Christ. God was the deity that always had existed, Christ was only created by him. From this, God and Christ could not be considered equal or similar. In consequence, Christ was also denied the consubstantiality, that of two natures in him; a human and a divine."[5]

The Amonoean movement appeared in the 350s and died out soon after 394. In 359, the Arian Counsel of Seleucia condemned Aetius’ doctrine.

Arians
The Arians were followers of Arius (c. 259–c. 336), a presbyter of a church in Alexandria circa 315. Arians believed "that the Son of God was totally and essentially distinct from the Father; that he was the first and noblest of those beings whom God had created—the instrument, by whose subordinate operation he formed the universe; and, therefore, inferior to the Father both in nature and dignity. . . ."[6] The son was the Word, but he was not eternal. Although the Son was divine and like the Father, the Father created him. Trinitarians hold that the Son is coeternal with the Father. Whereas Trinitarians claim that the Father and Son are of one and same substance and being; Arians claim that he is of like substance. ". . . Christ had nothing of man in him but the flesh, to which the . . . word was joined, which is the same as the soul in us."[7]

". . . the Holy Ghost was not God, but created by the power of the Son."[8]

1 Corinthians 8:6, which states that God and Jesus have two different qualities and positions, supports Arianism. The Arian concept of the Messiah is much nearer to the Jewish concept than is the Trinitarian concept.[9]

"Arianism was therefore dealing mainly with the question of the oneness of God as well as to immutability of God; Jesus went through the cycles of a human being, including both a normal birth and death, and he was also of a different matter than God. Hence it could be derived that Jesus was a mere human being."[10]

A later variant called Lower Arianism held "that Christ pre-existed; but not as the eternal Logos of the Father, or as the being by whom he made the worlds, and had intercourse with the patriarchs, or as having any certain rank or employment whatever in the divine dispensation."[11]

In 325, the Council of Nicaea condemned Arianism. With the conversion of the Franks to Catholicism in 496, Arianism died.

Armenians
The Armenian church was founded at the end of the third century. Armenians believe that Christ has only one nature, a divine nature. Thus, they adhered to Monophysitism (q.v.). The Holy Spirit emanates from the Father only. The Armenian religion is still practiced today.

Basilidianists
In the second century, Basilides, an Egyptian Gnostic, founded the Basilidianism. Basilidians believed in "the existence of one supreme God, perfect in goodness and wisdom, who produced from his own substance seven beings, or aions, of a most excellent nature."[12] From them came angels and heavens, various ranks and orders, and finally earth and animal life. Angels of the lowest heaven began to corrupt man and to erase knowledge of the Supreme Being, so that man would worship them. "Hence the Supreme God, beholding with compassion the miserable state of rational beings, who groaned under the contest of these jarring powers, sent from heaven his son Nus, or Christ, the chief of the aions, that, joined in a substantial union with the man Jesus, he might restore the knowledge of the Supreme God, destroy the empire of those angelic natures which presided over the world, and particularly that of the arrogant leader of the Jewish people. The God of the Jews, alarmed at this, sent forth his ministers to seize the man Jesus, and put him to death. They executed his commands; but their cruelty could not extend to Christ, against whom their efforts were vain."[13] Instead of Jesus being executed, Simon of Cyrene, who carried Jesus’ cross, was mistakenly executed. Jesus assumed the form of Simon, and Simon assumed the form of Jesus. After Simon’s crucifixion, Jesus returned to is Father.

Cerinthians
Cerinthians followed the teachings of Cerinthus, a Gnostic-Ebonite, of the first century. Cerinthians denied the deity of Jesus Christ. "They believed that he was a mere man, the son of Joseph and Mary; but that in his baptism a celestial virtue descended on him in the form of a dove; by means whereof he was consecrated by the Holy Spirit, made Christ, and wrought so many miracles; that, as he received it from heaven, it quitted him after his passion, and returned to the place whence it came; so that Jesus, whom they called a pure man, really died and rose again; but that Christ, who was distinguished from Jesus, did not suffer at all."[14]

Docetists
Docetism or Docetae is related to Gnosticism. It appeared early enough for John to describe it in his letters (1 John 4:1-3; 2 John 7). Docetists believed "that Jesus Christ had appeared as a phantom form, that he had not had a real or natural body, and that his crucifixion had only been an illusion. . . . Consequently, Christ's resurrection and ascension into heaven were denied."[15] Thus, ". . . Christ only ‘appeared’ or ‘seemed[’] to be a man, to have been born, to have lived and suffered. Some denied the reality of Christ's human nature altogether, some only the reality of His human body or of His birth or death."[16]

Ebionites
The Ebionite sect, which was a branch of the Nazarenes, appeared in the second century. Ebionites objected to the deification of Jesus and denied the divinity of Jesus Christ, his pre-existence, and his virginal birth. Furthermore, they observed Jewish law, rejected Paul as an apostle, and used only the Gospel of Matthew.

Euchites
Euchites, also called Messalians, appeared in the latter part of the fourth century. Their doctrine was similar to the Manichaeans (q.v.). They believed that the Holy Spirit existed within them and inspired and possessed them. Euchites believed that one or more demons inhabited every person. However, the Holy Spirit could replace these demons. Even Jesus’ body once had demons.

Eunomians
A branch of the Arians called the Eunomians appeared in the fourth century (350–381) and vanished by the mid-fifth century. Their name came from Eunominus, bishop of Cyzicus. They believed "‘There is one God, uncreated and without beginning; who has nothing existing before him, for nothing can exist before what is uncreated; nor with him, for what is uncreated must be one; nor in him, for God is a simple and uncompounded being. This one simple and eternal being is God, the creator and ordainer of all things: first, indeed, and principally of his only begotten Son; and then through him of all other things. For God begat, created, and made the Son only by his direct operation and power, before all things, and every other creature; not producing, however, any being like himself, or imparting any of his own proper substance to the Son; for God is immortal, uniform, indivisible; and therefore cannot communicate any part of his own proper substance to another. He alone is unbegotten; and it is impossible that any other being should be formed of an unbegotten substance. He did not use his own substance in begetting the Son, but his will only; nor did he beget him in the likeness of his substance, but according to his own good pleasure; he then created the Holy Spirit, the first and greatest of all spirits, by his own power, in deed and operation mediately; yet by the immediate power and operation of the Son. After the Holy Spirit, he created all other things, in heaven and in earth, visible and invisible, corporeal and incorporeal, mediately by himself, by the power and operation of the Son, &c.’"[17]

Eutychians
Eutychianism appeared in the fifth century. Eutyches, a monk near Constantinople (Istanbul), is generally credited as the founder of this sect although the Eutychians did not claim him as a leader or founder. Eutyches developed his doctrine of Christ in opposition to the Nestorians (q.v.). He claimed that Christ had "‘only one nature, that of the incarnate Word,’ his human nature having been absorbed in a manner by his divine nature."[18] The divinity absorbed the humanity in Jesus.

Eutyches held "that nothing can be imposed as of faith which is not verbally to be found in Scripture."[19] (If theologians and civil leaders had held to this rule, much of the conflict and bloodshed over various theories of Christ would have been avoided, for they would not have traveled down the road of speculation.)

Eutychianism is closely related to Monophysitism (q.v.). However, some Monophysites condemned Eutyches.

"Strict Monophysitism, or Eutychianism, explains the one nature in Christ in one of four ways:
– the human nature is absorbed by the divine;
– the divine Word (Logos) disappears in the humanity of Christ;
– a unique third nature is created from the combination of the divine and human natures;
– or there is a composition (a natural whole) of humanity and divinity, without confusion."[20]

In 451, the Council of Chalcedon condemned the Eutychian doctrine. It declared that "‘in Christ two distinct natures are united in one person, and that without any change, mixture, or confusion.’"[21]

Eutyches’ doctrine of Christ as Jacob Baradaeus espoused it in the sixth century survives today in the Armenian (q.v.), Syrian Christian, Abyssinian, and Copt churches.

Gnostics
The Gnostics existed before Jesus and attached themselves to Christianity soon after its beginnings. Gnostics held that only they possessed the true knowledge of Christ and Christianity. Unlike most other religions and sects that hold salvation is through faith and works, Gnostics believe that salvation is through knowledge.

Gnosticism consisted of several pantheistic-idealistic sects. Included among them were the Basilidians (q.v.), Valentinians (q.v.), Simonians, Carpocratians, and Nicolaitans.

"The Gnostics considered Jesus Christ as the Son of God, and inferior to the Father, who comes into the world for the rescue and happiness of miserable mortals, oppressed by matter and evil beings; but they rejected our Lord’s humanity, on the principle that everything corporal is essentially and intrinsically evil; and therefore the greatest part of them denied the reality of his sufferings."[22] "Christ, the divine spirit, inhabited the body of the man Jesus and did not die on the cross but ascended to the divine realm from which he had come. The Gnostics thus rejected the atoning suffering and death of Christ and the resurrection of the body."[23]

Gnosticism peaked in the second century and had nearly vanished by the fifth century. Today, some form of Gnosticism appears in many new-age religions.

Lucianists
In the second century, Lucianus (Lucanus), a disciple of Marcion founded the Lucianists, or Lucanists. It was an offshoot of the Marcionites.

Luciferians
Luciferians appeared in the fourth century. They were followers of Lucifer, bishop of Cagliari. Luciferians believed in the Nicene doctrine of three persons in the Godhead.

Macedonians
The Macedonians, or Pneumatomachians, were a sect that appeared in the fourth century and lasted about 30 years. Macedonianism was based on the works of Macedonius and was similar to Arianism. In 381, the First Council of Constantinople condemned it.

Macedonians denied "the full personality and divinity of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit was defined as created by the Son and was thus subordinate to both the Father and the Son. In this, the essence of Jesus Christ was understood as similar to that of God the Father."[24]

Manichaeans
Manichaeans derive their name from Mani (215/216–276/277), who was also known as Manes and Manichaeus, who founded the sect in the latter half of the third century. Manichaeans blended the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism with Christianity and added Babylonian folklore and Buddhist ethics. They believed "in two eternal principles, from which all things proceed, namely, light and darkness, which are respectively subject to the dominion of two beings, one the god of good, and the other the god of evil."[25] The god of darkness created man with corrupt and mortal bodies. However, the souls were part of the eternal light and, therefore, subject to the god of light. "[T]o deliver the captive souls of men from their corporal prisons,"[26] the god of light created Christ and the Holy Ghost. He "sent Christ into the world, clothed with the shadowy form of a human body and not with the real substance, to teach mortals how to deliver the rational soul from the corrupt body, and to overcome the power of malignant matter."[27] Manichaeanism was a Gnostic religion. It was a dualistic religion of pure reason.

Mani rejected the historical Jesus. "Jesus Christ was to Mani but an aeon or persistent personification of Light in the world. . . . Christ appeared to be man, to live, suffer, and die to symbolize the light suffering in this world."[28]

Christ’s promise of the Comforter given in John 16:7-5, Manichaeans believed was fulfilled in the person of Mani.

By the sixth century, Manichaeanism had died out in the West. In the East, it survived until the thirteenth century.

Marcionites
Marcionites appeared in the second and third centuries. Marcion (c. 110–?), a priest from Sinope, founded this sect in 144. He applied "the old Oriental belief of two independent, eternal, co-existing principles, one evil and the other good,"[29] to Christianity. The God of the Old Testament was the bad god and the God of the New Testament was the good god. Man’s soul came from the good principle. However, the evil genius created his body and the whole visible world. This evil strived to keep man’s spiritual nature imprisoned to make the soul forget its pure and noble nature. Marcionites believed ". . . that the law of Moses, with its threats and promises of things terrestrial, was a contrivance of the evil principle in order to bind man still more to the earth; but the good principle, in order to dissipate these delusions, sent Jesus Christ, a pure emanation of itself, giving him a corporal appearance and a semblance of bodily form, in order to remind men of their intellectual nature, and that they cannot expect to find happiness until they are reunited to the principle of good from which they are derived."[30] Marcion rejected the Old Testament, so Christ was not the Son of the God of the Old Testament. He was the Son of the good God, who was not the God of the ancient covenant. God reveals Himself in Christ, who is the Son of God and is also God. Christ is God manifested instead of God incarnate. Thus, "the god of the New Testament was one of goodness who had no relation with this world, and had not acted in any way in its creation. . . . [He] sent Christ out of pure kindness, aiming at saving humans from the material world and to reveal the truth about existence. The crucifixion of Christ was an act that untied the human link to the creator god, setting him free and into a relation to the good god. Salvation was to help to [sic] soul free itself from the body."[31]

"Marcionism deviates from pure tenets of Gnosticism, in which the soul is created parallel to the material world and by the same deity. Also, contrary to pure Gnosticism's emphasis on knowledge and insight, Marcionism promotes faith as the central instrument in the redemption of the human soul. While Gnosticism largely were orientations reserved [for] the privileged, Marcionism was an open orientation promoting a message intelligible to the large masses."[32]

Marcionism was a Gnostic sect and was similar to Docetism (q.v.). In 325, the First Council of Nicaea condemned it.

Monophysites
Monophysites were followers of Severus, a monk of Palestine and later patriarch of Antioch, and Petrus Fullensis. They believed that Christ had one nature, a divine nature. ". . . the divine and human nature of Jesus Christ were so united as to form only one nature, yet without any change, confusion, or mixture of natures."[33]

In 680/681, the Sixth Ecumenical Council of Constantinople condemned Monophysitism and the Monophysites.

The Monophysite doctrine appears today in the Armenian Orthodox (q.v.), Syrian Orthodox, Copt and Abyssinian churches.

Nestorians
The Nestorians appeared in the fifth century. Nestorians take their name from Nestorius (d.c. 451) of Syria, bishop of Constantinople. Nestorians believe "‘that the divine nature was not incarnate in, but only attendant on, Jesus, being superadded to his human nature after the latter was formed.’"[34]

Nestorius disavowed this doctrine. He "held that Christ's human nature was complete but was conjoined with the Word by an external union."[35] He believed "that the divine Word was united to the human nature in Jesus Christ in the most strict and intimate sense possible; that these two natures, in this state of union, made but one Christ and one person; that the properties of the Divine and human natures may both be attributed to this person; and that Jesus Christ may be said to have been born of a virgin, to have suffered and died, but he never would admit that God could be said to have been born, to have suffered, or to have died."[36] Thus, two persons, human and divine, are incarnated in Jesus Christ. These two acted as one, but they were not joined together. Christ’s human nature, but not his divine nature, suffered and died.

They also held that Mary is not the mother of God. She was the mother of Jesus only in his humanity. His divine nature came from his father. (If, as Trinitarians claim, Jesus is God and Mary is his mother, then logically Mary is the Mother of God. Logically, the Catholics are right, and the rest of the orthodoxy that rejects her as the Mother of God is wrong.)

Barsumas, bishop of Nisibis, became the most zealous and successful Nestorian. "He differed considerably from Nestorius, holding that there are two persons in Jesus Christ, as well as the Virgin was not his mother as God, but only as man."[37]

In 431, the Council of Ephesus condemned Nestorius. The Council of Chalcedon reaffirmed the condemnation of Nestorianism in 451.

The Nestorian belief is still held today primarily in Western Asia in a highly modified form.

Origenists
Origenism appeared in the third century. The Origenists were followers of the teachings of Origen (185–253/254), who was a presbyter of Alexander.

"Origen attempted to synthesize Christian scriptural interpretation and belief with Greek philosophy, especially Neoplatonism and Stoicism."[38] He believed, "That the soul of Christ was united to the Word before the incarnation. For the Scriptures teach us that the soul of the Messiah was created before the beginning of the world, Phil. ii. 5, 7. This text must be understood of Christ's human soul because it is unusual to propound the Deity as an example of humility in Scripture. Though the humanity of Christ was so God-like, he emptied himself of this fulness of life and glory, to take upon him the form of a servant. It was this Messiah who conversed with the patriarchs under a human form; it was he who appeared to Moses upon the Holy Mount; it was he who spoke to the prophets under a visible appearance; and it is he who will at last come in triumph upon the clouds to restore the universe to its primitive splendor and felicity."[39]

In 553, The Council of Constantinople condemned Origenism.

Patripassians
Patripassionism or Modalistic Monarchianism is a form of Monarchianism. "The Patripassians believed in the divinity of Christ but regarded the Trinity as three manifestations, or modes, of a single divine being. They taught that the Father had come to earth and suffered and died under the appearance of the Son; hence their name (Latin pater; patris, "father"; passus, "to suffer")."[40] Patripassians sought to defend monotheism against tritheism of orthodox Trinitarianism "by denying the personal distinctiveness of a divine Son and Holy Spirit in contrast to God the Father."[41] Patripassionism differs from Adoptionism in that it declares the full deity of the Son by identifying the Son as the Father himself.

Paulianists
In the third century, Paulus Samosatenus of Samosata, bishop of Antioch, founded the Paulianists. Paulianism was an advanced form of Adoptionism. Paulianists believed "that the Son and the Holy Ghosts exist in God in the same manner as the faculties of reason and activity do in man; that Christ was born a mere man; but that the reason or wisdom of the Father descended into him, and by him wrought miracles upon earth, and instructed the nations; and, finally, that on account of this union of the Divine Word with the man Jesus, Christ might, though improperly, be called God."[42] "He depersonalized the Logos as simply the inherent rationality of God, . . . [and] denied the personal subsistence of the preincarnate Word."[43]

The Council of Nice condemned him in 269.

Sabellians
In the third and fourth centuries, a sect called the Sabellians appeared. They followed the teachings of Sabellius, a philosopher of Egypt. He taught "that there is but one person in the Godhead. . . . the Word and the Holy Spirit are only virtues, emanations, or functions of the Deity; and held that he who is in heaven is the Father of all things; that he descended into the Virgin, became a child, and was born of her as a son; and that having accomplished the mystery of our salvation; he diffused himself on the apostles in tongues of fire, and was then denominated the Holy Ghost."[44] ". . . God is three only in relation to the world, in so many ‘manifestations’ or ‘modes.’ The unity and identity of God are such that the Son of God did not exist before the incarnation; because the Father and the Son are thus one, the Father suffered with the Son in his passion and death."[45] "As Father it [Deity] revealed itself as Creator and Lawgiver. As Son it revealed itself as Redeemer. As Spirit it revealed itself as the giver of grace. These were three different modes revealing the same divine person."[46] Thus, the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit were not distinct persons or representations. God himself died on the cross. Sabellianism was a sophisticated form of Patripassionism.

Sabellians viewed Trinitarians as defectors from Christian monotheism. To support their doctrine, "Sabellianism points out that to God in the Bible, only the number One is ascribed. There is no mention of God being of the number Three."[47]

Trinitarians
The Trinitarians are the orthodox. They hold that the Godhead consists of three persons: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. These three persons are distinct from each other. "Thus, in the words of the Athanasian Creed: ‘the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God, and yet there are not three Gods but one God.’ In this Trinity of Persons, the Son is begotten of the Father by an eternal generation, and the Holy Spirit proceeds by an eternal procession from the Father and the Son. Yet, notwithstanding this difference as to origin, the Persons are co-eternal and co-equal: all alike are uncreated and omnipotent."[48] First formed in the second century, the Trinitarian doctrine was finalized in the fourth century.

The following compares the basic theories of Christ as held by the Monophysites, Nestorians, and Trinitarians (Catholics and the orthodox):

"Nestorians: One person, two hypostasis [personalities], two natures.
Catholics: One person, one hypostasis, two natures.
Monophysites: One person, one hypostasis, one nature."[49]

"Most modern Christian Theologians believe essentially this: That the One True God in Heaven Chose to share the human experience for 33 years; that He needed to make sure that all the other needs in the Universe were provided for during those years, so He needed to maintain a Presence in Heaven; that He wanted His human experience to be as ‘normal’ as was possible, so He arranged a Birth through Mary, and a childhood and early adulthood which did not include His (earthly) knowledge of Whom He really was (possibly through a Kenosis type ‘emptying’ of His Knowledge of His True Divinity) and that His earthly knowledge only learned of His True Divinity rather late in His human life. This situation resulted in His human existence, as Jesus, sometimes oddly asking His Own Divine existence, Whom He called Father, about various things."[50]

"The controversies between the Christians and the Jews concerning the Trinity centered for the most part about the problem whether the writers of the Old Testament bore witness to it or not, the Jews naturally rejecting every proof brought forward by their opponents."[51]

Valentinians
Valentinians were Gnostic who followed Valentinus (d.c. 160). His teachings merged Christianity with Greek and Oriental speculation. Valentinianism survived into the fifth century.
"He assumed, as the beginning of all things, the Primal Being or Bythos, who after ages of silence and contemplation, gave rise to other beings by a process of emanation. The first series of beings, the aeons, were thirty in number, representing fifteen syzygies or pairs sexually complementary. Through the weakness and sin of Sophia, one of the lowest aeons, the lower world with its subjection to matter is brought into existence. Man, the highest being in the lower world, participates in both the psychic and the hylic (material) nature, and the work of redemption consists in freeing the higher, the spiritual, from its servitude to the lower. This was the word and mission of Christ and the Holy Spirit. . . . He seems to have maintained the existence of three redeeming beings, but Christ the Son of Mary did not have a real body and did not suffer."[52] Unlike most other Christian sects that fought over Christ’s two natures, Valentinians declared that Christ had three figures or dimensions: spiritual, psychic, and body.

[Editors note: The original contains an appendix of the ecumenical councils of the first five centuries and their declarations pertaining to Christ.]

Endnotes
1. Virgil Vaduva, "Michael Crichton on Consensus," Dec. 9, 2006, http://blog.planetpreterist. com/index.php?query=Consensus&amount=0&blogid=3, Jul. 15, 2009.
2. C.A. Braising, "Monarchianism, Sabellianism, Patripassionism, Moralism," http://mb-soft.com/believe/txn/monarchi.htm, Jul. 5, 2009.
3. Ibid.
4. "Adoptionism," http://looklex.com/e.o/adoptionism.htm, Jul. 6, 2009.
5. "Amonoean" http://looklex.com/e.o/amonoean.htm. Jul. 6, 2009.
6. Vincent L. Milner, Religious Denominations of the World (Philadelphia: Bradley, Garretson & Co., 1872), p. 243.
7. Ibid.
8. Ibid.
9. Kaufmann Kohler and Samuel Krauss, "Arianism," Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906, 2002, http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=1757&letter=A&search=arian, Jul. 14, 2009.
10. "Arianism," http://looklex.com/e.o/arianism.htm, Jul. 5, 2009.
11. Milner, pp. 214-215.
12. Ibid., p. 461.
13. Ibid., pp. 462.
14. Ibid., p. 442.
15. "Docetism," http://looklex.com/e.o/docetism.htm, Jul. 5, 2009.
16. John Arendzen, "Docetae," The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 5. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05070c.htm, Jul. 12, 2009.
17. Milner, pp. 422-423.
18. Ibid., p. 330.
19. John Chapman, "Eutychianism," The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 5, New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1909.http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/05633a.htm, Jul. 4, 2009 .
20. Agnes Cunningham,"Monophysitism," http://mb-soft.com/believe/txc/monophys.htm. Jul. 5, 2009.
21. Milner, p. 331.
22. Ibid., p. 258.
23. Pheme Perkins, "Gnosticism," http://mb-soft.com/believe/txn/gnostici.htm, Jul. 5, 2009.
24. "Macedonianism," http://looklex.com/e.o/macedonianism.htm, Jul. 9, 2009.
25. Milner, p. 337.
26. Ibid.
27. Ibid.
28. John Arendzen, "Manich ism," The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 9, New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1910, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/09591a.htm, Jul. 4, 2009 .
29. Milner, p. 340.
30. Ibid.
31. "Marcionism," http://looklex.com/e.o/marcionism.htm, Jul. 5, 2009.
32. Ibid.
33. Milner, p. 437.
34. Ibid., p. 330.
35. Reginald H Fuller, "Nestorianism, Nestorius." http://mb-soft.com/believe/txc/nestoria.htm, Jul. 5, 2009.
36. Milner, p. 472.
37. Ibid., p. 468.
38. Ross Mackenzie, "Origen," http://mb-soft.com/believe/txo/origen.htm, Jul. 5, 2009.
39. Milner, p. 412.
40. C.A. Braising, "Monarchianism, Sabellianism, Patripassionism, Moralism" http://mb-soft.com/ believe/txn/monarchi.htm, Jul. 5, 2009.
41. Ibid.
42. Milner, p. 415.
43. C.A. Braising, "Monarchianism, Sabellianism, Patripassionism, Moralism" http://mb-soft.com/ believe/txn/monarchi.htm, Jul. 5, 2009.
44. Milner, p. 444-445.
45. Agnes Cunningham, "Sabellianism," http://mb-soft.com/believe/txn/sabellia.htm, Jul. 5, 2009.
46. C.A. Braising, "Monarchianism, Sabellianism, Patripassionism, Moralism" http://mb-soft.com/ believe/txn/monarchi.htm, Jul. 5, 2009.
47. "Sabellianism," http://looklex.com/e.o/sabellianism.htm, Jul. 6, 2009.
48. George Joyce, "The Blessed Trinity," The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 15, New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15047a.htm, Jul. 5, 2009.
49. John Chapman, "Monophysites and Monophysitism." The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 10, New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1911, http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/10489b.htm, Jul. 5, 2009.
50. Langdon Gilkey, "Trinity, Godhead," http://mb-soft.com/believe/text/trinity.htm, Jul. 5, 2009.
51. Kaufmann Kohler and Samuel Krauss, "Trinity," Jewish Encyclopedia, 1901-1906, 2002, http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/view.jsp?artid=338&letter=T&search=nestor, Jul. 14, 2009.
52. Patrick Healy, "Valentinus and Valentinians." The Catholic Encyclopedia, Vol. 15, New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1912. http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/15256a.htm, Jul. 4, 2009.

Copyright © 2009 by Thomas Coley Allen.

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