Christology

Christology is a branch of Christian 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.

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. 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 a human who was "adopted" by God at his baptism, crucifixion, or resurrection. Prior to 2007, the scholarly consensus was that the divinity of Christ was a later development, though most scholars now argue that a high Christology existed prior to Paul.

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", affirmed by most of the major branches of Western Christianity and Eastern Orthodoxy, and rejected by the Oriental Orthodox Churches which subscribe to Miaphysitism as articulated by Second Council of Ephesus, where it affirmed the first Council of Ephesus's doctrine of one composite divine-human nature after the union.

Christology (from the Greek χριστός, khristós, 'anointed one' and -λογία, -logia), literally 'the understanding of Christ', is the study of the nature (person) and work (role in salvation) of Jesus Christ. It studies Jesus Christ's humanity and divinity, and the relationship between these two aspects; as well as the role he plays in salvation.

Ontological Christology analyzes the nature or being of Jesus Christ. Functional Christology analyzes the works of Jesus Christ, while soteriological Christology analyzes the "salvific" standpoints of Christology.

Theologians may take several different approaches to Christology. For example:

A fundamental Christological teaching describes Jesus Christ as possessing two natures: human and divine; debates have emerged regarding the unity of these natures. According to post-Chalcedonian definitions, the human and divine natures of Jesus Christ apparently (prosopic) form a duality, as they coexist within one person (hypostasis). In the Oriental Orthodox paradigm, these two natures unite to create one composite nature that is fully human and fully divine. There are no direct discussions in the New Testament regarding the dual nature of Christ as both divine and human, and since the early days of Christianity, theologians have debated various approaches to the understanding of these natures, at times resulting in ecumenical councils, and in schisms.

Some historical christological doctrines gained broad support: