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ADOPTIANISM
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ADOPTIANISM . As the theological See also:doctrine of the See also:Logos which bulks so largely in the writings of the apologists of the and See also:century came to the front, the trinitarian problem became acute. The See also:necessity of a See also:constant protest against polytheism led to a tenacious insistence on the divine unity, and the task was to reconcile this unity with the deity of Jesus See also:Christ. Some thinkers See also:fell back on the " modalistic " See also:solution which regards " See also:Father " and " Son " as two aspects of the same subject: but a simpler and more popular method was the " adoptianist " or humanitarian. Basing their views on the synoptic Gospels, and tracing descent from the obscure See also:sect of the Alogi, the Adoptianists under Theodotus of See also:Byzantium tried to found a school at See also:Rome c. 185, asserting that Jesus was a See also:man, filled with the See also:Holy Spirit's See also:inspiration from his See also:baptism, and so attaining such a perfection of holiness that he was adopted by See also:God and exalted to divine dignity. Theodotus was excommunicated by the See also:bishop of Rome, See also:Victor, c. 195, but his followers lived on under a younger teacher of the same name and under See also:Artemon, while in the See also:East similar views were expounded by Beryllus of Bostra and See also:Paul of See also:Samosata, who undoubtedly influenced See also:Lucian of See also:Antioch and his school, including See also:Arius and, later, See also:Nestorius. There is thus a traceable See also:historical connexion between the See also:early adoptian controversy and the struggle in See also:Spain at the end of the 8th century, to which that name is usually given. It was indeed only a renewal, under new conditions, of the conflict between two types of thought, the rational and the mystical, the school of Antioch and that of See also:Alexandria. The writings of See also:Theodore of Mopsuestia had become well known in the See also:West, especially since the strife over the " three chapters " (544-553), and the opposition of See also:Islam also partly determined the See also:form of men's views on the doctrine of Christ's See also:person. We must further remember the dyophysitism which had been sanctioned at the See also:council bf See also:Chalcedon. About 78o Elipandus (b. 718), See also:archbishop of See also:Toledo, revived and vehemently defended the expression Christus Filius Dei adoptivus, and was aided by his much more gifted friend See also:Felix, bishop of Urgella. They held that the duality of natures implied a distinction between two modes of sonship in Christ—the natural or proper, and the adoptive. In support of their views they appealed to scripture and to the Western Fathers, who had used the See also:term " See also:adoption " as synonymous with " See also:assumption " in the orthodox sense; and especially to Christ's fraternal relation to Christians—the See also:brother of God's adopted sons. Christ, the firstborn among many brethren, had a natural See also:birth at See also:Bethlehem and also a spiritual birth begun at his baptism and consummated at his resurrection. Thus they did not See also:teach a dual See also:personality, nor the old Antiochene view that Christ's divine exaltation was due to his sinless virtue; they were less concerned with. old disputes than with the problem as the Chalcedon decision had See also:left it—the relation of Christ's one personality to his two natures. Felix introduced adoptian views into that See also:part of Spain which belonged to the See also:Franks, and See also:Charlemagne thought it necessary to assemble a See also:synod at See also:Regensburg (Ratisbon), in 792, before which the bishop was summoned to explain and justify the new doctrine. Instead of this he renounced it, and confirmed his renunciation by a See also:solemn See also:oath to See also:Pope See also:Adrian, to whom the synod sent him. The recantation was probably insincere, for on returning to his See also:diocese he taught adoptianism as before. Another synod was held at See also:Frankfort in 794, by which the new doctrine was again formally condemned, though neither Felix nor any of his followers appeared. In this synod See also:Alcuin of See also:York took part. A friendly See also:letter from Alcuin, and a controversial pamphlet, to which Felix re-plied, were followed by the sending of several commissions of See also:clergy to Spain to endeavour to put down the See also:heresy. See also:Arch-bishop Leidrad (d. 816) of See also:Lyons, being on one of these commissions, persuaded Felix to appear before a synod at See also:Aix-la-Chapelle in 799. There, after six days' disputing with Alcuin, he again recanted his heresy. The See also:rest of his See also:life was spent ulslier the supervision of the archbishop at Lyons, where he died in 816. Elipandus, secure in his see at Toledo, never swerved from the adoptian views, which, however, were almost universally abandoned after the two leaders died. In the scholastic discussions of the 12th century the question came to the front again, for the doctrine as framed by Alcuin was not universally accepted. Thus both See also:Abelard and See also:Peter Lombard, in the See also:interest of the immutability of the divine substance (holding that .God could not " become " anything),213 gravitated towards a Nestorian position. The See also:great opponent of their Christology, which was known as Nihilianism, was the See also:German See also:scholar Gerhoch, who, for his bold assertion of the perfect interpenetration of deity and humanity in Christ, was accused of Eutychianism. The proposition See also:Deus non factus est aliquid secundum quad est homo was condemned by a synod of See also:Tours in 1163 and again by the Lateran synod of 1179, but Adoptianism continued all through the See also:middle ages to be a source of theological dispute. See A. See also:Harnack, Hist. of See also:Dogma, esp. vol. v. pp. 279-292 ; R. Ottley, The Doctrine of the Incarnation, vol. i. p. 228 if., vol. ii. pp. 151-161 ; See also:Herzog-Hauck, Realencyk., See also:art. " Adoptianismus." (A. J. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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