4th–5th centuries

"Logos-man" and "Logos-flesh": the Antiochene and Alexandrian christologies

Once the divinity of the Son was considered settled, the question arose of how divinity and humanity are related in Jesus Christ; according to Pelikan, the dispute was waged by Alexandria and Antioch. The Alexandrians ("Logos-flesh") insisted on the unity of the person even at the expense of the human nature; the Antiochenes ("Logos-man") affirmed the union of the Word with a complete man and were ready to concede on the unity of the person. Eustathius, Diodore of Tarsus and Theodore of Mopsuestia stressed the distinction of the natures: the Word dwelt in Jesus "as in a temple", according to Theodore "by good pleasure" and "as in a Son". Pelikan classifies differently: the theology of the hypostatic union (John 1:14, Cyril), the theology of the indwelling Logos (John 2:19, Col 2:9, Theodore, Nestorius), and the Latin christology of states and kenosis (Phil 2:6–11; Hilary, Augustine, Leo). All sides started from the common premise of the impassibility of the divine nature.