Chalcedonian Christianity

{{refimprove|date=June 2014|reason=The edit history indicates most of this article came from the tops of editor's heads. If it is not WP:OR, sources need to be disclosed.}}{{Short description|Branch of Christianity that accepts the Council of Chalcedon}}

Chalcedonian Christianity is the branches of Christianity that accept and uphold theological resolutions of the Council of Chalcedon, the fourth ecumenical council, held in AD 451.{{sfn|Meyendorff|1989|p=165-206}} Chalcedonian Christianity accepts the Christological Definition of Chalcedon, a Christian doctrine concerning the union of two natures (divine and human) in one hypostasis of Jesus Christ, who is thus acknowledged as a single person (prosopon).{{sfn|Grillmeier|1975|p=543-550}}{{sfn|Meyendorff|1989|p=167-178}} Chalcedonian Christianity also accepts the Chalcedonian confirmation of the Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed, thus acknowledging the commitment of Chalcedonism to Nicene Christianity.{{sfn|Meyendorff|1989|p=171-172}}{{sfn|Kelly|2006|p=296-331}}

Chalcedonian Christology is upheld by Catholicism, Eastern Orthodoxy, Lutheran, Anglican, Calvinist, and most branches of Protestantism, and thus comprises the overwhelming majority of Christianity.{{Cite web |date=19 December 2011 |title=Global Christianity: A Report on the Size and Distribution of the World's Christian Population |url=https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2011/12/19/global-christianity-exec/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130730062627/http://www.pewforum.org/christian/global-christianity-exec.aspx |archive-date=30 July 2013 |access-date=17 August 2012 |website=Pew Research Center}}

Chalcedonian Christology

Those present at the Council of Chalcedon accepted Trinitarianism and the concept of hypostatic union, and rejected Arianism, Modalism, and Ebionism as heresies (which had also been rejected at the First Council of Nicaea in AD 325). Those present at the council also rejected the Christological doctrines of the Nestorians, Eutychians, and Monophysites.

The Chalcedonian doctrine of the Hypostatic Union states that Jesus Christ has two natures, divine and human, possessing a complete human nature while remaining one divine hypostasis. It asserts that the natures are unmixed and unconfused, with the human nature of Christ being assumed at the incarnation without any change to the divine nature. It also states that while Jesus Christ has assumed a true human nature, body and soul, which shall remain hypostatically united to his divine nature for all of eternity, he is nevertheless not a human person,{{Cite web |title=Is Jesus a Human Person? |url=https://www.ncregister.com/blog/is-jesus-a-human-person |access-date=2023-02-05 |website=National Catholic Register|date=9 December 2016 |language=en|author-first1=Steven D. |author-last1=Greydanus}}{{Cite web |title=Jesus Is Not a Human Person |url=https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/is-jesus-a-human-person |access-date=2023-02-05 |website=Catholic Answers}}{{Cite web |title=Was Christ a Divine-Human Person? {{!}} Reasonable Faith |url=https://www.reasonablefaith.org/writings/question-answer/was-christ-a-divine-human-person |access-date=2023-02-05 |website=www.reasonablefaith.org |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Person (in theology) {{!}} Encyclopedia.com |url=https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/person-theology |access-date=2023-02-05 |website=www.encyclopedia.com}} as human personhood would imply a second created hypostasis existing within Jesus Christ and violating the unity of the God-man.

The Hypostatic Union was also viewed as one nature in Roman Christianity by a minority around this time.{{Cite book |last=Olupona |first=Jacob K. |url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/839396781 |title=African Religions: A Very Short Introduction |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=2014 |isbn=978-0-19-979058-6 |location=Oxford |pages=90 |oclc=839396781}} Single-nature ideas such as Apollinarism and Eutychianism were taught to explain some of the seeming contradictions in Chalcedonian Christianity.{{Citation needed|date=February 2023}}

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Chalcedonian Christianity

Chalcedonian Christology

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See also