Adoptianism

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The Adoptionism denotes a Christological doctrine that Jesus Christ is not essentially God , but only an adopted Son of God man was.

Adoptianism in the pre-Sican period

In the second century, Gentile Christians like Theodotus the tanner tried to maintain monotheism in the Christian faith from a Greek-philosophical perspective by refusing to confess Jesus Christ as God. Rather, the man Jesus of Nazareth was adopted as the Son of God when he was baptized in the Jordan because of his fear of God. God endowed him with the power of his spirit , whereby this spirit is not understood in the sense of God's own hypostasis as in the later doctrine of the Trinity .

Paul of Samosata took a similar position in the third century , with the difference that he saw adoption as given not at baptism but at the virgin conception of Jesus. Paul of Samosata attached particular importance to the sole rule (monarchy) of God, which should be preserved by the fact that Jesus Christ was not viewed as an independent divine person, but as the bearer of the power (Greek δύναμις , dýnamis ) of God. For this reason, the teaching of Paul of Samosata is also called dynamic or dynamic monarchianism .

Through the Confession of Nicaea formulated at the first Ecumenical Council , which teaches that Jesus Christ is “true God from true God”, adoptianist positions are condemned as heretical .

Adoptian Positions in the Middle Ages

Spanish adoptianism was brought forward by the Metropolitan Elipandus of Toledo († after 800), originally to defend the humanity of Jesus, as proclaimed by the Council of Chalcedon (451) alongside his divinity. The adoptian doctrine that Christ is “filius adoptivus” with regard to his humanity and “filius proprius” with regard to his deity, emphasizes two natures of Jesus Christ. However, this statement contradicts the Chalcedonian-Christological creed of the one person Jesus Christ in a hypostatic union .

Furthermore, when considering early medieval adoptionism, the Roman Carolingian overemphasis on the divine in Christ, for which the theology of the time stood, must not be disregarded. These reasons gave rise to the Synod of Regensburg 792 , they were one of the occasions for the Synod of Frankfurt 794 and gave the impetus for the Synod of Aachen 799 , which each condemned adoptianism as heresy .

The so-called habitus theory , founded in the 12th century by Petrus Abelardus and developed by Petrus Lombardus , logically contains Antiochene adoptionism, when Christ's humanity is described in the image of the acceptance of the humanity of Christ by the Son of God like a dress by the wearer.

In the fourteenth century, Durandus de San Porciano and others suggested that Christ as a man could be called the Son of the Holy Spirit by adoption. Wilhelm von Ockham and Gabriel Biel allow the expression “filius adoptivus”.

See also

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ See e.g. B. Theodor Schneider (Ed.): Handbook of Dogmatics. Volume 1. Patmos, Düsseldorf 1992, ISBN 3-491-77042-4 , p. 326.
  2. ^ So Alois Grillmeier : Adoptianism. In: Lexicon for Theology and Church (LThK). 3rd edition, vol. 1. Herder, Freiburg i. Br .; Basel; Rome 1993, ISBN 3-451-22001-6 , Sp. 165 (167)
  3. ↑ Alois Grillmeier: Adoptianism. In: Lexicon for Theology and Church (LThK). 3rd edition, vol. 1. Herder, Freiburg i. Br .; Basel; Rome 1993, ISBN 3-451-22001-6 , Sp. 165 (167)