For thousands of years the true nature of Jesus Christ has been widely debated. Christology is the theology devoted to studying the human and divine natures and roles of Jesus Christ. Many interpretations and viewpoints have been formed and disputed since the death of Christ up to present times.

Three major councils were organized to discuss the teachings and understandings of Jesus early in the first millennium. The discussions at Nicaea (A.D. 325), Constantinople (A.D. 381), and Chalcedon (A.D. 451) were developed into creeds that explained their belief in terms of the nature of Christ. These three creeds insisted that Christ was fully a man and fully God, not one or the other or part of both.

There were many other early perspectives of Christology in the Christian church. Each viewpoint had its individual varying forms and degrees. These are the basic convictions of the most prominent ones:

Docetism: This doctrine preached that Christ was

The Adoptionists contend that Christ was a man who was adopted by God and made holy at his baptism. He first had a human nature, and developed into a deity after he was baptized. After several tries, Adoptionism was successfully denounced at the end of the 8th century.

"Christology." Microsoftc Encartac Online Encyclopedia 2000

http://www.mormons.org/basic/christ/christology_eom.htm (Nov. 13, 2000)

There are several other theories of Christology that have been preached over the centuries aside from these. It would take a paper much longer than this to discuss all of them. Many of the ones here are similar and some even combine several beliefs. All believe that Christ is either of human nature, divine nature, some fraction of each, or developed into one or the other. There is only one theology that insists Christ is fully a divine and human being at the same time.

Marcionism: Marcion, son of the bishop of Sinope, disputed traditional Jewish

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