The Library
1577 works catalogued century by century, from the literature the Bible was written among to the present — each with a note on what it is, why it lasted, and where to read it.
201–300
4 works
c. 200–210
Greek
Hippolytus of Rome · c. 170 – c. 235
A refutation of the Smyrnaean who taught that the Father himself was born and suffered, arguing from the scriptures that the Word is distinct from the one who sent him without there being two Gods.
c. 213
Latin
Adversus Praxean
Tertullian · c. 155–c. 220
Against the view that Father and Son are merely names for one figure, Tertullian works out a God who is one substance in three persons, and a Christ of two conditions in one person.
c. 231–248
Greek
Origen of Alexandria · c. 185–c. 253
An immense line-by-line exposition, begun to answer a Valentinian commentary on the same gospel, spending a whole book on the opening words alone.
c. 245–250
Latin
De Trinitate
Novatian · c. 200–c. 258
A careful exposition of the rule of faith: God the Father almighty, the Son who is truly God and truly man, and the Holy Spirit — written before the vocabulary of Nicaea existed.
301–400
3 works
c. 320; survives in fragments
Greek
Arius · c. 256–336
A popular verse exposition, apparently written to be sung, arguing that the Son is the first and greatest of creatures, made before time but not eternal.
c. 339–345
Greek
Orationes contra Arianos
Athanasius of Alexandria · c. 296–373
Three long discourses arguing text by text that the Son is eternally begotten, and that if he were a creature then creatures would be worshipping a creature.
c. 375–380; survives in fragments
Greek
Apollinaris of Laodicea · c. 310 – c. 390
A friend of Athanasius who pressed the unity of Christ until something had to give: the Word took a human body and a human animal soul, but stood himself in the place of the human mind, because two complete beings cannot become one and two wills would be two persons.
401–500
9 works
c. 425–429
Greek
Cyril of Alexandria · c. 376–444
A vast doctrinal commentary reading the fourth gospel as a sustained demonstration of the Word made flesh, with heavy emphasis on the eucharist as the flesh that gives life.
430
Greek
Cyril of Alexandria · c. 376–444
Twelve propositions appended to a letter to Nestorius, each condemning a way of dividing Christ, and demanding subscription.
c. 438
Greek
Cyril of Alexandria · c. 376–444
A late dialogue restating the case that the one who was born, suffered, and died is the eternal Word himself and not a man joined to him.
447
Greek
Theodoret of Cyrus · c. 393–c. 460
Three dialogues against the view that Christ's humanity was absorbed into his divinity, arguing that the Word remained unchangeable and impassible while genuinely human.
449
Latin
Leo the Great · c. 400–461
A letter to the bishop of Constantinople setting out in plain Latin that Christ is one person in whom two natures each act according to their own character.
440–461
Latin
Leo the Great · c. 400–461
Ninety-six short sermons for the feasts and fasts of the Roman year, in a compressed and balanced Latin built for oral delivery.
c. 450
Syriac
Nestorius · c. 386–c. 451
A long self-defence written in exile under a pseudonym, arguing that the author had never taught what he was condemned for and welcoming Leo's Tome as his own position.
451
Greek
The Council of Chalcedon
One Christ in two natures, without confusion, without change, without division, without separation — four negatives marking the boundaries beyond which speech about Christ goes wrong.
c. 450–550
Latin
Quicunque Vult
Anonymous
A long rhythmic confession of the Trinity and the incarnation, stating each proposition and its converse, and framed by warnings about the necessity of holding the catholic faith.
501–600
4 works
c. 512–513
Latin
Contra Eutychen et Nestorium
Boethius · c. 477–524
A short treatise applying strict logical definitions to the christological question, and defining a person as an individual substance of a rational nature.
512–538
Syriac
Severus of Antioch · c. 465–538
The correspondence and preaching of the greatest Miaphysite theologian, surviving almost entirely in Syriac translation after the Greek was destroyed.
c. 543
Greek
Leontius of Byzantium · c. 485–c. 543
A technical defence of Chalcedon arguing that Christ's humanity has no independent person of its own but subsists within the person of the Word.
553
Greek
The Second Council of Constantinople
Fourteen anathemas condemning the Three Chapters and clarifying Chalcedon in Cyrilline terms, with Origenism condemned in the same period.
601–700
5 works
c. 605–615
Syriac
Babai the Great · c. 551–628
A systematic christology of two natures and two hypostases in one person of union, worked out for a church living under Persian rule with no emperor to appeal to.
634
Greek
Sophronius of Jerusalem · c. 560–638
A newly elected patriarch's statement of faith, insisting against the imperial compromise that Christ has two natural activities, not one.
645
Greek
Maximus the Confessor · c. 580–662
The transcript of a public debate at Carthage in which Maximus argues that a will belongs to a nature rather than a person, so Christ must have two.
680–681
Greek
The Third Council of Constantinople
The sixth ecumenical council declares two natural wills and two natural operations in Christ, the human will always freely following the divine.
c. 686
Greek
Hodegos
Anastasius of Sinai · c. 630–c. 700
A practical manual for arguing with Miaphysites, including definitions of the technical terms, advice on debating tactics, and warnings about opponents' tricks.
701–800
2 works
754; survives in refutation
Greek
The Council of Hieria
The iconoclast council's ruling that any image of Christ either divides his natures or confuses them, and that the only permitted image is the eucharist.
785
Latin
Beatus of Liébana and Etherius of Osma
A furious reply to the archbishop of Toledo, who had taught that Christ in his humanity is God's son by adoption rather than by nature.
801–900
1 work
c. 856–870
Syriac
Nonnus of Nisibis · 9th century
A defence of Christian doctrine written in Armenia against both Muslim objections and rival Christian christologies, by a scholar imprisoned in Baghdad.
1501–1600
1 work
1583
Spanish
De los Nombres de Cristo
Luis de León · 1527–1591
Three friars by a river discuss the names scripture gives Christ — shepherd, mountain, father of the age to come — in prose of great deliberate beauty.
1601–1700
1 work
1623
French
Pierre de Bérulle · 1575–1629
A christocentric spirituality of adoration and self-abasement before the incarnate Word, with the human person defined by its capacity to be possessed by God.
30 of 1577 works