The Christmas Councils: Upholding Christ's Humanity in the Ecumenical Councils, 451-787AD

A lecture with Q&A by Davenant Teaching Fellow, Dr. Matthew Hoskins Today, Christians must defend the idea that Christ is God. Yet for much of church history, they had to defend the idea that he is human. How, and why, did they do it? In this lecture, Dr. Matthew Hoskin explores how the last four of the Seven Ecumenical Councils upheld the truth that God really became flesh. Beginning with the confession of "one person in two natures" from Chalcedon (451), the lecture will then explore its influence on the symphonic vision of Maximus the Confessor and Constantinople III (681), and how John of Damascus and Nicaea II (787) articulated the full impact of the incarnation and God's intrusion into our lives and our worship. Understanding these councils will cause us to bow in worship of the Triune God and his works as we celebrate Christmas.