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This chapter examines the Christological concepts and terms employed by Theodoret in the Nestorian controversy and in the movements that eventually led to a shaky peace with Cyril in the years 432-5. An examination of the texts shows that the Christology of this period is exactly what was uncovered in De Incarnatione Domini. The discovery of that work as Theodoret's allows us to see more clearly how the texts of 431-5 are to be interpreted, which in turn allows us to settle some of the disagreements among earlier students of Theodoret's works. The materials examined in this chapter include the Reprehensio XII Anathematismorum, undertaken early in 431 at the request of John of Antioch as a rebuttal from the Antiochene side to Cyril's third letter to Nestorius with its subjoined twelve anathemas or chapters; Epistles 150-79, which are concerned with the Nestorian crisis, the Council of Ephesus, and its aftermath; a few epistles from Collectio Casinensis, a Latin version of events surrounding Ephesus and the Union Creed of 432-3; and the few fragments of the Pentalogos which are extant, a work written by Theodoret against the Cyrillian Council of Ephesus.

The Nestorian controversy was Leo's first major experience of theological controversy. His reliance on yet disappointment with Cassian as a theological expert showed how much Leo had to learn. His knowledge and understanding of Cyril of Alexandria was partial; Cyril and Cassian gave him a misleading view of Nestorius, but through Cassian he was introduced to Augustine's Christology through the retraction of Leporius.

Having briefly surveyed various inadequate approaches to the Nestorian controversy, the author shows that the protection of the unqualified divine impassibility from being compromised by any involvement in suffering was at the heart of Theodore’s and Nestorius’ christology. Nestorians charged Cyril with being an advocate of theopatheia. In response, Cyril developed a doctrine of God’s appropriation of human suffering and insisted upon the divine self-emptying in the incarnation.

Gives detailed analyzes of Boethius’ five short theological treatises. In particular, it examines the use of Aristotelian physics in the treatise written against the Nestorian and Monophysite views on Christology, the discussion of how far Aristotle's Categories can be used in talking about God and in analyzing the Trinity, and the ontological scheme, and argument about abstraction set out in Treatise III. Boethius is presented as an important innovator in theological method.

Discusses missionary activity and the creation of churches outside the boundaries of the Roman Empire during the first centuries of Christianity. The subjects covered include Armenia, Persia, the Nestorian Church in Syria, the Iberian Church in Georgia, Christianity among the Arabs, the Copts of the Nile valley, and the Church of Ethiopia. All were detached from the doctrines and customs normative in the Greek churches, but not all were Monophysite.

The Introduction examines the narrative of doctrinal development at play in the history of the ecumenical councils, in their refinement of the doctrine of the Incarnation and the Trinity. It highlights the contested theology of Origen, and his place in a broader Christian Platonism, in the negotiation of orthodoxy through the fourth and fifth centuries. Origen’s controversial understanding of human origins and personal freedom is then related to the reappearance of the same issues in the later Pelagian controversy. The Introduction closes by situating the beginning of Augustine’s maturity in the 390s, the point of intersection between the Origenist and Pelagian crises.

The Epilogue draws together the themes of the preceding chapters, and offers concluding remarks. It is organized around the story of the philosopher G. W. Leibniz's attempts to verify Jesuit accounts of the Nestorian Christian monument in China (the Sigan-Fu stone) by searching for a medieval Arabic travel text which was rumoured to offer independent evidence of the stone's existence. The case reveals both the uses and the limitations of the antiquarian approach to Oriental studies.

This chapter addresses the social roots and effects of doctrinal conflict during the Nestorian controversy. It examines the dispute over Nestorius from the perspective of the Antiochene network that supported and then abandoned him and describes the social actions of Antiochene clerics as they fractured and reassembled their network. It suggests that Theodoret of Cyrrhus' successful mediation in this controversy can be credited to a well-timed rationale for reforming his community.

The Empire of Theodosius's administrative, cultural, linguistic, and religious homogeneity was remarkable in such a level of coherence that had never been achieved before over the same area, and never would be achieved again after the seventh century. Deviations from the ideal of an integrated Greek-speaking Christian state and society were a minor problem compared to the fact that uniformity of Christian belief and practice could not be attained. The hostile designations were given by outsiders to endless Christian subgroups alleged to be guilty of false belief and haunted the pages of Christian writers, just as they did the pronouncements of the Emperor. Theodosius's pronouncements of 435 represented a step in the evolution of the greatest of all the issues over doctrine, which was the Nestorian controversy.