Here's a pretty neato half hour audio lecture on the Theotokos and though many protestants reject the Theotokos I thought I might share. It goes through the bible and explains a little as to why we consider the blessed Mary, ever-virgin etc. If you click (and I did it right) an audio file will start playing or you will be asked if you want to save the audio file to your computer.
CLICK ME!
Also, here's a little on Nestorianism. Notice the year here and keep in mind the year that the canonization of scripture took place. The rejection of the term Theotokos relates to the splitting of his two natures.
Nestorius (c. 386–c. 451) was a pupil of Theodore of Mopsuestia in Antioch in Syria (modern Turkey) and later became Archbishop of Constantinople. He taught that the human and divine aspects of Christ were distinct natures, not unified. He preached against the use of the title Mother of God (Theotokos) for the Virgin Mary and would only call her Mother of Christ (Christotokos). He also argued that God could not suffer on the cross, as he is omnipotent. Therefore, the human part of Christ died on the cross, but not the divine.
His opponents accused him of dividing Christ into two persons: they claimed that proposing that God the Word did not suffer and die on the cross, while Jesus the man did, or that God the Word was omniscient, while Jesus the man had limited knowledge, implied two separate persons with separate experiences.
Nestorius responded that he believed that Christ was indeed one person (Greek: prosopon), though not one hypostasis. Opposed by Cyril of Alexandria, Nestorius was condemned at the First Council of Ephesus in 431.
The Council held that Christ is one hypostasis, and that the Virgin Mary is the mother of God. The condemning pronouncement of the Council resulted in the Nestorian schism and the separation of the Assyrian Church of the East from the Byzantine Church.[1] However, even Ephesus could not settle the issue, and the Byzantine Church was soon split again over the question of whether Christ had one or two natures, leading to the Chalcedonian schism.
-- wiki
Of course if you want to get a much better understanding of the heresy of Nestorianism, there are probably a lot of online resources but they might not be protestant... (just warning you)
For more in depth audio study on the blessed Theotokos CLICK CLICK - 9 more audio studies on the subject
God bless
CLICK ME!
Also, here's a little on Nestorianism. Notice the year here and keep in mind the year that the canonization of scripture took place. The rejection of the term Theotokos relates to the splitting of his two natures.
Nestorius (c. 386–c. 451) was a pupil of Theodore of Mopsuestia in Antioch in Syria (modern Turkey) and later became Archbishop of Constantinople. He taught that the human and divine aspects of Christ were distinct natures, not unified. He preached against the use of the title Mother of God (Theotokos) for the Virgin Mary and would only call her Mother of Christ (Christotokos). He also argued that God could not suffer on the cross, as he is omnipotent. Therefore, the human part of Christ died on the cross, but not the divine.
His opponents accused him of dividing Christ into two persons: they claimed that proposing that God the Word did not suffer and die on the cross, while Jesus the man did, or that God the Word was omniscient, while Jesus the man had limited knowledge, implied two separate persons with separate experiences.
Nestorius responded that he believed that Christ was indeed one person (Greek: prosopon), though not one hypostasis. Opposed by Cyril of Alexandria, Nestorius was condemned at the First Council of Ephesus in 431.
The Council held that Christ is one hypostasis, and that the Virgin Mary is the mother of God. The condemning pronouncement of the Council resulted in the Nestorian schism and the separation of the Assyrian Church of the East from the Byzantine Church.[1] However, even Ephesus could not settle the issue, and the Byzantine Church was soon split again over the question of whether Christ had one or two natures, leading to the Chalcedonian schism.
-- wiki
Of course if you want to get a much better understanding of the heresy of Nestorianism, there are probably a lot of online resources but they might not be protestant... (just warning you)
For more in depth audio study on the blessed Theotokos CLICK CLICK - 9 more audio studies on the subject
God bless
