Cyril Of Alexandria And The Nestorian Controversy

Table Of Contents
Introduction
I. The Tapestry Of Cyril’s Episcopacy From Egypt To The Imperial City
1. Confrontation In The Early Episcopacy
2. Political Alliance And The Onset Of Controversy
3. The Reception Of Nicaea
4. The Meeting Of The Council
II. The Rhetoric Of The Nestorian Debates
5. Rhetorical Style And Method In The Conciliar Homilies Of Cyril
6. The Rhetorical And Interpretive Method Of Nestorius
7. From A Tentative Resolution To The Renewal Of Controversy (431 To 451 AD)
Epilogue

Additional Info
Description
What were the historical and cultural processes by which Cyril of Alexandria was elevated to canonical status while his opponent, Nestorius, bishop of Constantinople, was made into a heretic? In contrast to previous scholarship, Susan Wessel concludes that Cyril’s success in being elevated to orthodox status was not simply a political accomplishment based on political alliances he had fashioned as opportunity arose. Nor was it a dogmatic victory, based on the clarity and orthodoxy of Cyril’s doctrinal claims. Instead, it was his strategy in identifying himself with the orthodoxy of the former bishop of Alexandria, Athanasius, in his victory over Arianism, in borrowing Athanasius’ interpretive methods, and in skilfully using the tropes and figures of the second sophistic that made Cyril a saint in the Greek and Coptic Orthodox Churches