n in order to elevate the thoughts of
mankind. This docetic theory commended itself to many of the Greek
Christians. They were familiar with the notion of "the gods coming
down to them in the likeness of men." Greek mythology abounds in
instances of docetic incarnations. The gods of the popular religion
constantly assumed visible form during their temporary manifestations.

The ebionites threatened the Faith from the opposite quarter. They
taught that Christ was real man and only man. According to them, the
whole value of His life and work lay in His moral teaching and His
noble example; there is no mystery, no contact of divine and human in
Christ; what He attained, we all may attain. The ebionites were
recruited from the Jewish element in the Church. The rigid monotheism
of the Jews made it hard for them to conceive an intermediary between
God and man; they were naturally disposed to embrace a humanistic
explanation of Christ.

Docetism was elaborated by Valentinus, Manes and other gnostics and
adopted into their systems, while ebionitism provided the basis for the
Christologies of Paul of Samosata, of the Photinians and Adoptionists.
In contact with these heresies orthodox beliefs, originally fluid,
gradually hardened. The dogma "Christus deus et homo" had from the
beginning been held in the Church. Its full implications were not
realised and formulated until the conflict with error came. The
controversies of the third and fourth centuries threw into bold relief
the unity of the person and the perfection of the divinity and of the
humanity.

THE PROBLEM OF THE HYPOSTATIC UNION

The manner of the hypostatic union then became an urgent problem. The
Church of the fifth century was called upon to attempt a solution. Any
reading of the Gospels compelled the recognition of divine and human
elements in Christ; but speculative theology found it difficult to
reconcile that fact with the equally important fact of the unity of
person.

The theologians of the previous century had bequeathed little or no
guidance. The fifth-century Christologians were pioneers in an
unmapped region. Athanasius' great treatises on the incarnation are
hardly more than eloquent defences of the true deity and true humanity
of Christ. They contain little or no constructive Christology. Their
theme is, _autos enenthropesen_, _hina hemeis theopoiethomen_. He
maintains the fact, but does not deal with the "how." He uses the