Early Christological Heresies

Adoptionism

Adoptionism says that Jesus was a human being who was "adopted" by God at his conception, at which point he developed a divine nature

Docetism

Docetism says that Christ was not a real human being and did not have a real human body. He only seemed to be human to us. In a nutshell...Christ only (no Jesus)

Ebionism

The Ebionites were a group of Christian Jews who denied that Christ was God incarnate and claimed that he was just a good teacher

Nestorianism

believed that Jesus Christ had two natures -- man and God

Arianism

Jesus Christ was thought of as a special creation by God for man's salvation. Arianism was the form of Christianity that the Goths adhered to, and it was popular in all the areas they conquered, including Italy, Spain, and Africa.

Eutychianism

a specific understanding of how the human and divine relate within the person of Jesus Christ

Modalism

he doctrine that the persons of the Trinity represent only three modes or aspects of the divine revelation, not distinct and coexisting persons in the divine nature.

Monophysitism

is the Christological position that, after the union of the divine and the human in the historical Incarnation, Jesus Christ, as the incarnation of the eternal Son or Word

Apollinarianism

this heresy says that Jesus Christ was not a real man, but not totally divine either. Apollinarians suggested that he had a human body and a human soul, but his mind was taken over by the eternal Logos.