Skip to main content
Glite Dictionary
Nestorian belief

Nestorian belief

9.9
A Christian teaching that says Jesus has two separate natures, human and divine
  • noun
  • /nɛsˈtɔːriən bɪˈlif/
  • Specialized
translation icon : creencia nestoriana
  • The Nestorian belief highlights a clear separation between the divine and human aspects of Jesus.

Examples

  • The Nestorian belief emphasizes the dual nature of Christ.

  • The council condemned the Nestorian belief as heretical in 431 AD.

  • Scholars continue to debate the influence of Nestorian belief on early Christian thought.

  • Some churches in the Middle East retain elements of Nestorian belief today.

  • Many scholars study Nestorian beliefs in early Christianity.

  • Many ancient texts discuss the Nestorian belief and its impact on Christian theology.

  • In the 5th century, the church officially addressed the Nestorian belief, viewing it as a significant doctrinal issue.

Synonyms

Nestorianism
vsNestorian belief
  • Specialized
9.9

A Christian belief that Jesus is both God and a human with two separate natures

is the same doctrine but differs only in name and grammatical form

Surface Forms

Nestorian belief singular
Nestorian beliefs plural

Morphology

Nestorian + belief

The noun phrase is a straightforward adjective + noun composition: a B1 learner who knows 'Nestorian' (relating to Nestorianism) and 'belief' will naturally interpret this as the beliefs held by Nestorians. This is a literal, non-idiomatic combination and follows a cross-linguistically common pattern of naming doctrinal positions, so the meaning is transparently derivable from the parts.

Etymology

Nestorian belief comes from a church leader named Nestorius who lived in the 400s. He taught that Jesus had two separate natures, 'human' and 'divine', so the phrase means the teaching that stresses those 'two natures'.