The Scylla and Charybdis of Libertarian Christology

Abstract

Any Christology that posits a libertarian sense of free agency to Christ in his humanity is caught in a dilemma between two conciliar heresies. If it affirms the orthodox view that Christ has two wills (dyothelitism), then it succumbs to Nestorianism. If, in order to avoid Nestorianism, it affirms only one will in Christ (monothelitism), then not only has it rejected orthodoxy with respect to the number of wills, but it has also likely embraced some variant of Apollinarianism. Applying a compatibilist sense of free agency to Christ in his humanity is a way to avoid the dilemma altogether.