Review of Pásztori-Kupán István: Theodoret of Cyrus. The Early Church Fathers. London: Routledge 2006

Wickham, L. R.: Review of Pásztori-Kupán István: Theodoret of Cyrus. The Early Church Fathers. London: Routledge 2006. In: The Journal of Theological Studies 58 (2006), 389. pp.

The author, who teaches at the Hungarian Reformed Theological Institute in Transylvania, presents here a book based on his doctoral work at Edinburgh about his 'hero'. An introduction of 8o pages precedes a varied selection of annotated passages from Theodoret in translation. The almost exclusive theme of the book is Theodoret's Christology, which, it is suggested, has been regularly traduced. Good is the sympathy the author brings to his subject, as also is the budget of texts. The account of Theodoret's approach and terminology is basically reliable. Weaker is the analysis of what was at stake between Cyril and Theodoret and absent a description of the dialectic of their perceptible rapprochement. Theodoret's response to Cyril's Twelve Chapters (included here) has always seemed to me forced and fussy (Andreas's was much more to the point); his waning support for Diodore and Theodore and his condemnation of Nestorius signalled, surely, a considered and orderly retreat from untenable positions. Here, and in the account of the course of the Nestorian controversy, this quite useful book is not at its strongest.