Jesus’s humanity—he was one among other humans. In its
extreme form, this position diminished the divine character of
Christ, seeing it as something only bestowed on him by God,
rather than his “by nature.”• A constant rival to Antioch, Alexandria in Egypt, with its museum
and library, was one of antiquity’s great intellectual centers. It was a
center for mathematicians, scientists, philosophers, and poets.
o Alexandria was also the main source of Hellenistic Jewish
literature, above all, that of Philo, who was deeply influenced
by Plato and used the allegorical method in interpreting
the Septuagint.
o The birth of Christianity in Alexandria is obscure; it is possible
that the Letter to the Hebrews, with its strong Platonic outlook,
was written by Apollos of Alexandria.o The catechetical school at Alexandria was founded by
Pantaenus (d. c. 190), a convert from Stoic philosophy; the
school counted among its teachers the highly intellectual
Clement and Origen.o The intellectual tendency of Alexandria was Platonist, with an
emphasis on the spiritual rather than the empirical and with a
liberal use of allegory in scriptural interpretation.o The view of Jesus in Alexandria emphasized his divinity
more than his humanity (logos/sarx) and tended toward
monophysitism. In its benign form, this emphasis recognized
the fact that in Christ, God was at work for the salvation of
humans. In its extreme form, it denied the humanity of Jesus
and saw the divine as simply making use of a human body.• The patriarchs of Alexandria and Antioch were all too willing
to employ the favor of the emperor to assert and advance the
theological claims of their respective cities and, at the same time,
the prominence of their churches.