To clarify further the dynamics of the inter-tradition conflict between Cyril and Julian, Chapter 8 turns from Against Julian to Cyril’s similarly named Against Nestorius. These two texts are strikingly similar, almost as if Cyril followed a formal rubric by which to write polemical treatises. Yet Julian was a Hellene, and Nestorius (notwithstanding some of Cyril’s snide intimations) a Christian. Juxtaposing Cyril’s two polemical treatises allows us to see more clearly the inter-tradition narrative conflict with Julian in contrast with the intra-tradition conflict with Nestorius. Cyril and Nestorius presume the same narrative framework, and vis-à-vis the out-narrating dynamic of Cyril’s and Julian’s engagement, the course of their arguments and shape of their rationality show it, even as they reach diametrically opposed conclusions on a question central to their tradition. The chapter concludes with a list of likely features that will mark texts advancing narrative conflict.

This chapter provides an overview of the Nestorian controversy, including the background and aftermath of the Councils of Ephesus (431) and Chalcedon (451). Additionally, the chapter traces the distinct ecclesiological trajectories that emerged from these Christological debates.