Spanish Adoptionism (or Adoptianism) was a Christian theological position which was articulated in Umayyad and Christian-held regions of the Iberian Peninsula in the 8th and 9th centuries.
The issue seems to have begun with the claim of archbishop Elipandus of Toledo that – in respect to his human nature – Jesus Christ was adoptive Son of God.
[3][4] Historically, many scholars have followed the Adoptionists' Carolingian opponents in labeling Spanish Adoptionism as a minor revival of "Nestorian" Christology.
[6] Elipandus (c. 716–805), bishop of Muslim-controlled Toledo, was the first well-known advocate of this "Adoptionist" christology, which he articulated in response to the position of another Spanish writer, Migetius.
[8]Elipandus, unlike Arius or Nestorius, held to a strict singular personhood in the incarnation, that of the eternal, divine Son.
Some, like Ansprenger, have claimed that Elipandus' Christology bears similarities to that of the earlier Antiochene theologian Theodore of Mopsuestia and may indicate a line of influence from Nestorian sources.
[16] Charlemagne as well grew concerned by reports of heresy in his new Pyrenees territories, and commissioned his own response to the Adoptionist teaching, spearheaded by his erudite court scholar Alcuin of York.
[22] Other Carolingian attacks on Adoptionism were composed by Benedict of Aniane,[23] Paulinus II of Aquileia (Three Books Against Felix),[24] and later, by Agobard.
According to Pelikan, the orthodox Catholic consensus held that the key error of Spanish Adoptionism was to make Christ's sonship a predicate of his two natures rather than on his single personhood.
Cavadini stresses that for all that Beatus and Elipandus might disagree, they drew inspiration from a common Christological tradition different from that of the theologians on the other side of the Pyrenees.
Rather, Cavadini claims, they drew on the unique theological heritage of Iberian Christianity, with a heavy reliance upon Augustine of Hippo, Hilary of Poitiers, and Isidore of Seville.