text: Part 1
  
  Cyril can be criticized. First, some background.
  
  There are two major approaches to the study of Christ and our relationship to him. "Descending christology" says that movement towards God is possible only because God reaches out to us first. "Ascending christology" begins with the premise that we can grasp God only in the context of our experience.
  
  In the early Church, descending christology was associated with Alexandria. They said, "only that which is assumed is healed". If we are to be redeemed, God had to take on human nature in its entirety. The Alexandrines said little about Jesus' humanity. 
  
  Ascending christology starts with the human Jesus, and was associated with the school of Antioch. In explaining how Jesus’ divine and human selves cooperated, Antiocenes compared it to marriage, citing Ephesians 5:31, "And the two shall be made one". The problem with this analogy is that it makes the union of divinity and humanity external. Marriages can break down.