Have you ever explained the rules of football to someone, or the workings of a car engine? It is not easy to put into concise, lucid prose. Yet if an attempt is made to explain briefly the deliberations of the Council of Chalcedon on the nature of Christ, say, the terminology itself is often regarded as a criticism of Christian thinkers rather than a reflection of the hardness of the task.In The Times, Oliver Moody last week had a brave shot at explaining an agreement on Christology by both sides of the Anglican-Oriental Orthodox International Commission, while assuring readers that “the text is baffling”. The Times noted that the Copts, Armenians and Syrians who broke away after Chalcedon are now often “called the Miaphysites because of their belief that Christ had one