Word.ws English Dictionary

fish-hook theory

fish-hook theory proper noun: a Christus Victor theory of atonement associated with Gregory of Nyssa, in which Satan is tricked into accepting Christ's humanity as ransom, thereby being caught by his divinity.

Proper noun

fish-hook theory

  1. A Christus Victor theory of atonement associated with Gregory of Nyssa, in which Satan is tricked into accepting Christ's humanity as ransom, thereby being caught by his divinity.

Origin of fish-hook theory

From the metaphor of a fishhook: the deity of Christ (the "hook") hidden within his humanity (the "bait"), which Satan accepts as ransom for humanity.

Questions about fish-hook theory

What does fish-hook theory mean?
Fish-hook theory means a Christus Victor theory of atonement associated with Gregory of Nyssa, in which Satan is tricked into accepting Christ's humanity as ransom, thereby being caught by his divinity.
What part of speech is fish-hook theory?
Fish-hook theory is a proper noun.

Words near fish-hook theory in the dictionary

  1. fish-handler's disease
  2. fish-hawk
  3. fish-hawks
  4. fish-head
  5. fish-heads
  6. fish-hook theory
  7. fish-horn
  8. fish-horns
  9. fish-house
  10. fish-houses
  11. fish-kettle

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: fish-hook theory (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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