Tertium quid

November 23, 2009

(Latin, “the third way”)

This phrase was first used in the fourth century to refer to the Apollinarians solution to the question “Is Christ God or man?” The Apollinarians were said to have offered a “third way” in which Christ was neither God nor man. This phase is used generally to refer to a solution to a problem where there seems to be only two mutually exclusive alternatives. The dictionary refers to it as “something that cannot be classified into either of two groups considered exhaustive.” For example, in Christianity Evangelicalism is often thought of as the tertium quid to liberalism and fundamentalism. Molinism is often said to offer a tertium quid to Calvinism and Arminianism. Often the tertium quid is a resolution that offers compromise, but it can also be the option that offers a both/and approach.

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