Theotokos is from Greek theos + tokos. Theos (G2316) is God and tokos (G5110) means birth, or "the act of bringing forth". Both are masculine nouns in biblical Greek. It is a traditional title given to Mary as "Mother of God". The term is highly valued in the Roman and Eastern Church but has diminishing value around protestants and evangelicals.
There is an uneasiness with this term because it seems to suggest Mary begat or was the source of God. Mary, only flesh, could only contribute to that which is flesh and it would be heretical to imply she can contribute to that which is divine. The term has been traditionally been accepted at least since the third century and it came into debate in the around the nestorian controversy. Nestorius refused the term Theotokos and thought Christotokos (Mother of Christ) was a more theologically correct title for Mary.
But you need to dig deeper to really understand these terms and the face value of them often get misrepresented by all. Nestorius was a Nicene Christian and tried to reconcile the incarnation of Christ and combat Arianism. By doing so he came up with a christology that shows Christ with 2 prosopon (divinity and flesh) conjoined together to produce one prosopon that is Christ that we worshiped and interact with. He refused to used the terms union and preferred conjunction of divinity and man. He felt using the term Theotokos affirmed Arianism by identifying the divinity of Christ as created so he thought Christotokos was much better. His position was widely misunderstood and despite his repeated attempts of defending his position that the Word and Flesh were not numerically 2 he was accused of trying to divide Christ; in his defense he was merely trying to workout an undeveloped theology but his position actually contributed to the now orthodox doctrine of Christ with 2 natures.
Cyril of Alexandria haughty debated the issue and was the leading antagonist to Nestorius. This lead to what is know today as the Council of Ephesus where Nestorius was excommunicated and his teaching called hersey and Cyril's defended position (through rebuttal letters made to Nestorius) became orthodox which was a position where the Word became inseparable with flesh upon conception, one hypostasis being the eternal word in a new state but he had an undeveloped sense of 2 natures of Christ. Cyril's position won which led to the later Council of Chalcedon where the doctrine of the nature of Christ was more articulated based on Cyril's original position but in an ironic twist it had more reconciled nestorian positions in it. Because of this we are called Chalcedonian Christians.
At the start of this was a debated term Theotokos, Nestorius took an unorthodox approach and it was looked at as an attack of not Mary but Christ; an unarticulated doctrine, that the incarnate flesh is fully God and fully Man upon conception, inseparable in full union. Christotokos is look at as a term that doesn't fully express this and may suggest the person Jesus became Christ or was adopted into this role but did not start this way (like saying the mother of the president). What this reveals is inherently at the heart of the Theotokos is less about defending who Mary is and more about defending who Christ is. Mary can rightly be called the "Mother of God" but this doesn't imply she is the source of the existence of God as one can argue with the term "Mother" The context of the title is that upon conception the Word became inseparable with flesh and just as the Word was fully God and fully flesh, Mary was also fully a Mother to the incarnation. She is Christotokos but she is also Theotokos.
There is an uneasiness with this term because it seems to suggest Mary begat or was the source of God. Mary, only flesh, could only contribute to that which is flesh and it would be heretical to imply she can contribute to that which is divine. The term has been traditionally been accepted at least since the third century and it came into debate in the around the nestorian controversy. Nestorius refused the term Theotokos and thought Christotokos (Mother of Christ) was a more theologically correct title for Mary.
But you need to dig deeper to really understand these terms and the face value of them often get misrepresented by all. Nestorius was a Nicene Christian and tried to reconcile the incarnation of Christ and combat Arianism. By doing so he came up with a christology that shows Christ with 2 prosopon (divinity and flesh) conjoined together to produce one prosopon that is Christ that we worshiped and interact with. He refused to used the terms union and preferred conjunction of divinity and man. He felt using the term Theotokos affirmed Arianism by identifying the divinity of Christ as created so he thought Christotokos was much better. His position was widely misunderstood and despite his repeated attempts of defending his position that the Word and Flesh were not numerically 2 he was accused of trying to divide Christ; in his defense he was merely trying to workout an undeveloped theology but his position actually contributed to the now orthodox doctrine of Christ with 2 natures.
Cyril of Alexandria haughty debated the issue and was the leading antagonist to Nestorius. This lead to what is know today as the Council of Ephesus where Nestorius was excommunicated and his teaching called hersey and Cyril's defended position (through rebuttal letters made to Nestorius) became orthodox which was a position where the Word became inseparable with flesh upon conception, one hypostasis being the eternal word in a new state but he had an undeveloped sense of 2 natures of Christ. Cyril's position won which led to the later Council of Chalcedon where the doctrine of the nature of Christ was more articulated based on Cyril's original position but in an ironic twist it had more reconciled nestorian positions in it. Because of this we are called Chalcedonian Christians.
At the start of this was a debated term Theotokos, Nestorius took an unorthodox approach and it was looked at as an attack of not Mary but Christ; an unarticulated doctrine, that the incarnate flesh is fully God and fully Man upon conception, inseparable in full union. Christotokos is look at as a term that doesn't fully express this and may suggest the person Jesus became Christ or was adopted into this role but did not start this way (like saying the mother of the president). What this reveals is inherently at the heart of the Theotokos is less about defending who Mary is and more about defending who Christ is. Mary can rightly be called the "Mother of God" but this doesn't imply she is the source of the existence of God as one can argue with the term "Mother" The context of the title is that upon conception the Word became inseparable with flesh and just as the Word was fully God and fully flesh, Mary was also fully a Mother to the incarnation. She is Christotokos but she is also Theotokos.
