Xavier Morales: “Modalism” – Critical Assessment of a Modern Interpretative Paradigm

The term “modalism” was never used during the Patristic era. Under this term, modern history of dogmas and theology merged several Patristic theological proposals together, respectively called “monarchians”, “patripasians”, “Noetians”, “Callixtians”, “Sabellians” etc. The justification for this merging comes from a common concern for preserving the unicity of God in its radicality to the point of levelling out the distinction between the persons of the divine Trinity. Actually, this common feature is imprecise and embraces a whole range of different proposals. The general assumption that there is either a genealogical or logical link between them is questionable.A global assessment of the historiographical and theological concept of “modalism” including a potential proposition for a new interpretative paradigm is highly required.The first step towards such an assessment consists in analysing the interpretative paradigm imposed at the end of the nineteenth century by highly influential exponents of the German history of dogmas such as Adolf von Harnack and Friedrich Loofs. “Modalism” combined with “adoptianism” opposed a Commonly called “theology of the Logos”. This interpretation persisted even up to the important studies of by Manlio Simonetti included in his Studi sulla cristología del II e III secolo(1993).