This is a thesis paper I wrote for American Nation in my undergrad at CBC. In this paper I acknowledge the history of Modalistic (early Oneness) believers in the American colonies.
MODALISM IN EARLY AMERICA
Early America was settled by Europeans looking to start a fresh life.
Some families looked to the New World as a place of opportunity to own land and
raise a family. Others, however, sought refuge in the American colonies from
religious persecution in Europe. Several religious groups, such as the Puritans
and Pilgrims, are usually highlighted in the pages of text books. However, one
thing that is commonly overlooked is the Modalistic view of many of these early
American settlers.
Modalism is an anti-Trinitarian view not to be confused
with Unitarianism. Unitarianism is a doctrine that not only denies the doctrine
of the Trinity, but also rejects the deity of Jesus Christ.[1] Modalism,
however, is a name that has been ascribed by historians to those who reject the
Trinity and “believe in both the individual oneness of God and the full deity
of Jesus Christ.”[2] Modalism (now referred to
as “Oneness”) understands the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as manifestations,
modes, or relationships that the one God has displayed to man.
Prior to the
colonization of American, Modalistic Anabaptist suffered persecution in Europe
at the hands of both the Catholic Church and the Reformers. Martin Luther
disputed against Modalistic Anabaptist over the issues of the Godhead and
baptismal formula:
“The practice of
baptism in the name of Jesus Christ is no new phenomenon in the history of the
Church. Martin Luther encountered a dispute over the formula in his day.”[3]
John Calvin was instrumental in petitioning the
tribunals to sentence Michael Servetus, a Modalistic Anabaptist, to death, as a
heretic for re-baptism and for publishing his book On the Errors of the Trinity. On October 26, 1553, “the court found
Servetus guilty of anti-Trinitarianism and anabaptism . . . and condemned him
to be burned at the stake.”[4]
Anabaptist described themselves a pious Christians who had been baptized into
Christ and “speak with tongues.”[5]
Likewise, various sects of the Quakers or Friends movement also “denied the received
doctrine of the Trinity.”[6]
The Early Quakers saw no distinction between the pre-Incarnate Christ and the
Father. In addition, the Quakers understood the distinction between the Father,
Son, and Holy Spirit as “defined in terms of operation and manifestations
rather than of Persons.”[7]
Both Anabaptist and Quakers suffered persecution from the Church of England.[8]
Therefore many of these Anabaptists and Quakers sought asylum in American colonies.
In 1681, King Charles II awarded a charter to a large
piece of land in America to William Penn as payment for a debt the king owed
Penn’s father of sixteen thousand pounds sterling.[9]
Penn was anxious to secure this land as a both a retreat to those who suffered
religious persecution, and to establish a form of government which would serve
as an example to other nations.[10]
William Penn was well acquainted with religious persecution, having priorly
been imprisoned in England for attending Quaker meetings, and for publishing several
tracts including The Sandy Foundation
Shaken in which he condemned the doctrine of the Trinity as being a
tradition of man and nowhere found in Scriptures.[11]
Penn was falsely accused of denying the deity of Jesus Christ and confined to
the Tower of London unless he recanted his doctrinal beliefs. Later, Penn
answered this charge from prison with his tract Innocency with Her Open Face in which he stated that Jesus Christ
is “the same one holy, just merciful,
Almighty, and eternal God, who in the fulness of time took, and manifested in
the flesh,”[12]
thus further affirming his view of the deity of Christ.
Penn’s desire was for a colony free of religious
persecution. Although many Quakers had immigrated to North American, New
England Puritans were equally hostile to them as the Anglicans were in England.
Early Quaker meetings are described as members “quaking” or “trembling” under
the influence of the Holy Spirit.[13]
William Penn alluded that he had been baptized into Christ’s name[14]
and baptized with the Holy Ghost and fire.[15]
Thus, modalism and early forms of Pentecostalism made its way into North
America via the Quakers, the German Anabaptists, and other similar sects.
Shortly after the Great Awakening of Jonathan Edwards
and other Congregationalist, Unitarian churches began to form in America.[16]
However it may be that many of these congregations were unwarrantedly regarded
as Unitarian, when in fact they recognized the deity of Christ.[17]
Denominational beliefs were not as distinct from one another as they might be
today. For example, early Baptist churches declared in their articles of faith
that believers must be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission
of sins.[18]
Likewise, the early Plymouth Brethren “in some of their numerous ramification,
and other sects, have grounded upon the words, ‘be baptized, everyone of you,
in the name of Jesus Christ,’ a tenet that baptism should not be conferred in
the name of the Trinity, but in that of Jesus alone.”[19]
So, it is highly probable that various congregations or Christians sects in
early America were in fact Modalist.
It is interesting that whereas Quakers were active in
converting Puritans, Anglicans, and other denominations to Quakerism, Pennsylvania
was a sanctuary to all religious beliefs. The Christological views of early
American Quakers may have been eclipsed by William Penn’s political aspiration
of a colony or state with religious freedom, nevertheless, the religious
freedom he granted to all belief systems set the standard that would shape our
Constitution and our Nation. Likewise, the Modalistic views of early American
settlers helped pave the way for anti-Trinitarian or Oneness Christian revivals
of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.
Work
Cited
“A
Brief Confession or Declaration of Faith, 1660.” 1999. The Reformed Reader. 16 April 2016.
<http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/tsc.htm>
Bernard, David, The Oneness of God (Hazelwood, MO: Word
Aflame, 1993)
Blunt,
John Henry, ed., Dictionary of Sects,
Heresies, Ecclesiastical Parties and Schools of Religious Thought (London:
Rivingtons,1874)
Braght,
Thomas J. van, Martyrs Mirror of the
Defenseless Christians, trans. Joseph F. Sohm (Waterloo, Ont.: Herald
Press, 1938)
Hughes, Mrs. (Mary), The Life of William Penn (Boston: Monroe
& Francis, 1828)
Penn,
William, A Collection of the Works of
William Penn volume 1 (London: J. Sowle, 1726)
The Sandy Foundation Shaken (Trenton, NJ: Francis S. Wiggins, 1827)
Slick,
Matt. “What is Unitarianism?” n.d. CARM.
16 April 2016. <https://carm.org/what-unitariansism>
Stokes, G.T., The Acts of the Apostles (New York:
Armstrong, 1893)
Synan, Vinson, Aspects of Pentecostal - Charismatic Origins
(Plainfield, NJ: Logos Int., 1975)
Weisser, Thomas, Anti-Trinitarianism of Early Quakers
(n.p., 1985)
Williams, G.H., The Radical Reformation (Philadelphia:
Westminster Press, 1962)
[1] Slick, Matt. “What is Unitarianism?”
n.d. CARM. 16 April 2016. <https://carm.org/what-unitariansism>
[3]
Synan, Vinson, Aspects of Pentecostal -
Charismatic Origins (Plainfield, NJ: Logos Int., 1975) 158
[5] Braght, Thomas J. van, Martyrs Mirror of the Defenseless Christians,
trans. Joseph F. Sohm (Waterloo, Ont.: Herald Press, 1938) 400
[13] Blunt, John Henry, ed., Dictionary of Sects, Heresies,
Ecclesiastical Parties and Schools of Religious Thought (London:
Rivingtons,1874) 464
[18] “A Brief Confession or Declaration
of Faith, 1660.” 1999. The Reformed
Reader. 16 April 2016. <http://www.reformedreader.org/ccc/tsc.htm>
