Le modèle sotériologique et l’histoire de la doctrine valentinienne. Une évaluation critique de la thèse d’Einar Thomassen

This article is a critical evaluation of Einar Thomassen’s thesis, according to which the Valentinian doctrine evolves from the Eastern to the Western school. E. Thomassen starts his classfication from the classical separation of Valentinism in two schools – Eastern and Western – and he traces the evolution of the Valentinian doctrine, relying on the extant historical testimonies and also, on the inner logic of the Christological doctrine’s evolution from one spiritual nature of the Saviour to his double nature (spiritual and psychical). In this article I tried to question E. Thomassen’s thesis of the two christological and soteriological models, through a comparative analysis of direct and indirect sources. I tried to show that such a perspective over the Valentinian doctrine’s evolution is difficult to maintain if we are to abandon the heresiologists’ assumptions (specially those of Irenaeus of Lyon) on Valentinism.