[Vision2020] John Calvin's Pursuit of Michael Servetus

[nickgier at adelphia.net]

Greetings:

As we have seen from a recent post, there are some in the Kirk who wish to exonerate John Calvin from any association with Unitarian Michael Servetus' martydom in 1553.  All that he did, according to this revisionist history, is testify about Servetus' heresy at his trial.

The fact is that Calvin had been gunning for Servetus ever since Servetus had refused to show up for a debate in Paris.  After the publication of his book "On the Errors of the Trinity," Servetus had taken on an assumed name and had done wonders working as a doctor.  (Servetus discovered pulmonary circulation before Harvey did.)  Calvin discovered his disguise and turned him in to French authories, but they initially failed to act. When they finally did, Servetus managed to escape.

Here is a direct quote from a letter that Calvin sent to Jerome Bolsec: "Servetus desries to come hither [to Geneva], on my invitation; but I will not plight my faith to him; for I have determined, did he come, that I would never suffer him to go away alive."

Appearing to have a death wish, Servetus did go through Geneva on his way to Italy.  Only Calvin knew his face, and he happened to be a church in Geneva where Servetus had stopped to pray.  

No one else in Geneva would have recognized him, and no one else in the world wanted Servetus dead more than John Calvin.  As the highest theological authority in Geneva, Calvin made sure that Servetus did not leave Geneva alive.

Those interested in my own debate on the Trinity with the Kirk can read the entire exchange at www.class.uidaho.edu/ngier/trinity.htm. Happily, there have been no burnings at the stake in Friendship Square--not yet anyway!

Nick Gier, Proud Unitarian,
but friend to many good Trinitarians without a Serrated Edge