Editing Reformation (section)

===Servetus and the ''Restoration of Christianity''===

[[File:Servet Christianismi restitutio.gif|thumb|right|alt=A page with printed text|Title page of the ''Restoration of Christianity'' (1553) by [[Michael Servetus]]]]

The first radicals who rejected the dogma of Trinity were put on trial in Augsburg in 1527. A scholar from [[Kingdom of Navarre|Navarre]] [[Michael Servetus]] (d. 1553) adopted [[Nontrinitarianism|antitrinitarian]] theology in the 1530s. MacCulloch proposes that Servetus rejected the Trinity, a dogma extremely offensive to Jews and Muslims, because he wanted to present Christianity as a [[Universalism|universal religion]].{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=182–183}} After studying medicine and anatomy in Paris,{{refn|group=note|Servetus was one of the first to discover the [[pulmonary circulation]].{{sfn|Lindberg|2021|p=253}}}} Servetus became the court physician of the elderly [[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Vienne|Catholic archbishop of Vienne]] in southern France. While in [[Vienne, Isère|Vienne]], he sent the first (unpublished) versions of his theological work, the ''Restoration of Christianity'' to Calvin. He disrespectfully described the Trinity as a three-headed [[Cerberus]], attacked infant baptism, and denied original sin. He also wrote insulting comments on Calvin's ''Institutes''. The ''Restoration'' was published anonymously in Lyon in 1553, but the Catholic Inquisition identified Servetus as its author by using documents from Calvin's personal files. Servetus fled from France but attended a church service delivered by Calvin in Geneva. He was recognised and arrested, and the urban authorities sentenced him to death with Calvin's consent. He was burned at the stake on 27 October 1553.{{sfn|Lindberg|2021|p=253}}{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|pp=237–238}}

Bucer, Melanchthon and other leading Protestant theologians agreed with Servetus's execution. Only the Basel-based schoolmaster and Bible translator [[Sebastian Castellio]] (d. 1563) condemned it in a manifesto for religious toleration. He also addressed a letter to Calvin, echoing Erasmus his [[Erasmus#Death_in_Basel|posthumous benefactor]], stating "To burn a heretic is not to defend a doctrine, but to kill a man".{{sfn|Lindberg|2021|pp=254–255}} Erasmus was a Trinitarian himself, but had noted that the theological formulation had [[Development of doctrine|developed]] from the time of the Apostles, which fueled many subsequent antitrinitarians who took this to mean it that the idea was unbiblical.  {{refn|group=note|Erasmus' ideas also were re-expressed in Basel by exiled Italian reformer [[Celio_Secondo_Curione|Cælio Secondo Curione]] who in 1554 produced a book on God's mercy ''Coelii secundi curionis de amplitudine beati regni dei''. Curiusly, this book was re-write of a re-re-translation of Erasmus' 1524 ''[[Works_of_Erasmus#Concio_de_immensa_Dei_misericordia_(1524)|De immensa Dei misericordia]]'' which presented an [[De_libero_arbitrio_diatribe_sive_collatio#Background|alternative]] to the Lutheran/Calvinistic emphasis on pre-destination: God was not arbitrary but merciful.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Overell |first1=M. Anne |title=The Cambridge Connection and the ‘Strangeness’ of Italian Reformers, 1547–1556 |journal=The Cambridge Connection in Tudor England |date=29 November 2021 |pages=180–204 |doi=10.1163/9789004382251_008}}</ref>}}

Antitrinitarian theology survived among Italian exiles in Basel. [[Lelio Sozzini]] (d. 1562), a scholar from [[Siena]], argued that Biblical texts calling Jesus "[[Son of God (Christianity)|Son of God]]" did not refer to his divinity but to his faultless humanity. His nephew, [[Fausto Sozzini]] (d. 1604) rejected [[original sin]] and the [[Satisfaction theory of atonement|theory of satisfaction]] (the concept that Christ's sufferings brought about atonement to God the Father for the original sin). Their followers became known as [[Socinians]].{{sfn|Kaufmann|2023|p=228}}

After Servetus's execution Calvin strengthened his position as the leading figure of Reformed Protestantism.{{sfn|MacCulloch|2003|p=238}} In Geneva, the Libertines rose up but they were quickly overcame, and forced into exile or executed. The confiscation of the property of the wealthy [[Ami Perrin]] (d. 1561) and his family provided the city with funds to create an academy. It served both as a preparatory school for local youths and as a [[seminary]] for Reformed ministers. Calvin's chief assistant [[Theodore Beza]] (d. 1605) was appointed as its first rector. The academy quickly developed into a principal center of theologian training for students from all over Europe, earning Geneva the nickname "the Protestant Rome". It was especially popular among French Protestants.{{sfn|Eire|2022|pp=120–121}}