Ferdinand (king of Aragon from 1479) and Isabella (queen of
Castile from 1474) were married in 1469 thus uniting the thrones of Aragon and
Castile. This united kingdom, coupled
with money from gold imported from America and the renaissance flowering of
culture in Europe caused Spain to enter a glorious age with many developments
in the arts and science. Into this time
frame Michael Servetus was born in 1511. He suggested the theory that blood
circulated around the body, a novel concept at that time, yet he also attacked
conventional notions of the Trinity. For
these he was condemned by the Sorbonne and forbidden to teach in Paris. Some chapters of his Systematic Theology book
“The Restoration of Christianity” were sent to Calvin for comments. Calvin was opposed to them and so alerted the
Inquisition. Servetus was prosecuted by
the church in Geneva for blasphemy. This
carried a sentence of death. The
government of Geneva accepted the Church decision and Servetus was burned in
1553.
About Servetus, Calvin wrote to his colleague Guillame
Farel: He [Servetus] should ask pardon of God whom he has so basely blasphemed
in his attempt to efface the three persons in the one essence saying that those
who recognise a real distinction in the one God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit
create a three headed hound of hell.
In Spain, Servetus was a ground breaking scientist. In Geneva
he was a heretic. The same person
was viewed in different ways. How many people do you know in our twenty first
century society who can be viewed in such polarised ways?
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