I. Servetus and a divided Europe
These series of articles about Michael Servetus are dedicated to my favourite History Professor, Dr. Werner Otto Packull (1941-2018) of the University of Waterloo.
Reading time: 12 min
Dedication: Dr. Werner Otto Packull
I credit Dr. Werner Packull of the University of Waterloo’s History department for instilling in me the joy of “History.” He ensured my research papers were fact-checked, well-written and had a persuasive argument. I managed the fact-checking and persuasiveness part well-enough. It was the well-written part that was the problem. For him, at least in the early courses, was an endless battle of trying to decipher what exactly I was on about. Over four years I eventually I managed to achieve the well-written part, to some degree.
Professor Packull insisted a history paper needed to tell a good story. When I earned my History degree he confided in my that my early work was like spaghetti - going everywhere except to the main point. I spent far too many paragraphs going on side-journeys that seemed a distraction to the focus. But I have learned ov…
