IV. Michael Servetus and the Polish Brethren

The time to replace superstition with rational thinking arrived in Geneva via Italy and then to Poland.

Anabaptism

In my previous article III. Why did Calvin execute Servetus, I attempted to explain how one of the key Reformers behaved so inconsistently with his own values by causing Michael Servetus to be executed. We know, of course, Servetus was executed twice – first by Catholic authorities in France during 1553 then again by Calvinist Genevan authorities in 1553. The former did little damage to him. His effigy went up in flames. The latter did him in.

At least he was given the dignified execution for heretics by being burned alive at a stake, to, I suppose, give him time to repent.

Both John Calvin and the French Catholics denounced Servetus for believing and promoting a heresy. Michael Servetus had wrote a series of books that described a view of the Trinity and baptism that outraged them. (He rejected the Trinity and argued only adults can be baptized.) Yet Catholics and Calvinists were primed to look out for any signs of heresies, especially John Calvin. He had been dealing aggress…