• Tuesdays, May 12 - June 9/16?, 2015 (5-6 sessions), 7:00 - 8:15 p.m.

• Emails: add to list?

• Slides: frederickuu.org/UUHistory

• $5/session, requested but not required (for UUCF Operating Fund to cover building expenses, childcare, etc. which allow these classes to be offered — not to the instructor.)

• Fall 2015?

• Banned Questions about the Bible 1 of 4,

• CSAI: Wealth Inequality,

• Peter Singer Ethics) Covenant

• Use “I” statements: speak from your own experience.

• Ask permission before sharing other participants’ stories outside the group.

• Step-up, step-back: be conscious of the level of participation that you bring to the conversation. Allow everyone a chance to speak before you speak again.

• You always have permission to “pass.” “History: Uses & Abuses”

3 (1511 - 1553), c.f. 1517

• 1531: De Trinitatis Erroribis (“On the Errors of the ”) - read Bible for himself and discovered there was “not one word about the Trinity.” (He was only age 20.)

• Earl Morse Wilbur: “independent study of the Bible must be regarded as the most fundamental of all the influences that combined in shaping the Unitarian movement.” [Howe 134] `

• 1455: Gutenberg

• 1531: On the Errors of the Trinity - neither the place nor name of the printer appeared on the books

• 1533: The Restoration of Christianity: manuscript was burned leaf by leaf as the printed pages were set to type. [Inquisition]

• Today: “Google is the new Gutenberg”

“All Is Forgiven” Michael Servetus (1511 - 1553), c.f. 1517

• “Faith is with respect to God, love is with respect to God and to our neighbor… Loving is more difficult than believing…. There is nothing that makes us more like God than love because God is love… Loving, not believing, is a property of

divine nature.” [Greenwood/Harris 2]

• Connects to today: Poly/ortho-praxy; deeds not creeds; covenantal (not creedal), ethics over theology Motive: restitution/restoration of “Original/Pure Christianity

• //: Jefferson, Priestley, etc.

• Karen King: “The beginning is often portrayed as the ideal to which Christianity should aspire and conform. Here Jesus spoke to his disciples and the gospel was preached in truth. Here the churches were formed in the power of the Spirit and Christians lived in unity and love with one another….

• But what happens if we tell the story differently? What if the beginning was a time of grappling and experimentation? What if the meaning of the gospel was not clear and Christians struggled to understand who Jesus was…?” (The Gospel of Mary of Magdala, 158)

• [Hollis Chair of Divinity at Harvard!] NT: No “homoousios”?!

• “In place of a doctrine whose very terms — Trinity, hypostasis, person, substance, essence — were not taken from the Bible but invented by philosophers, and whose Christ was little more than philosophical abstraction,

• [Servetus] wished to get men to put their faith in a living God, in a divine Christ who had been a historical reality, and in a Holy Spirit forever working in the hearts of men.”

• [Sounds similar to the later emphasis in Emerson and elsewhere on not secondhand, but firsthand religion! Reason/Experience] Integration of Science and Theology • Galen (129 – c. 200/216 CE): blood continuously generated in the liver to which it never returns, having been consumed in the nutriment of the body. Blood aerated in the left ventricle of the heart. (Servetus also incorrectly thought blood originated in the liver.)

• Servetus: Through dissection [minister- scientist], 1st in the West to grasp the circuit of the blood in the heart and lungs.

• Scientific discovery announced in his work on theology.

• [//: Priestly and Oxygen] Calvin’s Motive against Servetus: perceived need to keep Christianity “Pure” • “purge Christianity of such filth, such deadly pestilence” (107).

• From the Death Sentence: “you have obstinately tried to infect the world with your stinking heretical poison….”

• Thus, “desiring to purge the church of God of such infection and cut off the rotten member…” (141).

• “Nothing about any political offense.” In 1553, Murdered/Martyred for the heresies of anti- Trinitarianism and anti-paedobaptism (140).

• Horrifically and cruelly burned at the stake. Almost all copies of his books also burned.

• [Jesus’ subversion of the purity commandments.] Perceived Need: Protect God

• The Calvinistic God is not an abyss of being but the sovereign Lord” (117).

• High Stakes: Worldview of the Middle Ages. For Calvin, “it was all so perfectly clear that the majesty of God, the salvation of souls, and the stability of Christendom were at stake” (142). [football]

• “The severity of Calvin was born of zeal for truth and even concern for the victim. Death itself seemed to him not too harsh a penalty for perversion of the truth of God” (146). Other Voices: Sebastian Castellio • “The Scriptures are full of enigmas and inscrutable questions which have been in dispute for over a thousand years without agreement, nor can they be resolved without love, which appeases all controversies. • Yet on account of these enigmas the earth is filled with innocent blood… On controversial points, we would do better to defer judgment, even as God, who knows us to be guilty, yet postpones judgment and waits for us to amend our lives. • To kill a man is not to defend a doctrine. It is simply to kill a man.” • Professor of Greek at the University of , Switzerland, written shortly after the 1553 martyrdom of Miguel Servetus [Howe 42-43] Sebastian Castellio

• “We are all heretics in the eyes of those who do not share our views…

[Ken Wilber: Ego-Ethno-Globo-Cosmo]

• Let us be tolerant towards one another, and let no one condemn another’s belief….

• “Who would not think Christ a Moloch or some such god, if he wished that men should be immolated to him and burned alive.” Michael Servetus (1511 - 1553), c.f. 1517

Howe: “Double Legacy”:

(1) his martyrdom was a catalyst that slowly led to the growth of religious tolerance,

(2) his writings led many to reconsider and revise some of the most basic doctrines of

Christianity. [Howe, 41]

Earl Morse Wilbur: “His execution came to stand as a symbol of religious persecution at its worse, and his name as a symbol of martyrdom for freedom of conscience.” Michael Servetus (1511 - 1553), c.f. 1517

Not Unitarian (Whom do we claim as UU? And on what basis? [Power/Knowledge])

• More: martyr for .

• Sabellian/Modalist “Heresy”: Believed the “Logos” was eternal and became incarnate in Jesus, making him the Son of God. (The Logos, not the Son, was eternal.) Holy Spirit not a distinct being, but God’s spirit moving within us. Resonances Today

“Roland Bainton knew what it meant to hold an unpopular belief. In 1917 he was a pacifist while almost all around him, including his fellow students and the faculty at the Yale Divinity School, were caught up in the war frenzy. The Dean declared that those students who did not enlist were “morally deficient” (155).

• “Today any of us would be the first cast a stone against Calvin’s intolerance; and seldom do we reflect that we who are aghast at the burning of one man to ashes for religion do not hesitate for the preservation of our culture to reduce whole cities to cinders.” Faustus Socinus (1539 - 1604) • : movement of the late 16th and early 17th centuries in . • Named after Faustus Socinus, leader of the Polish Brethren • Emphasis: Freedom of the individual believers to interpret the scriptures (using primacy of reason as foremost authority for interpretation). Socinius called the idea of Jesus as God, “repugnant to sound reason.” • Irrational and Unscriptural: Trinity, Preexistent Christ, Original Sin, Satisfaction Theory of Atonement • Christianity as about ethics over beliefs. Jesus saves not by sacrificial death, but by example of a life we should emulate. [not “faith alone”; also pacifist] Socianism (vs. Arian Christianity)

• Jesus fully human. Divine by office, not nature. • Still considered the Son of God and mediator between God and humans. • God shared power with Christ, so could be worshipped and invoked in prayer. • [In early 19th-century Unitarian Controversy in U.S., majority of anti-Trinitarians falsely accused of being more radical Socinians, when actually Arian Christians.] Socinians

• Name Unitarian was commonly used in reference to Islamic beliefs in one God. • Christians who denied the divinity of Jesus were called “Socinians.” [Turning point: Unitarian Controversy and Channing’s “Unitarian Christianity” in 1819] (published posthumously in 1605, year after Socinus’ death)

• Emphasized Jesus’ ethics

• Against capital punishment, [roots for social justice work today] • For pacifism • God: one, not three • Jesus: fully human, but God’s son by utter obedience, resurrection, and science • Eucharist as only sacrament • Free will. • No original sin. Fall of Adam (one act) could not deprave even his own nature, much less all posterity

• [Deeds not creeds”, “Salvation by character”] Racovian Catechism (1605, year after Socinus’ death)

• Catechism continued to be highly influential even after Polish Brethren forced to flee after 1658 with rise of Catholicism. • Fifteen editions in Latin, Polish, English, Dutch, and German • Wilbur: June 10, 1565 “the historical beginning of organized ” with the Polish Brethren, who during the last period began to use the Unitarian name Rakow, Poland • New utopian community created in 1569 • Unitarians were the majority • Sought to live Christian nonviolent path of meeting revenge with forgiveness and hatred with love. • 1638: destroyed almost overnight. Students vandalized a crucifix, and the Catholic Bishop of Krakow used incident as pretext to incite public opinion. • School destroyed. Press shut down. • All “Arian” inhabitants were recede to leave town within four weeks. Giorgio Biandrata (1515 - 1588)

• Physician specializing in Women’s health. Became court physician to Queen Bona of Poland and her daughter Isabella.

• Born Catholic, but began questioning deity of Jesus through studying scriptures himself.

• Read Servetus’ book. Lent his copy to a (then Calvinist) minister Francis Dávid.

• Later became court physician to the King John Sigismund of and persuaded King John Sigismund to have David appointed court preacher.

• Leading Sigismund’s conversion to Unitarianism, becoming history’s only Unitarian King. When the King is on your side…. “Act of Religious Tolerance & Freedom of Conscience” at the Diet of Torda (1568) or: The Edict of Torda Diet (Latin: “parliamentary assembly”) • Freedom of the Pulpit: “Preachers everywhere are to preach the gospel according to their understanding of it…. Let no superintendent or anyone else act violently or abusively to a preacher. No one may threaten another, on account of his teaching, with imprisonment or deprivation of office.” • Freedom of the Pew: “if the parish willingly receives it good: but if not, let there be no compulsion on it to do so.” • Freedom of the Local Congregation: “let each parish keep a minister whose teaching is John Sigismund of acceptable to it.” Transylvania (1540-1571), King János Zsigmond Zápolya of Hungary “Act of Religious Tolerance and Freedom of Conscience” at the Diet of Torda (1568) • Background: (1557) Queen Isabella, as regent for her underage son, called for warring Catholics and Lutherans to refrain from violence. • Her humanism and support for liberal learning influenced her son. Giorgio Biandrata (1515 - 1588)

• Tolerance declined after King Sigismund’s death.

• Eventually Biandrata turned against Dávid (“fear of innovation”…and/or jealousy, etc.).

• Asked Faustus Socinus to intervene, but he couldn’t convince Dávid either. [Conscience]

• Biandrata eventually gravitated toward the Jesuits, back to the Catholicism of his birth.

• Discussion Question at End: Where is “the line” of too much innovation for you (or your congregation): theologically, ethically, etc. [Polyamory, UFOs, Channeling] Francis Dávid (Ferenc Dávid) (c. 1520 - 1588)

• 1555: Part of Reformation in Kolosvar, Transylvania—Bible as basis for Christianity.

• 1557-1559: became Lutheran Bishop, then later Reformed Bishop of Calvinists (Couldn’t stop innovating throughout life, always seeking more perfection.)

• January 1566: 1st public Unitarian oration

• January 1568: Diet of Torda

• March 8, 1568: Ten day debate with Calvinist bishop Melius. (11 debaters total.)

• October 1569: Another debate that converted Sigusmund, who died in 1571 at age 30 after being severely injured in a hunt. Francis Dávid (c. 1520 - 1588)

• New Catholic king removed all Unitarians from positions of influence

• 1574: new innovations in religion banned

• 1579: accused of preaching innovation

• “Non-adoramus”: Jesus should be followed, not worshipped

• Ecclesia semper reformanda est (Latin: ”the church is always to be reforming”) [“revelation is not sealed”]

• Found guilty and imprisoned at the castle at Deva. Died that year on November 15th. (Last words: “God is One.”)

• Martyr for Unitarianism and Religious Liberty. then: Kolozsvár, Kingdom of now: Cluj-Napoca, Hungary Romania Discussion Questions

• Reforming or purifying Christianity by going back to original texts or original practices of early Christians was important to our theological forebears. In which ways do the writings and practices of early Christians matter to us today? [vis-a-vis original diversity with Ehrman, King, et al. Does this “Protestant Impulse” backward miss the important of history/tradition?] • In what ways are we still “heretics”? In what ways are we not? How might claiming an identity of “heretic” be an asset to our faith? How might it be a hindrance? • In what ways are Wilbur’s Three Trends helpful for today’s UUism (freedom of religious thought, unrestricted use of reason, tolerance of difference views & practices)? In what ways are his “negative,” “freedom from” trend inhibit us as a movement, contributing to individualism. What might some “positive,” “freedom for” trends that we can choose to covenant around for the 21st-century: interdependent, pluralism (vs. mere tolerance), generosity/compassion, global Beloved Community, others? • Where do we see “Biandrata v. Dávid” today? Where your “line” of too much innovation f(or your congregation): theologically, ethically, etc. [Polyamory, UFOs, Channeling]