On The Errors of the Trinity by Michael Servetus

[Jason B]

Does anyone on here have this book, or anything by servetus? Does anyone know where a book like this could be purchased?

[Apocrypha]

Originally Posted by Jason

Does anyone on here have this book, or anything by servetus? Does anyone know where a book like this could be purchased?

as far as I know between the church and Calvin mudering him and burning his literature also there are no surviving works of Servetus. But if you can find something I would be interested.

[Jason B]

I am certain that his works still exist, the problem is they are rare since so many were burned, and few have had the motivation to reproduce something as unpopular as "On the errors of the trinity". I do also know that his major work "Christianity Restitutio (sp?)" was finally translated into english in 2007, it is on amazon.com for $129.00, but none are available. From what I have studies, he is a very interesting person from a oneness perspective. I don't know his thoughts on the baptism exactly, but I am almost certain he believed that the apostles baptized in Jesus name. The tidbits I have read that were translated into english, this guy was preaching many things that were forgotten in history, but we see those things in the late 1800's, early 1900's in the modern pentecostal revival. Perhaps if his views would have gotten more of a chance the reformation wouldn't have been trinitarian at all, perhaps the pentecostal revival would have happened in the 16th century, 400 years earlier. But its not like these things caught God by suprise, and He does al things well. Anyhow, minus my babbling on, I would like to get my hands on some of his writings for research purposes if nothing else. Also, He was burned alive for two reasons 1)teaching against infant baptism and 2)no believing in the trinity. That is all, probably 95% of us on this board would have died prematurely at the hands of "christians" had we lived in the middle ages.

[TRFrance]

Hopefully this will help...http://miguelservet.org/servetus/works.htm#trinitatis

ON THE ERRORS OF THE TRINITY...

CONTENT

Very few topics have been subject to such a heated controversy and dispute as the dogma of Trinity. According to Prof. Bainton, the reasons which may explain the establishment of such dogma by the religious hierarchy in the IV century related to the need to explain all that the doctrine of Incarnation in relation to God. If God had made himself flesh exclusively in Christ, and this latter was also God, Christians could be accused of having two Gods. And when the Holy Spirit became a person, then the problem was whether Christians could be allegedly said to have three Gods. The solution to this dilemma was to establish the dogma of the Trinity which consisted of admitting simultaneously a unity and a trinity in Godhead (R. H. Bainton, “El Hereje Perseguido”, Ed. Taurus, 1973, p. 40).
Servetus studied the Holy Scriptures, and as he stated in this first treatise, he did not find any reference to the word Trinity. Hence, he questioned the validity of one of the fundamental dogmas of Christianity: “We must not impose as truths - contended Servetus - concepts over which there are doubts”. According to Servetus, in God there is one single person, whereas the Roman church explained the Trinity as one entity in substance or essence but present in three persons or hypostases known as the Father, the Word (Logos) or the Son, and the Holy Spirit. All are equal and each of them is God, all are eternally divine yet there are different and are one. Servetus clearly opposed to the splitting up of the divine essence and contented that the persons of the Trinity are rather “forms” that God has chosen to manifest itself. According to Servetus, Christ was made a man by God, and his human nature prevents him from being God and participating in the eternity nature of God. As a result, God was eternal, but Jesus Christ (the Son), since he was begot by the Father, was not eternal.
This unorthodox interpretation of the dogma of Trinity did not mean that Servetus underestimated the importance of Christ to understand the relationship between God and mankind. For Servetus, Jesus Christ is the “key” which allows mankind to enter in God’s home and partake in his divinity.


COPIES AVAILABLE

About 128 originals are available in different libraries. The Institute’s library has several facsimil editions of this treatise .


REPRINTS / TRANSLATIONS

The book was translated into English by Earl Morse Wilbur: “On the Errors of the Trinity. Seven Books. By Michael Serveto, alias Reves, a Spaniard of Aragon MDXXXI. In The two treatises of Servetus on the Trinity .... Now first translated into English by Earl Morse Wilbur, D.D.” (Cambridge: Harvard University Press; London, Humphrey Milford; Oxford University Press; Harvard Theological Studies, 1932).
The Spanish translation of this work by Ana Gómez Rabal will be published in Volume II of “Miguel Servet, Obras Completas”, Angel Alcalá Coord., Ed. Larumbe, forthcomming in 2004.
There is also a translation into the Catalan language by Ana Gómez Rabal: “Dels errors sobre la Trinitat” (Barcelona, Edicions Proa, 1999), with a thorough and excellent introduction to Servetus’ life and works by Miguel Lavilla Galindo.
A French translation is being prepared by Prof. Rolande-Michele Benin and Marie-Louise Gicquel and will be published soon by Honoré Champion Editeur.

[Jason B]

appreciate that, but I am looking for an actual copy of the book. i do find it odd how some poeple say he had an arian theology.

"Servetus affirmed that the divine Logos, which was the manifestation of God and not a separate divine Person, was incarnated in a human being, Jesus, when God's spirit came into the womb of the Virgin Mary. Only from the moment of conception, the Son was actually generated. Therefore the Son was not eternal, but only the Logos from which He was formed. For this reason, Servetus always rejected that Christ was the "eternal Son of God", but rather that he was "the Son of the eternal God" Wikipedia

Under severe pressure from Catholics and Protestants alike, Servetus clarified this explanation in his second book, Dialogues (1532), to show the Logos coterminous with Christ. This made it nearly identical with the pre-Nicene view, but he was still accused of heresy because of his insistence on denying the dogma of the Trinity and the individuality of three divine Persons in one God. Wikipedia

Pre-nicean, imagine that. What did servetus believe was pre-nicean:

Quotes from the book I am trying to find:
'“I do not separate Christ from God more than a voice from the speaker or a beam from the sun. Christ is the voice of the speaker. He and the Father are the same thing, as the beam and the light, are the same light. There is therefore a tremendous mystery in the fact that God may be united with man and the man with God. It is a surprising wonder that God has taken for himself the body of Christ in order to make his special dwelling.” (59b)


also, from the book that was used to kindle the fire that burned him alive:

“I have seen with my own eyes how he [the Pope] was carried on the shoulders of the princes, with all the pom, waving crosses in their hands, and how the pleople kneeled down to adore him in the streets. All those who managed to kiss his feet or his sandals were considered more fortunate than the rest and proclaimed to have obtained many indulgences to reduce the years of their infernal suffering. Oh, the most evil of the beasts, the most shameless of the harlots!”

no wonder he wasn't their favorite author.

really, all i would like is a copy of his theological works, not an original manuscript. i'm not a collecter, I just like to study church history, obviously anything this open on the trinity is a point of interest to me.

[Warmbee]

I'm doing a research paper on Michael Servetus and need to find some of his works in print... or at least their english tranlasions.... anyone recently come across any?

[missourimary]

In the early '90s, there were two copies of Michael Servetus, His Life and Teachings, Carl Theophilus Odhner, Philadelphia, JB Lippincott Company, 1910, in the United States. One was in a library in the state of New York (I don't remember which one). The book was so rare that the library wouldn't allow me to remove it from the library to do my research, but instead had me make a copy of the book in the library under supervision. I have copies of pages 5-93 of that book.

The Reformation in Its Own Words (possibly in the stacks of the library of Culver Stockton College, Canton, MO), Servetus and Calvin by Dr Robert Willis, London, 1876, and Hunted Herretic by Roland H Bainton (which I also have a copy of p 24-67 of) also have large portions of Servetus' original materials transcribed in them. If you are trying to do a research paper and can't find Servetus' works, try finding Calvin's refutations of Servetus' work... often Servetus is quoted at length in those, but the books aren't notated in the cataloguing system as relating to Servetus since he isn't as well known.

I'm hunting for my bibliography, but haven't come across it yet.

[missourimary]

Not every one of these is specifically about Servetus. When the professor of my independent study realized what the person I was writing about believed, he required me to direct at least some of my study to Calvin as well. Other books are about the Reformation or theology in general. All are at least 16 years old... most much older than that. Most can be found in Missouri or Illinois libraries. Try these:

Bainton, Roland H Hunted Heretic.
Durant, Will The Reformation.
Fulton, John F Michael Servetus: Humanist and Martyr.
Hilderbrand, Hans J The Reformation.
Moltmann, Jurgan. History and the Triune God.
Odhner, Carl T Michael Servetus: His Life and Teachings
Tweedie, WK Calvin and Servetus

I assume there was a typo in the bibliography and that either Durant or Hilderbrand's book was actually The Reformation in Its Own Words rather than simply The Reformation as listed in my bibliography. Not sure. The three I have copies of were probably the bulk of my research, in all honesty. As a senior at a four-year college, I wasn't granted access to the rarest books or Servetus' originals, but these did nicely since they quoted him at length.

[Maximilian]

It fascinates me when I learn that modern Oneness theologians give the impression that Servetus would agree with their view of the godhead on the basis that he contended against the the-articulated Trinitarian creed.

[Jermyn Davidson]

Originally Posted by Maximilian

It fascinates me when I learn that modern Oneness theologians give the impression that Servetus would agree with their view of the godhead on the basis that he contended against the the-articulated Trinitarian creed.

Why?