On the Mysteries of the Word: An annotated translation of The Restoration of Christianity, books 3 and 4 (Michael Servetus: an annotated translation . the Trinity\" from Christianismi Restitutio)

Michael Servetus (c.1506-1553), denounced by many of his contemporaries as an arch-heretic and celebrated by others as a martyr for the cause of religious freedom, escaped from imprisonment by the Inquisition in France, only to be convicted of blasphemy by the Swiss Protestants and executed by being burned at the stake. The sequence of events leading to Servetus’s death began with his publication of a theological work he had long been composing in secret, The Restoration of Christianity.

This book, the second volume in a series, contains annotated translations of books 3 and 4 of the first part of Restoration: "On the Divine Trinity." In books 1 and 2, we saw Servetus deconstructing what he believed to be a false and pernicious version of Christianity, clearing the way for what is to come. Beginning with book 3, Servetus reveals his vision of a new and improved version of the Christian faith.

Book 3 an extended, and at times lyrical, meditation on Servetus’s central message: Christ is the face of God; to see Christ is to see God, and to see God is to see Christ. In book 4, he widens his focus to include wisdom traditions that do not involve Christ at all. For Servetus, there was truth in Judaism and Islam, in ancient Greek philosophy and mystery religions, and in what he believed to be ancient wisdom from Egypt and Persia. To the end of his life, he sought to create a wider, more inclusive form of Christianity, in hopes that it would provide an attractive spiritual option for all people.

This volume includes a translation of a draft version of books 3 and 4, the so-called “Paris manuscript.” This allows us to trace the development of Servetus’s fearless and creative thought.