Clear all
Work #1508 · Late (final)

Christianismi Restitutio

Michael Servetus
1553 · Latin
Theological treatise · Radical Reformation / anti-Trinitarianism / proto-Unitarian / vitalism / early medical science

Servetus's 1553 'Restoration of Christianity' — anti-Trinitarianism, anti-paedobaptism, the pulmonary circulation, and the stake at Geneva

Attribute Fingerprint

Rows where works disagree are highlighted in gold. The full ontology grid is shown.

Attribute Christianismi Restitutio (Late (final))
Time · Extent Finite
Time · Ontological Status Substantival
Time · Grain Continuous
Time · Freedom NDet
Time · Traversability Linear
Time · Dimensionality One
Time · Direction Uni-directional
Space · Extent Finite
Space · Ontological Status Substantival
Space · Curvature Flat
Space · Dimensionality Three
Space · Locality Local
Matter · Extent Finite
Matter · Ontological Status Substantival
Matter · Conservation Conserved
Matter · Dimensionality Three
Matter · Locality Local
Observer · Time Instance Single
Observer · Space Instance Single
Observer · Knowledge Extent Immediate
Observer · Knowledge Retainment Total
Observer · Physicality Embodied
Observer · Agency Active
Observer · Number Plural
Observer · Metaphysical Agency Personal
Observer · Moral Authority Revelation
Observer · Theological Method
Energy · Extent Finite
Energy · Ontological Status Substantival
Energy · Conservation Conserved
Energy · Dispersibility Irreversible
Information · Ontological Status Substantival
Information · Cosmic Conservation Conserved
Information · Personal Conservation Conserved
Information · Granularity Continuous

Dimension-by-Dimension Evidence

What each work's passages reveal about its stance on each of the six dimensions.

Time

Christianismi Restitutio

January 1553. Servetus was 42 and had been corresponding with Calvin (sending him portions of the manuscript for comment) since 1546; the correspondence had hardened Calvin's hostility.

Space

Christianismi Restitutio

Vienne (Dauphiné), France — Servetus's residence under his pseudonym 'Michel de Villeneuve' since c. 1538, where he served as personal physician to Archbishop Pierre Palmier. The publication was clandestine because Servetus knew the contents would lead to prosecution.

Matter

Christianismi Restitutio

Seven-book Latin theological treatise (~700 pages in the original). Form is systematic-theological with embedded physiological-anatomical material in Book V.

Observer

Christianismi Restitutio

Late Servetus. The observer-theologian-physician is the medical-philosophical polymath who combined heterodox theology with substantial empirical-anatomical work.

Energy

Christianismi Restitutio

Final-radical theological and proto-scientific energies. The book's combination of theological radicalism with embedded medical-scientific discovery is distinctive.

Information

Christianismi Restitutio

Single book of seven theological books plus the embedded pulmonary-circulation passage. Only three copies survived the post-execution destruction; the book's information-history is itself a major historical-scientific topic.

Internal Tensions

Where each work's argument pulls against itself.

Christianismi Restitutio

The work that led to Servetus's execution at Geneva and stands as a foundational text of both modern anti-Trinitarianism and (in its physiological passage) the discovery of the pulmonary circulation. The death of Servetus (by burning, with green wood to slow the fire) provoked the major sixteenth-century debate over religious toleration (Sebastian Castellio's 'De Haereticis, An Sint Persequendi', 1554) and has been continuously cited in the history of religious toleration and free thought.