"The Ambiguity of the Burning Truth"
Message by Rev. Laurie Bushbaum
October 28, 2008
First Reading: excerpt from the Prologue, Out of the Flames, by Lawrence and Nancy Goldstone
Shortly after noon on a cold and rainy late October day in 1553, a procession began at the town hall of Geneva... At its head were the local dignitaries – magistrates in their robes and hats, members of the town council, clergymen in their gowns... and the chief of police... Next came the citizens of the city... Their destination was a hillside at Champel, about a mile outside the city’s walls.
In the midst of these fair- skinned Swiss, one mad stood out, a prisoner. he was in his forties, dark, almost Moorish dirty and weak, with a long, unkempt beard and ragged clothing. He was surrounded by a crowd of pastors exhorting him to confess his sins...
The prisoner’s shabby appearance belied his status as one of Europe’s leading physicians and preeminent thinkers, His name was Michael Servetus, and his crime was publishing a book that redefined Christianity in a more tolerant and inclusive way... Servetus risked his life and position to publish this book. After running afoul of the Inquisition with an earlier version twenty years before, he had gone underground and , like Jean Valjean in Les Miserables, had risen again under an assumed identity to become a respected citizen of France... But Michael Servetus was unwilling to live out his life without being true to his beliefs and principles, so he wrote this book and ad it printed and distributed.
Shortly after its publication, he had been arrested by the inquisitors of France and sentenced to death, On the eve of his execution, he had managed a daring escape and had eluded capture for months. He was on his way to Italy, where he would be safe, but chose instead to stop in Geneva. There, his dark skin betrayed him. He was recognized while praying in church and arrested...
... He was found guilty of the charges brought by council and prosecutor hand picked by his archrival and sworn enemy, Jean Chauvin, an obscure failed humanist who had reinvented himself as the reformed John Calvin and risen to be virtual dictator of the great city. On October 26, 1553, Michael was condemned “to be led to Champel and burned there alive on the next day together with his books.”
Second Reading: “The Rabbi and the Pope,” author unknown
The Catholics decided the Jews had to convert or leave Italy. There was an outcry from the Jewish community, so the Pope offered a deal. He would have a religious debate with the leader of the Jewish community. If the Jews won, they could stay in Italy. If the Pope won, they would have to leave. The Jewish people met and picked an aged but wise Rabbi Moishe to represent them in the debate. However, as Rabbi Moishe spoke no Italian and the Pope spoke no Yiddish the debate would have to be silent. On the chosen day, the Pope and Rabbi Moishe sat opposite each other for a full minute before the Pope raised his hand and showed three fingers. Rabbi Moishe looked back and raised one finger. Next the Pope waved his finger around his head. Rabbi Moishe pointed to the ground where he sat. The Pope then brought out a communion wafer and a chalice of wine. Rabbi Moishe pulled out an apple. With that, the Pope stood up and declared that he was beaten, that Rabbi Moishe was too clever and that the Jews could stay.
Later, the Cardinals met with the Pope, asking what had happened. The Pope said, “First I held up 3 fingers to represent the Trinity. He responded with one finger to remind me that there is still one God common to both our faith. Then I waved my finger to show him that God was all around us. He responded that God was also right here with us. I pulled out the wine and wafer to show that God absolves us of all our sins. He pulled out an apple to remind me of original sin. He had me beaten and I could not continue.
Meanwhile the Jewish community was gathered around Rabbi Moishe. “What happened?” they asked. “Well,” answered the Rabbi, “first he said to me that we had three days to get out of Italy, so I told him ‘Up yours.’ Then he tells me that the whole country would be cleared of Jews and I said to him, “Mr. Pope, we’re staying right here.” “And then what?” asked a woman. “Who knows? He took out his lunch so I took out mine…
Sermon:
In the silent debate between the Pope and the Rabbi, whose truth was right? Both, of course. And though each debater thought that he was communicating clearly to the other, the real meaning of each truth was lost in translation. Sometimes our humble attempts in the “search for truth and meaning” provide amusing stories like the one above. And sometimes the consequences of humanity’s dealings with the truth are deadly, and effect the flow of history in profound ways. Such is the story of Michael Servetus.
This week marks an important event in our history: the martyrdom of Michael Servetus, burned at the stake in Geneva, Switzerland, October 27, 1553. This story is one that we can revisit over and over again, plumbing its depth for the many layers of meaning. It is about the ambiguous nature of truth. It is about the many players involved in creating and telling a truth. It is a story about risk, blindness, and the cost of challenging the powers that be. And it certainly begs the question, how are truth and wisdom related? The twists and turns of the story are as wild and wicked as any contemporary TV soap. If it were run opposite “Desperate Housewives” or “Sex in the City”, the networks would be in tight race. But I’m going to leave all the love and sex out of my telling.
The centerpiece of this important piece of history is that one Protestant Reformer, John Calvin, ordered another Reformer – Michael Servetus- burned at the stake. As UU’s that’s the part of the story many of us readily know and tell. The slightly more complex truth is that the two men had a lifelong rivalry, fueled at one time or another, by each of them. While John Calvin may have been a cold, calculating, power hungry egotist – Michael Servetus was often politically blind as a bat, especially when it came to his passionate defense of his view of faith.
As I dug deeper into the story of Michael Servetus’ martyrdom, the truth about it all became more and more complex. And maybe that is the first quality to remember about the truth; it is usually more complex than it seems. Haven’t we all been tempted to make truth, or a particular truth, simpler than it is and in so doing, distort the truth? Think of the child who comes running, “Mom, Bobby whacked me on the head with the ruler!” Which is true. But this boy conveniently forgets to say that the reason Bobby whacked him on the head was because he took Bobby’s new pencil and broke it, on purpose!
Understanding the complexity of the truth about Michael Servetus requires knowing more about the context in which this drama was played in the 15th and 16th Centuries. First of all, we need to take into consideration Gutenberg’s development of the printing press. It’s crucial to remember that in the Catholic Church reading the Bible was not allowed. Books were extremely rare, as each one had to be hand copied by scribes, letter by letter. There were virtually no books in Europe owned by the middle or lower classes. With the invention of the printing press, tens of thousands of books flooded into the market, creating affordable books and a new class of literacy. These books were printed in common languages, not just Latin, the language of the Ecclesiastical leaders. Many more versions of reality were open to those who could read.
But here is another part of the truth; it sometimes requires just the right alchemy of ingredients to be made manifest. One part of the equation in the case of Michael Servetus, was, as I have just mentioned, the development of the printing press. Another was the rise of Humanism alongside Scholasticism.
As Universities were blossoming all over Europe during this time, teaching and learning methods were also changing. For hundreds of years the main system of scholarship and education was called Scholasticism. This was a Church controlled system of education in which only approved texts in Latin were read and disputed using a strict form of logic. The process was carefully controlled so that one could not openly question the truth of a particular reading; a student could only challenge the meaning of a particular piece of text. Scholasticism was an inbred from of education in which no new ideas were allowed to form. The purpose of this education was not to expand ideas and minds, but to reinforce the ultimate authority of the church.
However, in the 13th and 14 the centuries, a form of approved Humanist teaching began alongside Scholasticism. Both Humanism and Scholasticism started in the same places, with the teachings of the Ancient Greeks. The Church reluctantly allowed Humanist scholars to explore ancient secular values that didn’t undermine official Church Doctrine. Scholasticism circled its wagons and became utterly insular. Humanism argued, on the other hand, that Aristotelian logic was not helpful in understanding all topics, poetry for example. Humanist Scholars claimed one needed breadth of knowledge and experience to fully develop the mind of a scholar. The Church Scholastics and the early Humanists had an uneasy truce that eventually would not hold.
And here is another facet of the truth: one truth leads to another. One crack in a well constructed falsehood, generally opens the whole thing up for examination. For example, when a Fundamentalist Christian discovers his or her child is gay, he or she has some choices. She can hold more firmly to the Truth that homosexuality is sinful, and reject her child. But oftentimes, the truth of homosexuality coming from a beloved child, will be the crack in a tightly constructed faith system that then comes apart for the parent.
In a sense, this is what was happening in Europe as the printing press revolutionized the flow of information, created a new class of literacy, and supported the Humanist movement. The landscape was being prepared for a huge paradigm shift.
And then another part of the equation came into play. The Gladstones say it this
way in Out of the Flames, “… It soon occurred to this new generation – as it had to another generation five hundred years later – that you could send information out just as easily as you could take it in. Books could be written as well as read – if you had something to say you could have your ideas disseminated just as widely as those of Aristotle. All you needed was an idea or a point of view to try and capture the attention of the world. And if what was in your book was radical, controversial, revolutionary, or even heretical, so be it. There was no longer any effective power to stop it.” Or so it seemed. And here is another facet of Truth: Never underestimate the reaction when a Truth is challenged.
Michael Servetus, Martin Luther, and John Calvin were all contemporaries, change agents in the shift of Truth that created the Protestant Reformation. Each had a role to play as the Reformation was painfully birthed from a crack in the Catholic stronghold of Europe. Let’s take the interwoven story of these three reformers a bit further…
Martin Luther was a serious and very pious, young, German monk. He wrote, “I kept the rule of my order so strictly that if ever a monk got to heaven by his monkery, it was I.” His order rewarded him with a trip to Rome. He went, he saw, and he was dazzled - but also disturbed by the overwhelming wealth of the Church in Rome and the opulent lifestyles of the ecclesiastical leaders. At one point he climbed the Scala Sancta on his knees, to release his grandfather from Purgatory, as was the custom. But when he got to the top, he actually wondered if climbing stairs on one’s knees really had anything to do with purgatory. That was when the crack opened for Luther…
A little later in his life, he became a Latin professor at the new University in Wittenberg, Germany. At just this time, the Pope sold, yes literally sold, the Archbishop’s position to a wealthy man with high political goals. You see, the Pope needed the money. In order to help this new Archbishop, Albert, pay off his now huge debt, he and the Pope came up with a plan that allowed Albert to sell indulgences for 8 years. A traveling cart, a moving media blitz pulled by horse, traveled the countryside selling these certificates, signed by the Pope, that guaranteed the purchaser remission of sins. Half of the proceeds went to retire Alfred’s debt; half went into the Pope’s coffers.
When the Indulgence cart came to Wittenberg, the Prince threw him out. The people had to go to the town border to buy their indulgences. When some students showed their certificates to Luther, he was disgusted. He wrote a memo citing 95 reasons why this practice was intolerable and posted it on the church door, a common custom. This is what became known as Luther’s famous 95 Theses. Luther
summarized, “Therefore I claim that the Pope has no jurisdiction over purgatory… If the Pope does have the power to release anyone from purgatory, why in the name of love
does he not abolish purgatory by letting everyone out? If, for the sake of miserable money, he released uncounted souls, why should he no, for the sake of the most holy love, empty the place?”
Luther’s 95 Theses became a bestseller. The Church excommunicated him to try and stop the spread of his ideas. He went into hiding so as not to be tortured or burned for his heresy but continued to work on the Reform movement from behind the scenes.
One truth leads to another…….
Michael Servetus was born in Spain as Miguel Serveto Conesa in 1511. He was the oldest of 3 sons, in a family of long standing gentry. One brother became a notary, and the other a priest. It was clear to Miguel’s parents that he was a prodigy, particularly gifted with languages. His parents arranged for the best teachers, and by the age of 13 he could read French, Greek, Latin, and Hebrew. It is important to understand that the Church forbade the learning and reading of Hebrew… because of course, anyone who could read Hebrew could read the Old Testament in original form, bypassing the approved translations, by which the Church controlled information and Doctrine. But in Spain, the rules were a bit more relaxed. In secret, Miguel learned Hebrew. And that was to be his blessing and curse. And here is another facet of the Truth: sometimes one must come to the Truth through the back door.
At 13, Miguel’s father sent him to a nearby University to further his education, under the tutelage of a man who had become a Humanist, unbeknownst to the conservative Serveto family. Miguel’s tutor had him reading the standard course of material, but also the latest works published, such as the 95 Theses by a young German monk and professor named Martin Luther.
Three years later Miguel moved to the University at Toulouse, where he joined the new Humanist movement of scholars by taking a Latin name; Michael Servetus. Again, publicly they followed the prescribed curriculum but in private, read subversive material. In particular, the radical students were reading a book, for which if they were caught, punishment was death by drowning or burning at the stake. The name of the Book: The Bible; especially the new translation put out by the Europe’s most brilliant mind, Erasmus. You see, Erasmus had translated the Bible NOT from the other, church -approved Latin versions. Instead he went back to Greek, the original language of the New Testament. And while doing so, he discovered that the following verse, in the 4th century approved translation of the NT, was NOT in the original Greek: from 1 John- “For there are three that bear witness in Heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Spirit: And these three are the same.”
The original Greek had no mention of the Trinity! It had been put in later, after the Council in Nicea, in the year 325. It was at this gathering that the Christian bishops debated theology and finally adopted a Trinitarian statement which became the Nicene Creed. Two Bishops voted against it. And one is our theological ancestor, Bishop Arius.
And so here is another facet to the Truth. Sometimes Truth is declared by others, and we are expected to live as if it were our own. How long does that work?
By being able to read both Greek and Hebrew, Servetus could read and study both Old and New Testaments in their original languages. What he concluded was that the Church had distorted the real truth of the Bible and of Christianity. He made up his mind to save the true faith he loved. A few years later, he wrote a book titled, On the Errors of the Trinity. The first printing of 1,000 copies sold out immediately. The book was immediately banned. Servetus was sentenced to death by the Spanish Inquisition. At 22, he fled to Paris, changed his identity, and enrolled in the University to study mathematics.
And John Calvin? He, too, was a student at the University of Paris. He came from a poor French family; his father worked for a nobleman. And so by hanging around with the sons of the wealthy, Calvin received the same education that they did. But he grew up bitter, always feeling like he was an outsider. His ambition, though, was to be the next brilliant mind of Europe. He wanted to be the next Erasmus. At 22 Calvin wrote his first book. No one read it; instead, they were reading the new book called On the Errors of the Trinity. So began the deep seated jealousy and hatred Calvin had for Servetus.
The political tide turned in France, from one of open dialogue, to following the protocol of the Inquisition. Calvin and Servetus both had to go into hiding. Calvin wrote another book titled, The Institutes of the Christian Religion, which set his place as a major Reform figure. The Institutes was a rigid codification of Calvin’s view of Christianity. Unfortunately, as Calvin gained power in the Reform movement, he used his power to control others. To challenge Servetus, Calvin invited him to a secret debate which would have been attended by all the leading reformers. All who attended placed their lives on the line. Calvin thought that this was his moment to “show up” Servetus once and for all, and to clearly take the leadership of the Reform movement. Out of the Flames describes this dangerous moment: “Two brilliant minds – Calvin the cold, logical reformer against Servetus the mystic revolutionary. It might have been one of the great intellectual confrontations of history.”
What happened instead is that Servetus never arrived for the debate. “ And Calvin was left standing in front of a meeting with no one to debate, ignored and dismissed by his adversary… He never forgot it.”
Calvin, Luther, and Servetus all went underground when needed, and rose to the surface as the political/religious climate shifted. They hid in various countries, writing, speaking, forming alliances with political and religious leaders.
To try and bring an end to the long story, suffice it to say that Calvin came to power as leader of the Reform movement in Geneva, Switzerland and proceeded to become a feared and despised autocrat, ruling the city with his own iron clad Truth. Servetus had just escaped from prison and was on his way to Freedom in Italy. But of all things, he took a detour, through, of all places, Geneva. He arrived on a Saturday and there was no way out of the city until Monday. Church attendance in Geneva was mandatory; he could not hide at the inn. Servetus could have gone to church anywhere. Where did he go? Of course, he went to Calvin’s church.
He was recognized, arrested, and thrown in jail for 75 days. He was nearly starved to death during his lengthy trial. His defense debates were brilliant. But Calvin ruled with absolute authority; none in the Ecclesiastical court dared refute him. Servetus was sentenced to death by burning at the stake.
Why, did Servetus go to Geneva this last time? Was it a sacrificial commitment to the Truth, no matter the cost? Was it his last attempt to save his deep and abiding faith from corruption? Was it egotistical blindness and utter political stupidity?
Here is one last detail of the story. As Servetus was being led to the fire that day, a religious leader walked by his side trying to get him to recant and live. As he was tortured by the slow-burning green wood in the fire, his last living act was a prayer to God. What does it cost to tell the Truth ? What does it cost to remain silent? Is there a time for each? What can we know about Truth from this powerful saga of our faith story?
Truth is usually more complex than it seems.
Truth sometimes requires just the right alchemy of ingredients to be made manifest.
One truth leads to another.
Never underestimate the reaction when Truth is challenged.
Sometimes one must come to the Truth through the back door.
Sometimes Truth is declared by others, and we are expected to live as if it were our own.
Truth is a mighty power. It can heal and hurt. It can bring down empires and expand the universe. It is wise to know the power of Truth and to use it with all the wisdom one can muster. May it be so.
All Souls Church — PO Box 400 — Sioux Falls, SD 57101
605-338-8652 — www.sfuu.org
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