About the Center

The Center for Socinian, Philosophical, and Religious Studies conducts research and outreach on behalf of the largely unrecognized Socinian movement, its forefather Michael Servetus, and their profound influence on the Enlightenment and beyond, including the foundation of American government. Over time, the Center has grown to encompass more than the Socinian movement to address relevant subjects in the fields of philosophy, humanism, and religion. The Center has produced dozens of publications and serves as an authoritative resource in these areas.

Marian Hillar, M.D., Ph.D., is the founder of the Center for Socinian, Philosophical, and Religious Studies. He earned his degrees at the University Medical School of Danzig and studied at the Jagiellonian University and at Sorbonne. He did research and taught in Europe at the University Medical School of Danzig and Universitá degli studi di Camerino, and in the USA at Baylor College of Medicine and Ponce School of Medicine. He is currently professor of philosophy and director of the Center for Philosophy and Socinian Studies. He is a contributing editor and frequently publishes in the Humanist cultural and philosophical monthly published in Warsaw Bez Dogmatu (Without Dogma) and was (1992-2012) editor-in-chief of the Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism, published by the American Humanist Association, Washington, DC. He has written and edited several books in the field of biochemistry, theology/philosophy, and published about 160 papers. He has several discoveries in the biochemical sciences. His other specialties are modern and classical languages and history of philosophy and religions (biblical, patristic, and comparative religious studies). His studies were focused on the ancient Greek philosophy, moral issues in religion and philosophy, and the development of theology and religions. With Christopher Hoffman he translated opus magnum of Michael Servetus, Christianismi rstitutio from Latin into English in four volumes. He is a world expert on Michael Servetus and on the development and ideas of the Socinian movement in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, the precursor of the Enlightenment and American democracy. He is listed in "Who's Who In Theology and Science" and is a member of numerous scholarly organizations. He is the first recipient of Texas Southern University's Presidential Achievement Medal (2010) and received an award from Instituto de Estudios Sijenenses, Miguel Servet. E-mail