The Socinians

Socinians were members of the specific radical Reformation religious group that was formed originally in Poland in the XVIth century and went beyond the limited scope of the reform initiated by Luther or Calvin. At the roots of their religious doctrines was the Antitrinitarianism developed by Michael Servetus (1511-1553) and transplanted by Italian Humanists, and social ideas borrowed initially from the Anabaptists and Moravian Brethren. About the middle of the XVIth century a variety of Antitrinitarian sects emerged. They called themselves Christians or Brethren, hence Polish Brethren, also Minor Reformed Church. Their opponents labeled them after the old heresies as Sabellians, Samosatinians, Ebionites, Unitarians, and finally Arians. They were also known abroad as Socinians, after the Italian Faustus Socinus (1539-1604; mausoleum pictured left). More...

Center Publications

The Legacy of Michael Servetus: Radical Change in the Thought Pattern, Freedom of Conscience, and the Switch to the Humanistic Social Moral Paradigm. Paper for the conference: The Heritage of Western Humanism, Skepticism, and Freethought. Toward a Reasonable World. Institute for the Study of American Religion. San Diego, CA, September 16-18, 2011.

Why the Memory of Servetus Should Be Kept Alive? Spanish version of this paper was presented a the International Servetus Congress. Barcelona, Spain, October 20-21, 2006.

The First Translation of De Trinitate, the First Part of Christianismi restitutio. An Evaluation of its Biblical Theology. Paper presented at the meeting of the South-Central Renaissance Conference. San Antonio, TX, March 21-24, 2007.

The Legacy of Servetus: Humanism and the Beginning of Change of the Social Paradigm. On the Occasion of 450th Anniversary of His Martyrdom. Published in A Journal from The Radical Reformation, A Testimony to Biblical Unitarianism, Vol. 11, No. 2, 2003, pp. 34-41.

From the Polish Socinians to the American Constitution. Published in A Journal from the Radical Reformation. A Testimony to Biblical Unitarianism, M. Hillar, Vol. 4, No. 3, pp. 22-57, 1994.

The Philosophical Legacy of the XVI and XVII Century Socinians: Their Rationality. Published in The Philosophy of Humanism and the Issues of Today, M.Hillar and F. Prahl, eds., American Humanist Association, Houston, 1995, pp. 117-126

Sebastian Castellio and the Struggle for Freedom of Conscience. Published in Essays in the Philosophy of Humanism, D. R. Finch and M. Hillar, eds., Vol. 10, 2002, pp. 31-56.

Laelius and Faustus Socini: Founders of Socinianism, Their Lives and Theology. Published in the Spring 2002 issue of The Journal from the Radical Reformation. A Testimony to Biblical Unitarianism.

Process Theology and Process Thought in the Writings of Michael Servetus. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the Sixteenth Century Studies Conference. San Antonio, TX, October 24-27, 2002.

The Polish Socinians: Contribution to Freedom of Conscience and the American Constitution. Published in Dialogue and Universalism, Vol. XIX, No 3-5, 2009, pp. 45-75.