Magus versus falsarius: A duel of insults between Calvin and Servetus

Abstract

The trial of the Spanish theologian and physician Miguel Servet, charged with heresy and blasphemy by the Council of Geneva in 1553, led to a long and abstruse debate between two apparently irreconcilable standpoints. In an attempt to clarify the terms of discussion on such crucial areas as the Trinity, divine immanence and the immortality of the soul, Calvin and Servet embarked on a three-day written debate (15-17 September 1553). In what ultimately became a genuine «duel to the death», what stands out, over and above the actual argumentation, is their use of insults as rhetorical weapons. Given that both adversaries were equally convinced that they were defending the «true faith», most of their attacks were aimed at demonstrating the false nature of their opponent. Thus, according to Servet, Calvin was nothing but an impostor (a latter-day «Simon Magus»), while Calvin branded the Spaniard a slanderer and «falsifier».