Bern, 15th of September 2014
Sebastian Castellio (1515-1563) between humanism and reform, rationalism
and spiritualism. Invitation to an international conference at the Centro Stefano
Franscini (13-17th September 2015, Ascona/Switzerland)
Outline of the conference and program:
2015 is the 500th anniversary of Sebastian Castellio (1515-1563), prominent nonconformist intellectual from Savoy and refugee in Basel. His name is associated with
the famous plea for toleration and protests against the execution of Michel Servet in
October 1553. Castellio’s career as a humanist school teacher was promoted by Jean
Calvin whom Castellio joined during his short exile in Strasbourg (1540-1541). Their
different access to biblical heremeneutics became evident when they could not reach
agreement about an appropriate exegesis of the Song of Songs and Castellio refused
to accept Calvin’s authority. In 1545 he found refuge in Basel where he worked as corrector in Johannes Oporin’s printing-office and gave private lessons to Basilius Amerbach. His activities as a professor for Greek literature since 1554 were hampered by
interventions from Calvin and Bèze who prevented further publications.
Castellio’s publications include Latin poetry, manuals for beginners in Latin, editions of
Greek texts and Bible translations. After attending the arts course in Lyon he published Latin poems and took pleasure in versifications of Biblical subjects. H is manual for
beginners in Latin, Dialogi sacri, first published in Basel 1545, was succesively enlarged and became extremely popular. Castellio translated the Bible in Ciceronian Latin
(Biblia latina, 1551) and presented a colourful vernacular version in French (La Bible
nouvellement translatée, 1555).
The process of the Genevan magistrate against the foreigner Michel Servet stimulated
the professor of Greek to his famous protest in 1554. A sample of extracts from the
church fathers and more recent authors including Luther, Calvin and Johannes Brenz,
was published anonymously under the title De haereticis an sint persequendi in order
to denounce persecution and execution of heretics. After Castellio had been identified
as editor and author of De Haereticis by Calvin and Beza, he was forbidden to further
publish on theological topics. Therefore Castellio’s defense against Calvin’s and Beza’s attacks only came out after his death. There is strong evidence that the anony-
mous Historia de morte Serveti, a handwritten eye witness report of Michel Servet’s
execution as heretic in october 1553, was also written by Castellio.
The anonymous Conseil à la France désolée was Castellio’s last publication (probably
Basel 1562). Not unlike the famous speeches by Michel de l’Hôpital and Etienne Pasquier’s Exhortation aux Princes et Seigneurs Castellio’s Conseil was an attempt to
grant religious autonomy to the Huguenots apart from the Roman Catholics, provided
that the King would remain impartial.
With his Latin translation of Bernardino Ochino’s Dialogi triginta Castellio (Basel 1563)
took the risk of bringing to the fore highly controversial colloquies before they had passed censorship in Zurich and Basel. Death prevented the Savoyan professor from publicly defending himself against this new charge by Adam von Bodenstein.
Castellio’s Dialogi quatuor, published by Fausto Sozzini in 1578 together with a bunch
of smaller essays on theological topics (Basle, Pietro Perna), present Castellio’s theology of free will and sum up arguments against Calvin’s predestination theory. Two
later editions (1612 and 1696) are testimonies of Castellio’s influence as a forerunner
of freethinking and of a critical approach to biblical exegesis. Fausto Sozzini’s antitrinitarianism is obviously indebted to Castellio’s rationalistic approach to biblical exegesis.
His « Art of doubting and trusting, ignoring and knowing » (De arte dubitandi et confidendi, ignorandi et sciendi) remained a fragment which only circulated as a manuscript
until the critical edition came out in 1981. Here Castellio offers clues to a critical understanding of those biblical passages which can be understood in more than one way
or confront the readers with incomprehensible riddles.
The anthology De haereticis an sint persequendi has been characterized as a manifest
of toleration and is reponsible for Castellio’s postumous fame, although it is not clear
whether he was the editor or published the collection as a co-author, together with
David Joris or Celio Secundo Curione. Also the origins of the German translation
(Strasbourg 1555) and a French version (Lyon 1557) are unknown. Due to the scandalizing effect of De haereticis, Castellio’s other works are less known today. Since
research on religious dissenters is flourishing, the emergence of concepts dealing
with religious toleration and freedom of conscience became important issues in the
history of early modern Europe. Therefore the career and thinking of Castellio as a
courageous non-conformist calls for new attention.
With REFO500, a series of international conferences foreshadowing the anniversary in
Wittenberg 2017, time has come for a revaluation of Castellio’s works in a broad historical frame. It is worth reconsidering Castellio’s reading of Luther and Calvin in order
to place him into a proper perspective compared with other religious dissenters and
refugees in Swiss, French and German cities.
The conference will deal with Castellio as intellectual between humanism and reformation, rationalism and spiritualism. It gives occasion to discussions among experts
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from various disciplines: history of German, French and Neo-Latin literature, church
history, history of theology and philosophy. One main purpose is to initiate commented
editions and translations of Castellio’s texts, including a wealth of sources from the
University Library Basel. Another purpose is to bring to the surface the variety of religious cultures in Swiss cities, in contrast with the Holy Roman Empire, France and
Italy where the effects of confessionalization were apparent after 1546 and 1555.
With respect to more recent research 1 I suggest to place the contributions under the
following headlines:
I.
Survey of sources. Literary and philological ambitions. Castellio emulating
Erasmus.
II.
Castellio’s Latin translations between spirituality and Ciceronian elegance
III.
Persecution of heretics and toleration. Argumenta ab auctoritate in De
haereticis an sint persequendi and reactions to the execution of Michel
Servet.
IV.
Encounters with judaism and Islam and their concepts of toleration compared with De haereticis
V.
Ratio and spiritus, only prima facie incompatible clues to a new hermeneutics of the Bible – De arte dubitandi et confidendi, ignorandi et sciendi.
VI.
Castellio and his intellectual network in Basel, Geneva, Zurich and Berne.
VII.
Castellio’s connections with French intellectuals and „Politiques“. His Conseil à la France désolée, compared with Etienne Pasquier’s Exhortation aux
princes.
VIII. Castellio, Calvin, Beza and Luther. Arguments for and against predestination and the servum arbitrium.
IX.
Castellio, Fausto Sozzini and the rise of antitrinitarianism. The Dialogi quatuor (1578) in the history of ideas.
The conference takes place on the top of Monte Verità above the Lago Maggiore, a
hallmark of non-conformism in German and Swiss art and literature in the first half of
the 20th century. It is famous as a refuge of German and Swiss intellectuals who sympathised with anthroposophy and experimented with alternative lifestyles. The conference center of the Stefano Franscini foundation is located in their former residence
and thus provides an ideal ground also for reflections on religious toleration today and
the authority of Castellio and his adherents as precursors of Jean Bodin, Baruch de
Spinoza, John Locke or Gotthold Ephraim Lessing.
20 listeners interested in the topic (history of toleration, liberty of conscience, religious
non-conformism in the 16th century) are welcome and will enjoy the charming atmosphere of the Monte Verità. Guests will have to pay for their stay and meals (ca. 100
CHF a day): Hotel Monte Verità, Centro Stefano Franscini, Strada Collina 78, CH-6612
Ascona.
Please send your subscription to:
1
A short review of important books and articles is given in my German call for papers and
invitation to contributors.
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Prof. Dr. Barbara Mahlmann-Bauer, Institut für Germanistik der Universität Bern
Länggass-Strasse 49, CH-3000 Bern 9 (barbara.mahlmann@germ.unibe.ch) (chief
organizer).
Prof. Dr. Herman J. Selderhuis, Theologische Universität Apeldoorn, Wilhelminapark
4, NL-7316 BT Apeldoorn (hjselderhuis@refo500.nl)
Prof. Dr. Peter Opitz, Institut für schweizerische Reformationsgeschichte, Theologische Fakultät an der UZH, Kirchgasse 9, 8001 Zürich (irg@theol.uzh.ch).
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