Out of the Flames: The Remarkable Story of a Fearless Scholar, a Fatal Heresy, and One of the Rarest Books in the World

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Out of the Flames: The Remarkable Story of a Fearless Scholar, a Fatal Heresy, and One of the Rarest Books in the World

by Lawrence Goldstone (Goodreads Author), Nancy Goldstone

4.16 of 5 stars 4.16 · rating details · 270 ratings · 62 reviews

Michael Servetus is one of those hidden figureheads of history who is remembered not for his name, but for the revolutionary deeds that stand in his place. Both a scientist and a freethinking theologian, Servetus is credited with the discovery of pulmonary circulation in the human body as well as the authorship of a polemical masterpiece that cost him his life. The Chrisit...more

Paperback, 368 pages

Published September 2nd 2003 by Broadway (first published 2002)

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Jan 13, 2012 Eric_W rated it 5 of 5 stars

1/17/12
- Just realized I forgot to rate this.

I love everything I've read by the Goldstones and this is starting out as no exception. They begin with a fascinating account of Gutenberg's invention (his patron Johann Fust attempted to take all the credit for it) of movable type. He did more than just that though, inventing the ink and a new press, as well. I was struck by the fact that he presented some of his first printed books at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1640. I had the good fortune to atten...more 1/17/12
- Just realized I forgot to rate this.

I love everything I've read by the Goldstones and this is starting out as no exception. They begin with a fascinating account of Gutenberg's invention (his patron Johann Fust attempted to take all the credit for it) of movable type. He did more than just that though, inventing the ink and a new press, as well. I was struck by the fact that he presented some of his first printed books at the Frankfurt Book Fair in 1640. I had the good fortune to attend this fair several years ago and it's a librarian's wet dream. 9000 publishers (and that year attendance was down because I attended in October of 2001). I had no idea the fair had such an illustrious and long history.

Anyway, the 16th century was a battle between Charles V, Francois of France and Henry VIII, and control of ideas was vital. Gutenburg threatened to upset the applecart. But the real enabler was the printer Aldus Manutius who invented the octavo, making books portable, which, in turn spread ideas (coupled with the rise of humanism) around Europe. He worked with Erasmus to produce popular translations of many classic works, another seditious behavior.

Michael Servetus, a child prodigy, grew up in northern Spain, surrounded by an unusual heterodoxy, the political battles between France, England and Spain, the mixture of Muslim and Jewish cultures, and religious minorities battling for recognition. He learned Hebrew, a language usually forbidden at the time in order to prevent the Old Testament from being read in the original. (It wasn't until 1531 under Francis I in France that Hebrew was permitted to be taught openly in universities.)

For a thousand years, the Catholic Church had prohibited general reading and distribution of the Bible wanting no stray interpretations to be promoted. Finally the Complutensian Polyglot Bible was approved by the Vatican in 1522. It placed the entire Bible side by side in Hebrew, Greek and Latin Vulgate. Unusually, Servetus (he had changed his name from Miguel Serveto partially because of prejudice against the Spanish) could read all of them. Additionally, he could read Arabic and so he read the Koran as well. He was seventeen years old. He decided that only a return to "classic biblical scholarship could save religion."

Servetus was so horrified by the pomp and waste of Pope Clement's (he had been captured following the sack of Rome in 1527 when Charles V's troops mutinied and went nuts) coronation of Charles that he left his service and moved to Basel, then a hotbed of the Protestant Reformation under Johannes Oecolampadius (aka Hausschein or Hussgen.) Servetus had come to the conclusion, after reading the original Biblical texts, that Arius had been correct (see When Jesus Became God The Struggle to Define Christianity during the Last Days of Rome) and that no intermediary was needed between man and God.

By this time, Protestantism, like all revolutionary movements, had become reactionary and was more interested in accommodation with Rome than removing its underpinnings. Realizing he was risking Protestant wrath, Servetus fled to Strasbourg where he found a publisher for De Trinitatis Erroribus (On the Errors of the Trinity.) The book had a major flaw: "Servetus was SO smart that it never seemed to occur to him that his arguments would be more effective if he didn't imply that anyone holding an opposing view was an idiot." Despite this -- or perhaps because of it -- and heretical views being all the rage, the book sold very well but it placed Servetus squarely in the sights of the Inquisition. Servetus, much like Salman Rushdie, had underestimated the zeal of his opponents.

It was Calvin who used the Inquisition to bring down Servetus. Furious with the publication of Christianisimi Restitutio and Servetus's intemperate remarks regarding some of Calvin's writings, Calvin brought down his and the Roman Church's wrath upon Michael head, resulting in, well, you'll see. The book itself, hero of the story, contained some extraordinary medical discoveries. It was Servetus who proposed the workings of the circulatory system, oxygenation of the blood, and the different functions of veins and arteries, discoveries credited to researchers much later.

The intolerance and fear for ideas not one's own led not long after to the St. Bartholemew's massacre resulting in the slaughter of 3000 Protestants in Paris, a number that proportionally today might be in the tens of thousands. It's a wonder the human race survived the internecine battle between Catholics and Protestants.

quote regarding the Thirty Years War which followed: In the Thirty Years' War every hatred, ambition, and fear that had been unleashed by the spread of knowledge erupted in an orgy of sustained horror. Although central Europe, mostly Germany, was the battleground, there was not a country in Europe that did not contribute combatants and victims. From 1618 to 1648, Catholic fought Calvinist, Calvinist fought Lutheran, Hapsburg fought Bourbon, nationalist fought imperialist. The wreckage was unthinkable. Cities were revisited again and again by a succession of marauding armies that killed, burned, raped, stole every bit of food in sight, then ruined the fields so that nothing further could be grown. In the Netherlands they had eaten rats and leather to survive; in Germany they ate each other. No statistic is more chilling than this: there were 21 million people living in Germany in 1618 at the start of the war; by 1648, the war's end, only 13 million were left. The plague was not so efficient.(less)

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Sep 17, 2007 Jonathan rated it 4 of 5 stars

n 2002, I read a review in Salon of "Out of the Flames: The Remarkable Story of a Fearless Scholar, a Fatal Heresy, and One of the Rarest Books in the World", and I was determined to read it as soon as I could. Well, there are a lot of good books out there, so I didn't get around to picking up a copy until this spring, and I finally read it this summer.

It was well worth the wait. "Out of the Flames" is a page-turner that tells the story of Michael Servetus, a 16th-century Spanish physician and t...more

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Feb 15, 2008 Lexi rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Michael, Laurie, Tomiko, Monica, Saad

Recommended to Lexi by: Mom

Shelves: misc-nonfiction, history

Seriously--I cannot recommend this book highly enough, it is FACINATING and keeps your attention--not boring at ALL (believe me, I know from bording)!

This is a well-researched but dramatic and interesting telling of the life and death of Michael Servetus--and the 450 year history of his written works. The authors do an amazing job of putting his story (and his heretical ideas) in the context of religious ideological wars, the scientific and social revolutions in Europe caused by books, and the h...more

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Dec 23, 2012 Derelict Buddha rated it 5 of 5 stars

What is it to think for yourself in the face of violent opposition? Well researched and well written...!!! This delectable and wicked historical narrative places the reader firmly into the late Medieval period and the Reformation, a time when the most subversive thing you could do was to read the Bible and interpret it for yourself, when only the clergy or self-appointed prophets were allowed to do so.

What does it mean to think for yourself? Do we have freedom of conscience? In what are our cho...more

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Apr 03, 2013 Michael Soros rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: religion

I found this book particularly interesting. I knew nothing about Servetus before reading it but feel I have had a very good, wide-ranging introduction to the man. The book title may be a little misleading in some respects though because it actually doesn't deal in any great depth with the contents of the book itself. It covers when and why it was written and the circumstances of the time but it barely covers the contents so you would not be any the wiser on Servetus' academic views on the Trinit...more

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Feb 01, 2011 Paul Brandel rated it 5 of 5 stars

I'm at 75% through with this great book about Servetus,Calvin and the Reformation.What a frightful
time to live,to have spoken or written an unorthodox belief you could be burned at the stake!
"The result was a frenzy of slaughter rarely seen even in the most frocious battles of war.Of the
five thousand Protestants who had come to Paris,perhaps fewer than ten percent escaped alive.
They were killed with swords,clubs and knives;thrown from windows or drowned in the Seine.
Bodies were hacked at and d...more

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Dec 27, 2009 Glorious.Clio rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: everyone!

Shelves: history, nonfiction, read-unowned, wishlist

"History is an Ocean that books help us navigate. It is the permenence of the printed word that has allowed ideas to travel from place to place, from age to age. It is easy to dismiss the sixteenth century as the distant past, but Servetus, Calvin, Luther, Erasmus, Charles, Francis and the rest were dealing with the forces of an emerging technology much as we are today."

Out of the Flames is certainly a fascinating tale of one man, Michel Servetus, a Spanish Physician, whose theories about philo...more

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Apr 01, 2013 Allan Jones rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I found this an excellent book both in its depth of research around the life and 'heresy' of Servetus and its description of the times in which he lived. That we have the freedom today to say whether we believe that God lies within us or not, or discuss our individual perspectives on the concept of the Trinity, is taken for granted. Looking back to Servetus' time shows how challenging that was.

In Geneva the statue of Servetus and an older monument to him are near the hospital, nowhere near the C...more

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Mar 22, 2013 John G. rated it 4 of 5 stars

This is an interesting book, a book about the history and import of another book, but really it's about the battle between free and critical thinking and it's expression and articulation versus the forces of suppression and censorship. About the power of reading and formulating your own ideas and theories (heresy) against the "accepted" or "correct" mode of thought (orthodoxy). The book is a historical account of Micheal Servetus, a founding father of the present day Unitarian Universalist Churc...more

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May 20, 2013 Inken Purvis rated it 4 of 5 stars

I'm already a big fan of Nancy Goldstone who has written two of my favourite historical biographies and now I've discovered that her husband writes equally fun and fascinating books.

I didn't know anything about Michael Servetus until I read this story and couldn't put it down. Servetus suffered a horrible death at the hands of a man who comes across as devout but also petty, cruel and jealous: John Calvin. Despite Servetus' theories being the foundation of Unitarianism and his major physiologica...more

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Oct 20, 2009 Kevin rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: atheism-and-theism, social-science, history

Quite the fascinating perspective on life -- and death -- in the time of the early availability of printing, John Calvin, and the Inquisition. On one hand, the author does a superb job painting a picture of the forces at work at the time as well as key individuals and institutions. On the other hand, the story is of suppression of free thought in the most brutal manner possible, which certainly colored my reaction.

Nevertheless, a worthwhile book to peruse for anyone interested in the forces tha...more

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May 08, 2013 Eddy Allen rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: arts-and-historical

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Jan 23, 2013 Brandee Price rated it 5 of 5 stars

So I read another rather interesting book lately...another that I would have never chosen on my own but it was recommended by a co-worker and he hasn't steered me wrong yet. =) It was non-fiction - basically about a book that was almost lost to us forever. But it was about SOOOO much more. It takes place during the reformation and I have to tell you that it's made me want to do so much more reading on this period of time. I mean, I knew about Pope Leo and I knew about the Medici family but I had...more So I read another rather interesting book lately...another that I would have never chosen on my own but it was recommended by a co-worker and he hasn't steered me wrong yet. =) It was non-fiction - basically about a book that was almost lost to us forever. But it was about SOOOO much more. It takes place during the reformation and I have to tell you that it's made me want to do so much more reading on this period of time. I mean, I knew about Pope Leo and I knew about the Medici family but I had NO idea that Pope Leo was of the Medici family! And I found it so interesting to learn that Martin Luther went to the monastery because he "wasn't the brightest bulb in the box". But I digress...

The book is really about two men and a book...Michael Servetus and John Calvin. (yes, that John Calvin) Michael Servetus was a genius and at 13, his father sent him to university at Zaragossa. There Michael came to the attention of Juan de Quintana who latched on to Michael, and made him his personal secretary. When Quintana left Zaragossa for Toulouse, he took Michael with him. This put Michael in a unique position where he mixed with powerful people. While working for Quintana, Michael was able to attend the coronation of Charles V. This made Michael question some of the things his Catholic church was teaching and doing. So he learned Greek and Hebrew so he could read the original bible and see where the Catholic church could make changes and thereby serve the people more correctly. He wrote a book entitled On the Errors of the Trinity, which, of course, since it took issue with a little something the Catholic church called the trinity, the church and the Inquisition felt was heretical. So at 19, Michael Servetus was condemned to death. He ran...to Switzerland and then to France. He changed his name and enjoyed the freedom of humanism which was flourishing at Paris University. He studied and wrote and argued...with among other men, John Calvin. Now John Calvin had his own ideas about religion and wanted to show Michael the errors of his ways. And Michael, naturally, was convinced of his rightness (which, by the way, I was convinced of as well) so he was having none of it. John, seeing the "success" of Michael and his book, thought he'd write his own book and thereby gain the popularity and power that he craved. Calvin's book was NOT a bestseller and Calvin, who was apparently a gigantic narcissist, decided it was Michael's fault in some way and so would spend the rest of his life hunting Michael down in order to have his life and ideas destroyed.

At some point, Servetus ended up back at the University of Paris and studied medicine this time. He later goes to Vienne and practices as a country doctor there. He also works on a book, Christianismi Restitutio, and corresponds with John Calvin, both of which would bring about his downfall. In the end, Calvin succeeded in his mission to destroy Servetus. He had Servetus burned at the stake along with all the copies of his book he could find. And he ordered that all Servetus' books be collected and destroyed. However, 3 copies miraculously survived...along with John Calvin's personal copy.

As a side story, Michael Servetus, while studying medicine at Paris University, actually discovered how the circulatory system worked...years before Vesalius, who is credited for the discovery. And if this book was never discovered, we'd never have known all the genius of Michael Servetus.

There is so much more to this story...the history of how the printing of books affected the reformation. How much of society that was under the control of the church. And how the church used the Inquisition to try to keep people under their rule while they themselves did things in such excess as to actually disgust those faithful who so loved the church and were so disgusted by the abuse they witnessed the church indulge in. Not to mention the history of how medicine was changed with the discovery of how the circulatory system functioned. And also the beginnings of modern medicine here in America. Oh, and also the history of a little branch of the christian church known as the Unitarian Church. I'm just barely scratching the surface in this review.

This book was so informative and inflammatory (but in a good way) for me. And it also created more questions for me. Oh, I will have to read more books! So I hope you'll check out this book sometime. (less)

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Mar 06, 2012 Michael Connolly rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: reviewed, christianity

During the 16th century in Europe, the Gutenberg printing press was the main enabler for the spread of ideas to reform the Roman Catholic church. But there was no freedom of the press and the Vatican prevented the publication of what it deemed to be heresy. A Spanish scholar named Michael Servetus, published a book critical of the doctrine of the trinity, which, in fact, has no foundation in scripture. John Calvin of Geneva, a less liberal reformer, had almost all copies of this book burned and...more

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Jan 22, 2013 Lee Ann rated it 4 of 5 stars

This was a surprisingly entertaining book for such a serious historical subject. The best part was the tracing of ideas from the printing press to the present. I was continually surprised with the connections between various historical figures known and unknown. Too bad these stories are left out of traditional history books and we have to instead find out on our own. I highly recommend
this book to fans of history.

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Oct 20, 2011 Deb Holden rated it 4 of 5 stars

A well written book about John Calvin, Micheal Servitus, the invention of the printing press and the Reformation. The Goldstones are book collectors so there is a lot about the history of 3 remaining copies of Servitus' book which had him burned at the stake. It really brings home how nasty the human race can be in the name of religion.

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Feb 20, 2012 Diane rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: history, nonfiction

I read this for a class, but it's an excellent work of nonfiction. It follows a scholar who was burned at the stake in the 1500s for his heretical writings, the invention of the Gutenberg printing press, the start of the Reformation and some of the greatest minds in the last 500 years. I enjoyed the writing so much that I plan to read several more books by this husband-and-wife writing team. "Out of the Flames" is a good companion to William Manchester's "A World Lit Only by Fire," which is also...more

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Apr 10, 2009 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this book so much I'm ready to start reading it again on Monday. It packs a incredible, sweeping history into a single volume, providing an engaging story and a wonderful sense of the personalities involved in almost 500 years of antitrinitarian thought, conversation, debate, and commitment. Inspiring!

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Jul 02, 2012 Susan rated it 3 of 5 stars

Recommended to me by a Unitarian Minister...

I learned some useful things about the history of book printing and the history of religion.

Calvin turns out to be quite the monster in this book.

It didn't hold my attention from cover to cover, but I finished it, and I am glad for the things I learned.

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Jul 30, 2011 Rich Kooyer rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If you were looking for a book that was less dry about this revolutionary thinker, this is it! The great book is not filled with a lot of miniscule facts. Everything is related to the Reformation and what Servetus did to bring on his own demise.

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Aug 01, 2011 Nina rated it 2 of 5 stars

One of the books I had to read for AP European History this summer. It was ok, though not my favorite style of writing. All in all, it took me a while to get through, but turned out good in the end.

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Feb 09, 2010 WillowAtSunset Bennehoff rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

This book gave me my first heretical hero, Michael Servetus, and set me on a quest to find others who were brave enough to voice their own thoughts at the threat of death or excommunication.

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Mar 18, 2010 Melanie rated it 5 of 5 stars

The story of Michael Servetus really is remarkable and these authors told it very well. I hadn't even known that this man existed, yet his story is absolutely absorbing.

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Jan 25, 2008 Kerry rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: anyone

Recommended to Kerry by: stumbled across this one

Shelves: non-fiction, personal_collection

Fabulous read. Witty, engaging, and yet simple. I didn't really understand the power of the printed word until I read this. At a time when religion and the Catholic Church dominated everything it was the printing press that brought about the reformation and spread ideas faster than could have ever been imagined. Even if you don't like history the Goldstones have a writing style that is easy and very engaging. As I read this book I often wonder what our modern world would be like if the printing...more

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Jan 06, 2008 Elizabeth rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I really, really, really liked this book. It's about Michael Servetus, the who founded the movement that would become the Unitarians. Basically, he wrote a book, which Calvin found heretical, he was burned for it, his books were burned for it, but Calvin kept his copy, and that is one of the something like four copies that exist today. The book spoke out about the non-biblical origin of the trinity, that it was wrong to baptize babies and other things that didn't jive with the established dogma...more

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Mar 23, 2010 Teresa rated it 5 of 5 stars

The story of Michael Servetus, the Spanish priest who rejected the idea of a Trinity and perished because of it. Fascinating read.

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Jun 09, 2012 Janet rated it 4 of 5 stars

Very interesting book. I did not expect to learn so much about religion--specifically Calvinists and Lutherans--in the 1600s and 1700s. It was fascinating! I plan to research more about "Fearless Scholar" Michael Servetus and his early writings. The only reason I didn't give 5 stars was because the current era wasn't covered in as much depth as I would like. Overall this was a very good book and I highly recommend it.

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Jan 01, 2010 William Blair rated it 5 of 5 stars

Absolutely wonderful book from the Goldstone husband-and-wife team. Review coming later.

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Oct 07, 2009 Clinton rated it 5 of 5 stars

Fantastic book. Calvin was a piece of work. It's no wonder science hates religion.

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Jul 30, 2012 Wyatt rated it 5 of 5 stars

One of my favorite books ever! very interesting history

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About Lawrence Goldstone

Lawrence Goldstone is the author of fourteen books of both fiction and non-fiction. Six of those books were co-authored with his wife, Nancy, but they now write separately to save what is left of their dishes.
Goldstone's articles, reviews, and opinion pieces have appeared in, among other publications, the Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Chicago Tribune, Miami Herald, Hartford Courant, and Berkshi...more

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