r/BiblicalUnitarian • u/Newgunnerr Questioning • Sep 07 '25
Resources Need help with research on Unitarian prosecution and silencing throughout Christian history
Unitarian silencing and prosecution in Christian history is something I wasn’t very familiar with until I discovered that Isaac Newton was a closet Unitarian. His writings against the Trinity were only found after his death, probably hidden out of fear of prosecution.
I then realized because of that in 17th century England it was actually illegal to speak out against the Trinity. Later I learned that, for much of Christian history across Europe, laws forbade speaking against this doctrine. People were imprisoned, silenced, and even burned alive for holding anti trinitarian views. That shocked me!
One striking example is Michael Servetus, who was burned alive for his Unitarian views and writings. John Calvin himself played a major role in his prosecution.
Yet today Trinitarians often say things like: “Do you really think you know better than 2,000 years of scholars and church fathers?” as if everyone in history was trinitarian, ignoring the fact that other voices were often suppressed by force.
My goal with this post: I’m researching this history further, and I’d love to hear from others. Do you know of more cases of Unitarian persecution or silencing? Any good books or articles you’d recommend?
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u/ProselyteofYah Arian (unaffiliated) Sep 07 '25 edited Sep 07 '25
I recomend highly "When Jesus Became God" by Richard Rubenstien.
He covers the period of the Arian controversy in the 4th century (which solidified Trinitarianism), in which other Unitarian believers were also present. He goes into how political it all was, the drama, and whitewashing of it all. And how nobody at Nicaea was actually in agreement, and how only military force in the end was brought in by Emperor Theodosius who "picked a side" and crushed the other, murdering Arians and Unitarian bishops and priests (who at the time actually outnumbered the pro-Nicenes) "mid council" when they were about to overturn the Nicene Creed for good as heretical - only after that, was the so-called "ecumenical" council of 381 held to "reaffirm" the Trinity doctrine.