Conclusion: the legacy of Socinianism

Summary

Socinian ideas – and the challenge they posed – were crucial to intellectual and political developments during the English Revolution and the issue of Socinianism remained very much alive after the Restoration. In the later decades of the seventeenth century they were, however, shaped and modified in important ways. Some of the issues once raised by the Socinians moved into mainstream political and ecclesiastical debate, taking on a life of their own. No longer were the Socinians' ideas about natural right and natural law associated exclusively with Socinianism. At the same time, however, the term ‘Socinian’ came to be associated most strongly with a particular approach to theology, and one which was extremely damaging to such central Christian doctrines as the Trinity. In this final chapter, we will consider how Socinian ideas, and the public perception of Socinianism, altered over the course of the later seventeenth century.

CHRISTIANITY AND NATURAL LAW

Socinus' theology was predicated upon his particular and distinctive views about nature and about freedom. He drove a wedge between nature and Christianity, arguing that religious belief must be freely chosen – and that it could not be free if it were natural. He and his followers drew upon legal language to explain this freedom, suggesting that human beings had rights which they could use as they wanted.