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work, this detail is somehow lost in the above conceptions. And if the presence of the ideas of Restitutio
can be indicated in an important chapter of the representative Polish--Hungarian Antitrinitarian work as
well as in the respective vernacular publications, the forceful emphasis on the element of reinterpretation
will be justified. All this, of course, is remarkable with respect to the later history of Servet's work and
will modify the view now dominant in the literature on the subject that the work of the mature Servet had
no significant reception.123
Looking for the Leitmotif of the treatment one probably thinks of the moral philosophical discussions
in the source work. On the level of moral theology both works put forward an imitatio Christi based
ultimately on the New Testament and allowing several interpretations. This and the god--man relationship
fundamentally changed after the appearance of the Man Jesus Christ can be regarded as the common
element that made the use of Restitutio possible even if opinions radically differed concerning the
previous status of Jesus Christ. Thus the new Christology could be viewed as one that puts the moral
theology formulated by Servet on a more solid and more consistent basis. At least that is the dominating
tendency in the works of Grzegorz Pawel. In Rövid útmutatás, however, a more complicated situation
should be expected. It will perhaps have been made clear by the analysis above that while the Polish
Antitrinitarian had a clarified, clear cut and Christological position, this was not the case with Ferenc
Dávid at all. Although, on the one hand, it can be said that by translating the crucially important parts of
Brevis explicatio into Hungarian he eliminated a considerable amount of the obscurities and ambivalences
in the earlier works but, on the other, he did not give up the idea of trying to reconcile Lelio Sozzini's
Christology with that of Servet, the latter cleansed of the Platonic traits. The denial of Christ's
preexistence became the basic tenet of his dogmatics, but through the ample use of the text of Restitutio
he embraced details reminiscent of the +old" concept. As we have said, these are not to be regarded as
transient phenomena and as it will be shown, it is exactly the dogged insistence on Servetian phraseology
that makes his views individual.
All this makes one pause to think about the hermeneutical procedures formulated and followed in
Ferenc Dávid's work. We have seen that getting acquainted with the procedure followed in Brevis
explicatio did not solve for him the tormenting questions of interpreting the Scripture. That is how, using
the commentary that worked with a rationalist exegesis, he arrived at a profoundly subjectivist principle.
But the distrustfulness towards human cleverness seen in the treatise is not quite identical with the
biblicism of Grzegorz Pawel. For with Dávid this subjectivism, in addition to meaning that the capability
of interpretation was bound to morality, also implied that one was justified to look for independent
solutions. That is why Rövid útmutatás is a most important work. Together with the related texts it raises
problems that were important for the development of both Transylvanian and European
Antitrinitarianism. Its lessons must be remembered when outlining the mutual relationships and the
history of the development of the various types and generations of Antitrinitarianism.
Fausto Sozzini's reception and Transylvanian Antitrinitarian Christology
The relationship between Servetian Antitrinitarianism and that represented by the Italians,
however, cannot be clarified without examining another explication of Chapter 1 of John's gospel,
Explicatio primi capitis Ioannis, which was also published in Transylvania first. This work, in addition to
containing a more developed argumentation, also formulates details that are not present in Brevis
explicatio.124 Of these we regard the following the most important. Arguing with the thesis that John
wrote his gospel against Cerinthus and Ebion, the work claims that the apostle's purpose was not a debate
with the said heretics but he wanted to convince people that Jesus was the son of God and whoever believed
in him, would be saved. The author, who also uses rhetorical and poetic means in his argument, not
only lists the biblical passages he considers analogous but the logical acceptability of the given thesis is
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