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 and Nancy Goldstone

The mix of theology, history, and biography is common within the world of books, but rarely has it been done so seamlessly as in Out of the Flames: The Remarkable Story of a Fearless Scholar, a Fatal Heresy, and One of the Rarest Books in the World. In it, the husband-wife team of Lawrence Goldstone and Nancy Goldstone weave a true tale with a common thread traversing 500 years—the thread being the Christianismi Restitutio, a book of scholarship written by a remarkably gifted man, Michael Servetus (1511–1553); 800 copies were printed, but only three of which survive to this day.

In Out of the Flames, the time period of Michael Servetus is described as an age of the Renaissance, the Reformation, and the Inquisition. Martin Luther, John Calvin, and Desiderius Erasmus were also of this age. And, as the tale unfolds, it is John Calvin who becomes the prosecutor of Michael Servetus, using the Christianismi Restitutio as key evidence. In the Christianismi Restitutio, Michael Servetus had written the tenets of his faith, including “the injustice of infant baptism, the contortions of the scriptures, the myth that was the Trinity, but most of all, the assertion that God existed in all people and things,” which were refuted by John Calvin.

In the course of events, Michael Servetus was brought before the court in Geneva, charged, and executed. All copies of the Christianismi Restitutio were ordered to be destroyed.

The Christianismi Restitutio was significant on two counts: First, it had obvious theological implications; second, and more important, it contained a medical description of the circulation of blood though the body and, as Nancy and Lawrence Goldstone describe it, “perhaps the single most important statement about the workings of the human body in fifteen hundred years.”

Out of the Flames presents the historical sequence of events as a stage to the players. The dynamics among royal families, members of the established Catholic church, and reformers are chronicled in detail, but always with the intent of moving the tale. The first third of the book provides the historical backdrop, including the development of the printing press (without which the Christianismi Restitutio would not have been printed). The second third of Out of the Flames covers the lives of the principal players: John Calvin, Michael Servetus, and Martin Luther, to name a few. The last third of the book tracks the three surviving copies of the Christianismi Restitutio. The events as they unfold in Out of the Flames represent a catalogue of historical sleuthing that traverses 500 years.

Out of the Flames is a lucid, well-written, rapidly moving history that is more exciting than any tale of fiction. The language is crisp and clear, and the sequence of events unfolds cleanly. Evidence for the book is supported by a selected bibliography and is further explained in bibliographic notes at the conclusion of the book. This book is highly recommended: It is thought-provoking long after the last page is turned.

Quotes in this review are from the book Out of the Flames.