Keywords

• Following the execution of M. Serveto in 1553
• John Calvin and Sebastian Castellio open a heated debate on tolerance which has long been celebrated by critical literature. In response to those who maintain as unclear God's word in order to ground their foolish interpretations and appeal for tolerance
• in his Defensio orthodoxae fidei (1554) Calvin refers to the everlasting mirror of Scripture where Christian faith can always recognize the Father's perfect image and distinguish truth from error
• martyrs from blasphemers. On the contrary
• such a distinction is impossible according to Castellio. In Contra libellum Calvini
• the Savoyard humanist separates the dangerous heretic
• who denies the Veritas he knows
• and the believer with a different opinion
• who interprets the Veritas he doesn't know perfectly and becomes a martyr as far as he is persecuted in spite of his faith in God. These pages aim to clarify the reasons why Castellio's doctrine of tolerance is rejected by Calvin
• who argues heresy is not just an incorrect interpretation
• it is always a shameless blasphemy
• since errors generate a wrong idea of God the Father putting trust in an idolatrous worship. The condemnation of wrong interpretation of Scripture is thus necessary in order to keep true religion
• to recognize holy Church and to kee believers away from the maze of human doubt