Getting started in 6 steps

Six steps with which you can work through Socinianism on your own — from a first reading of the Bible to reading Sozzini in the original. No creed, no compulsion, no group pressure — only Scripture, reason and patience.

Before you begin

Socinianism is not a sect and not a membership. It is a reading and thinking movement: read the Bible alone, do not switch off your reason, look honestly at history. Whoever does this is on the way.

Step 1: Read the New Testament — as if you were the first reader

Before you open theological books, read the Gospels and Acts with a clear intention: What do they actually say about the Father, the Son and the Spirit? Note whether Jesus calls himself "God", how he prays, whom he calls his God, how he speaks of the Spirit. You will be surprised.

Recommendation: ESV, NRSV, or in German Schlachter 2000 / revised Elberfelder. Set aside what you know, and remember what you read.

Step 2: Learn to understand the Shema Israel

The fundamental Jewish confession (Deut 6:4: "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one") is the standard against which every doctrine of God must be measured. Jesus himself quotes it as the "first commandment" (Mark 12:29). Whoever takes the Shema Israel seriously has taken the first step.

Step 3: Study the key verses systematically

Instead of rushing through the internet, work through the central passages step by step. On Bible Verses you will find an organised collection with detailed Socinian readings — sorted by topic: God, Christ, atonement, Church.

Step 4: Understand the doctrines — Trinity, Christ, atonement, original sin

Once the scriptural basis is familiar to you, move on to the topical main pages. Take a week for each:

  • Trinity — the exegetical and logical examination of the doctrine of the Trinity
  • Pre-existence — what do John 1, John 17:5 and Phil 2 really mean?
  • Atonement of Christ — Sozzini's critique of the doctrine of satisfaction
  • Church — the assembly of believers rather than a sacramental institution of salvation
  • Original sin — why Adam's sin is not inherited
  • Predestination — why God destines no one to damnation in advance

Step 5: Read the history — Sozzini, Polish Brethren, Raków

Every theology has its historical place. Understand why Socinianism arose in the 16th and 17th centuries, what the Polish Brethren achieved in Raków, and why they were expelled in 1658. The Timeline gives an overview.

Who was the man behind the name? The biography of Fausto Sozzini shows a theologian who never held a pastoral office and yet shaped an entire movement.

Step 6: Read Sozzini and the Polish Brethren themselves

In the end there is no way around the sources. On Books & Library you will find:

  • Editions of Fausto Sozzini's principal works: De Iesu Christo Servatore, De Sacrae Scripturae Auctoritate, On the Church, On Justification, the commentary on the Sermon on the Mount, the Racovian Catechism.
  • A free library with PDFs of contemporary biblical-unitarian literature — Buzzard, Chang, Chandler, Hemphill, Gill, Lackey, Zarley, Vuksanović and many more.
Your standard

Do not believe us. Do not believe tradition. Believe the Scripture you have read for yourself — tested with the mind God has given you. If the road leads you to the same conclusions as Sozzini, we are glad. If not, you have at least thought clearly.

Useful companions