Stirrings

To paraphrase, "So much to write, so little time".  There are so many topics I am sure I won't get to them all unless I take the next few weeks.  And that is my plan.


First some updates.  There was a performance of an opera in Geneva played from October 28 to November 5, 2011.  

This is new opera written by composer Shauna Beesley and librettist Jean-Claude Humbert. Le procès de Michel Servet, or The Trial of Michael Servetus, is one of many performances in Europe during this 500th anniversary of Michael Servetus's birth.

I am still trying to get facts on another important development in Geneva. It seems that the Geneva Consistory, the city council, has approved the placement of a statue memorializing Servetus near the place where he died at the stake. At the time a memorial monolith was placed near the Champel hill, 1908, Servetus supporters wanted to place a statue. The Consistory refused and the monolith was placed in an inconspicuous location and brush and weeds allowed to grow up around it. The statue was accepted by the nearby French town of Annemasse, where it was later removed and melted down by the Nazi occupation troops. It was recast from the original mold in the 1960s and is still in Annemasse. A duplicate statue will be or has been placed in Geneva. More as I get through the language barrier and confirm the facts. Oh, and it seems that they did clean up the brush and weeds around the monolith.

I have been reading some books I didn't get to before writing The Passion of the Heretic and re-reading some that I had read. I'd like to write about each of them and how they affect my thoughts and vision for the script. There is a Broadcast Education Association conference and there is a deadline for submissions of scripts. I want to include some of my thoughts over the last few months in my submission.

First book I read is by Jerome Friedman titled Michael Servetus: A case Study in Total Heresy (1978). It is a fairly dense study of Servetus's theology from the Errors of the Trinity to The Restitution of Christianity. Every time I tried to read it I couldn't get past the first chapter, or was it the introduction. With determination I finally survived the whole book. I have a better understanding of his Christology and new ideas on why he and Calvin clashed so forcefully. That will have to wait until a new post.


The book I am reading now is The Restoration of Christianity: An English Translation of Christianismi Restitutio, 1553, by Michael Servetus (1511-1553) translated by Christopher A. Hoffman and Marian Hillar.  This one is, perhaps, more dense than Friedman's, because it is the actual work of Michael Servetus himself.  I have only begun this one and there are three volumes.  It is exciting that I finally feel grounded in the man and his ideas enough that I can attempt to grapple with his seminal book.  So far I am impressed with the Foreword by Ángel Alcalá.  Ángel has a wonderful way of explaining both the story of Servetus and, especially, his importance in the age  old struggle for freedom of conscience.  The few pages by Servetus I have read track very well with Friedman's book.


The final area I would like to mention is the relevance of Servetus's times to ours.  I am listening to a documentary about copyright laws and how they are becoming international and limiting the ability of persons to fair use of intellectual property.  How could Servetus have formed his ideas if he could not have used the ideas of the church fathers, and even the Bible?  I'm also hearing news reports of  NY police burning 5000 books from the Occupy Wall Street library.  In America.  In 2011.  Really?  Really?  And I thought shooting rubber bullets at non-violent  protesters was going too far.

The 500th birthday celebration on September 30, 2011 at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greensboro was a success.  Reverend Eric Posa openend the occasion with warm words of welcome.  Michael Servetus was born September 29, 2011, on Saint Michael's Day.

Nick Divitci did a commendable job of speaking about the history and future of the Servetus Project  and I talked about the journey with my calling to see this movie get made.

The Christianismi Restitutiocake was a big hit.  I joked that the fourth copy of the book had been found.  Previously only three extant copies were known to exist.  The cake was a Spanish Bar cake, in honor of Servet's native country.  It was created at Susie's Lovin' Oven, which you can find at http://www.susieslovinoven.com/.  We also had a traditional Southern Scripture cake, in honor of his love of the Bible and insistence on a Scriptural basis for Christianity.

Many people enjoyed writing birthday greetings to Michael Servetus with a quill pen and ink.

The actors (see below) did a tremendous job bringing the first act of the script to life.  Two actors dropped out in the last two days and I could only replace one of them.  I drafted myself to do one of the multi-character parts.  It was a new experience for me and I was glad I had the script so I didn't have to memorize the lines.

Cast for the first act of The Passion of the Heretic

Narrator Mary Lopez

Michael Servetus Tony Scarsella

Edouard Jordan Googe

Monique Leroux Emily Hill (also read for Dancer)

John Calvin David Teague

Marguerite Joyce Allen

Multi Reader 1 Reads various characters Charlley Ward

Multi Reader 2 Reads various characters Thomas Clayton

Preparations for the Friday night celebration are well underway.  The book is due to be finished Wed or Thurs.  The cast is set for the reading, rehearsal Thursday night.  Marilyn is working on the slide presentation.  Bill is handling the refreshments. And Nick is getting some well deserved rest.

I am working on a to do list for the rest of the week.  It shouldn't be more than two or three pages, single spaces.  Oh, My.

Bookstore Signing Session

The first book signing for Rebel With A Cause: The Radical Reformer (at a bookstore) will be at Al's Community Bookshop on Saturday October 1, 2011 from 3 to 6 pm.  Many thanks to Al for opening his store to a new author.  It is great to have a local bookstore.

Al's Community Bookshop
1206 Grove Street, Greensboro, NC 27403

New book to be published

The delivery date for the my new book on Michael Servetus, Rebel With a Cause: The Radical Reformer is Sept 29, 2011.  The main part of the book is the feature film script The Passion of the Heretic.  The book also includes notes on the characters in the script, the locations in the script, a short biography of Servetus's life, a contextual chronology of the time he lived, an introduction about my involvement in this project, and an essay on the relationship between historians and filmmakers. The foreword to the book is by Dr. Sergio Baches Opi, director of the Michael Servetus Institute (http://www.miguelservet.org/) in Villenueva de Sijena, Aragon, Spain. The Institute is in the birth house of Michael Servetus.

 

Birthday Celebration

On September 30th at 7:00 pm there will be a 500th birthday celebration in memory of the birth of Michael Servetus, an important 16^th century theologian burned at the stake for advocating freedom of conscience and a simpler, more compassionate Christianity. Along with cake and ice cream, we will have a reading of the first act of the screenplay, The Passion of the Heretic, a multimedia presentation of Thomas and Marilyn Clayton's 2010 research trip to Europe, and the premier introduction of Thomas' new book on Servetus, Rebel With a Cause: The Radical Reformer. The celebration will be at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Greensboro, 5603 Hilltop Rd (at Guilford College Road), Jamestown, NC 27282-9396 Phone: 336 856-0330.

Michael Servetus was a mathematician, geographer, astronomer, editor, writer, physician, and theologian when the printing press was transforming Europe, the Renaissance was flowering, church and state were competing for power, the German Protestants were challenging the Catholic Church. Into this fiery turmoil Michael Servetus dares to challenge any and all accepted beliefs, insisting that Christianity return to its roots of love, compassion, and monotheism. Inquisitions, kings, and John Calvin, the Protestant Pope, stand in his way.