Socinianism

[Sarah]

The tenets or doctrines of Faustus Socinus, an Italiantheologian of the sixteenth century, who denied the Trinity, thedeity of Christ, the personality of the Devil, the native and totaldepravity of man, the vicarious atonement, and the eternity of futurepunishment. His theory was, that Christ was a man divinelycommissioned, who had no existence before he was conceived by theVirgin Mary; that human sin was the imitation of Adam's sin, and thathuman salvation was the imitation and adoption of Christ's virtue;that the Bible was to be interpreted by human reason; and that itslanguage was metaphorical, and not to be taken literally.