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Adam Neuser (c. 153012 October 1576) was a
Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that emphasizes Justification (theology), justification of sinners Sola fide, through faith alone, the teaching that Salvation in Christianity, salvation comes by unmerited Grace in Christianity, divin ...
pastor of
Heidelberg Heidelberg (; ; ) is the List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, fifth-largest city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, and with a population of about 163,000, of which roughly a quarter consists of studen ...
who held
Antitrinitarian Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the orthodox Christian theology of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence ...
views. Neuser was born in
Gunzenhausen Gunzenhausen (; ) is a town in the Weißenburg-Gunzenhausen district, in Bavaria, Germany. It is situated on the river Altmühl, northwest of Weißenburg in Bayern, and southwest of Nuremberg. Gunzenhausen is a nationally recognized recreation a ...
and was a popular pastor and theologian in Heidelberg in the 1560s, serving at the ''Peterskirche'' and later the ''Heiliggeistkirche''. During the controversy over
church discipline Church discipline is the practice of church members calling upon an individual within the Church to repent for their sins. Church discipline is performed when one has sinned or gone against the rules of the church. Church discipline is practiced wi ...
that developed in the late 1560s, Neuser became a leading member of the Antidisciplinist, and thus anti-
Calvinist Reformed Christianity, also called Calvinism, is a major branch of Protestantism that began during the 16th-century Protestant Reformation. In the modern day, it is largely represented by the Continental Reformed Protestantism, Continenta ...
, faction led by
Thomas Erastus Thomas Erastus (original surname Lüber, Lieber, or Liebler; 7 September 152431 December 1583) was a Swiss physician and Calvinist theologian. He wrote 100 theses (later reduced to 75) in which he argued that the sins committed by Christians shou ...
. His disaffection with the ecclesiastical regime perhaps played some role in his doubts concerning orthodox Christian dogma. He wrote letters sternly attacking the doctrine of the trinity. He wrote to the
Ottoman Sultan The sultans of the Ottoman Empire (), who were all members of the Ottoman dynasty (House of Osman), ruled over the Boundaries between the continents, transcontinental empire from its perceived inception in 1299 to Dissolution of the Ottoman Em ...
assuring Sultan that he would receive support in Germany if his conquests push him that far. Neuser along with another
Antitrinitarian Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the orthodox Christian theology of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essence ...
, Johann Sylvan, sought to dialog with the Turks. Neuser was accused of denying divinity to
Jesus Christ Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...
and was consequently imprisoned. His associate, Johann Sylvan, was tortured and beheaded. Neuser confessed but managed to break out of prison. He later converted to
Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...
and traveled to
Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...
where he served the Ottoman Sultan. It is included in "Antiquities Palatine" which is now in the Archives at Heidelberg. "I, Adam Neuser, a Christian born in Germany and advanced to the dignity of Preacher to the people in Heidelberg, a city where the most learned men at this day in Germany are to be found, do fly for refuge to your majesty with a profound submission conjuring you for the love of God and your Prophet, on whom be peace of God, to receive me into the number of your subjects and those of your people that believe in God. For by the grace of the Omnipotent God, I see, I know, and I believe with my whole that your Doctrine and your Religion are pure, clear and acceptable to God. I am firmly persuaded that my retreat from among the idolatrous Christians will engage many persons of consideration to embrace your belief and your religion, especially since many of the most learned and most considerable amongst them are herein of the same sentiments with me as I shall inform your majesty by word of mouth....Being promoted to the dignity of Preacher in the famous University of Heidelberg by the Elector Palatine who next to the Emperor is the most powerful prince in Germany, I began to weigh maturely within myself the divers dissensions and divisions of our Christian religion: for so many persons as there are amongst us there are so many opinions and sentiments. I began with abstracting from all the Doctors and interpreters of the Scriptures who have wrote and taught since the days of the Prophet Jesus Christ. I tied myself only to the commandments of Moses and to the Gospel. Then I called upon God inwardly with the a most religious application and prayed him to show me the right way that I may not be in the danger to mislead myself and my hearers. Then it pleased God to reveal to me the "Articles of Invocation of the One only true God", upon which Article I composed a book in which I prove the Doctrine of Jesus Christ did not consist in asserting that he was himself a God as the Christians falsely allege: but that there is only one God who has no son con-substantial with him....."Treatises Concerning the Mohametons, A. Reland, pp.215-223


See also

*
Matthias Vehe Matthias Vehe known as Glirius (c.1545-1590) was a German Protestant religious radical, who converted to a form of Judaism and anti-trinitarianism, rejecting the ''New Testament'' as revelation. The identity of Vehe and the writer Glirius, who pub ...


References


Further reading

*Burchill, Christopher J. (1989) ''The Heidelberg Antitrinitarians.'' Bibliotheca Dissidentium 11, ed. André Séguenny. Baden-Baden: Editions Valentin Koerner. *Gunnoe, Charles D. (2011
''Thomas Erastus and the Palatinate: A Renaissance Physician in the Second Reformation.''
Leiden: Brill. * (treated in the article with Sylvan) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Neuser, Adam 1530 births 1576 deaths People from Gunzenhausen Converts to Islam from Protestantism Antitrinitarians German Protestant clergy German defectors German Muslims German former Christians German emigrants to the Ottoman Empire