Adam Neuser (c. 153012 October 1576) was a

Protestant Protestantism is a branch of Christianity that follows the theological tenets of the Protestant Reformation, a movement that began seeking to reform the Catholic Church from within in the 16th century against what its followers perceived to b ...

pastor of

Heidelberg Heidelberg (; Palatine German language, Palatine German: ''Heidlberg'') is a city in the States of Germany, German state of Baden-Württemberg, situated on the river Neckar in south-west Germany. As of the 2016 census, its population was 159,914 ...

who held

Antitrinitarian Nontrinitarianism is a form of Christianity that rejects the mainstream Christian doctrine of the Trinity—the belief that God is three distinct hypostases or persons who are coeternal, coequal, and indivisibly united in one being, or essen ...

views. Neuser was born in

Gunzenhausen Gunzenhausen (; bar, Gunzenhausn, link=no) 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 nation ...

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 Calvinism (also called the Reformed Tradition, Reformed Protestantism, Reformed Christianity, or simply Reformed) is a major branch of Protestantism that follows the theological tradition and forms of Christian practice set down by John Ca ...

, 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 sho ...

. 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 assuring Sultan that he would receive support in Germany if his conquests push him that far. Neuser along with another

Johann Sylvan Johann Sylvan (died 23 December 1572) was a Reformed German theologian who was executed for his heretical Antitrinitarian beliefs. Origins and early career Johann Sylvan probably came from the Etsch valley in the County of Tyrol. By 1555 he wa ...

, sought to dialog with the

Turks Turk or Turks may refer to: Communities and ethnic groups * Turkic peoples, a collection of ethnic groups who speak Turkic languages * Turkish people, or the Turks, a Turkic ethnic group and nation * Turkish citizen, a citizen of the Republic ...

. Neuser was accused of denying divinity to

Jesus Christ Jesus, likely from he, יֵשׁוּעַ, translit=Yēšūaʿ, label=Hebrew/Aramaic ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ or Jesus of Nazareth (among other names and titles), was a first-century Jewish preacher and religious ...

and was consequently imprisoned. His associate,

, was tortured and beheaded. Neuser confessed but managed to break out of prison. He later converted to Islam and traveled to

Istanbul ) , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = 34000 to 34990 , area_code = +90 212 (European side) +90 216 (Asian side) , registration_plate = 34 , blank_name_sec2 = GeoTLD , blank_i ...

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

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