How far could free Religious Thinking go?

Johann Rudolf Werdmüller who had owned the peninsula in the seventeenth century had installed a smithy in the house which the servants were to call their new home. So prolific were the rumours around this extravagant man that 250 years later the memory of his extravagance was still alive.

 Who was Hans (Johannes) Rudolf Werdmüller? What had made him so well known? Part of the answer lies in the conflict between Werdmüller and a cousin of his involving accusations of the serious crime of blasphemy. The accusations had a considerable public impact, bringing important religious matters into the spotlight and providing evidence of wider battles over the desirability and nature of religious tolerance.

Religious matters like blasphemy were as much a hybrid public and private affair in early modern Zurich as elsewhere in Europe.It is significant that the conversations Thomas Werdmüller used to accuse Hans Werdmüller had happened during important social events.

But what exactly did Thomas accuse Hans Werdmüller of? 

There were limits to religious tolerance. The clergy’s diplomatic attitude did not go so far as to blur the line between what might be tolerated and what was absolutely intolerable. It was perfectly clear that the Reformed religion was the only true faith. Nobody could enter the kingdom of heaven who did not believe nor trust in Christ according to the Reformed confession. Evidently Werdmüller did not share this point of view. In his defence he presented the unorthodox tolerationist and proto-freethinking argument that true Christians should not condemn anyone. For him the crucifixion narrative demonstrated that even criminals could be saved, and he had concluded from this that there must be different paths to heaven. Hans Werdmüller had obviously allowed himself free rein to think about theological issues on his own initiative. But he proved to be unaware of the limits he strained against as he finally admitted he must have misunderstood the biblical message. In the end the report stated that Werdmüller had “talked in a dangerous, unreflected and irritating way” but that he now fully realised his error. Once more the dangerous accusation of blasphemy was evaded...

At the end he said to the crowd .. "at least I had the courage to think for myself about life and God, and i felt free.. you can say you don't agree but you cant blame me for doing it "

AUTOR: FERNANDA SORIA CRUZ 144490

FUENTE: LOETZ, FRANCISCA. "How Far Could Free Religious Thinking Go? The Case Of Johann Rudolf Werdmüller, Zurich 1658."Journal Of Religious History 32.4 (2008): 409-421. Academic Search Complete. Web. 15 Nov. 2011.