1542-1553. Working as a physician in Vienne
 During
his twelve-year residence in Vienne, the longest quiet period
of his troubled life, Servetus acquired fame and fortune as
a physician and, at the same time, he continued working as
proof corrector. In 1542, he brought out a new
edition of Ptolemy which he softened down some of the
notes that had given offense before. He next prepared an edition
of the Santes
Pagnini's Bible, completed in seven volumes in 1545. His
introduction and notes anticipate modern biblical criticism
and show a marked advance in sophistication beyond that of
his earlier theological writing.
At the same time, Michel de Villeneuve, Servetus continued
cultivating his interest in theology with the prepararion
of his major theological treatise, Christianismi
Restitutio (The Restoration of Christianity). He also
began, in 1546, a fateful secret correspondence with his old
acquaintance, John Calvin.
By this time Calvin, author of Institutio Christianae Religionis
(Institutions of Christian Religion), 1536, and pastor and
chief reformer of Geneva, was the most prestigious figure
in the Reform branch of Protestantism.
Calvin's theology had included little mention of the trinitarian
nature of the godhead until, in 1537, another reformer, Pierre
Caroli, accused him of being an Arian. Although cleared by
a synod at Lausanne, Calvin was afterwards on his guard and
determined to deal severely with deviations in this area of
orthodoxy. The subject, associated with unpleasant memories,
was distasteful to him. Servetus, surely aware of Calvin's
previous lack of clarity on the subject, bombarded him with
letters insisting on unorthodox conceptions more radical than
those he had presented a decade and more ago. Calvin replied
with increasing impatience and asperity. Servetus sent Calvin
a manuscript of his yet unpublished Restitutio. Calvin reciprocated
by sending a copy of the Institutio. Servetus returned it
with abusive annotations. On the day Calvin broke off the
correspondence, he wrote to his colleague, Guillaume Farel,
that should Servetus ever come to Geneva, "if my authority
is of any avail I will not suffer him to get out alive."
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