Valdés, Juan de

Valdés, Juan de (hwän &thstrok;ā väldās') [key], c.1500–1540, Spanish reformer, b. Cuenca. Suspected by the Inquisition, he went soon after 1530 to Naples, where he became the center of a circle of men interested in religious reform. Valdés had already published an attack on many ecclesiastical abuses. He never openly abjured Catholicism, but he was a principal influence on many reformers, e.g., Bernardino Ochino and Pietro Martire Vermigli. He seems to have held the doctrine of justification by faith alone. Many consider him a Socinian or Unitarian.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2007, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.

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