ARMINIUS AND ARMINIANISM

Jacobus Arminius (Jacob Harmanszoon, 1560–1609), who gave his name to a variant of Reformed belief, was born in Oudewater, Holland. After his father's early death, the boy was protected in turn by a minister, who converted him to Protestantism; by Rudolphus Snel van Rooijen the mathematician; and by Pieter Bertius of Rotterdam. With Pieter Bertius Jr., later important in the great Arminian disputes, Arminius studied at Leiden under the French Protestant Lambertus Danaeus. Later Arminius studied under Theodorus Beza in Geneva, where he met Johannes Uytenbogaert (Wtenbogaert), the chief proponent of Arminian doctrines after the death of Arminius.

Soon after his ordination (1588), Arminius was called upon by the ecclesiastical court of Amsterdam to refute the arguments of the Dutch "libertine" theologian Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert, an exercise that undermined Arminius' orthodox Calvinism. He came to doubt the deterministic doctrine of damnation, and believed that election, dependent in part on man's free will, was not arbitrary but arose from God's pity for fallen men. Arminius was consistently attacked by orthodox clergymen (notably Petrus Plancius and Franciscus Gomarus) for his alleged Pelagianism; in spite of all opposition, however, he was made professor of theology at Leiden in 1603 and thereafter exercised great influence upon the next generation of divines. He died just prior to the national schism brought about by his beliefs.

Arminianism

In 1610 the Arminian clergy published their Great Remonstrance, a codification of Arminius' creed. This work dealt with five doctrinal points: It rejected the doctrine of election and predestination, both supralapsarian and sublapsarian. It rejected the idea that Christ died for the elect alone and belief in irresistible grace. It asserted belief in the sufficient power of saints, rejecting the idea that saints could fall from grace.

To the orthodox, these were Romish heresies; for eight years the battle of the pulpits raged, with Uytenbogaert, Bertius, and Hugo Grotius the great defenders of the Remonstrance. A theological question of this magnitude necessarily involved political theory and practice: the Remonstrants developed several versions of a theory by which, to protect consciences, the magistrate, rather than the Dutch Reformed Church, was given final say in matters of religion. Naturally, since such a theory favored republican administration, Arminianism gained support in the town governments and in the States-General, particularly in the figure of the pensionary of Holland, Jan van Olden Barneveldt.

In 1618 a synod was called to rule on Remonstrant doctrine, with the open support of the stadholder, Prince Maurice of Orange, who realized that the theological controversy might be used to curb the power of the States-General. For the hearing at Dordrecht (Dort), Arminian tenets were slightly modified by Uytenbogaert. Election was interpreted as God's grace to true believers; but this grace was not irresistible, and salvation still depended on the cooperation of the human will, which was sufficiently strong to overcome the temptations of evil. By the time the sessions began, the leading Arminian laymen had been arrested for treason: Olden Barneveldt was sentenced to be beheaded in The Hague; Grotius and Rombout Hogerbeets were imprisoned in Loevestein Castle.

The Synod was international: Representatives from Germany, Geneva, and England took part in the hearings, but the Remonstrants were barely allowed to be heard. Their five tenets were declared inadmissible, or heretical, and orthodox Calvinism was upheld. Remonstrants were given the choice of recantation or exile.

Most chose exile—in France, Geneva, or England. Until the death of Prince Maurice in 1625, Arminianism was persecuted in Holland; but with the accession to the stadholderate of the tolerant Frederick Henry, Arminians began to return, particularly to the great cities of Amsterdam and Rotterdam. In 1630 a church was organized in Amsterdam, to which in 1632 an academy was attached, to train Remonstrant clergymen and the sons of Remonstrants barred from studying at the universities.

Dutch Arminianism was closely allied with advanced secular learning, both philosophical and scientific. The Remonstrant "Illustre School" (later the nucleus of the University of Amsterdam) was distinguished for its mathematical and medical, as well as its theological and philosophical, faculties. Whatever the philosophical implications of Arminius' humanistic doctrine, in the seventeenth century it was coupled with broad learning: An Arminian professor translated René Descartes's Discourse upon Method into Latin for the general use of the learned world; Arminian professors contributed to the periodicals of the republic of letters; and John Locke found a home among the Arminians during his exile from England.

See also Determinism and Freedom; Grotius, Hugo; Locke, John; Pelagius and Pelagianism.

Bibliography

primary sources

Arminius, Jacobus. Disputationes XXIV. Leiden, 1609.

Arminius, Jacobus. The Works. Translated and edited by James Nichols, 3 vols. London, 1825–1875.

Brandt, Gerard. The History of the Reformation and Other Ecclesiastical Transactions in the Low Countries, 4 vols. London: Timothy Childe, 1720–1723.

Limborch, Philippus van, and Christiaan Hartsoeker. Praestantium ac Eruditorum Virorum Epistolae Ecclesiasticae et Theologicae. Amsterdam, 1684. Letters of Uytenbogaert, Arminius, Grotius, et al.

Triglandius, Jacobus. Kerckelycke Geschiedenissen, Begrypende de Swaere Ende Bekommerlijke Geschillen, in de Vereenigde Nederlanden Voor-gevallen, met Derselver Beslissinge. Leiden: Ghedruckt by A. Wyngaerden, 1650.

Uytenbogaert, Johannes van. Kerckelycke Historie. Rotterdam, 1647.

secondary sources

Colie, R. L. Light and Enlightenment: A Study of the Cambridge Platonists and the Dutch Arminians. Cambridge, U.K.: Cambridge University Press, 1957.

Davies, Godfrey. "Arminian versus Puritan in England, c. 1620–1650" Huntington Library Bulletin 5 (1934).

Harrison, A. W. Arminianism. London: Duckworth, 1937.

Harrison, A. W. The Beginnings of Arminianism. London: University of London Press, 1926.

Itterzoon, G. P. van. "Koning Jacobus I en de Synode van Dordrecht." Nederlandsch Archief voor Kerkgeschiedenis 24 (1932).

Nobbs, Douglas. Theocracy and Toleration. A Study in the Disputes in Dutch Calvinism from 1600 to 1650. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1938.

Rogge, H. C. Johannes Wtenbogaert en Zijn Tijd, 2 vols. Amsterdam, 1874–1876.

Tideman, Johannes. De Remonstrantie en het Remonstrantisme. Amsterdam, 1851.

R. L. Colie (1967)