Jacobus Arminius

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Western Philosophy 17th-century philosophy
Jakob Arminius, theologian
Name	Jakob Arminius
Birth	October 10, 1560
Death	October 19, 1609
School/tradition	Calvinism, Molinism

The Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius (also known as Jacob Arminius, James Arminius, and by his Dutch birthname Jacob Harmenszoon) (October 10, 1560–October 19, 1609), served from 1603 as professor in theology at the University of Leiden. He wrote many books and treatises on theology and became prominent for his opposition to the five points of Calvinism, though in actuality he objected to only three: unconditional election, limited atonement, and irresistible grace.

1 Life
2 Theology
3 References
4 External links

[edit] Life

Arminius, born at Oudewater, Utrecht, became an orphan while still in infancy when his father Herman (the name Arminius/Armin represents a Latinized form of Harmenszoon, "Hermannson", Herman's son) died, leaving his wife a widow with small children.^[1] A priest, Theodorus Aemilius, adopted Jacobus and sent him to school at Utrecht. His mother was slain during the Spanish massacre of Oudewater in 1575. About that year the kindness of friends (see Rudolph Snellius) enabled Arminius to go to study theology at the University of Leiden.

Arminius remained at Leiden from 1576 to 1582. His teachers in theology included Lambertus Danaeus, Johannes Drusius, Guillaume Feuguereius, and Johann Kolmann. Kolmann believed and taught that high Calvinism made God both a tyrant and an executioner. Under the influence of these men, Arminius studied with success and had seeds planted that would begin to develop into a theology that would later compete with the dominant Reformed theology of John Calvin. Arminius began studying under Theodore Beza at Geneva in 1582. He answered a call to pastor at Amsterdam and became ordained in 1588. He gained a reputation as a good preacher and faithful pastor. In 1590 he married Lijsbet Reael.

[edit] Theology

Part of a series on Arminianism

Jacobus Arminius
Background Protestantism Reformation Calvinist-Arminian Debate
People Jacobus Arminius Hugo Grotius The Remonstrants John Wesley
Doctrine Total depravity Prevenient grace Substitutionary atonement Unlimited atonement Conditional election Conditional preservation This box: view • talk • edit

Arminius has arguably become best known as the founder of the anti-Calvinistic school in Reformed Protestant theology, and thereby lends his name to a movement — Arminianism — which resisted some of the tenets of Calvinism. The early Dutch followers of Arminius' teaching became known as Remonstrants after they issued a document containing five points of disagreement with classic Calvinism, entitled Remonstrantiœ (1610). In attempting to defend Calvinistic predestination against the onslaughts of Dirck Volckertszoon Coornhert, Arminius allegedly^{[citation needed]} began to doubt and thus modified some parts of his view; modified, however, in a much less severe way than John Calvin himself changed his views on the issue of limited atonement between writing his Institutes of the Christian Religion and his later commentaries. He became a professor of theology at Leiden in 1603, and remained there for the rest of his life.

The theology of Arminianism did not become fully developed during Arminius' lifetime, but after his death (1609) the Five articles of the Remonstrants (1610) systematized and formalized the ideas. But the Synod of Dordrecht (1618–1619) judged his theology and its adherents anathemas.

Publishers in Leiden (1629) and at Frankfort (1631 and 1635) issued the works of Arminius in Latin.

John Wesley (1703-1791), the founder of the Methodist movement, embraced Arminian theology and became its most prominent^{[citation needed]} champion. Today, Methodism remains committed to Arminian theology, and Arminianism itself has become one of the dominant theological systems in the United States.