Jacob Arminius

I began to question Calvinism (especially its view of grace and predestination) in my early 20s, but rather than fight for my views at the Geneva Academy, where I had studied under Calvin's successor, Theodore Beza, I left quietly. When Genevan authorities became angry at my defense of French humanist Peter Ramus, I left for Basel. I was offered a doctorate there but turned it down on the grounds of my youth (I was only 24 or 25) would bring dishonor to the title.It was my study of the Epistle to the Romans as an Amsterdam minister that set me firmly against Calvinism. Faith, I believed, was the cause of election: "It is an eternal and gracious decree of God in Christ, by which he determines to justify and adopt believers, and to endow them with eternal life but to condemn unbelievers, and impenitent persons.".. Though I was accused of Pelagianism (an overemphasis on free will) and other heresies, my critics brought no proof of the charges."That teacher obtains my highest approbation who ascribes as much as possible to divine grace," I assured them, "provided I so pleads the cause of grace, as not to inflict an injury on the justice of God, and not to take away the free will of that which is evil."In 1606, while professor of theology at Leiden, I delivered an address titled "On Reconciling Religious Dissensions among Christians":"Religious dissension is the worst kind of disagreement," I wrote, "for it strikes the very altar itself. It engulfs everyone; each must take sides or else make a third party of himself."Still, I continued to be disturbed by the determinism of Calvinism, and I called for a national synod to resolve the conflicts and to look critically at two crucial Calvinist documents, the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism. The synod finally met but not until nine years after I died (in good standing with the Dutch Reformed Church), and eight years after the Remonstrance was issued, which developed and articulated the key themes of what is today called Arminian theology: Christ died for all (not just the elect) and individuals can resist grace and even lose salvation. Arminianism since has influenced key figures in church history, such as John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.