Jacobus Arminius

Dutch reformed pastor and theologian, Jacobus Arminius (Latinized name of Jacob Harmensen or Hermanszoon), lost his family in the massacre of the inhabitants of Oudewater by the Spanish and was able to study thanks to the intervention of tutors and benefactors. He studied first in Leiden, then with Theodore Beza in Geneva. In 1586 he traveled to Italy and began attending the University of Padua; he was called back home for fear that he was falling under the influence of the Jesuits. Ordained a Pastor in Amsterdam (1588), in 1603 he was named a professor of theology in Leiden. Opposed to a strict interpretation of predestination, he entered into conflict with a colleague of his in Leiden, Franz Gomarius, exponent of the Calvinist Church. The Arminian doctrines were systematized by his successors, Simon Episcopius (Bischop) and Jan Uytenbogaert, and officially asserted in 1610 in the “Five Articles of the Remonstrants” (from which derives the name “The Remonstrants”. Arminianism was officially condemned by the Synod of Dordrecht in 1618-1619, but it continued to exert great influence on other pietistic and Methodist schools of thought.