I was recently reading the blog Ancient Christian Defender. The author Jnorm888 had a provocative post entitled Was Jonathan Edwards a racist?

It is a well known fact that Edwards was a proponent of slavery, and owned slaves himself. Unlike many contemporary slave owners, Edwards did not will freedom to his slaves upon his death. Due to Edward's position on slavery, there is some division in the African American community today on whether or not he is a person worthy of being honored.

Jnorm's post triggered some questions in my mind: Did the Calvinistic assumptions of Edward's theology contribute to his support of slavery? How did prominent Calvinists of the era approach the issue slavery, and how did prominent Arminians address the issue? Was there a difference in their approaches?

Election

(Articles are listed by alphabetical order in accordance with authors' last names)

Corporate Election in Romans 9: A Reply to Thomas Schreiner Brian J. Abasciano
(This article was published in JETS 49/2 (June 2006) 351-71. This version may differ slightly from the published version because of editing, journal formatting, etc.)

Election

Please click on the attachment to view Abasciano, Brian J. "Corporate Election in Romans 9: A Reply to Thomas Schreiner" (This article was published in JETS 49/2 (June 2006) 351-71. This version may differ slightly from the published version because of editing, journal formatting, etc.)

Articles by Topic

Arminianism

Election

Foreknowledge

Free Will

"Most of Arminius' theological career was a process of discovery and Christology was at the very centre of this. Hence it would necessarily somewhat distort the picture to begin with a crystal-clear thesis . . . As we shall see, Bertius in his Funeral Oration came close to this approach by suggesting that everything resulted from a request to Arminius to answer Corneliszoon and Donteklok's pamphlet, while in our own time Dekker and Kendall have taken as their starting-point that Arminius discovered that predestination is of believers and built up all his theology on that basis.

"But Arminius' theology was not the result of startling revelation of unfamiliar truth early in his ministry, which he then worked out step by step. If it had, this study would have been easier to write.

http://jmleonardfamily.googlepages.com/1tim2exegeticalcomments

Greek text is from NA-27 (in unicode). English text is from American Standard Version (1901).

If we would say that we have no sin, we would be deceiving ourselves and the truth is not in us. 9 If we would confess our sins, he is faithful and just in order that he would forgive us our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we would say that we have no sin, we make him a liar and his word is not in us. (author's translation)

It is important to note immediately that most of these verbs are in the subjunctive, meaning they have "would" as part of them. The "would" shows that the author is giving a real possibility to what could happen, but it is a possibility and not a certainty depending upon the circumstances.

Simon Bisscop (better known by his Latinized last name, Episcopius) was James Arminius’ student and close friend. He attended the University of Leiden when the hot debates between Arminius and Gomarus were going on. He visited Arminius on his death bed and after Arminius died, Episcopius experienced persecution, being excluded from the Lord’s table and blocked from the pastorate. Episcopius was one of the authors and 43 signers of the 5 points of the Remonstrants. (link)

For some, the debate between Arminianism and Calvinism boils down to whether salvation is monergistic or synergistic. I believe the term “synergism” is not always accurately applied to the Arminian position. The word comes from the Greek synergos, which essentially means “working together”. While monergism (to work alone) may be an acceptable label for what Calvinists believe (God does all the work in salvation), synergism does not always rightly portray what Arminians have historically believed.

by Martin Glynn

Unlike Calvinism with Dordt, Arminianism doesn’t really have a singular document which defines us. However, there does exist the Articles of the Remonstrants which marks the first expression of a distinctly Arminian theology. Even though we do not feel bound to it, it does stand as the most basic and classic expression of the Arminian faith and is therefore a standard for the Arminian. They are:

1. On Election
2. On The Atonement
3. The Total Depravity of Humanity
4. On Grace
5. Security in Christ and the Spirit

This article is meant to be a commentary on this historic document to help Arminians understand where their theology comes from, and to help them grasp the spirit of the Remonstrants.