A gadfly is a “persistent irritating critic; a nuisance.” (link) The late Anglican priest John R.W. Stott comments that the Church needs gadflies to “sting and harry us into action for change,” even though gadflies…
Arminius
The Motive for Arminius’ Theology
What we must first understand about Arminius’ theological thought process is his positional biblicistic framework. Calvinist theologian Richard A. Muller confesses as much: “Had Arminius been a biblicistic pietist,” i.e., a devotional writer, “promulgating a…
Taylor Brown, Book Review of *Reconsidering Arminius: Beyond the Reformed and Wesleyan Divide*
Jacob Arminius may well be one of the most misunderstood figures in Protestant theology. Despite the widespread influence of Arminius’ theology in many churches and denominations, many of both his supporters and his opponents grossly…
Jacob Arminius Refutes William Perkins on Perseverance
Whether or not one adheres to the theology of Jacob Arminius in toto, Arminius’ careful attention to context regarding scriptural interpretation cannot be overemphasized. For example, debating Roman Catholic apologist Adrian Smetius on the subject…
Arminius for Everyone
Often historical information regarding sixteenth-century Reformed theologian Jacob Arminius (1559-1609) is weighed down by theological jargon too complicated and uninteresting for the average lay-reader. Too much is assumed by the respective authors and too much…
Arminius Would Have Made a Good Baptist
What do I mean by suggesting that Arminius would have made a good Baptist? This is a curious thought, in light of Arminius’ opposition to the Anabaptists of his day, as well as his own…
Assessing John Hendryx on Prevenient Grace
Monergism.com hosts articles by various Calvinists, some of which present arguments against Arminianism based on a Calvinistic hermeneutic, and others of which are a pure misrepresentation of Arminian doctrine. Having read “A Short Response to…
Jacob Arminius Refutes William Perkins on Perseverance
Whether or not one adheres to the theology of Jacob Arminius in toto, Arminius’ careful attention to context regarding scriptural interpretation cannot be overemphasized. For example, debating Roman Catholic apologist Adrian Smetius on the subject of…
Arminius Reconsidered: Contemporary Theological Discourse
From the concluding chapter of the recent book, Reconsidering Arminius: Beyond the Reformed and Wesleyan Divide, Dr. Keith D. Stanglin offers his own thoughts on Arminius’ theology in conversation with contemporary theological discourse. This task…
Roy Ingle, “The Life of James Arminius”
Who was James (or Jacobus) Arminius? His actual name was Jacob Harmenszoon when he was born in Oudewater, Holland in 1559. His father died before his birth and thus Jacob was raised by a widowed…
Gomarus Learns from Arminius in Debate
By far Arminius’ fiercest opponent was Francis Gomarus (1563-1641), a supralapsarian Calvinist whose intent at Leiden was to undermine and challenge Arminius’ broadly Reformed scholastic orthodoxy. Arminius was drawn into debate with Gomarus by obligation,…
Arminius and the Remonstrants on the Forfeiture of Salvation
Years ago, I believed that Arminius was too ambivalent on the issue of the possibility of one falling away from the faith and forfeiting (or losing) one’s salvation by a subsequent rejection of that initial…
J. Matthew Pinson, “Listening to Arminius–and Not Just His Opponents–on Justification”
I often enjoy reading Reformation21, a blog of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. But I recently read a blog post by Mark Jones entitled “Arminian vs. Reformed on Justification” that diverged from the very careful…
The Doctrine of Original Sin: Arminius vs. Episcopius
The doctrine of original sin, to define the issue very simply, maintains that the effects of Adam and Eve’s sin, which is known as the first human sin, were passed ontologically (related to being or…
Roger Olson, “Arminius’s Reformed Doctrine of Justification”
This should be read ONLY in light of my previous post here “Arminian Doctrine of Justification Again Disputed” (May 28, 2015). There I expressed dismay at the continuing Reformed misrepresentation of Arminius’s and classical Arminians’…
Forthcoming Book on Jacob Arminius
From Cascade Books, a division of Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2015, Rustin E. Brian‘s forthcoming book, Jacob Arminius: The Man from Ouderwater, is slated for release by the end of this week. The author states…
Jacob Arminius’ Reformed Views on Justification
Given Arminius’ Reformed context, he argues for the Reformed teaching of Justification by Faith alone, or sola fide. Mark Jones, writing for Reformation21, quotes Herman Witsius to the effect, “Arminius, by his subtlety, frames vain…
Arminius vs. Perkins: Arminius’ Finger on the Pulse of Perseverance
I think Arminian scholars Keith Stanglin and Thomas McCall are correct in suggesting that “most scholars agree that Arminius taught that true believers can fall away.”1 The authors acknowledge that, for some readers, Arminius himself…
Dekker and Muller on Middle Knowledge in Arminius’ Theology
The following quotes are taken from Eef Dekker’s Was Arminius a Molinist? The Sixteenth Century Journal, Vol. 27, No. 2 (Summer, 1996), pp. 337-352. Arminius: The knowledge of God is a faculty of his life, which…
Was Arminius an Open Theist?
There exists a false charge that Arminius’ theology, when consistently maintained, renders one an Open Theist. This charge is merely a rhetorical one, synonymous with the insistence that the only consistent Calvinism is hyper-Calvinism, or…
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