29 Facts About Jacobus Arminius

Jacobus Arminius was a Dutch Reformed minister and theologian during the Protestant Reformation period whose views became the basis of Arminianism and the Dutch Remonstrant movement.

Jacobus Arminius served from 1603 as professor in theology at the University of Leiden and wrote many books and treatises on theology.

Jacobus Arminius never knew his father, and his mother was killed during the Spanish massacre at Oudewater in 1575.

Jacobus Arminius remained a student at Leiden from 1576 to 1582.

In 1582 Jacobus Arminius began studying under Theodore Beza at Geneva.

Jacobus Arminius found himself under pressure for using Ramist philosophical methods, familiar to him from his time at Leiden.

Jacobus Arminius continued to distinguish himself there as an excellent student.

In 1583 Jacobus Arminius was contemplating a return to Geneva when the theological faculty at Basel spontaneously offered him a doctorate.

Jacobus Arminius declined the honor on account of his youth and returned to the school in Geneva to finish his schooling under Beza.

Jacobus Arminius answered the call to pastor at Amsterdam in 1587, delivering Sunday and midweek sermons.

Jacobus Arminius was tasked with refuting both Coornhert and infralapsarianism theology.

Jacobus Arminius readily agreed to the task, but after greater study he was conflicted over the matter.

Jacobus Arminius determined to spend greater time in study before continuing his refutation.

Jacobus Arminius was commissioned to organize the educational system of Amsterdam and is said to have done it well.

Jacobus Arminius greatly distinguished himself by faithfulness to his duties in 1602 during a plague that swept through Amsterdam, going into infected houses that others did not dare to enter in order to give them water, and supplying their neighbors with funds to care for them.

At Amsterdam, Jacobus Arminius taught through "a number of sermons on the Epistle of the Romans".

Further, Jacobus Arminius expressed some astonishment that he was not to be allowed to interpret this passage according to the dictates of his own conscience and within the pattern of historic orthodoxy.

The Amsterdam burgomasters intervened in an effort to keep the peace and tamp down divisions in the populace, urging them to peacefully coexist and for Jacobus Arminius to teach nothing out of accord with the Reformed thought agreed upon at the time unless he had consulted with the church council or other bodies.

Trelcatius the younger and Jacobus Arminius were appointed, the decision resting largely with Franciscus Gomarus, the surviving faculty member.

Jacobus Arminius advocated revising the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism but was not explicit until much later when the debate became an open conflict.

In direct defiance of the court, Gomarus then published the speech he had made before it, and Jacobus Arminius followed suit by publishing his own speech.

Jacobus Arminius then gave an overview of all the various opinions existing on predestination.

Jacobus Arminius remained as a teacher at Leiden until his death and was valued by his students.

Close friends, students and supporters of Jacobus Arminius included Johannes Drusius, Conrad Vorstius, Anthony Thysius, Johannes Halsbergius, Petrus Bertius, Johannes Arnoldi Corvinus, as well as the brothers Rembert and Simon Episcopius.

Jacobus Arminius was buried in the Pieterskerk at Leiden, where a memorial stone on his behalf was placed in 1934.

Jacobus Arminius wrote that he sought to teach only those things which could be proved from the Scriptures and that tended toward edification among Christians.

Jacobus Arminius insists emphatically that grace is gratuitous because it is obtained through God's redemption in Christ, not through human effort.

Jacobus Arminius embraced Arminian theology and became its most prominent champion.

Jacobus Arminius was survived by his wife and children when he died.