This week in Christian history: Jacob Arminius born, Jimmy Swaggart scandal

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, October 08, 2023

Jacob Arminius born – Oct. 10, 1560

A portrait of Jacobus Arminius (1560-1609), also known as James Arminius, Jakob Hermanszoon, and Jacob Arminius, the Dutch Protestant theologian who challenged Reformed Theology. | Public Domain

This week marks the anniversary of when Jacob Arminius, the 16th century Protestant theologian who challenged the ideas of famed Protestant Reformation intellectual John Calvin, was born in Oudewater, Netherlands.

A professor of theology at the University of Leiden, Arminius argued that humans had a level of free will when it came to attaining salvation, whereas Calvinism stipulated that God has predetermined whether a person is saved or not.

"The theology of Arminianism was not fully developed during Arminius' time, but was systematized after his death and formalized in the Five articles of the Remonstrants in 1610," explained the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.

"After his death, the Synod of Dordrecht (1618–1619) judged his theology and its adherents as anathemas and published the five points of Calvinism (later known as TULIP) as a point-by-point response to the five points of the Arminian Remonstrants."

Arminianism is credited with having influenced John Wesley, the Anglican priest who founded the global Methodist movement.