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Works of Arminius Volume 2 - Private Disputations

James Arminius

James Arminius (1560-1609) was an important Protestant theologian and pastor, who is most known for advocating the doctrine of "conditional predestination" – that God foreknows, but does not determine, the way that one by grace freely chooses or rejects Christ. Arminius was born in the Netherlands and was educated at the universities and academies of Marburg, Leiden, Geneva, and Basle. He was a pastor in Amsterdam for 15 years (1588-1603) and taught at the University of Leiden after 1603; most of his writings come from these later years. He argued strongly against the supralapsarianism, or "unconditional predestination" taught by many Calvinists (a "recoil from Calvinism"). His own teachings had tremendous influence both in the Netherlands and abroad; and the predestination debate remains lively and provocative to this day.

Private Disputations and treatises by Arminius, which combine to produce a systematic theology, a compendium of his thought.

This is the second of a standard 3-volume set of the works of Arminius (reorganized slightly), containing:

1. 79 "private" Disputations, or short treatises, on a range of theological and doctrinal topics; together serving as a concise "Systematic Theology".
2. A lengthy dissertation on the seventh chapter of Romans.
3. A letter addressed to the ambassador of Prince Frederick IV to the Dutch Provinces, discussing certain articles (doctrinal topics) of controversy in the Reformed religion – the Divinity of the Son of God, Providence, Predestination, Grace and Free Will, Justification.
4. A treatise on 29 "Articles of the Faith", for all of which "some controversy has arisen concerning them among even those who profess the Reformed Religion"; treated in succession, these articles provide a concise and "systematic" Theology.
5. A letter addressed to Hans Uytenbogaert in which the difficult subject of the "sin against the Holy Ghost" is discussed.

Church History

Arminius, James