Jacobus Arminius

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Copper engraving with the portrait of Jacobus Arminius from the Theatrum Europaeum from 1662

Jacob (us) Arminius , actually Harmensz (born October 10, 1560 in Oudewater , † October 19, 1609 in Leiden ) was a Protestant theologian and professor in the Netherlands . He is considered the founder of Arminianism , which rejected the double predestination of Calvin and emphasized free will , and of the Remonstrants , a Christian church that still exists today, the main characteristic of which is the rejection of creeds and dogmas.

Life

Jacobus Arminius was the son of a cutler and lost his father and family at an early age because his hometown was devastated by the Spaniards. Thanks to his patron Rudolph Snellius , he was able to study in Utrecht , Rotterdam , Marburg and Leiden . There he was introduced to the system of the French philosopher Petrus Ramus , who turned against the ruling Aristotelianism. The Calvinist Lambert Danäus became his theological teacher. The city of Amsterdam became aware of the talented young man and let him continue studying in Geneva in 1582 , where the reformer Théodore de Bèze played an important role. In Basel he made friends with Johannes Uyttenbogaert , he attended lectures with Samuel Grynäus and would have become a doctor of theology in 1583 if he had not declined this award out of modesty. He made a trip to Italy and also visited Rome , which, however, disappointed him because of immorality. Returned to Amsterdam in 1587 , he became pastor there on August 11 the following year. At that time there was a dispute in the Dutch church as to whether the predestination according to John Calvin was to be understood as an absolute or only a conditional one, and the church council commissioned Arminius to refute the latter view. From 1590 onwards, through his Bible study, especially chapters seven to nine of Romans , Arminius gradually became convinced of the arguments that he should have refuted.

In 1602 the theology professor Franz Junius the Elder , who had been active in Leiden, died of the plague. After lengthy discussions, the hostile Arminius was able to leave his pastor in Amsterdam, he submitted to the exam and was promoted to a doctorate in theology by Bonaventura Vulcanius . In the autumn of 1603 he was able to begin his lectures in Leiden. Only a year later he got into an argument there with his colleague Franciscus Gomarus over his claim that God had predetermined the fate of every person from eternity because he had foreseen the faith of one and the unbelief of the other (predestination). After settling 1605/06 as Rector of the Alma Mater was also involved in organizational issues, two in 1608 and 1609 in could Hague conducted doctrinal conversations not more mediation of the dispute between the two opponents.

After his death from 1618 to 1619, the views of Arminius were condemned by the participants of the Reformed Churches at the Dordrecht Synod , which was convened by Moritz of Orange , and his followers rallied to the religious community of Remonstrants , which, however, went beyond his theological knowledge and no longer wanted any binding commitments.

Fonts

  • Epitome Doctrinae de praecipuis Christianae religionis Capitibus, Jacobi Arminii Veteraquinatis, Sociniani: Ex universis autoris scriptis fideliter collecta, & in certas theses distincta; Apprime Utilis Ac Necessaria, Quae Hoc Tempore, ob controversiam Vorstianam cognoscatur , Basel 1613
  • Veteraquinatis Batavi, SS. Theologiae Doctoris eximii Opera Theologica , Hoffmann, Frankfurt 1631 and 1635

literature

Web links

Commons : Jacobus Arminius  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Wilhelm Gaß: Arminius, Jakob . In: Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie , Vol. 1 (1875), pp. 536-540.