Terminology Tuesday: Remonstrants

Remonstrants

“Arminians,” followers of the Dutch Reformed theologian Jacobus Arminius, rejected certain teachings of orthodox Calvinism, were condemned by the Synod of Dort (1618–19), and established their own church, called the Remonstrant Brotherhood. After Arminius’s death (1609), his followers, led by Johannes Uytenbogaert, drew up a Remonstrance (1610)—hence their name—which state their view in the predestination controversy with their Calvinist opponents.
Its five articles asserted the following: Election depends upon foreseen belief or unbelief; Christ died for all, though only believers are saved; people can do nothing good without regeneration; grace is not irresistible; and whether believers can fall from grace is uncertain. Later Remonstrants affirmed a possible fall from grace.
The controversy escalated and was complicated by political tensions between Prince Maurice of Orange and John Oldenbarnevelt, who supported the Remonstrants. Finally, the Synod of Dort summoned thirteen Remonstrants, led by Simon Episcopius, to examine their views but expelled them after procedural wrangling. It drew up the Canons of Dort which condemned Remonstrant views. More than two hundred Remonstrant ministers were deposed; about eighty were banished by the Dutch government.
In September 1619, exiled Remonstrant leaders met in Antwerp and established the Remonstrant Brotherhood. Persecution continued in the Netherlands until 1625 when the exiles could return and rebuild their congregations. The Remonstrants advocated religious liberty and toleration and later became allied with more liberal and rationalistic tendencies. Not until 1795 did the Remonstrant Brotherhood become officially recognized. It remains a small church communion in the Netherlands.
A. W. Harrison, Arminianism (1937) Schaff, Creeds, 1:508–23.

Sinnema, D. (1992). Remonstrants. In Encyclopedia of the Reformed faith (1st ed., p. 317). Louisville, KY; Edinburgh: Westminster/John Knox Press; Saint Andrew Press.