Quinquarticular Controversy

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Quinquarticular Controversy refers to the theological Calvinist-Arminian controversy that was addressed by Dutch Reformed churches at the Synod of Dort in 16181619. Quinquarticular (which means, "having to do with five points") refers to points of contention raised by the Arminian party in its publication of five articles of Remonstrance in 1610 and rejected by the Synod in the Canons of Dort, the essence of which is commonly referred to as the Five Points of Calvinism.

The Controversy marked the transformation of what was a reasonably loose Arminian movement into a separate, initially persecuted church organization in the Netherlands, and set the stage for the continuation of the predestination-free will controversy to this day in Protestant ranks.

The controversy is seen quite differently by the diverse groups involved in or affected by it: for Arminians it was the start of full persecution after the imposition of an edict with no real debate, for Calvinists it was the settling in clear points of doctrine that were started by John Calvin himself, clarified by his son-in-law Theodore Beza but not yet fully codified, and for Lutherans the ending of any possibility of unification with the Calvinists.