Remonstrants

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The Remonstrants are the Dutch Protestants who, after the death of Jacobus Arminius, maintained the views associated with his name. In 1610 they presented to the States of Holland and Friesland a remonstrance in five articles formulating their points of disagreement with Calvinism.

History

The Five Articles
of Remonstrance
Conditional election
Unlimited atonement
Total depravity
Prevenient grace
Conditional preservation
Remonstrant church of Friedrichstadt

The five articles include:

  • that the divine decree of predestination is conditional, not absolute;
  • that the Atonement is in intention universal;
  • that man cannot of himself exercise a saving faith;
  • that though the grace of God is a necessary condition of human effort it does not act irresistibly in man; and
  • that believers are able to resist sin but are not beyond the possibility of falling from grace.

Their adversaries, inspired by Franciscus Gomarus, became known as Gomarists or Counter-Remonstrants. Although the States-General issued an edict tolerating both parties and forbidding further dispute, the conflict continued and became linked to political conflicts in the Dutch Republic. The Remonstrants were assailed both by personal enemies and by the political weapons of Maurice of Orange. Their foremost ally, Johan van Oldenbarnevelt, was executed, and other leaders were imprisoned.

In 1618–19 the Synod of Dordrecht, after expelling the thirteen Arminian pastors headed by Simon Episcopius, established the victory of the Calvinist school. It drew up ninety-three canonical rules, and confirmed the authority of the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism. The judgement of the synod was enforced through the deposition and in some cases banishment of Remonstrant ministers. An exile community was founded in Antwerp in 1619. In 1621 they were allowed to settle in Schleswig, where they built the town of Friedrichstadt.

The doctrine of the Remonstrants was embodied in 1621 in a confessio written by Episcopius, their major theologian, while Jan Uytenbogaert gave them a catechism and regulated their church order. Their seminary in Amsterdam had distinguished pupils, including Curcellaeus, Limborch, Wetstein, and Le Clerc. Their school of theology, which grew more liberal and even rationalistic, forcefully debated the official Dutch Reformed state church and other Christian denominations.

After the death of Maurice of Orange in 1625 some exiles returned. The government became convinced that they posed no danger to the state, and in 1630 they were formally allowed to reside again in all parts of the Republic. They were not, however, officially allowed to build churches until the establishment of the Batavian Republic in 1795. Until then they held their services in so-called Schuilkerken (house churches).

Modern Remonstrant Brotherhood

The Remonstrant Brotherhood continues as a church in the Netherlands. It has its origins in the theology of Arminius and the signing of the "Five articles of Remonstrance" against a stricter form of Calvinism by 44 ministers. The Remonstrants proclaimed the responsibility of man, pre-ordination through foreknowledge of faith, and that Christ's death was sufficient for all. In line with the progressive views on religion, Remonstrants have been blessing same-sex partnerships on an equal footing as different sex weddings from 1986 onwards (church weddings have no legal status in the Netherlands, where the legally acknowledged civil same-sex marriages became possible in 2001).[1][2] In this the Remonstrant were the first Christian church in the world to bless same-sex relationships similar to other relations.[3]

The Remonstrants first received official recognition in 1795. Their chief congregation has been in Rotterdam. Today, the Remonstrant Brotherhood has some 5,780 members and "friends", in 46 congregations in the Netherlands, and one congregation in Friedrichstadt, in northern Germany (2008). It keeps fellowship with the European Liberal Protestant Network.

See also

References

  1. ↑ "advies aan commissie Kortmann". Remonstranten.org. Retrieved 2012-09-09. 
  2. ↑ "Kerken komen uit de kast". Kerknieuws.nl. Retrieved 2012-09-09. 
  3. ↑ "Remonstranten en Boomsma krijgen homo-emancipatieprijs - Nieuws - TROUW" (in (Dutch)). Trouw.nl. 2010-01-25. Retrieved 2012-09-09. 

Public Domain This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press 

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  • Goud, J en K Holtzapffel (red), 2004. Wij Geloven - Wat Geloven Wij?. Remonstrants Belijden in 1940 en Nu. Zoetermeer: Meinema
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