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Works of Arminius Volume 3 - Predestination

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.

A debate concerning predestination between Arminius and Francis Junius, with additional material related to the topic.

This is the third of a standard 3-volume set of the works of Arminius (reorganized slightly), containing a discussion of predestination “by means of an exchange of letters” between Arminius and Francis Junius. Junius was an influential theologian and Bible translator who studied at Geneva, was professor of theology at Heidelberg and later at Leiden, where he remained till his death in 1602. Junius, presenting a tempered version of the Calvinist position on predestination, divided the letter from Arminius into 27 propositions, which is the structure of this version: Junius’ answer to each point, followed by Arminius’ corresponding reply. In addition, several appendices are provided:

1. 20 theses of Junius concerning predestination
2. Arminius’ examination of a treatise on predestination by English theologian William Perkins
3. Two separate analyses of the ninth chapter of Romans

Church History

Arminius, James