Professor Jacobus Arminius

In this brief clip from his teaching series A Survey of Church History, W. Robert Godfrey examines the teaching career of Jacobus Arminius. Watch this entire message for free.

Transcript

So in 1603, Arminius becomes professor at Leiden. Now bear in mind, he's got a letter of recommendation from Beza, he’s a pretty tough nut in terms of orthodoxy, and now from Gomarus but almost immediately after taking his position, rumors began to circulate. Is he teaching some students in private something different from what he's teaching in public? Then he wrote criticizing William Perkins on predestination, only criticizing never quite making clear what he personally believed. He has the students reading Roman Catholic authors. What’s going on here? What’s going on here? And this led to growing tension, growing struggle, growing confusion. The Synod begins an investigation and then Arminius dies – dies in 1609. Well, that’s the end of the problem. Right? Arminianism went away with the death of Arminius. Well, no of course. That's never a solution to problems. It never goes away in that regard. He left a legacy amongst his students.