This is for those of you who consider yourselves Arminians or who just want to understand classical Arminianism better.<\/p>\n
There are all too few good books about Arminius.\u00a0 This one is expensive, but well worth the $125 (or so) for anyone avidly interested in understanding Arminius\u2019 theology.\u00a0 If you teach at a college, university or seminary, you ought to have the library order if even if you can\u2019t afford one for yourself.<\/p>\n
The book is God\u2019s Twofold Love: The Theology of Jacob Arminius (1559-1609) published by European publisher (of mostly Reformed books) Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht (2010).\u00a0 The author is William den Boer, a lecturer in Dutch Church History at the Theological University of Apeldoorn (The Netherlands).<\/p>\n
I assume the book either is his dissertation or grew out of his dissertation.\u00a0 It reads like a dissertation, but is nevertheless very readable for persons with some training in theology.<\/p>\n
The book\u2019s thesis is that Arminius\u2019 driving concern and motive was God\u2019s justice\u2013to protect and preserve it from any and every theology that would undermine it or call it into question.\u00a0 He believed that the high Calvinism of his day, represented especially by Beza and Gomarus, did just that.<\/p>\n
God\u2019s \u201ctwo loves\u201d are his love for his own justice and his love for his human creatures.\u00a0 But his love for his justice, Arminius believed (according to den Boer), is greater than his love for people.\u00a0 God will not and cannot violate his justice and his justice cannot be so mysterious that we can make no sense of it (as Calvin sometimes claimed).<\/p>\n
Of course, John Wesley later used the same argument against Calvinism only his primary attribute of God was love, with he correlated with God\u2019s justice to argue that God cannot violate his love or his justice.<\/p>\n
den Boer surveys all of Arminius\u2019 relevant works, some never translated into English (but the entire book is in English except for excerpts from Arminius\u2019 and others\u2019 works in Dutch and Latin).\u00a0<\/p>\n
Here is a sentence that well expresses the book\u2019s thesis: \u201c[i]t is not the freedom of the will, but rather God\u2019s justice, that forms the source for Arminius\u2019s theology.\u201d<\/p>\n
Near the end of the book den Boer provides an excellent survey of the Hague Conference held between Arminius\u2019s followers, the Remonstrants, and their opponents after Arminius\u2019 death.\u00a0 He demonstrates convincingly that the Remonstrants very early departed from Arminius\u2019s methodology by stressing more free will than God\u2019s justice.\u00a0 (However, I would argue they never elevated free will to the status of a first principle.)<\/p>\n
The author also provides near the book\u2019s end a wonderful survey of the discussion about whether God is the author of sin among Reformed scholars of the 16th and 17th centuries (including Arminius).\u00a0 One thing that comes out is that Heinrich Bullinger, Zwingli\u2019s successor at Zurich, worried that Calvin\u2019s theology tended to make God the author of sin.\u00a0 There were other Reformed theologians who worried about this as well.\u00a0 Not all of the first and second generation Reformed theologians were divine determinists.<\/p>\n
den Boer\u2019s discussion of Arminius\u2019 beliefs about God\u2019s sovereignty show just how close they were to moderate Calvinists\u2019.\u00a0 Arminius believed strongly in divine \u201cconcurrence\u201d which means even the sinner cannot act without God\u2019s permission and aid.\u00a0 According to Arminius (contrary to the caricatures often presented by his critics then and now), the creature has no absolute autonomy of action, only a relative automony\u00a0of decision.\u00a0 But even the decision not to resist the prevening grace of God is only possible because of that grace.<\/p>\n
I found my own account of Arminius\u2019 theology in Arminian Theology: Myths and Realities confirmed by den Boer\u2019s research.\u00a0 And he mentions Arminian Theology positively.<\/p>\n
God\u2019s Twofold Love is an indispensable read for anyone who wishes to know about Arminius\u2019s theology in depth.\u00a0 It is scholarly and readable with numerous quotes from Arminius\u2019s own writings to support the author\u2019s argument.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
This is for those of you who consider yourselves Arminians or who just want to understand classical Arminianism better. There are all too few good books about Arminius.\u00a0 This one is expensive, but well worth the $125 (or so) for anyone avidly interested in understanding Arminius\u2019 theology.\u00a0 If you teach at a college, university or […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":58,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-394","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n