The Synod of Dordt (1618-1619), the international assembly which ended the yearslong dispute between Arminians and Calvinists, was a defining event in the history of the Dutch Republic. This collected volume presents new facts and analyses concerning the Synod, its context, and its legacy. It includes contributions on the Synod’s
international character (Genevan delegation, James Ussher), biased historiography ( John Hales and Walter alquanquall), scholasticism ( Johannes Maccovius), philosophical ramifications, and Arminian theology.
New, manuscript-based details about the formation of the Canons of Dordt are presented. Other papers examine the Canons' ascendency to confessional status, intentional pastoral style, and view on the salvation of infants. Finally, its reception in the Dutch context as reflected in prints and printed works is mapped out.
Aza Goudriaan, Ph.D. (1999) in Theology, University of Leiden, is Assistant Professor of Patristics and Early Modern Theology at VU University Amsterdam. His most recent book is Reformed Orthodoxy and Philosophy, 1625-1750 (Brill, 2006).
Fred van Lieburg, Ph.D. (1996) in History, VU University Amsterdam, is Professor in History of Dutch Protestantism at the VU University Amsterdam. He has published extensively on Reformed traditions of culture, church, and piety.
"De auteurs bouwen niet zomaar voort op de gedane geschiedschrijving, zij keren er ook weer achter terug. Tal van details zijn hierbij het object van onderzoek, sommige zaken die zelfs nooit eerder onderzocht waren. Het resultaat is voor mij duidelijk: deze bundel geeft een grote verdieping en verbreding voor het begrijpen van de synode en haar canones... Revisiting the Synod of Dordt vormt een prachtige voorbereiding op de herdenkingen die nog gaan volgen van de Dordtse synode." – Peter Wijnberger, in: Vox Voetianorum 35.3 (2011), pp. 60-63
"[This book] serves as an appetizer for the revisiting of the Dordt Synod in 2017-2018, when the fourth centenary of the Synod will be commemorated. [...] From many different perspectives the traditional black and white portrayals of the Synod are skilfully deconstructed." – Gijsbert van den Brink, in: Journal of Reformed Theology 8.2 (2014), pp. 208-209
Introduction
Aza Goudriaan & Fred van Lieburg
Gisbertus Samuels, a Reformed Minister Sentenced by the Synod of Zeeland in 1591 for His Opinions on Predestination
Fred van Lieburg
Defense or Deviation? A Re-examination of Arminius’ Motives to Deviate from the ‘Mainstream’ Reformed Theology
William den Boer
Aristotelianism, Humanism and the Case against Arminianism
Henri A. Krop
The Synod of Dordrecht on Arminian Anthropology
Aza Goudriaan
The Petitions of ‘a Supposed Prophetesse.’ The Lübeck Letters of Anna Walker and Their Significance for the Synod of Dordt. A Linguistic and Contextual Analysis
Jürgen Beyer and Leigh T.I. Penman
A Distorting Mirror: the Hales and Balcanquahall Letters and the Synod of Dordt
Anthony Milton
James Ussher’s Influence on the Synod of Dordt
Jonathan D. Moore
“The Canons of the Synod Had Shot Off the Advocate’s Head”: A Reappraisal of the Genevan Delegation at the Synod of Dordt
Nicolas Fornerod
On the Maccovius Affair
Willem J. van Asselt
Popular and Catholic:The Modus Docendi of the Canons of Dordt
W. Robert Godfrey
“O, ye Women, Think of Thy Innocent Children, When They Die Young!”
The Canons of Dordt (First Head, Article Seventeen) between Polemic and Pastoral Theology
Erik A. de Boer
The Drafting of the Canons of Dordt: A Preliminary Survey of Early Drafts and Related Documents
Donald Sinnema
The Canons of Dordt: From Judgment on Arminianism to Confessional Standard
Donald Sinnema
Imagining the Synod of Dordt and the Arminian Controversy
Joke Spaans
Ambivalent Assessments of the Synod of Dordt by Dutch Contra-Remonstrants
Willem J. op ’t Hof
Making Sense of Schism
Joris van Eijnatten
Contributors
All those interested in historical theology, the Dutch Golden Age, Reformed thought, Arminianism, Dutch international relations.