,
49 tweets,
11 min read
Read on Twitter
Bob Godfrey reviewing Arminius’ biography, challenging narrative that Arminius was a victim of meant-pants Calvinists. @wscal 
Correction: meany-pants.
In Arminius’ library was Molina’s work on Middle Knowledge (Media Scientia). He embraced this view as a theodicy, a way of defending God. He hid this view. When rumors reached the church & civil gov’t the faculty said that they were getting on fine
That’s not what he was writing privately. In private he denounced Gomarus’ theology as barely Christian.
The Reformed Reformation was established by 1) sacrifice; it achieved 2) success but now, under and after Arminius it was being 3) subverted.
After Arminius’ death Oldenbarnevelt tried to hide the 1610 Remonstrance of 42 Reformed ministers but it leaked out. Here are the 1st Five Points. Calvinism does not have 5 pts. The Belgic has 37 articles. We have 5 answers to errors.
The 5 Points are not “Calvinism.” They’re a part but not the whole. They are a bulwark erected to save the Reformation.
amazon.com/dp/1642890308/…
amazon.com/dp/1642890308/…
More from Bob coming up
Bob is back. Telling the story of how Synod was formed. There were no Presbyterians at Dort. The only Scot was a member was a member of the C of E. They adopted a church order. They dealt with serious missions questions.
His early pamphlet: Did the Canons Misfire? Proposed follow up on reprobation: Double or Nothing😂
Synod didn’t write the Canons of Dort for theologians. They were written for the people. Yes, they were written in Latin but that was the international language (the English) of the period. The long sentences made them seem more difficult than they really are.
Bob has a new translation, A Pastoral Translation, which breaks up the sentences to make them more accessible for the people in the pews.
From earlier: [The Synod was an international Synod. It was an ecclesiastical meeting, in distinction from the Westminster Assembly, which was called to advise Parliament. ]
Synod decided to show that theology matters by showing that the answer to Arminianism was not novel but catholic, universal theology, built upon the doctrine of the whole church.
They tried to form the Canons by stating catholic/ecumenical truth in the 1st sentence and then went on to try to show what that truth meant for this question.
The Canons of Dort is a fruitful source for spiritual teaching. If you’re teaching (or learning) the doctrine of election, you could hardly do better than the 1st head of doctrine of the Canons.
The Canons are clear, biblical, helpful teaching on, e.g., the Christian life. Each head is self-contained, so there is a lot of repetition in the Canons. That’s intentional. The Canons are meant to be read slowly, thoughtfully. They are meant to be read with spiritual profit.
The Canons are not “frosting on the cake.” They were written to save the Reformation. The Reformation was about the solas, Christ alone, grace alone, faith alone, Scripture alone. That’s what the Canons of Dort was about. The Canons were not “rationalist.”
Calvinism is driven by a desire to be faithful to the Bible, not by “logic.” The rationalist in this debate is the Arminian who wants to defend God and wants to change Reformed theology to make it consistent with their starting point.
E.g., original sin synod said, “the apostle teaches this.” This is sola scriptura not the primacy of reason. In the defense of election, grace alone is being defended. In the doctrine atonement, Christ alone is being defended.
Franciscus Gomarus said that the whole debate was really about justification by grace alone, through faith alone.
Here’s a series on the Canons of Dort (not by Bob but influenced by him) making some of these same points:
agradio.org/on-the-canons-…
agradio.org/on-the-canons-…
After the Synod, the minister of the “Great Church” preached from Isaiah 12:1-2.
“The Lord Is My Strength and My Song
You will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.
“Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
You will say in that day:
“I will give thanks to you, O Lord,
for though you were angry with me,
your anger turned away,
that you might comfort me.
“Behold, God is my salvation;
I will trust, and will not be afraid;
for the Lord God is my strength and my song,
and he has become my salvation.”
and he has become my salvation.”
It all starts again this AM in the chapel
Joel Kim: The Canons are Modern, Missional, and Doxological. #wsconf
#wsconf How the canons speak to the modern world
Joel Kim: Among evangelical millennials 57% agreed with or were unsure about the sentence “gender identity is a matter of choice.”
#wsconf
#wsconf
Joel Kim: Dort is as modern and relevant as at any other time.
Kim: Using “missional” is a bit cheeky but it’s a way of signaling the missionary interest of the Reformed churches.
Kim: I stand before as the product of the missionary work and interests of the Synod of Dort.
Kim: Synod addressed the missionary question, as the gospel & commercial activity began to go to the “new world,” what to do with the infant children of household servants: baptize 1st or catechize 1st?
Kim: the Canons are a missionary document. Their universal & global outlook is remarkable for the time.
Kim: It’s not a mistake that the Canons ended in doxology: #wsconf
Finis
A silent film?
