This week in Christian history: MLK assassinated; crusading king captured

By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, April 03, 2022

Dutch theologian dies – April 4, 1643

This week marks the anniversary of when Simon Episcopius, a Dutch theologian and professor known for his polarizing views on Calvinism, died in Amsterdam.

A student of theology ordained a pastor in 1610, Episcopius belonged to a group known as the Remonstrants, who believed that free will played a part in salvation.

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This contrasted with the prominent Calvinist thinking of where he lived at the time in the Netherlands, prompting him and several others to eventually be temporarily banished.

“With 12 others he was banished from the Netherlands after the Synod of Dort (1618–19) and lived in Paris, Antwerp, and Rouen until 1626,” explained Britannica.

“In 1634 he became head of the Remonstrant seminary in Amsterdam. In his Institutiones theologicae (1650–51), he attempted to provide a systematic basis for Remonstrant doctrine, asserting that God’s sovereignty and man’s free will are compatible.”