Jacobus Arminius - Theological Studies and Ministry

Theological Studies and Ministry

Arminius remained at Leiden from 1576 to 1582. His teachers in theology included Lambertus Danaeus, Johannes Drusius, Guillaume Feuguereius, and Johann Kolmann. Kolmann believed and taught that high Calvinism made God both a tyrant and an executioner. Under the influence of these men, Arminius studied with success and had seeds planted that would begin to develop into a theology that would later compete with the dominant Reformed theology of John Calvin. Arminius began studying under Theodore Beza at Geneva in 1582. He found himself in trouble after using Ramist techniques, familiar to him from his time at Marburg; and he then moved to Basel.

He answered a call to pastor at Amsterdam and became ordained in 1588. He gained a reputation as a good preacher and faithful pastor. In 1590 he married Lijsbet Reael. At Amsterdam, Arminius through "a number of sermons on the Epistle of the Romans, he had gradually developed opinions on grace, predestination and free will that were inconsistent with the doctrine of the Reformed teachers Calvin and Beza". In 1591, responding to Arminius' theological development his colleague Petrus Plancius began to openly dispute him. The Amsterdam burgomasters intervened, in an effort to keep the peace and tamp down divisions in the populace.