The Canons of Dort: God's Freedom, Justice, and Persistence

"In view of its required adherence by all ministers of the Reformed Church in America (RCA) and the Christian Reformed Church in North America (CRC), Eugene P. Heideman offers this volume setting the Canons of Dort in its historical context, clarifies the positive aspects of its theology, and examines whether all of the facets of its theology can be biblically sustained. In the process, he reveals much about our theological heritage and its piety and offers a biblical way forward. The structure of the canons by the Synod of Dort (1618-19) immediately creates difficulty for the contemporary reader. The strict supralapsarian Calvinism was challenged in 1610 by "remonstrants" who gave that name to those who held this theological belief; they were, therefore, the Remonstrants. The strict Calvinists who opposed Remonstrant views became the Counter-Remonstrants. When the Synod of Dort was given the task to conduct a theological evaluation of those "remonstrants," the result was the Canons of Dort. To the canons were appended the "Rejection of the Errors by Which the Dutch Churches Have for Some Time Been Disturbed," as found in the 1610 Remonstrants."--