In 1621, two years after their hopes for free and open debate were dashed at the Synod of Dort, the colleagues and students of Jacobus Arminius published the Confession or Declaration of the Pastors, which in the Belgian Federation are called the Remonstrants, on the principle articles of the Christian Religion. The first and perhaps most important of Arminian confessions, written by Simon Episcopius (Arminius' successor at the University of Leiden and leader of the Remonstrant party at Dort) and then approved at a gathering of Remonstrant pastors, provided not only a defense of the 'five points' condemned at Dort, but also a succinct declaration of the entire range of their theology. This fresh, unabridged translation of the Confession, the first since 1676, together with the original Latin, allows the contemporary reader to interface directly with theology of the original Remonstrant leaders without the intervening interpretations of either their opponents or later admirers.
