Open AccessTHE THEOLOGY OF THE CANONS OF DORT: A REASSESSMENT AFTER FOUR HUNDRED YEARS
Author(s) -
Arnold Huijgen
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
unio cum christo
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 2473-8476
pISSN - 2380-5412
DOI - 10.35285/ucc4.2.2018.art7
Subject(s) - centrality , dominance (genetics) , doctrine , tone (literature) , character (mathematics) , philosophy , value (mathematics) , theology , linguistics , mathematics , biochemistry , chemistry , geometry , statistics , combinatorics , gene
This article reassesses the value of the Canons of Dort, drafted at the Synod of Dort (1618–19). A picture with diverse shades emerges. After four hundred years, the Canons of Dort stand out when compared to the Remonstrant position for their pastoral tone, Reformed catholicity, emphasis on the efficacity of divine grace, an infralapsarian stance on the decrees of God, and their biblical character. In retrospect, however, the Canons also show theological limitations such as allowing the dominance of the Arminian agenda, the potentially problematic nature of complex, causal logic, the deficiency of certain important biblical notions, and a deficiency as to the centrality of Christ. Christ as the mirror of election in particular deserves a more central place in the doctrine of election.