Doctrinal discussions on the topic of man’s free will to choose salvation began nearly a thousand years ago. However, they became much more intense when John Calvin established the idea of predestination in concrete terms. Opposition to his theology is known as Arminianism–named for Jacob Arminius who was appointed professor of theology at Leyden University in the Netherlands on May 8, 1603. Arminius’s teachings eventually led to the Synod of Dort fifteen years later where the church would reject his theological views entirely.
