The early Remonstrants supported Jacobus Arminius, and after his death, continued to maintain his original views called Arminianism against the proponents of Calvinism.

In 1610, Arminius followers presented to the States of Holland and Friesland the Five Articles of Remonstrance formulating their points of disagreement with Calvinism as adopted by the Dutch Reformed Church.

In 1618–1619 the Synod of Dordrecht, after expelling the thirteen Arminian pastors headed by Simon Episcopius, established the victory of the Calvinist school.

[1] In this context, owing to the lack of preachers, there originated in Warmond a movement in favor of the lay sermon, the adherents of which founded the Society of Collegiants.

Their school of theology, which grew more liberal and even rationalistic, forcefully debated the official Dutch Reformed state church and other Christian denominations.

[5] In the mid-19th century, the Remonstrant Brotherhood was influenced by liberalism,[6][7] which in Holland was embodied by Petrus Hofstede de Groot (1802–1886).

[citation needed] His theology had a wide audience in Europe, which is characteristic of the romantic phase of Christian humanism; in the Netherlands, this line of thought has been represented by the "theologians of Groningen" since 1830.

Arminianism is a minority within the Reformed confession, but it really belongs to the larger, cross-denominational current of synergism, that is to say, historic, majority Christianity.

[11] The Remonstrant Brotherhood of The Netherlands keeps fellowship with the European Liberal Protestant Network, and is a full, charter member of the World Alliance of Reformed Churches.

They consider that the message of the Gospel can not be separated from true choices in the struggle to live together, on the road to a world with peace and justice.