Acts of the Synod of Dort
The Synod of Dort 1618-19 was famous for drafting the Canons of Dort, addressing the errors of the Arminians. The Canons are easy to find in English — many editions have been published. But the Canons are not the same thing as the Acts of the Synod of Dort. The Acts record the discussions held between the delegates, though not exhaustively. They give some idea of the thinking behind the Canons. The Acts also reveal other, lesser-known, matters discussed at the synod when the foreign delegates were present. When they were first released, the Acts were published in Dutch, French, and Latin. You can find various editions in those languages here. Unfortunately, they’ve never been published in English.
The other day someone on the Puritan Board was asking a question about the Canons of Dort and how one might be able to discern the intent of the delegates. I mentioned the Acts, but also the fact that they’re only available in those three languages. One thing led to another and David Jonescue took the Dutch edition of the Acts and ran it through a machine translator. You can find the result here. Thank you, David.
Obviously it’s not a translation that will serve scholarly work. It’s rough and uneven, to put it mildly. However, for those who can’t read Dutch, French, or Latin, this is the best you’ve got. This machine translation will at least give you some idea of how proceedings went at the Synod of Dort. In the meantime, I hope someone somewhere is working on a legit scholarly English translation. It’s been long overdue!
