Chance meetings can be the best ones. Last summer, my wife and I attended the CHAP (Christian Homeschool Association of Pennsylvania) Convention. While browsing the exhibitor boots, a map of southern France caught my eye. Intrigued, I stepped closer to his publisher’s booth, where Andrew Lambdin was representing his books.

Among the Christian books on display, I noticed two novels by Mr. Lambdin himself: Hills of Zion and Fields of Zion. As a Christian author writing in a similar historical setting, I had to ask him who his books were about. When he told me his books take place in the thirteenth century, during the Albigensian Crusade, I was stunned.

What did Waldensians believe about election and predestination? Were they Calvinist or Arminian? I could answer this question in a variety of ways, but I’ll try to keep it as brief as possible while still providing the key details derived from historical evidence.

Who Were the Waldensians?

The term Waldensian (also Waldense in English, Vaudois in French, Valdesi in Italian, et al.) first appeared around the 12th century, though some^{1 2} trace the movement back to as early as Pope Sylvester, the 4th-century Bishop of Rome under Emperor Constantine. In the Middle Ages, the Waldensians were a group of Christians who, to varying degrees, dissented from the Roman Catholic Church. In the early Modern era, their movement merged with the broader Protestant Reformation.

Every Christmas season, a certain piece of music seems to follow me everywhere—from radio jingles to shopping mall speakers. But it wasn’t until a snowy evening in 2012 that Handel’s Messiah truly captured my heart. That December, I decided to take my wife on a date to see the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra’s performance. I had always liked classical music, but nothing prepared me for what I would experience that evening.