Unintended Consequences: Schism and Calvin's Ecclesiology

Abstract

John Calvin believed schism was a sin. But however deeply he deplored schism, and however eloquently and judiciously he defined the Protestant movement as a necessary reformation of the church to its primitive faithfulness, nevertheless the spirit of schism has remained an unhappy legacy in the movement that shares Calvin's name and theology. This essay explores what schism means and what it does not mean, the ways in which Calvin's theology and several other factors contributed to schism in the Reformed movement, and how Calvin's soteriology may be able to provide a safeguard against schism that Calvin's ecclesiology could not.