The pain of agreement: Calvin and the "Consensus Tigurinus"
In 1549, Calvin signed the ‘Agreement of the Ministers of the Church of Zurich and of John Calvin, Minister of the Church of Geneva, on the Subject of the Sacraments’ (=the Zurich Consensus). There can be no argument that to do so, Calvin had to subscribe to formulations he had never previously publ...
| Main Author: | |
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| Format: | Print Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Interlibrary Loan: | Interlibrary Loan for the Fachinformationsdienste (Specialized Information Services in Germany) |
| Published: |
[2016]
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| In: |
Reformation & Renaissance review
Year: 2016, Volume: 18, Issue: 1, Pages: 85-94 |
| IxTheo Classification: | CG Christianity and Politics KAG Church history 1500-1648; Reformation; humanism; Renaissance KBC Switzerland KDD Protestant Church NBP Sacramentology; sacraments |
| Summary: | In 1549, Calvin signed the ‘Agreement of the Ministers of the Church of Zurich and of John Calvin, Minister of the Church of Geneva, on the Subject of the Sacraments’ (=the Zurich Consensus). There can be no argument that to do so, Calvin had to subscribe to formulations he had never previously publicly accepted. So the question persists as to why Calvin did so? Some have pointed out the wandering path of Calvin's teaching on the Lord's Supper, and have suggested that the Zurich Agreement represented Calvin's thought, at least at that time. This article will argue differently, that Calvin's eucharistic doctrine did change over time, but that this agreement represented a special moment of political expediency, and fervor for evangelical union. Yet even though it was a genuine effort at ecumenical union with other evangelicals supported through doctrinal vagueness, it was also an ironic failure which should cause theologians and historians of the early-modern period to think more about the utility of religious compromise for political consensus in the era of the Reformations. |
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| ISSN: | 1462-2459 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Reformation & Renaissance review
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