The question of the relationship between the theology of John Calvin and later Reformed theology has been the subject of considerable debate since at least the rise of the School of Saumur and the subsequent controversies over Amyraldianism in the seventeenth century. On the whole, the issue has been pressed in terms of the extent to which certain later theologians can be seen to stand in continuity or discontinuity with the thought of Calvin. The method involved in this particular tradition of debate has been to identify certain doctrinal positions held by Calvin and to regard these as normative standards by which later theologians can be judged. This trajectory of scholarship is epitomized in the title of Basil Hall's famous article “Calvin against the Calvinists,” though Hall represents merely one example of such scholarship.

Underlying the various examples of this approach are a number of assumptions which, on close examination, can be seen to be somewhat inadequate as proper historical criteria. First, it is too often assumed that Calvin’s theology has, or had at some point in the past, some kind of normative status within the Reformed tradition. This is historically and ecclesiastically not so. While it is certainly true that the writings of Luther enjoyed unique influence among Lutheran confessional communities, the writings of Calvin never occupied anything approaching such a position.