A Faculty Project on the Reformed Identity of Calvin Theological Seminary

What does it mean to be Reformed? What does God call us to be and to do? Our Reformed identity and mission are at the heart of what we do at Calvin Seminary.

Answers to questions about identity and mission vary considerably from one denomination to another, from one seminary to another, from one congregation to another, and from one person to another. At Calvin Theological Seminary, we continually need to renew our sense of our Reformed identity and mission, being alert to both strengths and weaknesses in our current living out of that identity. A clear sense of our identity and mission will help our students understand our Reformed “accent,” will connect our Reformed heritage to issues in the contemporary world, and will enable us to provide more effective service to the church. We do not want our Reformed identity to be a museum piece, but rather a living faith that enriches and strengthens the kingdom of God both at CTS and around the world.

As is evident in the other pieces in this issue of The Forum, the faculty, students, and graduates of Calvin Seminary care deeply about being authentically Reformed in our service to God’s church and kingdom. Given the importance of this topic, about a dozen faculty members have been writing essays about our Reformed identity from their own disciplinary perspectives and then meeting to discuss the essays with one another. Those who have participated in this project have learned from each other and have clarified their sense of our shared mission. 

Calvin Seminary hopes to share the fruits of this project in an edited collection of these essays to appear during our 150th anniversary year in 2025–26. The volume that faculty members are preparing will address what we at Calvin Theological Seminary mean when we say that we are Reformed, with faculty members drawing from their subject areas in order to speak to future and current students, alumni, and the church, in accessible, warm, and engaging essays. We hope that offering this volume to the wider community during this milestone anniversary will help Calvin Seminary and the broader church to take stock of who we are, where we have been, and what God is calling us to do.