A.D. 1658 · extended material

Savoy Declaration

Can a shared Reformed doctrine coexist with real disagreement over church government?

Historical Context

English Congregationalists, freed from state-church constraints during the Interregnum, wanted a confession of their own.

Controversy

The dispute was over Presbyterian versus Congregationalist church polity, not over the underlying covenant theology both sides held.

Confession / Clarification

Adapted Westminster, revising chiefly the sections on church government while retaining its covenant theology almost entirely intact.

Downstream Influence

Shows federal theology was portable across polity disagreements — the doctrine, not the church order, was the shared inheritance being carried forward.

Further Resources

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Primary source Read the Full Text → The complete Savoy Declaration.

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