Religious Schisms

I have a question. Do any of you know of a serious scholarly attempt to categorize various "types" of religious schism. I'm thinking something along the lines of a cross study of major religions seeking parallels in historical circumstances that caused the many schisms that come about in history. I think the usefulness in creating realistic alternate history involving a fictional schism in an existing religion or the even more ambitious completely new religion unseen in our reality speaks for itself. Try as I might I have found no good source material of this nature.
 
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