Reformed confessions of faith
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Reformed confessions of faith are the confessions of faith of various Reformed churches. These documents express consensus on doctrine for the church adopting the confession. A few confessions are shared as subordinate standards (i.e. authorities subordinate to the Bible) by many denominations, which have made their choices from among the various creeds for primarily historical reasons. Some of the common Reformed confessions are (with year of writing):
Continental Reformed
- Zwingli's Sixty-Seven Articles (1523)[1]
- Ten Theses of Berne (1528)[1]
- East Friesland Confession[2]:15
- Tetrapolitan Confession (1530)
- Synodical Declaration of Bern (1532)[2]:13
- First Confession of Basel (1534)[1]
- First Helvetic Confession (Second Confession of Basel, 1536)[1]
- Lausanne Articles (1536)[1]
- Geneva Confession (1536)[1]
- Zurich Consensus (1549)[2]:14
- Emden Catechism (1554)[2]:15
- Confession of the English Congregation at Geneva (1556)[1]
- French Confession of Faith (1559)
- Confession of the Christian Faith (1559)[2]:19
- Second Helvetic Confession (1562)
- Erlauthal Confession (1562)[2]:18
- Hungarian Confession (1562)[2]:19
- Heidelberg Catechism (1563)
- Belgic Confession (1566)
- Sendomir Consensus (1570)[2]:19
- Wittenberg Catechism (1571)[2]:21
- Confession of Nassau (1578)[2]:21
- Bremen Consensus (1595)[2]:21
- Sigismund Confession (1614)[2]:21
- Canons of Dordt (1619), known collectively with the Heidelberg Catechism and Belgic Confession as the Three Forms of Unity
- Harmony of the Confessions of Faith (1581), a response to the Lutheran Formula of Concord.
- Helvetic Consensus (1675)
- Conclusions of Utrecht (1905)
- Theological Declaration of Barmen (1934)
- Belhar Confession (1986), first adopted in South Africa and since adopted by many Reformed churches
Presbyterian
- Scots Confession (1560)
- The Westminster Standards are common among the Presbyterian churches:
- Westminster Confession of Faith (1646)
- Westminster Shorter Catechism (1649)
- Westminster Larger Catechism (1649)
- Confession of 1967
- The Book of Confessions (1983) contains the confessional standards of the Presbyterian Church (USA), and incorporates versions of both Continental and Presbyterian Reformed confessions of faith, including the 1991 Brief Statement of Faith.
Congregationalist
The Independents declined from Reformed theology on issues of the role of the magistrate, and the powers of higher church courts, but retained the Calvinist system touching many other issues.
- Cambridge Platform (1648), Massachusetts Bay Colony, New England
- Savoy Declaration (1658), London
Baptist
Some of the Baptist churches came alongside the Puritan movement in England, and in doing so sought to agree as far as conscience allowed, in the Calvinistic form of doctrine which prevailed among the Presbyterians and many Congregationalists. Except for their few exceptions concerning congregational church governance and adult baptism, these "Particular" Baptists adopted the Reformed faith.
- 1644 Baptist Confession of Faith
- Keach's Catechism (1677)
- 1689 Baptist Confession of Faith
- New Hampshire Confession of Faith
- Baptist Affirmation of Faith 1966
Anglican
- Thirty-Nine Articles[3]
- Lambeth Articles
- Irish Articles 1615[4]
References
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Cochrane, Arthur C. (2003). Reformed Confessions of the Sixteenth Century. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. p. Contents.
- 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Rohls, Jan (1998) [1987]. Theologie reformierter Bekenntnisschriften [Reformed confessions: Theology from Zurich to Barmen] (in German). Translated by John Hoffmeyer. Louisville, Kentucky: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 0-664-22078-9.
- ↑ Muller, Richard A. (2004). "John Calvin and later Calvinism". In Bagchi, David; Steinmetz, David C. The Cambridge Companion to Reformation Theology. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-52177-662-2.
- ↑ Schaff, Philip (1876). Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical notes 1. Baker Book House. p. 662. Retrieved 24 October 2013.
Further reading
- Cochrane, Alfred C., ed. Reformed Confessions of the 16th Century. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, ©2003.
- Schaff, Philip The Creeds of Christendom. New York, 1931
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