Reformed confessions of faith
Calvinist confessions of faith are the confessions of faith of various Calvinist 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 Calvinist confessions are (with year of writing):
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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
- Belgic Confession (1561)
- Second Helvetic Confession (1562)
- Erlauthal Confession (1562)[2]: 18
- Hungarian Confession (1562)[2]: 19
- Heidelberg Catechism (1563)
- 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 Dort (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 mainline 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 confessions of faith, including the 1991 Brief Statement of Faith.
Congregationalist
The Independents declined from Calvinist 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
- Saybrook Platform (1708), Connecticut Colony, New England
Other Reformed Confessions
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 Calvinist faith.
Anglican
The Anglican church is not a confessional church in the same way that the Lutheran Church is.[3][4] Anglican doctrine is most defined by Lex orandi, lex credendi ("the law of praying [is] the law of believing").[5][6]
- Thirty-Nine Articles[7]
- Lambeth Articles
- Irish Articles of 1615[8]
- The Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) is originally an Anglican confession of faith.
Methodist
The "Confession of Faith of the Calvinistic Methodists or the Presbyterians of Wales" was adopted at the Associations of Aberystwyth and Bala in the year 1823.[9]
References
- Cochrane, Arthur C. (2003). Reformed Confessions of the Sixteenth Century. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press. ISBN 978-0-664-22694-7.
- 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.
- Turnbull, Richard (15 July 2010). Anglican and Evangelical?. Bloomsbury Publishing. pp. 45–. ISBN 978-1-4411-1475-4.
- Avis, Paul (2013). The Anglican Understanding of the Church: An introduction. SPCK. pp. 65–. ISBN 978-0-281-06815-9.
- Earey, Mark (2013). Beyond Common Worship: Anglican Identity and Liturgical Diversity. SCM Press. pp. 100–. ISBN 978-0-334-04739-1.
- Platten, Stephen; Woods, Christopher (2012). Comfortable Words: Polity, Piety and the Book of Common Prayer. Hymns Ancient and Modern. pp. 142–. ISBN 978-0-334-04670-7.
- Muller, Richard A. (2004). "John Calvin and later Calvinism". In Bagchi, David; Steinmetz, David C (eds.). The Cambridge Companion to Reformation Theology. New York: Cambridge University Press. p. 135. ISBN 978-0-52177-662-2.
- Schaff, Philip (1877). The Creeds of Christendom: The history of creeds. Harper.
- Confession of Faith of the Calvinistic Methodists or the Presbyterians of Wales at the Wayback Machine (archived July 27, 2011)