Thereformed confessions of faith are theconfessional documents of variousReformed churches. These express the doctrinal views of the churches adopting the confession. Confessions play a crucial part in the theological identity of reformed churches, either asstandards to which ministers must subscribe, or more generally as accurate descriptions of their faith. Most confessions date to the 16th and 17th century.
Catechisms, canons, theses and other such documents may not be confessionsper se, yet these still serve assymbols of the reformed faith.[1]
The presbyterians'Westminster was formed byan assembly of ministers called byparliament for use in theestablished churches of England and Scotland. For congregationalists, this was not the case. The difference in application of the congregationalists' primary confession, Savoy, is that it was written as a declaration of consensus, and as such it was not treated as morally binding upon church officers likeWestminster for presbyterians[10] (calledsubscriptionism[11]).
Local congregational churches are historically formed aroundcovenants (e.g. theDedham Covenant), often unique to that church, another kind of confession.[1]
Though not produced by congregationalists, the Synod of Cambridge (1648) adopted the WCF without revision, only referring to their ownCambridge Platform regarding church government (ch. XXV., XXX., and XXXI)[12]
Baptist confessions, like the congregationalists, are statements of agreement rather than enforceable rules. They "have never been held as tests of orthodoxy, as of any authoritative or binding force; they merely reflect the existing harmony of views and the scriptural interpretations of the churches assenting to them."[15]
Part of the baptist movement finds its origin in thenonconformist movement in England, observing Calvinistic theology with the presbyterians and congregationalists. Calvinistic baptists are calledreformed orparticular baptists. There are further subdivisions of reformed baptists, such asregular andprimitive.
Baptist churches, like the congregationalists with whom they share views of polity, composechurch covenants for the local congregation.[1]
These documents are less general in scope than a usual confession. They may confess that church's response to a theological controversy (e.g. theCanons of Dort) or seek to find common ground between discrete churches (e.g. theConsensus Tigurinus).
^abcdefghijklRohls, 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.ISBN0-664-22078-9.
^Schaff, Philip (ed.)."Creeds of Christendom, Volume I."ccel.org. § 41. Retrieved2024-04-18.It is, to a certain extent, also the Confession of the Reformed and the so-called Union Churches, in Germany, namely, with the explanations and modifications of the author himself in the edition of 1540
^Carson, D. A. (27 January 2015).Themelios, Volume 36, Issue 2. Wipf and Stock Publishers. p. 313.ISBN978-1-62564-954-6.
^Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (2004)."Book of Confessions, Confession of 1967"(PDF). Louisville, Kentucky: The Office of the General Assembly. pp. 252–262. Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2009-08-11. Retrieved2023-11-13.
^Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) (2004)."Book of Confessions"(PDF). Louisville, Kentucky: The Office of the General Assembly, Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). Archived fromthe original(PDF) on 2009-08-11. Retrieved2023-11-13.
^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.ISBN978-0-52177-662-2.
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