Creeds & Confessions
Spanish and Portuguese are close siblings. Both descended from Latin and developed alongside one another on the Iberian Peninsula in relative isolation from their closest European neighbors. Spanish and Portuguese thus have what linguists call a “high degree of mutual intelligibility.” […]
The following is transcribed from the White Horse Inn episode “Discussing Our Differences on the Lord’s Supper” (August 26, 2018). The roundtable participants are Michael Horton (Reformed), Justin Holcomb (Anglican), Steve Parks (Lutheran), and Jeremy Yong (Baptist). This excerpt is lightly edited for length and clarity. […]
Modern Reformation magazine, along with its sister radio show, the White Horse Inn, has always been committed to engaging in conversational theology among the four confessional traditions of the Protestant Reformation: Lutheran, Anglican, Reformed, and Baptist. In that spirit, we’ve assembled the following harmony of confessional and catechetical excerpts on human nature as created, fallen, […]
We live in an age of denominations and distinctions, and many bemoan the seemingly constant influx of new denominations by way of church splits and schisms. The total number of Protestant denominations today varies based on who is doing the talking (and often based on their denominational affiliation as well!), but most estimates put it […]
Does the Augsburg Confession Teach Anything Outside of Scripture? "Defensio Augustanae Confessionis" (Chapter X)
by Friedrich Balduin; translated by Todd Rester This edition of Balduin’s 1623 work Defensio Augustanae Confessionis (Wittenberg: Paul Helwigius, 1623; fols. G4v–H4v) was a response to Cardinal Peter Pázmány, S. J. (1570–1637) and his Hungarian polemic against Protestants titled Hodegus Igazságra-Vezérló Kalauz (Wien: Posonban, 1613); other editions Bratislava (1623 and 1637) and Trnava (1766). Pázmány devotes six […]
Specters haunt the history of church committees. Today’s disciplined clerks, as we know them, harken back to yesterday’s unseen scribes. Every reader of ecclesiastical documents and every lover of polity, decency, and good order remains in their debt. For without them, there would be no surviving record of church business. No committee—therefore no associated team […]
by Herman Bavinck; translated by Gregory Parker Jr. This essay was originally published in Dutch as a three-part series in De Vrije Kerk in 1883.[1] That same year, Bavinck was installed as a professor at the Theologische School in Kampen. What follows is an excerpt from the English translation, which may be found in its […]
Throughout the great ecclesial conflicts that troubled England during its civil wars and the Restoration, John Owen (1616–1683) set for himself the task of specifying the terms upon which the English church could unite groups such as the Episcopalians, Presbyterians, and Independents, while also excluding such groups as the Catholics and Socinians. On one occasion, […]
In the summer of 1824, Samuel Miller, long-time professor of church history at Princeton Theological Seminary, offered this counsel to students preparing for ministry: His words were meant to impress upon them the necessity of creeds and confessions for maintaining the unity, peace, and purity of the church. No church can hope to maintain a […]
Does the Augsburg Confession Teach Anything Outside of Scripture? "Defensio Augustanae Confessionis" (Chapter IX)
by Friedrich Balduin; translated by Todd Rester In 1613, the Hungarian Catholic Cardinal Peter Pázmány, S.J. (1570–1637) published Hodegus Igazságra-Vezérló Kalauz. In Book 4 of this work, Pázmany devoted six chapters to a refutation of the Lutheran Augsburg Confession. In 1623, Lutheran theologian Friedrich Balduin published a direct response to Pázmany’s work, titled Defensio Augustanae […]
“Woe Is Me If I Preach Not the Gospel!” (1 Cor. 9:16) St. Paul’s heartfelt exclamation of his calling before God has echoed down through the ages. The Christian church in all its many forms is called to preach the gospel—that is its purpose. There are many subsidiary activities that the church engages in, such […]
Contemporary theological reflection on the ascended Jesus is sparse. [1] This is true of contemporary Indian theological reflection as well. [2] Yet, the ascension is a very important element in Christology. There is a need to reflect on who Jesus is today; or in other words, there is a need to reflect on who Jesus […]
I believe in the Holy Spirit, the holy catholic church, the communion of saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen When we Christians profess our belief in “the communion of saints,” we’re acknowledging that our relationships in the kingdom of God transcend other forms of human connection. […]
To view PDF version of Timeline, click here. Although synods and councils met during the Middle Ages, no great creeds or confessions were adopted that had lasting significance or ecumenical weight. The next wave of creeds, confessions, and catechisms were provoked by the Protestant Reformation. As Protestantism divided, new churches developed their own doctrinal standards—often […]
Receive, my children, the Rule of Faith, which is called the Symbol (or Creed). And when you have received it, write it in your heart, and be daily saying it to yourselves; before ye sleep, before ye go forth, arm you with your Creed. The Creed no man writes so as it may be able to be read: but for rehearsal of it, lest haply forgetfulness […]
