Sam Bryan
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 Posted: Tue Aug 12, 2008 7:13 am Post subject: What constitutes the "Reformed confessions" as used in the B |
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I am writing the group to pose a question that came up as I was reading the PC(USA) Book of Confessions copyrighted 2007 to see if someone can shed some light on it. Basically the question is - what constitutes the "Reformed Confessions", in particular in the context of the BOC where the phrase is used? The first reference to the phrase is on page xiv, in the middle. It is used a number of times after that, several times, for example, on page xxii.
The phrase is not defined in the BOC. I've asked a couple of people about it. One said they thought it referred to confessions written for Reformed churches after the formation of the churches. Another said they thought it referred to all confessions claimed by the Reformed churches. I'm leaning towards the first interpretation, but I see cases on the Internet that would support the second interpretations. E.g.
http://www.newwineskinsassociation.com/documents/White_Paper_on_CONFESSIONS.doc has a list on the second page on what it calls "Reformed Confessions" that includes the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed.
If anyone can shed any light on this I'd appreciate it. In particular what does the BOC mean when it uses the phrase "Reformed confessions"?
Sam |
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Sam Bryan
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| Posted: Sat Aug 16, 2008 6:45 pm Post subject: Re: What constitutes the "Reformed confessions" as used in t |
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I found an answer to my question outside this newsgroup and have posted it below. -- Sam
The term "Reformed Confessions" properly refers to confessions that have grown out of the life and history of particular Reformed churches from the 16th century down to the present day. The group of confessions contained in our (Presbyterian) Book of Church Order is only a small subset of this body of literature-- John Leith has a representative list of 16th and 17th century examples in his Introduction to the Reformed Tradition (see appendix G at the end of Chapter IV). The term is most commonly used to distinguish them from the Lutheran Confessions on the one hand (e.g. the Augsburg Confession, or Luther's Small and Large Catechisms), and the universal, or ecumenical creeds on the other--this latter group would include principally the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds, in addition to statements like the Chalcedonian Definition, the Athanasian Creed, etc. (This is not to imply, of course, that the Reformed and Lutheran traditions are the only ones with particular confessional traditions.)
"Sam Bryan" <sbryan2@mindspring.com> wrote in message news:CYKdnXf609NYbD3VnZ2dnUVZ_qXinZ2d@earthlink.com...
I am writing the group to pose a question that came up as I was reading the PC(USA) Book of Confessions copyrighted 2007 to see if someone can shed some light on it. Basically the question is - what constitutes the "Reformed Confessions", in particular in the context of the BOC where the phrase is used? The first reference to the phrase is on page xiv, in the middle. It is used a number of times after that, several times, for example, on page xxii.
The phrase is not defined in the BOC. I've asked a couple of people about it. One said they thought it referred to confessions written for Reformed churches after the formation of the churches. Another said they thought it referred to all confessions claimed by the Reformed churches. I'm leaning towards the first interpretation, but I see cases on the Internet that would support the second interpretations. E.g.
http://www.newwineskinsassociation.com/documents/White_Paper_on_CONFESSIONS.doc has a list on the second page on what it calls "Reformed Confessions" that includes the Nicene Creed and the Apostles' Creed.
If anyone can shed any light on this I'd appreciate it. In particular what does the BOC mean when it uses the phrase "Reformed confessions"?
Sam |
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