The Story of Creeds and Confessions

Tracing the Development of the Christian Faith

Donald Fairbairn and Ryan M. Reeves

a division of Baker Publishing Group

Grand Rapids, Michigan

© 2019 by Donald Fairbairn and Ryan M. Reeves

Published by Baker Academic

a division of Baker Publishing Group

PO Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287

www.bakeracademic.com

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Fairbairn, Donald, author.

Title: The story of creeds and confessions : tracing the development of the Christian faith / Donald Fairbairn and Ryan M. Reeves.

Description: Grand Rapids : Baker Academic, a division of Baker Publishing Group, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2018054492 | ISBN 9780801098161 (pbk.)

Subjects: LCSH: Creeds—History. | Church history.

Classification: LCC BT990 .F345 2019 | DDC 238.09—dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2018054492

ISBN 978-1-5409-6219-5 (casebound)

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®), copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2016

Donald Fairbairn dedicates this book

to the memory of Lionel R. Wickham,

his Doktorvater and friend,

whose passing on December 17, 2017,

came as the text of this book was being finalized.

Ryan Reeves dedicates this book

to Zoë, Owen, and Dexter

Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

1. Beginning the Story

Part 1 The Era of the Creeds (100–500)

2. The Creedal Impulse in Scripture and the Early Church

3. A Christian Empire and Creedal Standardization

4. The Nicene Creed: A Creed for the Entire Church

5. The Chalcedonian Definition: Explaining the Nicene Creed

6. The Apostles’ Creed: A Regional Creed with Traditional Authority

7. The Athanasian Creed: A Creedal Anomaly with Staying Power

Part 2 Exploring Creedal Theology (500–900)

8. Clarifying Chalcedon in the East

9. The West Charts Its Own Theological Course

10. Creedal Dissension and the East-West Schism

Part 3 From Creeds to Confessions in the West (900–1500)

11. Setting the Stage for Medieval Developments

12. Catholic Confessions in the High Middle Ages

Part 4 The Reformation and Confessionalism (1500–1650)

13. The Crisis of the Reformation

14. Early Protestant Confessions

15. New Generations of Protestant Confessions

16. Catholic and Orthodox Responses to Protestant Confessions

17. Protestant Confessions in the Late Reformation

Part 5 Confessions in the Modern World (1650–Present)

18. The New Grammar of Modern Confessions

Conclusion

Index