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The Westminster Confession of Faith, or simply the Westminster Confession, is a Reformed confession of faith.Drawn up by the 1646 Westminster Assembly as part of the Westminster Standards to be a confession of the Church of England, it became and remains the "subordinate standard" of doctrine in the Church of Scotland and has been influential within Presbyterian churches worldwide.
A controversy over whether ministers must subscribe (affirm) the Westminster Confession of Faith had preoccupied Presbyterians in Scotland, Ireland and England for some time. [1] In America, the Synod of Philadelphia initially had no official confessional statement, as American leaders tried to maintain unity and avoid division.
The Westminster Confession and catechisms were produced by a committee rather than a single author. Scots Confession (1560) [6] Westminster Confession of Faith (1646) [7] Confession of Faith Ratification Act (1690) Confession of 1967 [8] Brief Statement of Faith (1991) [9]
The 1728 form of the Standards continues to be printed by the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland. [5] In the nineteenth century, several churches separated from the Church of Scotland on the basis of the established church's departure from a list of documents similar to those found in standard collections of the Westminster Standards.
The Book of Confessions contains the creeds and confessions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). [1] The contents are the Nicene Creed, the Apostles' Creed, the Scots Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Second Helvetic Confession, the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Shorter Catechism, the Larger Catechism, the Theological Declaration of Barmen, the Confession of 1967, the Confession ...
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland wrestled with the issue of confessional subscription in the early 18th century. In 1726, the Synod of Ulster expelled ministers who refused to subscribe to the Westminster Confession of Faith – this group formed the Synod of Antrim, which eventually became the Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland.
The Westminster Confession of Faith: An Authentic Modern Version [authored jointly with Professor Phil Rollinson and Dr. Hugh McClure] (P&R, 1986) The Westminster Shorter Catechism in Modern English (P&R, 1986) The Lord's Day in a Secular Society [authored with Graham Dickson] (Rutherford House, 1999)
The purpose of the Larger Catechism was to help ministers prepare their own catechesis, as they taught the faith to their congregations in preaching, [1] while the purpose of the Shorter Catechism was to educate children and others "of weaker capacity" (according to a preface written by the Church of Scotland) in the Reformed faith.