List of Christian creeds

Christianity has through Church history produced a number of Christian creeds, confessions and statements of faith. The following lists are provided.

In many cases, individual churches will address further doctrinal questions in a set of bylaws. Smaller churches see this as a formality, while churches of a larger size build this to be a large document describing the practical functioning of the church.

Biblical creeds

• Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9; 1 Corinthians 12:3)
• Pre-New Testament Creeds in the New Testament (1 Timothy 2:5, Phil 2:6-11, 1 Timothy 3:16)^[1]
• Christ died, was raised, then list of eyewitnesses to the resurrection (1 Corinthians 15:3-10)

Ecumenical and historic Christian creeds

Creeds of the early church

• The Didache (50–100)
• The Creed of Aristides of Athens (130)
• The Old Roman Symbol or Old Roman Creed (c. 215)
• The Creed of Cyprian of Carthage (250)
• The Deir Balyzeh Papyrus (200–350)
• The Arian Creeds and Creeds of Euzoius (320/327)
• The Creed of Alexander of Alexandria (321–324)
• The First Synod of Antioch (325)
• The Second Dedication of Antioch (341)
• The Baptismal Creed of Jerusalem (350)
• The Apostolic Constitutions (350–380)

Interdenominational creeds

• Barmen Declaration of Faith, Confessing Church (1934)
• World Evangelical Alliance Statement of Faith (1951)
• National Association of Evangelicals Statement of Faith (1943)
• Anglican-Lutheran Pullach Report (1972)
• Brief Statement of Faith (1983)
• Common Christological Declarations Between the Catholic Church and the Assyrian Church of the East (1994)

Ecumenical creeds

• The Call to Unity, Lausanne (1927)
• The Scheme of Union of the Church of South India (1929/1942)
• The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, Edinburgh (1937)
• Affirmation of Union, Edinburgh (1937)
• The Constitution of the Church in South India (1947)
• Message of the First Assembly of the World Council of Churches (1948)
• The Unity We Have and Seek (1952)
• A Message from the Second Assembly of the World Council of Churches (1954)
• The Unity of the Church, St. Andrews (1960)
• The Church's Unity, World Council of Churches, New Delhi (1961)
• The Holy Spirit and the Catholicity of the Church, Uppsala (1968)
• What Unity Requires, Nairobi (1975)
• Baptism, Eucharist, and Ministry, Lima (1982)
• Uniatism, Method of Union of the Past, and the Present Search for Full Communion (1993)
• The Covenant (2015)^[3]

Denominational creeds

Adventist

• Pillars of Adventism (1848)
• Adventist Baptismal Vow (1941)
• 28 Fundamental Beliefs (Adventist) (1980)

Anabaptist/Mennonite

• Hans Denck's confession Before the Council of Nuremberg (1525)^[4]
• The Schleitheim Confession (1527)
• The Mennonite Concept of Cologne (1591)^[5][6]
• The Dordrecht Confession (1632)

Anglican

• The Anglican Catechism (1549/1662)^[7]
• Thirty-Nine Articles (1563)
• Lambeth Articles (1595)
• Affirmation of St. Louis (1977)

Arminian

• Five Articles of Remonstrance (1610)
• The Opinions of the Remonstrants (1618)^[8][9]
• Remonstrant Confession (1621)

Assemblies of God

• Assemblies of God Statement of Fundamental Truths
• Assembleia de deus Declaration of faith - Brazil

Baptist

• Thomas Helwys Confession of Faith (1611)
• Baptist Confession of Faith (1644)
• Baptist Confession of Faith (1677/1689)
• The Orthodox Creed of the General Baptists (1678)
• The Philadelphia Confession (1688)
• New Hampshire Confession of Faith (1833)
• The Free-will Baptist Confession (1868)
• Abstract Principles for Southern Baptist Seminary (1858)
• The Doctrinal Basis of the New Zealand Baptist Union (1882)
• Doctrinal Basis of the Baptist Union of Victoria, Australia (1888)
• The Statement of the Baptist Union of Great Britain and Ireland (1888)
• The Statement of Faith of the American Baptist Association (1905)
• Johann Kargel's Confession (1913)
• Baptist Faith and Message, Southern Baptist Convention (1925)
• The Doctrinal Statement of the North American Baptist Association (1950)
• Baptist Faith and Message, Southern Baptist Convention (1964)
• Baptist Affirmation of Faith, Strict Baptist Assembly (1966)
• Romanian Baptist Confession (1974)
• The Statement of Beliefs of the North American Baptist Conference (1982)
• Baptist Faith and Message, Southern Baptist Convention (2000)

Catholic

• The Edict of Michael Cerularius and of the Synod of Constantinople of 1054 (1054)
• The Dictatus Papae of Pope Gregory VII (1075)
• Council of Florence
• Confutatio Augustana (1530)
• Tridentine Creed - Profession of Faith of Pius IV (1564)
• Anti-Modernist Oath - Pius X
• Maasai Creed, Holy Ghost Fathers (1960)
• Vatican II Council, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (1964)
• Credo of the People of God Profession of Faith of Paul VI (1968)
• Common Declaration of Pope John Paul II and [Armenian] Catholicos Karekin I (1996)
• Ad Tuendam Fidem of Pope John Paul II (1998)

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

• Mission, Vision and Confession^[10]
• Christian Church: The Design for the Christian Church (1968)

Congregational

• The Cambridge Platform (1648)
• Savoy Declaration (1658)
• The Declaration of the Congregational Union of England (1833)
• The Declaration of the Boston National Council (1865)
• The Declaration of the Oberlin National Council (1871)
• The "Commission" Creed of the Congregational Church (1883/1913)

Eastern Orthodox

• Doctrine of the African Orthodox Church (1921)

Huguenot

• Guanabara Confession of Faith

Lutheran

• Augsburg Confession (1520)^[11][12]
• Augsburg Confession (1530)
• Apology of the Augsburg Confession (1530 Lutheran Response to Confutatio Augustana)
• Smalcald Articles (1537)
• Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope (1537)
• Formula of Concord (1577)
• Book of Concord (1580)
• Saxon Visitation Articles (1592)
• The Reaffirmed Consensus of the True Lutheran Faith (1655)^[13][14]

Methodist

• Minutes of Some Late Conversations (1744)
• The Scripture Way of Salvation (1765)
• Articles of Religion (1784)
• Confession of Faith, United Methodist Church (1968)
• Soldier's Covenant of the Salvation Army, a church created by former Methodists
• The 1823 Calvinistic Methodist Confession of Faith.

Moravian

• The three Ecumenical Creeds: Apostles', Nicene and Athanasian
• The Augsburg Confession
• The Confession of the Unity of the Bohemian Brethren of 1535
• The Barmen Declaration of 1934
• The Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England

Pentecostal

• Assemblies of God Statement of Fundamental Truths (1916)
• Indian Pentecostal Church of God: Statement of Faith

Presbyterian

• Scots Confession (1560)
• Westminster Confession of Faith (1646)
• The Confession of the Waldenses (1655)
• The Confession of the Cumberland Presbyterian Church (1814/1883)
• The Confession of the Free Evangelical Church of Geneva (1848)
• The Confession of the Free Italian Church (1870)
• The Auburn Declaration (1837)
• Auburn Affirmation (PCUSA) (1924)
• Book of Confessions (PCUSA)[part 1; Second Edition 1970]
• The Creed of the Evangelical Presbyterian Church of Chile (1983)
• Living Faith: A statement of Christian Belief, Presbyterian Church in Canada^[15] (1984)

Puritan/Congregational

• Cambridge Platform (1648)

Quaker

• The Confession of the Society of Friends (1675)^[16]
• Richmond Declaration^[17] (1887)

Reformed

• The Sixty-seven Articles of Ulrigh Zwingli (1523)
• The Evangelical Counsel of Ansbach (1524)
• Ten Conclusions of Berne (1528)
• First Helvetic Confession (1536)
• The Consensus of Geneva (1552)
• First Scotch Confession (1560)
• Craig's Catechism (1581)
• Second Helvetic Confession (1586)
• Gallican Confession (1559)
• Belgic Confession (1561)
• Heidelberg Catechism (1563)
• The Hungarian Confession (1570)
• Second Scotch Confession (1580)
• Irish Articles of Religion (1615)
• Canons of Dordt (1618–19)
• Westminster Confession of Faith 1646
• Savoy Declaration 1658
• Helvetic Consensus (1675)
• Second London Confession of Faith (1677/1689)
• Walcheren Articles (1693)
• The Calvinistic Methodist Confession of Faith. (1823)
• Belhar Confession, Dutch Reformed Mission Church (1986)
• Cambridge Declaration (1996)

Salvation Army

• Articles of War of The Salvation Army

United Church of Canada

• A New Creed (1968)

United Church of Christ

• Statement of Faith of the United Church of Christ (1959/1977)

Waldensian

• Waldensian Confession (1655) ^[18]

Creeds of specific movements

Neo-Evangelical

• Doctrinal Statement of the Evangelical Theological Society (1949, 1990)
• Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy (1978)
• Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics (1982)
• Danvers Statement (1988)

See also

• Church covenant

References

1. Pelikan, Jaroslav (2003). Credo : Historical and Theological Guide to Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition. New Haven: Yale University Press. p. 133. ISBN 0300109741.
2. "The Council of Nicaea: Purposes and Themes". Archived from the original on 2008-08-07. Retrieved 2009-02-13.
3. Covenant Christian Coalition (2015). "Covenant".{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
4. "Denck, Hans (ca. 1500-1527) - GAMEO". gameo.org. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
5. "Concept of Cologne (Anabaptists, 1591) - Anabaptistwiki". anabaptistwiki.org. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
6. "Concept of Cologne (Anabaptists, 1591) - GAMEO". gameo.org. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
7. "The Anglican Catechism. A. D. 1549, 1662". biblehub.com. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
8. DeJong 1968, pp. 220-.
9. "The Opinions of the Remonstrants (1618)" (PDF).
10. "Mission, Vision, and Confession".
11. "ELCA Constitution, Chapter 2" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2015-12-24. Retrieved 2015-12-08.
12. Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA). "Scripture, Creeds, Confessions". Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA).
13. Schmeling, Timothy. "Lutheran Orthodoxy Under Fire: An Exploratory Study Of The Syncretistic Controversy And The Consensus Repetitus Fidei Vere Lutheranae" (PDF). Bethany Lutheran Theological Seminary – via BLTS Library.
14. Schaefer, Benjamin (17 October 2022). "Friendship or Fellowship". Wisconsin Lutheran Seminary: 17 – via WLS Digital Library.
15. Presbyterian Church in Canada. "Living Faith: A statement of Christian Belief".
16. "The Confession of the Society of Friends, Commonly Called Quakers. A. D. 1675". biblehub.com. Retrieved 2021-03-28.
17. "Richmond Declaration".
18. "Waldensian Confession". Archived from the original on 2014-05-12.

Bibliography

• Kelly, John N. D. (2006) [1972]. Early Christian Creeds (3rd ed.). London-New York: Continuum. ISBN 9780826492166.
• Ritter, Adolf Martin (1965). Das Konzil von Konstantinopel und sein Symbol: Studien zur Geschichte und Theologie des II. Ökumenischen Konzils. Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht. ISBN 9783666551185.
• DeJong, Peter (1968). "The Opinions of the Remonstrants (1618)". Crisis in the Reformed Churches: Essays in Commemoration of the Great Synod of Dordt, 1618-1619 (PDF). Grand Rapids: Reformed Fellowship.