Christianity Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion, which states that Jesus in Christianity, Jesus is the Son of God (Christianity), Son of God and Resurrection of Jesus, rose from the dead after his Crucifixion of Jesus, crucifixion, whose ...

has through

Church history Church history or ecclesiastical history as an academic discipline studies the history of Christianity and the way the Christian Church has developed since its inception. Henry Melvill Gwatkin defined church history as "the spiritual side of t ...

produced a number of Christian

creed A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets. Many Christian denominations use three creeds ...

s, 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 A by-law (bye-law, by(e)law, by(e) law), is a set of rules or law established by an organization or community so as to regulate itself, as allowed or provided for by some higher authority. The higher authority, generally a legislature or some other ...

. 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 "Jesus is Lord" () is the shortest credal affirmation found in the New Testament, one of several slightly more elaborate variations. It serves as a statement of faith for the majority of Christians who regard Jesus as both truly man and God. I ...

(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) *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 Arian creeds are the creeds of Arian Christians, developed mostly in the fourth century when Arianism was one of the main varieties of Christianity. A creed is a brief summary of the beliefs formulated by a group of religious practitioners, exp ...

and Creeds of Euzoius (320/327) * The Creed of Alexander of Alexandria (321–324) * The First Synod of Antioch (325) * The original

Nicene Creed The Nicene Creed, also called the Creed of Constantinople, is the defining statement of belief of Nicene Christianity and in those Christian denominations that adhere to it. The original Nicene Creed was first adopted at the First Council of N ...

, first adopted at the First Council of Nicaea in 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 The Confessing Church (, ) was a movement within German Protestantism in Nazi Germany that arose in opposition to government-sponsored efforts to unify all of the Protestant churches into a single pro-Nazi German Evangelical Church. See dro ...

(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)

Denominational creeds

Adventist

Pillars of Adventism The Pillars of Adventism are landmark doctrines for Seventh-day Adventists. They are Bible doctrines that define who they are as a people of faith; doctrines that are "non-negotiables" in Adventist theology. The Seventh-day Adventist church teache ...

(1848) * Adventist Baptismal Vow (1941) * 28 Fundamental Beliefs (Adventist) (1980)

African Orthodox Church

* Doctrine of the African Orthodox Church (1921)

Anabaptist/Mennonite

Hans Denck Hans Denck ( – November 27, 1527) was a German theologian and Anabaptist leader during the Reformation. Biography Denck was born in 1495 in the Bavarian town of Habach. He entered the University of Ingolstadt on October 10, 1517, and graduate ...

's confession Before the Council of Nuremberg (1525) * The Schleitheim Confession (1527) *The Mennonite Concept of Cologne (1591) * The Dordrecht Confession (1632)

Anglican

*The Anglican Catechism (1549/1662) * Thirty-Nine Articles (1563) *

Lambeth Articles The Lambeth Articles of 1595 were nine doctrinal statements on the topic of predestination proposed by the bishops of the Church of England. At the time, there was controversy between Calvinists and non-Calvinists over predestination, and the Lambe ...

(1595) * Affirmation of St. Louis (1977)

Arminian

Five Articles of Remonstrance 5 (five) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number, and cardinal number, following 4 and preceding 6, and is a prime number. Humans, and many other animals, have 5 digits on their limbs. Mathematics 5 is a Fermat pri ...

(1610) *The Opinions of the Remonstrants (1618) *

Remonstrant Confession The ''Confession or Declaration of the Pastors which are called Remonstrants'', or Remonstrant Confession, was the confession of faith of the Remonstrant brotherhood, published in 1621. Historical context By the decrees of the Synod of Dort, th ...

(1621)

Assemblies of God

Assemblies of God Statement of Fundamental Truths The Statement of Fundamental Truths is a confession of faith outlining the 16 essential doctrines adhered to by the Assemblies of God USA. These doctrines are heavily based on other evangelical confessions of faith but differ by being clearly Pe ...

* 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 In 1833, Baptists in the United States agreed upon a confession of faith around which they could organize a missionary society under the Triennial Convention. The New Hampshire Confession of Faith was drawn up by the Rev. John Newton Brown of Ne ...

(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 The Baptist Faith and Message (BF&M) is the statement of faith of the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC). It summarizes key Southern Baptist thought in the areas of the Bible and its authority, the nature of God as expressed by the Trinity, the sp ...

, 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) *

, Southern Baptist Convention (2000)

Catholic

*The Edict of Michael Cerularius and of the Synod of Constantinople of 1054 (1054) *The

Dictatus Papae ''Dictatus papae'' is a compilation of 27 statements of authority claimed by the pope that was included in Pope Gregory VII's register under the year 1075. Principles The principles expressed in ''Dictatus Papae'' are mostly those expressed by ...

of Pope Gregory VII (1075) *

Council of Florence The Council of Florence is the seventeenth ecumenical council recognized by the Catholic Church, held between 1431 and 1445. It was convened in territories under the Holy Roman Empire. Italy became a venue of a Catholic ecumenical council aft ...

* Confutatio Augustana (1530) *

Tridentine Creed The Council of Trent (), held between 1545 and 1563 in Trent (or Trento), now in northern Italy, was the 19th ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. Prompted by the Protestant Reformation at the time, it has been described as the "most im ...

- Profession of Faith of Pius IV (1564) * Anti-Modernist Oath - Pius X *

Maasai Creed The Maasai Creed is a creed composed in 1960 by the Maasai people The Maasai (;) are a Nilotic peoples, Nilotic ethnic group inhabiting northern, central and southern Kenya and northern Tanzania, near the African Great Lakes region.

, Holy Ghost Fathers (1960) *

Vatican II Council The Second Ecumenical Council of the Vatican, commonly known as the or , was the 21st and most recent Catholic ecumenical councils, ecumenical council of the Catholic Church. The council met each autumn from 1962 to 1965 in St. Peter's Basilic ...

, Dogmatic Constitution on the Church (1964) *

Credo of the People of God ''Solemni hac liturgia'' ("This solemn liturgy") is a ''motu proprio'' issued by Pope Paul VI on 30 June 1968. Its content substantially consists of a creed known as the Creed of the People of God. Background During the 1960s, the Catholic ...

Profession of Faith of Paul VI (1968) *Common Declaration of Pope John Paul II and rmenianCatholicos Karekin I (1996) *Ad Tuendam Fidem of Pope John Paul II (1998)

Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

*Mission, Vision and Confession *Christian Church: The Design for the Christian Church (1968)

Congregational

*The Cambridge Platform (1648) *

Savoy Declaration The Savoy Declaration is a Congregationalist confession of faith. Its full title is ''A Declaration of the Faith and Order owned and practised in the Congregational Churches in England.'' It was drawn up in October 1658 by English Independents a ...

(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

* Confession of Saint Peter Mogila (1643) * Confession of Dositheus (1672)

Huguenot

Guanabara Confession of Faith The Guanabara Confession of Faith was a Calvinist creed from 1558. The first Protestant writing in Brazil, and in all of the Americas, it was written by the French Huguenots Jean du Bourdel, Matthieu Verneuil, Pierre Bourdon and André la Fon, who ...

Lutheran

Augsburg Confession The Augsburg Confession (), also known as the Augustan Confession or the Augustana from its Latin name, ''Confessio Augustana'', is the primary confession of faith of the Lutheranism, Lutheran Church and one of the most important documents of th ...

(1520) *

(1530) *

Apology of the Augsburg Confession The ''Apology of the Augsburg Confession'' () was written by Philipp Melanchthon during and after the 1530 Diet of Augsburg as a response to the '' Pontifical Confutation of the Augsburg Confession'', Charles V's commissioned official Roman Catho ...

(1530 Lutheran Response to Confutatio Augustana) *

Smalcald Articles The Smalcald Articles or Schmalkald Articles () are a summary of Lutheran doctrine, written by Martin Luther in 1537 for a meeting of the Schmalkaldic League in preparation for an intended ecumenical Council of the Church. History The Schmalkaldi ...

(1537) *

Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope The ''Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope'' (1537) (), ''The Tractate'' for short, is the seventh Lutheran credal document of the Book of Concord. Philip Melanchthon, its author, completed it on 17 February 1537 during the assembly of ...

(1537) *

Formula of Concord Formula of Concord (1577) (; ; also the "''Bergic Book''" or the "''Bergen Book''") is an authoritative Lutheran statement of faith (called a confession, creed, or "symbol") that, in its two parts (''Epitome'' and ''Solid Declaration''), makes up ...

(1577) *

Book of Concord ''The Book of Concord'' (1580) or ''Concordia'' (often referred to as the ''Lutheran Confessions'') is the historic doctrinal standard recognized as authoritative by many Lutheran church bodies since the 16th century. It consists of ten creeda ...

(1580) * Saxon Visitation Articles (1592) *The Reaffirmed Consensus of the True Lutheran Faith (1655)

Methodist

*Minutes of Some Late Conversations (1744) *The Scripture Way of Salvation (1765) * Articles of Religion (1784) *

Confession of Faith A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets. Many Christian denominations use three creeds: ...

, United Methodist Church (1968) * Soldier's Covenant of the

Salvation Army The Salvation Army (TSA) is a Protestantism, Protestant Christian church and an international charitable organisation headquartered in London, England. It is aligned with the Wesleyan-Holiness movement. The organisation reports a worldwide m ...

, a church created by former Methodists * The 1823 Calvinistic Methodist Confession of Faith.

Moravian

*The three Ecumenical Creeds: Apostles',

Nicene The Nicene Creed, also called the Creed of Constantinople, is the defining statement of belief of Nicene Christianity and in those Christian denominations that adhere to it. The original Nicene Creed was first adopted at the First Council of N ...

and Athanasian *The

*The

Confession of the Unity of the Bohemian Brethren of 1535 Confession of the Unity of the Bohemian Brethren of 1535 or Brethren's confession is doctrinal statement of the Unity of the Brethren. The confession was introduced to the king Ferdinand I in 1535 and published in Czech in 1536 and in Latin with ...

*The

Barmen Declaration __NOTOC__ The Barmen Declaration or the Theological Declaration of Barmen 1934 (German: ''Die Barmer Theologische Erklärung'') was a document adopted by Christians in Nazi Germany who opposed the German Christian movement. In the view of the de ...

of 1934 * The Thirty-Nine Articles of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

Pentecostal

(1916) *

Indian Pentecostal Church of God The Indian Pentecostal Church of God (IPC) is one of the largest Pentecostal Christian Denomination in India. Its organisational headquarters located in Kumbanad, Kerala Kerala ( , ) is a States and union territories of India, state ...

Statement of Faith A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) which summarizes its core tenets. Many Christian denominations use three creeds: ...

Presbyterian

Scots Confession The Scots Confession (also called the Scots Confession of 1560) is a Confession of Faith written in 1560 by six leaders of the Protestant Reformation in Scotland. The text of the Confession was the first subordinate standard for the Protestan ...

(1560) *

Westminster Confession of Faith 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 becam ...

(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 The Auburn Affirmation is a document dated May 1924, with the title ''"AN AFFIRMATION designed to safeguard the unity and liberty of the Presbyterian Church in the United States of America"'', authored by an eleven-member ''Conference Committee'' an ...

(PCUSA) (1924) *

Book of Confessions The ''Book of Confessions'' contains the creeds and confessions of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.). The contents are the Nicene Creed, the Apostles' Creed, the Scots Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, the Second Helvetic Confession, the Westm ...

(PCUSA) art 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 (1984)

Puritan/Congregational

Cambridge Platform The Cambridge Platform is a statement of congregational church government for the churches of colonial New England. It was written in 1648 in response to Presbyterian criticism and served as the religious constitution of Massachusetts until 1780 ...

(1648)

Quaker

*The Confession of the Society of Friends (1675) *

Richmond Declaration The Richmond Declaration, also known as the Richmond Declaration of Faith, is a confession of faith of the Religious Society of Friends, being made by 95 Quakers (representatives of all Gurneyite Orthodox Friends Yearly Meetings) from around the w ...

(1887)

Reformed

*The Sixty-seven Articles of Ulrigh Zwingli (1523) *The Evangelical Counsel of Ansbach (1524) * Ten Conclusions of Berne (1528) *

First Helvetic Confession The Helvetic Confessions are two documents expressing the common belief of Reformed churches, especially in Switzerland, whose primary author was the Swiss Reformed theologian Heinrich Bullinger. The First Helvetic Confession (1536) contributed ...

(1536) *The Consensus of Geneva (1552) *First Scotch Confession (1560) *Craig's Catechism (1581) *

Second Helvetic Confession The Helvetic Confessions are two documents expressing the common belief of Reformed Christianity, Reformed churches, especially in Switzerland, whose primary author was the Swiss Reformed theologian Heinrich Bullinger. The First Helvetic Confessi ...

(1586) *Gallican Confession (1559) *

Belgic Confession The ''Confession of Faith'', popularly known as the Belgic Confession, is a confession to which many Reformed churches subscribe as a doctrinal standard. The Confession forms part of the Three Forms of Unity, which are the official subordinate st ...

(1561) *

Heidelberg Catechism The Heidelberg Catechism (1563), one of the Three Forms of Unity, is a Reformed catechism taking the form of a series of questions and answers, for use in teaching Reformed Christian doctrine. It was published in 1563 in Heidelberg, Germany. Its ...

(1563) *The Hungarian Confession (1570) *Second Scotch Confession (1580) * Irish Articles of Religion (1615) *

Canons of Dordt The Canons of Dort, or Canons of Dordrecht, formally titled ''The Decision of the Synod of Dort on the Five Main Points of Doctrine in Dispute in the Netherlands'', is an exposition of orthodox Reformed soteriology against Arminianism, by the Nati ...

(1618–19) *

1646 *

1658 * Helvetic Consensus (1675) * Second London Confession of Faith (1677/1689) *Walcheren Articles (1693) * The Calvinistic Methodist Confession of Faith. (1823) *

Belhar Confession The Belhar Confession () is a Christian statement of belief written in Afrikaans in 1982. It was adopted (after a slight adjustment) as a confession of faith by the Dutch Reformed Mission Church (DRMC) in South Africa in 1986. Themes According ...

, Dutch Reformed Mission Church (1986) *

Cambridge Declaration The Cambridge Declaration is a statement of faith written in 1996 by the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals, a group of Reformed and Lutheran Evangelicals who were concerned with the state of the Evangelical movement in America, and throughout t ...

(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)

Creeds of specific movements

Neo-Evangelical

*Doctrinal Statement of the Evangelical Theological Society (1949, 1990) *

Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy The Chicago Statement on Biblical Inerrancy is a written statement of belief formulated by more than 200 evangelical leaders at a conference convened by the International Council on Biblical Inerrancy and held in Chicago in October 1978. The statem ...

(1978) * Chicago Statement on Biblical Hermeneutics (1982) * Danvers Statement (1988)

References

Bibliography

* * *{{cite book , language=en , first=Peter , last=DeJong , chapter=The Opinions of the Remonstrants (1618) , title=Crisis in the Reformed Churches: Essays in Commemoration of the Great Synod of Dordt, 1618-1619 , place=Grand Rapids , publisher=Reformed Fellowship , year=1968 , url=http://evangelicalarminians.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/Opinions-of-the-Remonstrants-1618.pdf Christian statements of faith Language and mysticism