New section for Theological Guide - confessional theology

MJ. Smith

Yes, I am aware that many consider confessional theology to be a thing of the past, or a thing lost from the past that needs to be revived, or something that has been a constant in ones' tradition. Therefore, I think that a section addressing confessions should be an optional element of the Theological Guide.

Borrowing from Wally World, confessional theology uses the following types of documents:

Creeds – these tend to be short statements of belief, such as the Nicene and Apostle’s Creed.

Confessions – these are longer and more systematic statements of belief. Examples include the Westminster, French, Scot’s, and Second Helvetic Confessions.


Catechisms – These are set in question and answer form. Examples include the Heidelberg Catechism and the Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechisms.

I propose that these documents be tagged for the theology categories and that a section in the Theological Guide be dedicated specifically to these documents. Note that this covers many of the theological traditions not covered by my previous suggestion SUGGESTION: Update the Theological Guide/ Theological Topic Workflow for the Methodist Quadrilateral.

Olli-Pekka Ylisuutari

Agree with MJ (and answering an email that says this post needs my opinion). For example, the Lutheran Book of Concord lends itself easily with MJ's Creeds, Confessions, Catechisms -division.

In the Confessions Category the most influential Lutheran Confession, the Augsburg Confession (which is a part of the Book of Concord), has these sub-headings: 1. God (e.g. theology proper), 2. Original Sin (e.g. hamartiology), 3. The Son of God (e.g. christology), 4. justification (e.g. soteriology), 5. The office of the Church (e.g. ecclesiology) etc. etc. These could very easily be integrated with the theological guide and be tagged "Lutheran."

The same goes with Luther's Small and Large Catechisms etc.