Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms: A Reader’s Edition
edited by Chad Van Dixhoorn
DETAILS:
Publisher: Crossway
Publication Date: June 21, 2022
Format: Clothbound
Length: 434 pg.
What’s Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms: A Reader’s Edition?
This is a collection of Ecumenical Creeds and some of the most-used Protestant Confessions and Catechisms. These are:
The Apostles’ Creed
The Nicene Creed
The Athanasian Creed
The Chalcedonian Definition
The Augsburg Confession
The Belgic Confession
The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion
The Canons of Dort
The Westminster Confession of Faith
The London Baptist Confession
The Heidelberg Catechism
The Westminster Larger Catechism
The Westminster Shorter Catechism
Each document is given a 1-2 page introduction by the editor describing “its origins and significance” to the church (as the Publisher puts it).
As I’m not foolhardy enough to give pluses and minuses (or whatever) when it comes to the matieral, so this isn’t going to be my typical kind of post.
Questions I Had
While reading through this collection, I had a few questions about why Van Dixhoorn selected certain Confessions (no offense, Lutherans and Baptists) or why he picked particular translations of some of them. And I’d intended to spend a little time discussing them and speculating about the answers. But then I read on Crossway’s site that this book was “Adapted from ESV BIble with Creeds and Confessions,” so I guess that edition of the ESV probably did the selecting in the first place and Van Dixhoorn stuck with that.
Why Should You Buy Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms: A Reader’s Edition?
It’s very attractive—the cover design is top-notch. The interior layout is pleasing to the eye and easy to read. The paper is nice and thick. It looks good on your shelf or in your hands. On the one hand, this is a minor point—but it’s a big selling point for a reference work.
Along those lines, the binding and everything makes me think this is going to last a long time—and through repeated readings.
The way it’s typeset and laid out would make it easier as a copy to read through some or all of the contents. I’ve got multiple copies of most of these documents, and a lot of them aren’t easy to read—they’re more things you consult briefly. This is one I could sit down with regularly and just read.
That’s what it’s designed for—to read. It’s right there in the title. This isn’t an edition for people who are doing scholarship or research. You’ve got Schaff for that—or James Dennison’s set.
Especially if you’re looking for an introduction to the Protestant standards, this is a handy edition and guide to the essentials.
Van Dixhoorn’s introductions are user-friendly and helpful to orient the reader to the origin, concerns, and highlightings of each document.
This post contains an affiliate link. If you purchase from it, I will get a small commission at no additional cost to you. As always, the opinions expressed are my own.
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