The Westminster Standards

The Westminster Standards were penned at the end of England’s second Reformation, and symbolized the high-water mark of Protestant scholasticism. The cluster of 1640s texts both codified prior developments in Reformed doctrine and standardized theological vocabulary, with the result that they have played an enduring role in the history of theology. This chapter addresses the unique contributions of the Larger and Shorter Catechisms and the flow and coherence of the Westminster Confession of Faith. Doctrinal topics, and the manner in which the Westminster assembly linked these loci, are discussed, and themes which find their place throughout the Standards are given particular emphasis. Since soteriological concerns dominate the Standards, they are given special attention in this précis. Select revisions of the Standards are also discussed.

Coherence (philosophical gambling strategy) · Doctrine · Faith · Physics · Political science · Protestantism · Scholasticism · Theology · Classics · Historical Studies of British Isles · History · Law · Medieval Literature and History · Philosophy · Reformation and Early Modern Christianity