The Need for Creeds Today: Confessional Faith in a Faithless Age
This brief, accessible invitation to the historic creeds and confessions makes a biblical and historical case for their necessity and shows why they are essential for Christian faith and practice today. J. V. Fesko, a leading Reformed theologian with a broad readership in the academy and the church, demonstrates that creeds are not just any human documents but biblically commended resources for the well-being of the church, as long as they remain subordinate to biblical authority. Fesko also explains how the current skepticism and even hostility toward creeds and confessions came about. Professors and students in courses on Reformed theology, church history, and Reformed confessions will value this work. It will also be of interest to pastors and lay readers in confessional Reformed churches.
Publisher: Baker
Type: Paperback
ISBN: 9781540962591
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J. V. Fesko (PhD, University of Aberdeen) is the Harriet Barbour Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology at Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. He previously taught at Westminster Seminary California. A minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, he served in church planting and pastoral ministry for more than ten years and is the author of numerous books, including Reforming Apologetics, The Trinity and the Covenant of Redemption, The Theology of the Westminster Standards, and Death in Adam, Life in Christ.
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"'No creed but the Bible!' has long been a core belief among evangelicals, especially in the United States. Although those who repeat this phrase certainly mean well, they often fail to notice that it is a self-contradictory statement, given the fact that it is itself a creed--a statement of what they believe. Ironically, then, the statement 'No creed but the Bible!' itself manifests the unavoidability of creeds. J. V. Fesko's The Need for Creeds Today addresses the confusion in the contemporary church with a brief but persuasive case for the necessity and importance of creeds and confessions. His case is biblically grounded and historically informed. It should be required reading in every seminary." Keith Mathison, professor of systematic theology, Reformation Bible College