Confessions and Catechisms of the Reformation

by Mark A. Noll (Editor)

Book by

Genres: Theology, History, Church History, Reference, Religion

232 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1991

About the author

Mark A. Noll (born 1946), Francis A. McAnaney Professor of History at the University of Notre Dame, is a progressive evangelical Christian scholar. In 2005, Noll was named by Time Magazine as one of the twenty-five most influential evangelicals in America. Noll is a prolific author and many of his books have earned considerable acclaim within the academic community. The Scandal of the Evangelical Mind , a book about the anti-intellectual tendencies within the American evangelical movement, was featured in a cover story in the popular American literary and cultural magazine, Atlantic Monthly. He was awarded a National Humanities Medal in the Oval Office by President George W. Bush in 2006.

Reviews

[Henry Holmberg · Rating 5 out of 5]

This little book is extremely enlightening and nicely diverse. Noll has compiled the most important Reformation Creeds, Councils, and Confessions from all sides of the 16th century aisle (Roman Catholic, Calvinistic, Lutheran, Anglican, Anabaptist, and more). He has a very helpful 2-4 page summary of the historical context of each document, then a well translated edition of a different Reformation document each chapter. If you are interested in seeing the most vital actions and reactions of the reformation from the perspective of the pews in the 1500’s, give this book a read.

[JR Snow · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good selection of various confessions of Protestant, Anabaptist, and Catholic groups. I especially appreciated seeing the distinction between the magisterial reformers and the anabaptists–since they often responded to each other though their doctrinal statements as much as they did towards Roman Catholics.

Read for Dr. Fortson's CH2 class at RTS Charlotte.

[Catherine · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a review of this collection, not the historic confessions and catechisms themselves, which are all exceptional and important reads.

The collection was...okay. I understand the editor's criterion for inclusion, as well as the necessity to have exclusions based on space constraints, but the criterion he selected ultimately ended up giving a lot of weight to Lutheran and Catholic works, and showed none of the progression and fleshing out that occurred as the reformation spread. I have a hard time accepting a collection of "reformation" works without Knox's magnum opus, Bullinger's Second Helvetic Confession, and at least a nod to the Westminster standards. Here, you only get the first ones off the bench. You get the impression it was Luther versus Rome, and everyone else was small potatoes, but lucky you--we're going to let you nibble on a couple small potatoes!

It's hard to take the selection process and the historical fly-by's after the introduction. And I guess that was my biggest downer. The author specifically laid out that reading historical Christian works like confessions and catechisms was work really reserved for scholars, not laypeople. And look at you! You actually picked up a thinky book! Reading these 200 pages will pretty much fill your life-quota for "historical" Christian works!

Note to author: you want to know why most modern evangelicals don't really know what they believe, or why, or how their church came into being? It's because you give them glowing praise and pats on the head for token efforts. This stuff is not beyond the comprehension level of adults. Sure, Philip Schaff's three volumes may take a little time, but nothing in there is beyond high school reading level. I happened across it in my mid-twenties, and read it during workday lunch hour over the course of a year, not batting an eyelash. And I loved it. Because nobody ever told me getting a full picture of what I claimed to live for was reserved for scholars and intellectual elites. Big books aren't harder, people, they just take more time. This book is at best springboard, not the culmination point.

Turn off the tv, put down your dumb phone and go read a book. Please.

[John Yelverton · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an amazing book which compiles all the different Protestant creeds which flowed out during the Protestant Reformation. It's amazing to see all the subtle and not so subtle variations of the Reformer's understanding of the Bible.

[Vance Christiaanse · Rating 5 out of 5]

You've seen it done on TV shows and movies: the same event is presented multiple times, each time from a different character's perspective. The differences are striking. Well, this book is that for the reformation. You get Luther's words, Zwingli's, likely Calvin's, the Roman Catholic Church. And the differences are striking.

The obvious impact of these 500-year-old documents on our daily life today is also striking. Some of the issues the reformers debated are still being debated today. It's also interesting to notice themes that are totally absent from Christian thought of 500 years ago. No mention of slavery, abortion, or homosexuality. But also, in these early days, not awareness yet among the reformers of how much they would eventually come to disagree with each other. At this point, they think they are only disagreeing with Rome. The bloodshed in battles between reformers is yet to come.

[Josiah Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book collects the most popular confessions and catechisms of the reformation, which means that it includes things from multiple theological streams. There are short introductions to each historical documents, which are good and helpful. There is a tendency with the reformation to only read and think about the documents that we all know and love, like the Westminster Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism, the 39 articles, etc. But those documents were not written in a vacuum, haphazardly writing on whatever they were thinking about in the moment. Other Christians were doing other things and the Catholic Church was of course in the midst of its own problems. And so the helpfulness of this collection isn’t really the intros, thought they were good and informative, but rather the fact that you are able to work though the major documents of that period, which in turn helps to understand the doctrines better.

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I love reading original sources. It's helpful in understanding the uninterpreted history. With confessions and catechisms from the Reformed, Anglican, Lutheran, and Catholics, this book helped me understand the similarities and difference with my own faith. Really a good book in helping understand the major points of debate during the first century after the Reformation.

[Kyle Evens · Rating 4 out of 5]

I admittedly had no experience in Protestant or Reformed catechism or theology going into this compilation. It is certainly not anywhere close to an adequate introduction to all the postulates of Luther, Calvin, or Zwlingi, but the introductory notes were a sufficient primer and provided bibliographies for a more competent introduction to these churches.

[Jim Gulley · Rating 4 out of 5]

Mark Noll has chosen 10 of the most important documents of the early Reformation period to catalog and provide a brief historical overview of their origins and historical significance. He includes both Protestant and Catholic seminal works. The book is a go-to reference for any early modern European scholar or church historian.

[Alex Strohschein · Rating 2 out of 5]

A fine collection of the key confessions and catechisms of the Reformation, including excerpts from the Council of Trent. It is a little dry, but primary sources are important for our understanding of history and theology. Each confession and catechism features a brief introduction by Mark Noll.

[William Albers · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is an excellent introduction to the various statements of faith from the time of the Reformation, covering Lutheran, Reformed, Anabaptist, Roman Catholic, and Anglican documents (with very brief historical introductions to each).

[Joel Zartman · Rating 4 out of 5]

Handy.

[Tyler Brown · Rating 3 out of 5]

Most of these confessions are online so you don’t need this on your bookshelf. Noll’s introductions are helpful but not worth the purchase.

[Governor · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not a “gripping” read, but useful in comparing contemporary doctrinal statements with the confessions and catechisms of the Reformation. Decent for historical research.

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lots of primary source material with good introductions from the author.

[Jake Ruefer · Rating 5 out of 5]

Helpful documents to have around. These are all available online but here you have a quality version and Noll’s historical background and explanation are extremely valuable.

[Jake Burgess · Rating 3 out of 5]

Council of Trent was a bore

Seminary book 1/4

[Justin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really helpful collection.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of 16th Century Confessions! Noll even included Schleitheim Confession and the Canons of Trent to show the Anabaptist and Catholic reactions to the Reformation.

[Sean McGowan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great!

[Brett · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great collection of the confessions and catechisms of the 16th century.

[Vaughn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent reference work. Highly recommended