The Story of Creeds and Confessions: Tracing the Development of the Christian Faith

by Donald Fairbairn, Ryan M. Reeves

Creeds and confessions throughout Christian history provide a unique vantage point from which to study the Christian faith. To this end, Donald Fairbairn and Ryan Reeves construct a story that captures both the central importance of creeds and confessions over the centuries and their unrealized potential to introduce readers to the overall sweep of church history. The book features texts of classic creeds and confessions as well as informational sidebars.

Genres: Church History, Theology, History, Christian, Christianity, Religion

416 pages, Paperback

Published October 1, 2019

Reviews

[Mitchell Traver · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great resource. Treat it like an introduction to Church History but through Creeds and Confessions. Five stars for accessibility (which is a perennial challenge in these kinds of subjects). Four stars for content - much of the book was quite illuminating and insightful, other portions I found to be unique and probably oversimplified takes on popular subjects, but all of the book was intriguing and easy to follow. Overall, this work of Fairbairn and Reeves is a fantastic excursion through Church History with the potential of building deeper unity within the Church Catholic. I’ll revisit this one, I’m sure, and heartily recommend.

[Jason Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Solid history of the church through its creeds which ratify doctrine and confessions which define particular contextual stances . It focuses mostly on Catholic and Protestant theological history and doesn’t say enough about eastern Christianity but is still a valuable and accessible way into theological history . It’s pleasingly evangelical in stance when le still providing nuance and balance . Good things on early church history , the reformation and theology and justice in modern times especially .

[Corey · Rating 4 out of 5]

I had to do a quick deep dive into Chalcedon and so I bought this mainly for that chapter, but then I read the other first two parts of the book regarding the developments of the other early creeds. It was a fascinating read. I am hoping to come back at a later time to finish the latter half on the confessions of the reformation and modern period.

It is a balanced mix of academic and popular level readability.

[Sean McGowan · Rating 5 out of 5]

This was a great book. The authors did an excellent job explaining the history and development of the Christian creeds and confessions. They are fair and balanced in their approach to the historical record. Really well done. Every Christian should read this book.

[Carson Knauff · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the best church history books I’ve read. Has high invitation and high challenge. The footnotes alone in this book are worth the read. It does get bogged down at points and which the Reformation chapters were scaled back. But throughout the book it pauses to reflect on what this means to a modern Christian. Something I wish more books did. Overall the front half is better than the back half and every book should have footnotes.

[Nathaniel · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really clear and tells a story with sufficient theological nuance, if I were to teach some sort of intro to doctrine course I would most likely use this text.

[Jeremy Crump · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was much more enjoyable to read than I anticipated, though I enjoyed the first half more; the latter sections on the Protestant and Catholic confessions felt somewhat sketchy. I also wanted an appendix with larger sections of these excerpted. Though it is generous and even handed with other traditions - often taking pains to correct misunderstandings from Protestant camps - it does make an argument for the continuity of much Protestant theology with the early creeds and Catholic tradition. Thus it also serves as something of a Protestant apologetic. Overall this is a valuable work of history that not only gives background and interpretation of the creeds and confessions but could even serve as a general history of Christianity.

[Andrzej Stelmasiak · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm actually quite disappointed with this book. yes, it is correct, for the most part at least, but it's another example of great idea (structure history around the creeds and confessions) executed without much depth.
what was good - I found their telling of high middle ages quite engaging.
what was bad - Byzantine controversy over icons relies completely on one side of the story sources, especially John of Damascus. Ironically he never travelled to Byzantium strictly speaking, all of his information is second hand. And there are scholars today who openly say - there's just s handful of examples where anything was actually destroyed. Less than 10 documented cases... in over century and a half directly preceding Nicea II. Consult Leslie Brubaker and others on it.
Another strike against it is an oversimplification of Congregationalists and Brownists which led to portraying them as one group, that's really the impression one is left with. Who cares about what Savoy says about Brownists then in its preface?
Racovian Catechism is never mentioned, even if it was the MAIN document which all the orthodox argued against. in other words, it shaped much of the theological debates of the 17th century. I say this only because the authors mentioned some other stuff which came from the Socinian camp.

And, I get that it's really those in the west who mainly wrote creeds and confessions, but this book suffers from typical oversight of the history in the east and far east. If not for early Lutheran correspondence with Jerusalem, and a few lines on arbitrarily chosen examples (like the Church of Toraja) in the 20th century, one would not hear about things in the east at all in the last half of millennium.

So I don't know who's the intended recipient of this title. Perhaps, supplementary reading for those doing some kind of course in the religious history? like, those aged 15-18. Definitely NOT a seminary education textbook.

I'm feeling bad about writing so negative review. Perhaps I was expecting too much. And I generally like Ryan Reeves lectures on YouTube, and I do think much of Donald Fairbairn's other books dealing with the church fathers. Perhaps I wanted it go be much better, but now I wonder whether to keep it for my children to read in the future or not. For myself, I won't revisit it for sure.

[David Ochabski · Rating 5 out of 5]

Donald Fairbairn earned a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and is currently a professor of Early Christianity at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary. Some of his written works include Life in the Trinity, Grace and Christology in the Early Church, and Eastern Orthodoxy Through Eastern Eyes. Ryan Reeves also received a Ph.D. from the University of Cambridge and has held teaching positions at many esteemed colleges, including Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, Reformed Theological Seminary, and Cambridge. In addition, he has written many books, including Know How We Got Our Bible, Historical Theology for Everyone, and Reformation & Modern Church History. The purpose of the book is to demonstrate why creeds written both in Scripture and by early church fathers are important and relevant in modern society as well as in the context of Scripture and how they are necessary for fully understanding the story of the Bible. Ultimately, this book seeks to answer why modern Christians should care about ancient biblical creeds. It does this through analysis of popular creeds and Scriptural evidence and context and fact-checking of those responsible for writing them. The authors recommend this book for students and interested “laypeople” of ancient creeds.

[Adam Kareus · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting history of the church through the lens of creeds and confessions. A great book to see how the church developed some of its theology. This book sat on my self for a while until I picked it up early this year... and I was surprised. It became one of my favorite church history books... written in such a way that the history of the church came alive. Anyone interested in taking a look at the development of theology and church thinking should take a look at this book.

[James VanHook · Rating 4 out of 5]

An extensive overview of creeds and confessions, with some catechisms thrown in for free, that covers the historical context of them and the sentiment around them through time. My favorite parts were the discussions on the eastern and western church splitting and Luther's, Zwingli's, Melanchthon's, and Calvin's effects on Christendom.

[Sarah Katherine Oliphant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Dr. Fairbairn always gets 5 stars from me. This is a surprisingly easy read for such a broad discussion. Think of it as a history of Christianity through the lens of how Christians define and express what they believe. It is nuanced, thoughtful, and gracious. I learned so much and I’m glad to have this on my shelf for further reference.

[Caleb Hegg · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perhaps one of the best history books I have ever read. The authors find a way to take the reader through the historical landscape of each period while explaining deep theological issues in a way that made it easy to understand. If I could give this book more stars I would.

[Josh Hutchinson · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very dry read. In places, the book assumes you don’t know the history of Christianity or Christian theology so it takes excursions to explain and develop that for the reader. For that reason it can be a lot to wade through.

[Keller Hackbusch · Rating 4 out of 5]

4.5 star. This is a helpful work for the history of creeds and confessions. Often gets too deep into the weeds, but still worth the read. Helpful resource!