Credo: Creeds, Confessions, Catechisms, and Covenants

by Rivers Houseal (Editor), Collin Houseal (Contributor)

Nogginnose Press presents Credo, a compilation of major creeds, confessions, catechisms, and covenants from Church history. Our Christian brethren of the past were prepared to defend their faith, and their words show us how to do the same. These historic, Christ-centric documents are part of our Christian heritage, and compiling these into a single volume makes Credo a rich resource for parents, students, and pastors.

Credo features twenty-five documents from Church history, including:

• Apostles’ Creed (4th century)
• Nicene Creed (325)
• Chalcedonian Creed (451)
• Athanasian Creed (c. 6th century)
• Scots Confession (1560)
• Belgic Confession (1561)
• Canons of Dort (1619)
• Westminster Confession of Faith (1646)
• Second London Baptist Confession (1689)
• Geneva Catechism (1560)
• Heidelberg Catechism (1563)
• Westminster Shorter Catechism (1647)
• Keach’s Catechism (1689)
• Scottish National Covenant (1638)
• Solemn League and Covenant (1643)

In Credo, you’ll find each document printed in full along with introductions to set each document in its historical context, making Credo a rich resource for parents, students, and pastors—any Christian who says “I believe.”

446 pages, Paperback

Published October 15, 2021

About the author

Rivers Houseal was self-awarded the title Defender of Typewriters at a young age. She’s a graduate of homeschool, and she didn’t wait until graduation to begin writing stories. She completed her first fantasy, Of Nature and Kings, at age 14 and was then too far gone to bail. Nowadays she keeps a running list of story ideas that will keep her hopping well into old age.

Her books are diverse, but they all stem from her love of new stories, old ways, and ageless truth. And though her main gig is storymaking, she also rejoices in being a professional oldest child, a Lewis/Tolkien fan, and a vanquished subject of King Jesus.

Some of her greatest influences have been C.S. Lewis, Andrew Peterson, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Douglas Bond, Rich Mullins, and an ark-load of others. If in this life she is allowed to sit on a pumpkin in the shadow of their thrones, she might just croak from too much joy.

She resides in the Ozark foothills in Northeast Arkansas, where she dreams of the day she can set foot in Narnia. She’d settle for Scotland, though.

To learn more, visit Rivers at rivershouseal.com.

Reviews

[Eric · Rating 4 out of 5]

While much of Christian history is tinged by unChristlike events and behaviors (think Crusades, Colonialism, Slave Trade, etc.), there is also much beauty and tradition there. Credo is a wonderful collection of these Creeds and beautiful traditions.

Rivers Houseal has done a wonderful job in collecting the various creeds, confessions, catechisms, and covenants that have made the Christian faith into what it is today. Each entry is supported with a brief overview/historical anecdote, allowing the reader to engage the material in the context in which the creed or confession was created.

This is a wonderful addition to any theology library.

[Catharine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Before I read this, I knew next to nothing about the various creeds and confessions of Christianity. But the nicely written introductions put everything in context, and helped me understand why the creeds were written, and what the authors were going through at the time. This book made the creeds and confessions much clearer for me, and I have a higher appreciation of the Church fathers now because of it. Credo is definitely a book that I will keep on my shelf, to pull out when I have questions.

[Miles Foltermann · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very fine assemblage of historic Christian creeds, confessions, catechisms, and covenants.

The most noteworthy strengths of this volume are that it includes many documents in a single place, it is accessible, and it is nourishing. In an anti-creedal age, this is a hopeful book that honors the church’s heritage.

[M. Lawrence · Rating 5 out of 5]

Attention Pastors, Parents and Grandparents: This is a book for your home, mine and for the homes of my friends, to whom I am giving it as gifts.

CREDO is a remarkably different and useful reference book, combining nearly 1400 years of foundational Christian documents with a faith-filled and intelligently written Foreword and section introductions. The Timeline provided on two pages is a very important inclusion, setting the 25 documents from Christian history into proper chronological perspective.

In this fallen and fractured world, we Christians are called upon to testify and declare our faith, and we have a ready trove of focused and coherent statements of that faith. This book will help you, your family and friends to provide those statements.

[Ben · Rating 5 out of 5]

Credo is a great book. The Author spent countless hours researching and collecting different historical Christian documents to make it easy to see how the great church leaders throughout history felt with their struggles. In the book, there is given a detailed account of what the historical leaders went through to better information you on why the document was written. I would recommend this book to anyone is interested in the topics and more importantly to those going through the struggles that theses great leaders faced.

[Creeds, Confessions, and Catechisms · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nogginnose Press sent me a copy of "Credo: Creeds, Confessions, Catechisms, and Covenants" in exchange for an honest review.

One helpful resource for any Christian exploring confessionalism and historical theology is a collection of eclesiastically sanctioned and binding documents. Credo is a great option for such a collection. It collects documents from across denominational lines, neatly categorizes them, and presents them with brief introductions and all relevant proof texts. Unique to this book is its section on covenants. I was unfamiliar with many of those, and it was a fascinating addition to the collection. If I had one gripe about the book, it would be the omission of any Anglican documents. Of particular note, this book omits the 39 Articles of Religion and the little catechism in the Book of Common Prayer. Both seem relevant to a collection such as this. I also take minor issue with some select few points in the introductions. But in the big picture, those issues are dwarfed by what is good about this book. It's definitely well worth checking out, especially as an introduction to confessionalism.