Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 February 2009
The thesis of the present essay is that the Westminster Confession represents a synthesis, unique among documents of confessional status and authority, of two intellectual and spiritual motifs which, at first look, might appear to represent almost opposite extremes: thoroughgoing philosophical rigor and radical biblicism. I shall undertake to explicate this thesis by an analysis of three areas of doctrine: those concerning God (including Christology), the so-called ‘natural man’, and revelation and authority. Under each of these three headings I shall present certain relevant material from the XXXIX Articles as a background ‘foil’ against which the contrasts as well as the similarities of the Westminster Confession may perhaps stand out more clearly.
page 24 note 1 Schaff, Philip, The Creeds of Christendom, With a History and Critical Notes (sixth edition—revised and enlarged, 3 vols.; New York: Harper [1952]), I, 624–625.Google Scholar
page 27 note 1 The Oecumenical Documents of the Faith, ed. Bindley, T. Herbert (fourth edition, revised by F. W. Green; London: Methuen, 1950), p. 235.Google Scholar
page 27 note 1 The Oecumenical Documents of the Faith, p. 234.