CATECHISMS & CREEDS

The faith, said out loud.

Words to confess together. Questions to grow into. Explore the creeds, confessions, and catechisms that have given Christian belief a voice across the centuries.

66

Historic documents

12

Traditions & families

15

Catechisms

7,929

Scripture proof-texts

Different centuries. The same enduring questions.

Explore the documents in their historical moment. Choose a seal to take a closer look.

Nicene Creed

The ancient creeds

Start with the familiar.

A short confession, a shared statement of faith, or a catechism to take one question at a time.

Apostles' Creed

1 section

Nicene Creed

1 section

Heidelberg Catechism

129 questions & sections · 1,054 proof-texts

Many traditions. Room to read.

Browse a family, find a familiar title, or discover a document you have yet to open.

Shema Yisrael

1 section · 1 proof-texts

Confession of Peter

1 section · 8 proof-texts

Christian Shema

1 section · 1 proof-texts

Christ Hymn of Colossians

1 section · 1 proof-texts

Christ Hymn of Philippians

1 section · 1 proof-texts

Ignatius' Creed

1 section

Irenaeus' Rule of Faith

1 section

Tertullian's Rule of Faith

1 section

Gregory's Declaration of Faith

1 section

Nicene Creed

1 section

The Nicene Creed (Niceno-Constantinopolitan)

1 section

Chalcedonian Definition

1 section

The Chalcedonian Definition

1 section · 1 proof-texts

The Athanasian Creed (Symbolum Quicunque)

30 sections

The Creed of the Third Council of Constantinople (against the Monothelites)

1 section · 1 proof-texts

Apostles' Creed

1 section

The Apostles' Creed (received text)

1 section

Athanasian Creed

1 section

Council of Orange

26 sections

Waldensian Confession

14 sections

Luther's Large Catechism

31 questions & sections · 22 proof-texts

Luther's Small Catechism

48 questions & sections · 3 proof-texts

The Augsburg Confession

34 sections · 74 proof-texts

The Smalcald Articles

26 sections · 44 proof-texts

The Formula of Concord (Epitome)

13 sections · 117 proof-texts

The Saxon Visitation Articles

5 sections

Zwingli's 67 Articles

69 sections

Ten Theses of Berne

10 sections

Tetrapolitan Confession

25 sections

Zwingli's Fidei Ratio

13 sections

First Confession of Basel

13 sections · 159 proof-texts

First Helvetic Confession

19 sections

Consensus Tigurinus

26 sections

French Confession of Faith

42 sections

Belgic Confession

37 sections

Second Helvetic Confession

278 sections

Heidelberg Catechism

129 questions & sections · 1,054 proof-texts

Canons of Dort

93 sections

Scots Confession

25 sections

The Second Scotch Confession (The National Covenant)

1 section

Westminster Confession of Faith

172 sections · 1,850 proof-texts

Westminster Larger Catechism

196 questions & sections · 2,636 proof-texts

Westminster Shorter Catechism

107 questions & sections

The Savoy Declaration of the Congregational Churches

7 sections · 3 proof-texts

An Exposition of the Assemblies Catechism

1,369 questions & sections

Matthew Henry's Scripture Catechism

2,861 questions & sections

The Assembly's Shorter Catechism Explained

3,938 questions & sections

Catechism For Young Children

145 questions & sections

The Thirty-Nine Articles of Religion of the Church of England

44 sections

The Lambeth Articles

10 sections

The Irish Articles of Religion

103 sections

The Anglican Catechism (Book of Common Prayer)

27 questions & sections

1689 London Baptist Confession

160 sections

1695 Baptist Catechism

114 questions & sections · 489 proof-texts

Keach's Catechism

118 questions & sections · 479 proof-texts

The New Hampshire Baptist Confession

19 sections

Puritan Catechism

82 questions & sections · 255 proof-texts

Abstract of Principles

20 sections

The Five Arminian Articles (Remonstrance)

6 sections · 6 proof-texts

The Methodist Articles of Religion

26 sections · 1 proof-texts

The Canons and Dogmatic Decrees of the Council of Trent

65 sections · 7 proof-texts

The Profession of the Tridentine Faith (Creed of Pope Pius IV)

13 sections

The Dogmatic Decrees of the Vatican Council (First Vatican Council)

9 sections

The Orthodox Confession of the Eastern Church (Peter Mogila)

127 questions & sections · 286 proof-texts

The Confession of Dositheus (Eighteen Decrees of the Synod of Jerusalem)

19 sections · 2 proof-texts

The Longer Catechism of the Orthodox, Catholic, Eastern Church (Philaret)

594 questions & sections · 428 proof-texts

Old words. Open to everyone.

The historic texts are credited to their source editions. Find individual attributions and reading notes on each document’s page.

Where these texts come from

  • Creeds.json — a collection of historic creeds of the Christian faith NonlinearFruit (GitHub) · The Unlicense (public-domain dedication) for all retained files
  • Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes (vols I-III) Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) · Public domain (first published 1877; sixth edition 1931, copyright not renewed)
  • Project Gutenberg eBooks #273 (The Smalcald Articles) and #1722 (Martin Luther's Large Catechism), both in the Bente and Dau translation Project Gutenberg · Public domain in the United States; distributed under the Project Gutenberg License, whose trademark terms apply to the Project Gutenberg header and footer
  • Berean Standard Bible Public domain

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