The reedal - Monergism Books

1The Cultural Case against Creedsand ConfessionsIn the introduction, I briefly mentioned the standard, knee-jerk reactionagainst creeds and confessions, often found in evangelical circles,that such documents supplant the unique place of the Bible, placetradition on an equal—or even superior—footing with Scripture, andthus compromise a truly evangelical, Protestant notion of authority.While I will offer a more thorough response to this line of objectionlater, I did note that all Christians engage in confessional synthesis;the difference is simply whether one adheres to a public confession,subject to public scrutiny, or to a private confession that is, by its verynature, immune to such examination.Before proceeding to a more thoroughgoing exposition of theuse and the usefulness of confessions, however, it is worth spendingsome time reflecting on other reasons why creeds and confessions areregarded with such suspicion these days. While the objection to themis often couched in language that appears to be jealous for biblicalauthority, there are also powerful forces at work within our modernworld that militate against adherence to historic statements of theChristian faith. As the goldfish swimming in the bowl is unaware ofthe temperature and taste of the water in which he swims, so often21