# What does it mean to be confessional?



## ReadBavinck (Oct 17, 2006)

Does anyone know of some lectures or literature that answers this question?

I realize that the confessions are, of course the place to start. But I'm looking more for the implications of what it means to be confessional, how old the term and idea 'confessional' is, different theories of subsription, etc.

Here's what I've got so far:
- some posts here on the PB
- The Nicotine Theological Journal (and other D.G. Hart stuff)
- _Recovering the Reformed Confession Conference_, R. Scott Clark (I haven't listened to this yet.)
- _ Confessing the Reformed Faith: Our Identity in Unity and Diversity_, Richard A. Muller

[Edited on 10-17-2006 by CJ_Chelpka]


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## NaphtaliPress (Oct 17, 2006)

Samuel Miller, The Vows of Teaching and Ruling Elders
http://www.pcahistory.org/documents/subscription/smiller.html


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## beej6 (Oct 17, 2006)

I'm slowly working my way through the compilation by David Hall, _The Practice of Confessional Subscription_.


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## R. Scott Clark (Oct 17, 2006)

See these references from this bibliography

D. G. Hart. The Lost Soul of American Protestantism. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2002.

--"J. Gresham Machen: Confessionalism and the History of American Presbyterianism," The Practical Calvinist: An Introduction to the Presbyterian and Reformed Heritage in Honor of Dr. D. Clair Davis, ed. Peter A. Lillback (Ross-Shire, UK: Mentor, 2002).

Morton H. Smith. The Subscription Debate. Greenville, SC: Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, n.d.

Samuel Miller. Doctrinal Integrity: On the Utility and Importance of Creeds and Confessions and Our Adherence to Doctrinal Standards. Dallas: Presbyterian Heritage Publications, 1989. 

David W. Hall. ed. The Practice of Confessional Subscription. Lanham: University Press of America, 1995.

J. Gresham Machen. "Creeds and Doctrinal Advance." in God Transcendent and Other Sermons, ed. N. B. Stonehouse. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1949.

John Murray. "Tradition Romish and Protestant," in Collected Writings of John Murray, 4 vols. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1976-1982), 4.264-273.

--"A Notable Tercentenary." in Collected Writings of John Murray, 4 vols. (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1976-1982), 1.312-315.

David F. Coffin, Jr., "The Justification of Confessions and the Logic of Confessional Subscription," The Practical Calvinist: An Introduction to the Presbyterian and Reformed Heritage in Honor of Dr. D. Clair Davis, ed. Peter A. Lillback (Ross-Shire, UK: Mentor, 2002).

In brief, to be confessional is to use the confessions as they were intended to be used, as the public, ecclesiastically sanctioned measure of the boundaries of the Reformed faith. It is a way of thinking. It is the Reformed _trivium_, i.e., it is the Reformed grammar (the "stuff," building blocks), logic (way of thinking), and rhetoric (way of speaking).

They are not the "be all and end all" of Reformed theology. There is more to be said than is said in them, having digested their way of thinking, reading Scripture, their theology, piety, and praxis, one is on way toward becoming Reformed. Without them, there may be occasional happy intersections with Reformed theology, piety, and practice, but that's all. 

rsc


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## Arch2k (Oct 17, 2006)

I would recommend reading [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Recovering-Mother-Kirk-G-Hart/dp/0801026156]Recovering Mother Kirk[/ame] and even more to the point (although more scholarly) [ame=http://www.amazon.com/Lost-Soul-American-Protestantism/dp/0742507696]The Lost Soul of American Protestantism[/ame] both by D.G. Hart. Both provide an examination of historic reformed thought in regards to confessionalism vs. great awakening systems.

Also, you might consider What is Meant by Adopting the Westminster Confession? by Charles Hodge.


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## ReadBavinck (Oct 18, 2006)

> _Originally posted by R. Scott Clark_
> 
> It is a way of thinking. It is the Reformed _trivium_, i.e., it is the Reformed grammar (the "stuff," building blocks), logic (way of thinking), and rhetoric (way of speaking).
> 
> ...



Has anyone else spoken of confessionalism this way?


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## R. Scott Clark (Oct 18, 2006)

Not to my knowledge. I suggested it in this essay.

rsc

[Edited on 10-18-2006 by R. Scott Clark]


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