Westminster Standards
The Westminster Standards is a collective name for the documents drawn up by the
Reformed and Presbyterian Christian denominations, but not the Church of Scotland nor those derived directly from it.[2][3][4]
Following the approval of the Confession and catechisms by the
Covenanters exiled in Holland and contains twenty-two documents including parliamentary acts related to the Assembly and devotional works. These collections were intended to serve as ecclesiastical manuals as well as comprehensive popular religious books. The 1728 form of the Standards continues to be printed by the Free Presbyterian Church of Scotland.[5]
In the nineteenth century, several churches separated from the Church of Scotland on the basis of the established church's departure from a list of documents similar to those found in standard collections of the Westminster Standards. Dissenters asserted that the General Assembly had adopted these documents, but the only Westminster document legislated for the Church of Scotland after its reconstitution in 1690 was the Confession.[4]
See also
References
- ^ Thomson 1993
- ^ Orthodox Presbyterian Church 2012
- ^ North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council 1996, Basis of the Council
- ^ ISBN 978-1-60178-244-1.
- ^ Coldwell, Chris (2005). "The Traditional Form of the Westminster Standards" (PDF). Confessional Presbyterian. 1.
Sources
- North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council (1996), Constitution & Bylaws of the North American Presbyterian and Reformed Council, retrieved 28 November 2012
- Orthodox Presbyterian Church (2012), Confession and Catechisms, retrieved 28 November 2012
- Thomson, Derick (1993), "Westminster Standards", in Wright, David; Laehman, David; Meek, Donald (eds.), The Dictionary of Scottish Church History & Theology, InterVarsity Press, pp. 862–865, ISBN 978-0-8308-1407-7, retrieved 28 November 2012