An excellent readers edition of the 13 most important creeds and confessions of Protestantism. It includes:

1. Apostle's Creed

2. Nicene Creed

3. Athanasian Creed

4. Chalcedonian Definition

5. Augsburg Confession (Lutheran)

6. Belgic Confession (Dutch Reformed)

7. Thirty-Nine Articles (Anglican)

8. Canons of Dort (Dutch Reformed)

9. Westminster Confession (Presbyterian/Puritan)

10. London Baptist Confession (Baptist)

11. Heidleberg Catechism

12/13. Westminster Larger and Shorter Catechism.

Each Creed or Confession has a short historical introduction by Chad Van Dixhoorn, a professor at Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia. The book is a well-produced hardback that could easily adorn any bookshelf. This is truly a reader's edition of the core confessions of the Reformational churches. If you're looking for a more comprehensive set of confessions from the reformation, I recommend James T. Dennison, Jr.'s 4 volume set "Reformed Confessions of the 16th and 17th Centuries in English Translation" containing over 400 confessions. It's produced by Reformation Heritage Books in Grand Rapids, MI.

A great resource. The introductions are brief but helpful. Feels like a quality book, too.

My husband got to it first and just can't put it down, I'm sure I will be the same way

This volume, even though it purports to be a simple historical reference, is conspicuously partisan in what it chooses to include.

The authors even admit that this is a very limited view of creeds and confessions in their introduction. "The confessions and catechisms that follow are particularly significant texts in Protestant history. These are defining documents for Lutherans, Anglicans, the Dutch Reformed, Presbyterians, and Baptists. Sometimes with slight adjustments, they have been used by any millions of Christians." Great, but perhaps the title of the work could have reflected how very limited the scope of this text is. One could be forgiven for thinking this was every creed or catechism of every Christian group ever, if one peruses the title and the back cover info. That's not the case, by a long shot.

This gets at the heart of the problem in inherent in (in my opinion and experience) every single work that I have seen from Crossway. The assumption that sits squarely at the heart of everything they publish is that "Reformed" Christianity is the only true expression of the faith of those who follow Jesus. (They speak this louder than words by what they choose to include or not.)

That just isn't the case. The reader should take care. If you are solidly in the same theological camp as the publisher of this book, I think you really ought to broaden your horizons, but if you wish to see something less problematic in this regard, you won't find it here, or in any work from this publisher.

So, why 3 Stars? Because despite this limitation, this volume IS very valuable for what it contains, as a reference work, and frankly, because the one thing Crossway does better than anyone is the quality of the actual product. It's beautifully bound, organized, and printed. And it will find use in many ways. Just do NOT consider it in any way complete or exhaustive in terms of addressing it's topic.