Confession of the Christian Religion

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Author(s): Girolamo Zanchi
Publisher: Reformation Heritage
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In response to the Lutheran Formula of Concord, representatives of Reformed churches commissioned Girolamo Zanchi to draft a confession of faith acceptable to all Reformed churches. Zanchi patterned his Confession of the Christian Religion after the Apostles’ Creed, giving it a broadly Trinitarian and redemptive-historical structure that emphasizes God’s saving work for His people in His incarnate Son. It is a synthesis of his exegetical, doctrinal, and pastoral interests and stands out among his numerous publications as a useful and accessible overview of the entire Reformed theological system of doctrine. Although the project never attained confessional status at the ecclesiastical level as was planned, Zanchi’s Confession proved influential in both the Reformed theological tradition generally and the development of Reformed dogmatics in particular.

Contents

Preface
Abbreviations
Introduction

The Confession of the Christian Religion
Dedicatory Letter
Letter to the Reader

Holy Scripture, the Foundation of the Whole Christian Religion
God and the Divine Persons and Properties
Divine Foreknowledge and Predestination
The Omnipotence and Will of God
The Creation of the World, the Angels, and the Condition of the First Man
The Providence and Governance of the World
The Fall of Man, and Concerning Original Sin and Its Fruits
Man’s Free Will after the Fall
The Promise of Redemption and Salvation by Christ
The Law
Christ the Redeemer
The Actual Distribution of Redemption, Salvation, and Life Deposited in the One Christ (and the Indispensable Union and Fellowship with Christ)
The Gospel and the Abrogation of the Law by Means of the Gospel
The Sacraments of the New Testament
Baptism
The Lord’s Supper
Faith, Hope, and Love
Repentance
Justification
The Regenerate Man’s Free Will and His Power to Do Good
Good Works
Prayer and Oaths
Christ’s Church in General
The Church Militant
The Governance of the Church Militant and Ecclesiastical Ministry
The Magistrate
The Ongoing Remission of Sins in Christ’s Church
The State of Souls after Death and the Resurrection of the Dead
The Glorious Advent of Our Lord Jesus to Judge the Living and the Dead
Eternal Life
Zanchi’s Own Observations on His Confession
An Appendix to Chapter Eleven
Certain Chief Articles of the Christian Faith Debated at Various Times at Heidelberg and Neustadt against Various Heresies

Bibliography
Index

About the Translator

Patrick O’Banion (PhD, Saint Louis University) is a ruling elder in the Presbyterian Church in America and the author of several books, including The Sacrament of Penance and Religious Life in Golden Age Spain (2012) and Deza and Its Moriscos: Religion and Community in Early Modern Spain (2020). He taught history at the university level for two decades and currently works to train pastors overseas with Training Leaders International.

About the Author

Girolamo Zanchi (1516–1590) was an influential Reformed pastor and professor. Originally from northern Italy, he was converted under the ministry of Peter Martyr Vermigli and subsequently fled north to Protestant Europe. As an instructor and churchman at Strasbourg, Chiavenna, Heidelberg, and Neustadt, Zanchi became a prolific and pioneering Reformed scholastic theologian who sought to wed pious devotion with precise language.