Let's talk about 17th century England. Why? Because so much about American Protestant beliefs and culture come from it. The King James Bible was a political stake in the ground. The Westminster Confession was an Act of Parliament during the English Civil War. It was a compromise between Anglicans and Presbyterians to oppose radical Puritans and Catholics. The 1689 Second London Confession legitimized the Baptists as a result of the Act of Toleration passed by Parliament as part of the Glorious Revolution. The creation of these documents was incredibly political. It harkens back to the creation of the Nicene Creed, the Council of Chalcedon, and the formation of the biblical canon in the early church. I discuss why people still look at these periods with rose-colored glasses, and how the propaganda of those times still deeply affects us today. I won't call it a sham, but there's lots of power politics and chicanery in Christian history. It was always there, and it is still here. There was never a purer period in the history of the church than today.
I made an error about the Three Forms of Unity: They are the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), Belgic Confession (1561), and the Canons of Dort (1618-1619). These are the basic documents for the Dutch Reformed Church. These informed the creation of the Westminster Confession of Faith (1646-1649).
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