’n Oorsig oor die diakoniologiese rol van die Gereformeerde belydenisskrifte in kerkwees

Abstract

While theology usually concentrates on the history and content of the Reformational creeds, less systematised information is available about the ministry and service which these creeds should fulfil in the life of the church as believers. This study points to a consistent continuity in the way confessions of faith were used by the early Christians, the Reformers and in the creeds of the Reformation. The content of the Heidelberg Catechism in particular bears a remarkable correspondence to the tradition in the early churches. Creeds can only be confessions of faith if they communicate the revelation from Scriptures. If creeds function thus, the current widespread indifference to the practical use of even the Heidelberg Catechism in the practical world of the church must be ascribed to the illegitimate distinction which Rationalism draws between practical (or subjective) and doctrinal (or objective) theology.