Crisis of Confidence: Reclaiming the Historic Faith

In “Crisis of Confidence”, Carl Trueman argues that Western culture, afflicted with the idols of individualism and self-identity, has influenced Protestant churches. This influence has turned Protestants away from their creedal heritage – leaving them with the vulnerability of minimalist statements of faith and a reactionary posture towards the challenges of the culture. Carl Trueman argues from scripture and church history that Protestants must return to their creedal and confessional heritage to properly “hold fast the form of sound words” delivered in the Scriptures (2 Tim 1:13).

“This is why creeds and confessions are even more important now than before: they anchor us in history; they offer us reasonably comprehensive frameworks for thinking about the connections between God, anthropology, and ethics; and above all they point us to the transcendent God who rules over all things. In short, they remind us that God will bring all things to a conclusion in which the marriage of the Lamb will take place, and they help us know how to think, live, and worship in the interim. The Creedal Imperative is greater today than it was ten years ago because the God to which the creeds and confessions point remains the same even in these times of change and flux, and we need perhaps more than ever to be reminded of that fact and its implications.” – Carl R. Trueman, The Preface