Confessions, creeds, and catechisms in seventeenth and eighteenth-century Swiss reformed theology

Confessions, creeds, and catechisms played an important role in defining and systematizing Protestant theology in the first century and a half following the Reformation. This was especially true within Reformed circles, as can be seen in the Genevan Confession (1536), the Heidelberg Catechism (1563), the Belgic Confession (1561), and the Westminster Confession (1646). They also played a role in the erosion of orthodoxy by the early eighteenth century. This paper will focus on the role that these theological documents played in this decline within the confines of early eighteenth century Geneva, one of the most important centers of Reformed thought from the era of Calvin to the Enlightenment. I will also attempt to glean some lessons from history and point to the importance of such theological boundaries for the church today