Theology

Links updated May 2010

"And this I pray, that your love may abound yet more and more in knowledge and all discernment, so that you may approve the things that are excellent …" (Philippians 1:9-10)

Creeds

• An Introduction the Creeds and to the Te Deum. By A. E. Burn (London: Methuen, 1899). Also here.
• The Creeds of Christendom, with a History and Critical Notes. By Philip Schaff (6th edition, revised by David Schaff, 1931):
  • volume 1: The History of Creeds
  • volume 2: The Greek and Latin Creeds
  • volume 3: The Evangelical Protestant Creeds
• Creeds of Christendom. By Michael Anderson. A good collection of documents and links to all sorts of Christian creeds, confessions, and catechisms.
• The Legitimacy and Function of Creeds. By Mark Sarver.
• Exposition of the Apostles Creed. By James Dodds James (1896). A new electronic text from the Gutenberg Project.
• George Bull’s Defence of the Nicene Creed translated into English — Defensio Fidei Nicænæ: A Defence of the Nicene Creed, out of the Extant Writings of the Catholick Doctors, who Flourished during the Three First Centuries of the Christian Church: In which also is Incidentally Vindicated the Creed of Constantinople, concerning the Holy Ghost, by George Bull. 2 vols. (Oxford: John Henry Parker, 1851-2): vol. 1; vol. 2. Also here.

Church Fathers

• An Introduction to the Early History of Christian Doctrine, by J.F. Bethune-Baker (London: Methuen, 1903). Also here and here.
• Writings of the Early Church Fathers. From the Christian Classics Ethereal Library. Here is the well-known Edinburgh edition of 38 volumes - complete with its introductions and notes - available online. Included in these writings are many of the so-called "apocryphal New Testament" books, such as the Shepherd of Hermas in Ante-Nicene Fathers, volume II, and many others in Ante-Nicene Fathers, volume X, along with all important writings of the church fathers up to AD 800.
• Fathers of the Church. From the New Advent Catholic megasite. The Edinburgh edition, stripped of its valuable (non-Catholic) introductions and notes.
• Augustine of Hippo. By J.J. O'Donnell. Excellent all-around resource for Augustine and his writings. Also here.
• The Tertullian Project. By Roger Pearse. A collection of Tertullian's works in both English and the original Latin, information on manuscripts and editions, and scholarly articles.

Medieval

• The Summa Theologica of Thomas Aquinas (Benziger Bros. edition, 1947). The great "summary of theology" written by Thomas Aquinas in the 13th century is the definitive guide to medieval scholastic theology. also here.

Ecclesiology

• The Organization of the Apostolic Church. Chapter 10 from volume 1 of Schaff's History of the Christian Church at CCEL. Correctly describes the "democratic" organization of the church in earliest times.
• Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope. From the Lutheran Book of Concord at Concordia Seminary. This classic Lutheran treatise explodes the whole idea of episcopal hierarchy in the church.
• Of the Teachers and Ministers of the Church and Of the State of the Primitive Church, and the Mode of Government in Use before the Papacy. Chapters 3 and 4 of Book 4 of Calvin's Institutes of the Christian Religion. Other chapters of Book 4 treat various aspects of Ecclesiology.
• The New England Way. By William Wells. The site includes the full text of the Cambridge Platform (1648), in which the Pilgrim Fathers of America set forth their congregationalist principles of church polity.
• Church in Focus: Ecclesiology. By Darryl Erkel. Many essays on a common theme: is there a Biblical basis for the distinction between clergy and laity?
• Why Do We Meet as We Do? by J.R. Gill. Sets forth the principles of the Plymouth Brethren, who gather without clergy.
• New Testament Restoration Foundation. Website of an organization in Atlanta that promotes and supports house churches. The site has many well-written online articles by various authors. Also here.
• Biblical Church Government. By Kevin Reed.
• Bibliographic Essay on Church Government. By David W. Hall, senior fellow at the Center for the Advancement of Paleo Orthodoxy and executive editor of PREMISE.
• A Treatise on the Eldership. By J. W. McGarvey (1870).
• Who Should Run the Church? A Case for the Plurality of Elders. By Dr. Daniel B. Wallace.
• Biblical Eldership and the New Covenant Priesthood. By William J. Knaub.
• Unleashing the Church. A good page of links on ecclesiology by David Alan Black, Professor of New Testament and Greek at Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary in Wake Forest, North Carolina.
• Your Pastor: Shepherd or CEO? By Dr. T. David Gordon at Grove City College.
• The Charismatics. A number of good articles on the charismatic movement, collected by Brian Dempsey at Grace Online Library.
• Book: Biblical Eldership: An Urgent Call to Restore Biblical Church Leadership. By Alexander Strauch.

Women in the Church

• Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. By John Knox (1558). Also here.
• The Public Preaching of Women. By Robert Lewis Dabney (1879). "This common movement for women's rights, and women's preaching, must be regarded, then, as simply infidel. It cannot be candidly upheld without attacking the inspiration and authority of the Scriptures."
• Women in the Church: Scriptural Principles and Ecclesial Practice. A Report of the Commission on Theology and Church Relations of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod, September 1985.
• An Exegetical Study of 1 Corinthians 14:33b-38. By Walter A. Maier, Concordia Theological Seminary. Detailed exegesis which supports the traditional understanding of "Let the women be silent …"
• Report of the Committee on Women in Church Office. Report submitted to the General Assembly of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church in 1988.
• Paul on Women Speaking in Church. By Benjamin Warfield (1919).
• The Concept of 'Authoritative Teaching' and the Role of Women in Congregational Worship. By Dr. R. Fowler White, Professor of NT, Knox Theological Seminary. Refutes the dubious interpretation of 1 Timothy 2:12 that would have it mean, 'I do not allow a woman to teach men authoritatively,' leaving room for women to teach men 'non-authoritatively.'
• Women Learning and under Authority. By Geoffrey Thomas, pastor of Alfred Place Baptist Church in Aberystwyth, Wales. Also here. This is an exposition of I Timothy 2:11-13 from Thomas' excellent series of sermons on 1 Timothy.
• May Women Speak in Church? By James W. Scott, in New Horizons, January 1996.
• Good Order in the Church. By Dr. Leslie McFall, Cambridge. A book-length explanation and defense of traditional biblical teachings on male headship.
• The Role of Women in the Church. By George W. Knight, III.
• On the Lord's Command that Women Should Remain Silent. By Steve Atkerson, New Testament Restoration Foundation. Supports the traditional view while interacting very thoroughly with the arguments of recent critics.

Psychology

• A System of Biblical Psychology by Franz Delitzsch, translated from the German (2nd ed.) by the rev. Robert E. Wallis. 2nd ed. Edinburgh, 1885.

Roman Catholic

• The Holy See. Official website of the Vatican.
• The Catechism of the Catholic Church. English version of the catechism published in 1993. Also here. See the Latin original here.
• Revolution in the Church. By Thomas Sheehan, in The New York Review of Books (June 14, 1984). Describes the modern "dismantling of traditional Roman Catholic theology, by Catholics themselves."

Anglican

• An Introduction to the Theology of the Church of England, in an Exposition of the Thirty-nine Articles. By T. P. Boultbee (London, 1871). Also at Google Books here and here.

Baptist

• The 1677/89 London Baptist Confession of Faith. Also known as the "Second London Confession," this is a Baptist revision of the Westminster Confession. Associated files at CCEL include "Doctrine and Theology of the Confession," "People and History Relevant to the Confession," and "Index of Scripture Citations in the Confession."
• The Baptist Faith and Message. The statement adopted by the Southern Baptist Convention on June 14, 2000.
• Founders Works Online. Full texts of some classic Reformed Baptist works, courtesy of Founders Ministries, "committed to historic Southern Baptist principles."
• Systematic Theology by Augustus H. Strong. 8th edition (Philadelphia, 1907). Conservative and very thorough. Also at Google Books: volume 1; volume 2; volume 3. And an earlier edition (1886) is here.

Plymouth Brethren (exclusive)

• Fool for Him, by Todd Asselborn.  The Bible Counselor, by Robert L. DeWitt.  The Bible Centre, by Michael Hardt.  The Christian Shepherd, by Douglas Nicolet.  His Table, by Leonard Layne.   A good German brethren site is bruederbewegung.de "Die Brüderbewegung in Geschichte und Gegenwart" (The Brethren movement in history and at the present time).
• Sound Teaching on Electronic Media. By Les Hodgett. A comprehensive online library of exclusive Brethren literature, including most writings of J. N. Darby, W. Kelly, C. H. Mackintosh, and others.

Mennonite

• Bible Views: A Mennonite-Anabaptist Witness to Bible Teachings. By Leland M. Haines. This site has a large number of conservative articles and historic documents from the Anabaptist-Mennonite tradition.

Dispensationalist

• Rightly Dividing the Word of Truth. By C.I. Scofield, editor of the Scofield Reference Bible. This is a standard presentation of Dispensationalism (also an HTML version here).
• The Seven Dispensations. A helpful interactive chart by David Wurm.
• The Preterist Archive. A site that sharply challenges dispensational eschatology. Maintains that the prophecies regarding Israel have already been fulfilled.

Calvinist

"The less a man knows in his own experience of the saving work of God, the more he emphasizes the human element; the more he knows of the grace of God, the more he speaks of it as being decisive in his own life. Everything, from first to last, is regarded as being the work of the Holy Spirit, whose function is the work of grace in the human heart." — N.H. Snaith, "Grace," in A Theological Word Book of the Bible, ed. Alan Richardson (New York: Macmillan, 1950), p. 102.

• Soli Deo Gloria. By Lance George Marshall. A large collection of Reformed writings.
• Monergism: Classic Articles and Resources of the Historic Christian Faith. By John W. Hendryx. A good web directory of theological and practical articles, commentaries, and topical study guides by Reformed authors.
• Reformation Ink. A large collection of classic and contemporary writings in the Reformed tradition.
• Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics. By Jon Barlow. Outstanding resource for Calvinist theology.
• Works of John Calvin. Including the Institutes of the Christian Religion, at the Christian Classics Ethereal Library.
• Abstract of Systematic Theology. By James P. Boyce (1887). A good old-fashioned Baptist Calvinist treatise, from the library page of Founders Online.
• Geneva Search. From the library page of Founders Online This is a comprehensive index of Reformed web sites and a search engine for accessing the index. A convenient way for users to find Reformed information from a single starting point.
• Calvinism. A good collection of treatises made available by Michael Bremmer at Sola Scriptura.
• Library of Reformed Theology. From the website of the Free Church of Scotland. Many good articles.
• Grace Online Library. By Brian Dempsey. "Historic Baptist, Reformed, and Puritan Resources."
• Robert L. Dabney's Systematic Theology (1878). Provided online by Providence Baptist Ministries in Granbury Texas.
• Arthur W. Pink Archive. Full text of many of Pink's works, provided online by Providence Baptist Ministries in Granbury Texas.
• Hodge's Systematic Theology. The classic work by Charles Hodge of Princeton Seminary (1871).
• Reformed Online Library. Hosted by Chalcedon Christian Church in Haslett, Michigan.
• Fire and Ice: Puritan and Reformed Writings. By Bill Carson. Mostly sermons by eminent Puritans. These very edifiying sermons should dispel the false idea that the Puritans were hidebound theologians who lacked warmth of piety.
• PressieChurch.org. "The Australian Home of Covenant Theology." This website features many articles that explain and defend Covenant Theology and classic Reformed theology in general. The site is maintained by the Rev. Darren R. Middleton of Caringbah Presbyterian Church in Caringbah, NSW, Australia.
• A Puritan's Mind. By C. Matthew McMahon.
• The Pelagian Captivity of the Church, by R.C. Sproul.
• The Cambridge Declaration of the Alliance of Confessing Evangelicals. A reaffirmation of Reformation theology by leading conservatives in America, 1996.
• William G.T. Shedd's Dogmatic Theology (1888): vol. 1 (Introduction, Bibliology, Theology, also here); vol. 2 (Anthropology, Christology, Soteriology, Eschatology); vol. 3 (supplement).

Westminster Standards

•  LOCAL  Westminster Confession Study Resources. By Michael Marlowe. Includes an annotated edition showing all changes to the Confession made in the Savoy Declaration and by Presbyterian churches in America, a glossary, and a Scripture index.
• The Presbyterian Standards: An Exposition of the Westminster Confession of Faith and Catechisms. By Francis Beattie (1896, also here).
• A Commentary on the Confession of Faith. By Archibald Hodge (1869, also here).
• The Westminster Confession of Faith, with Introduction and Notes. By John MacPherson (1882).
• An Exposition of the Confession of Faith of the Westminster Assembly of Divines. By Robert Shaw (1861, also here).
• The Harmony of Protestant Confessions, Exhibiting the Faith of the Churches of Christ Reformed after the Pure and Holy Doctrine of the Gospel throughout Europe. By Peter Hall (1842, also here).
• The Confession of Faith of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, from the Original Manuscript Written by Cornelius Burges in 1646, edited by S. W. Carruthers. (London: Publishing Office of the Presbyterian Church of England, 1946).
• Westminster Standards. From the website of the Orthodox Presbyterian Church. In addition to nicely formatted files of the Confession and Catechisms, this site offers such documents as "Comparison of British and American editions," "Comparison of the Larger and Shorter Catechisms," "Westminster Confession of Faith and Modern English Study Version in Parallel Columns," and "Scripture Index to the Westminster Standards"
• A Commentary on the Westminster Confession of Faith. By A.A. Hodge, at the Sola Scriptura site.
• Historical Documents of the Reformed Faith. From the website of the Free Church of Scotland. Many historic documents connected with the Westminster Standards.
• Historic Church Documents. From the Center for Reformed Theology and Apologetics. A very comprehensive collection of resources for the Westminster Standards.
• The Savoy Declaration. A congregationalist revision of the Westminster Confession. Also here.
• A Comparison of the Westminster and the Reformed Confessions. by Herman Hanko (Dutch Reformed).

Lutheran

• Christian Dogmatics: A Compendium of the Doctrines of Christianity, by Hans Martensen, translated into English by William Urwick (Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1874). Also here.
• What Lutherans Believe. From the website of the Lutheran Church - Missouri Synod.
• The Book of Concord. This is a website devoted entirely to the Lutheran Book of Concord, with a complete searchable text and some helpful essays.
• Project Wittenberg, Lutheran Electronic Archive.
• Lutheran Theology. Excellent web directory from the DMOZ Open Directory Project.
• Lutheran Theology Web Site. By David Jay Webber. A large number of good Lutheran essays and links.
• Luther Quest Discussion Group. A very active conservative Lutheran forum established by Rev. Jack Cascione of the LCMS. Much discussion of the Lutheran confessions.
• Double Or Nothing: Martin Luther's Doctrine of Predestination. By Brian G. Mattson. Proves conclusively that Luther taught double predestination.

Arminian

My theology? I was not aware I had any. -- Dwight L. Moody

• What is Arminianism? A brief description by Michael Marlowe.
• The Works of James Arminius. The father of Arminianism.
• Adam Clarke's Commentaries. An American Methodist whose commentary reflects Arminian teachings.
• Finney's Systematic Theology. American theologian who took Arminianism to its logical conclusions.
• Wesleyan Theology. From the Wesley Center for Applied Theology at Northwest Nazarene College, Nampa, Idaho.
• Blinded By Tradition: An Open Letter to Dave Hunt Regarding His Newly Published Attack Upon the Reformation, What Love Is This? Calvinism's Misrepresentation of God. By James White. Yet another example of the inability of Arminians to make a decent case.

Liberalism

• Christianity & Liberalism. By J. Gresham Machen. A classic essay against theological liberalism by the founder of Westminster Theological Seminary.

“The tragedy of liberal theology [is that] it has become all too skilled at telling us what is not the case, what it is that we can no longer believe; but it shows little sign of being able to replace these negatives with convincing and intelligible positives. 'Conservative' Christianity, at its best, combines a faithfulness to the founding traditions of the Christian faith, a proper graciousness, humility and teachability, an awareness of and an engagement with the intellectual and scientific issues of the day, and a confident message which people … can understand and rejoice in. In a word, while it may yet be far from perfect, it is the closest approximation on the market to the phenomenon of which we read in the New Testament — a phenomenon which changed the world.” —Colin Sedgwick, “Where Liberal Theology Falls Short,” Expository Times, October 1992, p. 3.