The Christian church, or segments thereof, has throughout its two thousand year history published statements of faith and belief. Two of the earliest, the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed, are still used in regular worship by many branches of Christianity. The Protestant Reformation saw the formulation of a number of creedal statements, including the Augsburg Confession of 1530, the Heidelberg Catechism of 1563, and the Westminster Declaration of Faith of 1646. Each of them was an attempt to define an orthodox system of belief, often in the face of tremendous pressures from opposing forces.
One significant statement of more recent formulation is The Barmen Declaration. Authored primarily by Swiss Reformed theologian Karl Barth, this statement was developed and signed by representatives of the Lutheran, Reformed, and United churches in opposition to the German Christian movement imposed by the Third Reich under Hitler.
