ESV With Creeds and Confessions

Status
Not open for further replies.

David Taylor

Puritan Board Freshman
Crossway was nice enough to send me a review copy of their new ESV with Creeds and Confessions.

As one who is a part of the reformed camp, creeds and confessions are a very big part of my daily Christian life. So it goes without saying that I was extremely excited when Crossway announced this new edition just a couple of months ago.

The ESV with Creeds and Confessions currently is available in three formats. TruTone Black, Goatskin Black, and TruTone over board, brown. My copy is the TruTone Black.

TruTone has come a long way. It is hard to tell that it is not leather. The Bible itself comes in a nice slipcase box and is quite sturdy. The design of the box is also elegant.

The ESV Text is the 2016 edition and is a standard two-column with cross-references at the bottom of each page. There is nothing special about the text block itself as this is a standard format that Crossway has used for several years in several editions. The Bible does contain two ribbon markers which are a nice addition.

Obviously, the reason people would gravitate towards this particular edition is for the creeds and confessions that are found in the back of the Bible. There are thirteen texts included. The Apostle’s Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, Chalcedonian Definition, Augsburg Confession, Belgic Confession, Articles of Religion, Canons of Dort, Westminster Confession, London Baptist Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, Westminster Larger Catechism, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

Before each creed or confession, there is a short introduction to the history, purpose, and major theological points of each confession. This is an extremely useful feature that most will find informative and edifying. These introductions were written by historian Chad Van Dixhoorn.

The Bible is elegant and useful. However, just the addition of the Creeds and Confessions themselves is not enough that would make most run out and purchase a new Bible. I would rather have a booklet with the confessions and introductions contained within it. However, there is good use for having these in your Bible as well for quick reference. So, for what it is, this particular edition is well done and high quality. For what it is, I give it 3 out of 5 stars.

I was provided a free copy of this Bible in exchange for a fair review by the publisher.

https://reformedtruths.com/2020/02/19/the-esv-with-creeds-and-confessions/
 
Obviously, the reason people would gravitate towards this particular edition is for the creeds and confessions that are found in the back of the Bible. There are thirteen texts included. The Apostle’s Creed, Nicene Creed, Athanasian Creed, Chalcedonian Definition, Augsburg Confession, Belgic Confession, Articles of Religion, Canons of Dort, Westminster Confession, London Baptist Confession, Heidelberg Catechism, Westminster Larger Catechism, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism.

Schuyler also has a similar edition with the creeds and confessions included. Though I get the appeal this would have for some, the inclusion of ALL these confessions actually serves to turn me off a bit. I would probably end up treating them like I do the maps in the back of my Bible....I would know they are there, but would probably never refer to them.

On the other hand, it might be nice to have a high quality edition that is keyed/footnoted to your confession of choice. Meaning if a particular Bible verse is cited as a proof text there would be a footnote telling you the section and paragraph of where that verse is found in your confession, etc. Maybe also include some articles and historic information on how your confession of choice came into existence with short bios of the framers, major debates that ensued, historical context for the time they were drafted, etc. This would have to be a limited small batch publishing run using 2K/Denmark to come up with the typeset and R.L. Allan to bind it in highland goatskin...but now I'm getting carried away. Lol.
 
My dear wife gifted me the Schuyler ESV with the creeds a few months ago, it is now my daily Bible and having the creeds handy is just a nice touch.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top