AP

Book Review: Crisis of Confidence: Reclaiming the Historic Faith in a Culture Consumed with Individualism and Identity   

Author: Carl R. Trueman

Publisher: Crossway

Year: 2024

Dr Carl R. Trueman is a professor of biblical and religious studies at Grove City College and a fellow at the Ethics and Public Policy Centre.  His various works have sold more than one hundred thousand copies. This book, on the topic of Church creeds, is both academic and weighty.  It is ideal for pastors, professors, theological students and those interested in the liturgical tradition of the Church.  This work was first published in 2012 and re-printed in 2024.

Trueman asserts the following, arguing against the “no creed but the Bible” viewpoint:

1. Human beings are not free, autonomous creatures defined by feelings but creatures made in the image of God and always defined by external relationships to God and each other. 

2. The past is important and has things of positive relevance to teach us.

3. Language must be an appropriate vehicle for the stable transmission of truth across time and geographical space.

4. There must be a body or an institution that can authoritatively compose and enforce creeds and confessions.

Following a deeper explanation of the above, he explains how our culture devalues the past through science and the eroding of past wisdom.  In a similar vein, he explains the philosophy of technology and the flow of technological advice from young to old people and how this has changed the way society passes on knowledge. 

He goes on to show how individualism is further perpetuated by the cultural force of consumerism and the attachment of one’s worth to the ownership of goods and their status.  Trueman describes the ways in which we understand ourselves to be bound to our neighbours and finally the “disappearance of human nature”.   

Expertly and comprehensively, Trueman analyses the Apostle’s Creed, the Nicene Creed, the Athanasian Creed and lesser known Creeds and Confessions.  The Belgic Confession, the Heidelberg Catechism and the Canons of Dordt (collectively known as the Three Forms of Unity) are included.  Explanations of the creeds and confessions, and their authors’ geopolitical milieu, make for an interesting read.

This work teaches us how creeds and confessions are the building blocks of knowing and understanding, as well as being able to relate to others what the Christian faith is and means.  This epistemology keeps us from being swept away in the cultural and ideological trends of the day, such as pervasive individualism in the 21^st century.  His point that “Creeds are counter-cultural” is significant. 

Trueman discusses and analyses creeds and confessions of the Church through history with vigour and academic excellence.  He takes the reader on a journey through the foundations of creedalism, the early church, classical Protestant Confessions, confessions as praise, and finally on the usefulness of creeds and confessions.  This work is at a moderate to advanced level, and suitable for serious scholars and those with an interest in Church history.  Its content is highly valuable and worthy of dissemination by those who study it.

– Hollie Zimmermann