Editing Presbyterianism (section)

=== Doctrine ===<!-- This section is linked from [[Conscience]] -->
{{see also|Reformed theology}}
[[File:Celtic cross draped for Easter.jpg|thumb|A Celtic cross draped for [[Easter]] at a Presbyterian church in [[Virginia]]]]
[[File:USVA headstone emb-04.svg|thumb|A Presbyterian Cross, used by the [[United States National Cemetery Administration|National Cemetery Administration]], a division of the [[United States Department of Veterans Affairs|U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs]]<ref>{{cite web|title=Available Emblems of Belief for Placement on Government Headstones and Markers|url=http://www.cem.va.gov/hmm/emblems.asp|publisher=[[United States Department of Veterans Affairs]]|access-date=22 March 2015|archive-date=4 May 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190504164426/https://www.cem.va.gov/hmm/emblems.asp|url-status=live}}</ref>]]

Presbyterianism is historically a confessional tradition. Confessional churches express their faith in the form of "confessions of faith", which have some level of authoritative status. In confessional churches, theology is not solely an individual matter. While individuals are encouraged to understand Scripture, and may challenge the current institutional understanding, theology is carried out by the community as a whole. It is this community understanding of theology that is expressed in confessions.<ref name="lostsoul">D. G. Hart, "The Lost Soul of American Protestantism." Rowman and Littlefield, 2004.{{page needed|date=June 2013}}</ref>

There is a spectrum of approaches to [[confessionalism (religion)|confessionalism]]. The manner of [[Confessional subscription|subscription]], or the degree to which the official standards establish the actual doctrine of the church, is a practical matter leading to the decisions rendered in ordination and in the courts of the church to largely determine what the church means, representing the whole, by its adherence to the doctrinal standard.

Some Presbyterian traditions adopt only the [[Westminster Confession of Faith]] as the doctrinal standard to which teaching elders are required to subscribe, in contrast to the [[Westminster Larger Catechism|Larger]] and [[Westminster Shorter Catechism|Shorter]] catechisms, which are approved for use in instruction. Many Presbyterian denominations, especially in North America, have adopted all of the [[Westminster Standards]] as their standard of doctrine which is subordinate to the Bible. These documents are [[Calvinist]] in their doctrinal orientation. The [[Presbyterian Church in Canada]] retains the Westminster Confession of Faith in its original form, while admitting the historical period in which it was written should be understood when it is read.

The Westminster Confession is "The principal [[subordinate standard]] of the [[Church of Scotland]]" but "with due regard to liberty of opinion in points which do not enter into the substance of the Faith" (V).{{citation needed|date=December 2024}} This formulation represents many years of struggle over the extent to which the confession reflects the Word of God and the struggle of conscience of those who came to believe it did not fully do so (e.g. [[William Robertson Smith]]). Some Presbyterian churches, such as the [[Free Church of Scotland (post 1900)|Free Church of Scotland]], have no such "[[conscience]] clause".

The [[Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.)]] has adopted the ''[[Book of Confessions]]'', which reflects the inclusion of other [[Reformed confessions]] in addition to the Westminster Standards. These other documents include ancient creedal statements (the [[Nicene Creed]], the [[Apostles' Creed]]), 16th-century Reformed confessions (the [[Scots Confession]], the [[Heidelberg Catechism]], the [[Second Helvetic Confession]]), and 20th century documents ([[Barmen Declaration|The Theological Declaration of Barmen]], [[Confession of 1967]] and [[A Brief Statement of Faith]]).

The Presbyterian Church in Canada developed the confessional document ''Living Faith'' (1984) and retains it as a subordinate standard of the denomination. It is confessional in format, yet like the Westminster Confession, draws attention to original Bible text.

Presbyterians in Ireland who rejected Calvinism and the Westminster Confessions formed the [[Non-subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland]].

[[J. Gresham Machen|John Gresham Machen]], the prominent Presbyterian theologian and Professor of [[New Testament]] at [[Princeton Seminary]] between 1906 and 1929, led a revolt against modernist doctrine in his ''Christianity and Liberalism'' (1923) that critiqued theological modernism. He argued that modernism and liberal theology was a false religion, a pretender that cloaks itself in Christian language – "Liberalism". This religion, he claimed, is a marriage of naturalism, humanism, secularism, and sentimentalism all rolled into one.