Question:

I am researching Presbyterian beliefs along the lines of the six loci. I was wondering if you might be able to give me a brief outline of your beliefs in the areas of: Theology Proper, Anthropology, Christology, Soteriology, Ecclesiology and Eschatology.

Answer:

The best place to find a brief outline of what Presbyterians believe is in our confessional standards, which are the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Larger Catechism, and the Westminster Shorter Catechism. All ordained officers in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church subscribe to these as their statement of faith.

You can find several formats of the Westminster Confession and Catechisms on this Web site.

These also are available for the Westminster Confession of Faith itself:

• Comparison of British and American editions of the Confession (10K)
• Westminster Confession of Faith and Modern English Study Version in Parallel Columns (Note: this 1993 draft of the Modern English Study Version does not have any constitutional authority) (162K)
• Westminster Confession of Faith for Microsoft Reader (296 KB)
• Westminster Confession of Faith for Palm Pilot (35 KB)

The Westminster Confession addresses in these chapters the six areas that you mention:

Theology Proper: Chapter 2, "Of God, and of the Holy Trinity"

Anthropology: Chapter 4, "Of Creation," and Chapter 6, "Of the Fall of Man, of Sin, and of the Punishment thereof"

Christology: Chapter 8, "Of Christ the Mediator"

Soteriology: Introduced in Chapter 7, "Of God's Covenant with Man," and discussed thoroughly in Chapters 8-18

Ecclesiology: Chapter 25, "Of the Church"

Eschatology: Chapter 32, "Of the State of Men after Death, and of the Resurrection of the Dead," and Chapter 33, "Of the Last Judgment"

I hope you find this useful for your purposes.