Creeds and Symbols

The Lutheran Church is a confessional church, affirming and subscribing to formal statements of belief as well as to the Holy Scriptures. Most Lutherans accept as a minimum confessional standard subscription to the Holy Bible, the Augsburg Confession, the Nicene, Athanasian, and Apostles' Creeds, and the Small and Large Catechisms by Martin Luther. These are part of Concordia (the Book of Concord of 1580). Other major confessions in the Book of Concord are the Apology (Defense) of the Augsburg Confession, the Smalkald Articles, Treatise on the Power and Primacy of the Pope, and the Formula of Concord.