About the Project
The Westminster Assembly (1643-1653) was both the largest parliamentary committee of the English civil war and the last of the great post-Reformation synods. The Assembly is perhaps best known as the creed-making body behind the Westminster Confession of Faith and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms, documents which have guided Presbyterian and Reformed churches for centuries.
The Westminster Assembly Project exists to make the writings of the Westminster Assembly and its members available to scholars and to the general public. Since completion of the Minutes and Papers by Dr. Chad Van Dixhoorn, the Westminster Assembly Project has focused on the writings of the Westminster Assembly and its participants. In addition to increasing access to these works, the Project works to promote research into the assembly’s proceedings and is currently editing two series of publications in collaboration with Reformation Heritage Books. These include:
Principal Documents of the Westminster Assembly.
This series will produce seven chief works authored by the Assembly for covenanted uniformity of religion in England. These seven volumes comprise texts not be reproduced in the five volume set of minutes and papers published by Oxford University Press in 2012: the Confession of Faith, Larger Catechism, Shorter Catechism, Directory for Public Worship, Directory for Church Government, a collection of majority and minority reports on church government, and The Psalter. Each volume will contain a historical introduction, a critical text, and multi-column comparisons of original manuscripts and early editions.
Currently the Larger Catechism is available and the Confession of Faith is forthcoming.
Studies of the Westminster Assembly.
The Assembly studies offers new studies on the assembly, as well as select studies that have not been reprinted, providing readers with some of the best existing research on the Assembly and its members
See Publications for a current list of titles in both these series as well as other titles.
We hope that this site, and these books, will prove useful for researchers focusing on Puritanism, the English civil-war, post-Reformation theology, or the history of Presbyterianism and Congregationalism.
Dr. John R. Bower
Dr. Chad B. Van Dixhoorn
About the Editors
Dr. Chad Van Dixhoorn (PhD)
Editor
Chad is a graduate of Westminster Theological Seminary (MDiv, ThM) and the University of Cambridge (PhD), he has taught theology at the University of Nottingham, and has held three fellowships at the University of Cambridge, where he has researched the history and theology of the Westminster assembly and taught on the subject of Puritanism.
A former British Academy Postdoctoral Fellow, in 2013 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society in recognition of his five-volume work on the Westminster assembly, published by Oxford University Press. Van Dixhoorn also serves as an honorary research fellow in the School of History at the University of East Anglia, UK.
Van Dixhoorn began teaching church history and practical theology at RTS Washington in 2008, where he served as an Associate Professor of Church History (2013-2018) and as Chancellor’s Professor of Historical Theology (2015-2018). Van Dixhoorn has served as professor of church history and director of The Craig Center for the Study of the Westminster Standards at Westminster Theological Seminary since 2018.
Van Dixhoorn served as a pastor at Cambridge Presbyterian Church (UK) and then at Grace Presbyterian Church (Vienna, VA) for nine years.
Dr. John Bower (MD, ThM)
Editor
John is associate professor at Northeast Ohio Medical University and adjunct professor of Church History at Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Pittsburgh. He is also a Research Fellow at the Craig Center for the Study of the Westminster Standards at Westminster Theological Seminary.
He has published The Confession of Faith: A Critical Text and Introduction and The Larger Catechism: A Critical Text and Introduction as part of the Westminster Assembly Principal Documents Series through Reformation Heritage Books.
Rev. Tom Breeden (MDiv)
Associate Editor
Tom is a graduate of Reformed Theological Seminary – Washington, D.C. (MDiv) and a Teaching Elder in the Blue Ridge Presbytery of the PCA. He previously served as the Associate Pastor at Grace Community Church in Charlottesville, VA.
Special Thanks to Supporters
Present Support
- Calvin Center for Christian Scholarship
- Reformed Theological Seminary
- Hunter and Laura Powell Foundation
Past Support
- The British Academy
- Greenville Presbyterian Theological Seminary
- The Leverhulme Trust
- The University of Cambridge
- The University of Edinburgh
- Westminster Theological Seminary
Support extended to the Westminster Assembly Project, including funding for the editing of the Minutes and Papers of the Westminster Assembly, does not necessarily indicate concurrence with the views of the editors or of the Westminster Assembly itself.
Special Thanks to Transcribers
- Judith Best
- Dorothy Bower
- Eric Brandt
- Caleb Cangelosi
- Christopher Chelpka
- Martin Cowan
- David Graves
- Brian Habig
- Dennis Hou
- Adam King
- Christopher Langley
- Jonathan Matthull
- Gregory Soderberg
- Justin Stodghill
- A Thompson
- John Van Voorhis
- Barry Waugh