The Westminster Standards: Research Tools
Tools to guide your study of the Westminster Confession of Faith, the Westminster Larger Catechism, the Westminster Shorter Catechism, and the Directory for Worship, along with related historical information.
WESTMINSTER STANDARDS BOOK RESOURCES
in RTS Libraries
Quick-Finding Aid
This guide is meant to help students browse book resources on our shelves by Library of Congress (LC) Classification (call numbers). We have only listed *some of the primary locations*; for a fuller search, you need to do a subject or keyword search in the online catalog http://library.rts.edu/. See also a “Subject Heading Searches" relating to Islam to help your research.
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LC Call Number range |
Subject(s) |
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BX 9053 BX 9183 |
This is not an exhaustive list, but here are some subject headings to get you started.
Memoirs of the Westminster Divines by 
The minutes and papers of the Westminster Assembly, 1643-1652 by 
The Westminster Larger Catechism by 
Reformed Confessions Harmonized by 
The Westminster Confession into the 21st Century by The rules governing citation of the Westminster Confession of Faith, Larger Catechism, and Shorter Catechism are found in Turabian 17.8 (The section covering Older Works and Sacred Works.) However, how you cite the Westminster Standards may vary based on several factors. First, you should check with your professor to find out if there is a certain edition they want you to use and if they have a preference for how you cite.
Second, whether or not you include various facts of publication will depend on how you are using the material. If you are doing a close text analysis of differences between revisions in the Standards then you will need to include the facts of publication for the editions you are using. If you are just citing for content, then you do not need to include all the normal facts of publication such as place of publication, publisher, and date. So, if you are discussing the American revisions of chapter 28 on the civil magistrate and comparing the text to the original British edition, you would need to include facts of publication. If you are discussing the shorter catechism's definition of sanctification, you would not.
Third, if you are citing the standards throughout your paper, you should use parenthetical citation instead of footnotes for the standards (much as you would with Bible references). Most of the time, it is sufficient to cite the Westminster Standards either in footnotes or parenthetically, and you do not need to include it in your bibliography.
Do not use page numbers for your citation. Instead use alternate locators citing either by question and answer for the catechisms or by chapter and paragraph for the Confession of Faith. You can use abbreviations such as WSC in lieu of shortened titles for subsequent citations within your paper.
It bears repeating. If you are citing the Westminster Standards, you should ask your professor what his preference is for citation because not all professors will want you to follow the conventions described in Turabian.
