Foundations of the Faith

It gathers the old doctrines, plainly held — the incarnation, the grace and will of God, the commandments, and the fundamentals once for all delivered. Its keynote is Jude 3, "Ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints": the shelf sets out the settled substance of Christian belief, the things worth holding firmly and, when needed, contending for.

Among them are "The Fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Faith," Augustine's "Enchiridion" (his handbook of faith, hope, and love), Athanasius's "On the Incarnation," Jonathan Edwards's "Freedom of the Will," and an exposition of the Ten Commandments — works that state and defend the central doctrines of the faith across the centuries.

"Ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints" is the charge under the whole collection — that the faith is not endlessly reinvented but once for all delivered, to be held and defended. It sets these books as guardians of the settled deposit of Christian truth, not speculations but foundations.

Athanasius's little book states the church's foundational confession — that in Jesus Christ, God Himself came the whole way down, took a real body, and died a real death, "that we might be made God." It grounds the whole faith on the reality of the incarnation: that what came into the world in Christ was not the best of creatures but God, and that everything else stands or falls with it.

A handbook Augustine wrote setting out the essentials of the faith around the three great virtues — faith, hope, and love — a compact statement of Christian belief from the church's greatest Latin teacher. It brings to the shelf a doctrinal summary from one who had thought as deeply as anyone about the whole of the faith.

The exposition of the Ten Commandments grounds the shelf's doctrine in the moral law God revealed — the enduring standard that shows what holiness requires and what sin is. It sits among the foundations because the commandments are part of the settled deposit: not abolished by grace, but fulfilled in it, and always the mirror that drives the sinner to Christ.

Athanasius's "On the Incarnation" is short and foundational for the person of Christ; Augustine's "Enchiridion" gives a compact summary of the whole faith; and "The Fundamental Doctrines of the Christian Faith" sets out the essentials plainly. Together they map the ground every believer stands on.

Because in every age the settled faith is questioned, softened, or reinvented, and these writers hold it firmly — stating the old doctrines plainly and defending them clearly. Jude's charge still stands: to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered, and these books equip the reader to know what that faith is and why it is worth holding.