Christian Cyclopedia

Systematized body (Lat. corpus), or collection of writings, on Christian doctrine. The term is not always used in exactly the same sense; but it gen. stands for doctrinal standards accepted by special denominations or by the whole ch. The ecumenical* creeds (see also Creeds and Confessions) are a corpus doctrinae for the whole ch. The Book of Concord is a corpus doctrinae for the Luth. Ch., since it contains the specific confessions universally recognized as Luth. A popular, though not orthodox, corpus doctrinae was the Corpus Philippicum (1560), which contained the 3 ecumenical creeds, the altered AC, the Ap, P. Melanchthon's* Loci, and his other chief doctrinal writings. See also Lutheran Confessions, C 1.