I'm trying to edit the loop in my archive.php so that when I visit a category page, it only displays the excerpts of the posts and uses the featured image as a thumbnail.

When I add "the excerpt" to the loop it displays the excerpt of the first post, but then just keeps repeating it indefinitely?

Here's the loop I'm trying to edit / modify

					/* Start the Loop */ 
					while (have_posts())  {					
    the_excerpt();
    get_template_part('content', get_post_format());

						
					}
						
					/* Display navigation to next/previous pages when applicable */
					if (theme_get_option('theme_bottom_posts_navigation')) {
						theme_page_navigation();
					}

Thanks for any advice or suggestions.