The Nicene Creed

A good overview of the Nicene Creed's content, development, and theological implications. Helpful for anyone unfamiliar with it or looking to see how it affects contemporary theology.

I came to faith in an independent Pentecostal Church, and have been an active member and minister in Pentecostal churches ever since (close to 40 years now). I am grateful for the vibrancy and energy of the Christian stream that I am in, but I am also acutely aware of the impact of poor discipleship and the 'flakiness' of many who call themselves 'Christian'. In the last 20 years of my faith journey, I have become aware of and appreciative of the Great Tradition of the Church, and I am increasingly sure that the neglect and dismissal of the ancient creeds has weakened us.

The idea of making a common confession of faith is deeply countercultural to the modern Westerner. Having been immersed in a culture of expressive individualism, defining our truth, and radical independence, joining in unity with others around the world and throughout history in confessing the Creeds is revolutionary. It may be the medicine we need!

The authors, Ortiz and Keating, are Roman Catholic scholars, and as such, I did find some small points of difference between their position and that of the Protestant church. However, these points of difference should not be the focus; instead, the overall picture of agreement with the Nicene Creed itself is in full view. I particularly enjoyed the first chapter in which the authors explain and defend the reasonableness of faith. I found their arguments to be both logical and encouraging.

The description of this book says, "Professors, students, clergy, and religious educators will benefit from this illuminating and edifying guide to the Nicene Creed." I agree and add that it should be in every church library and read by everyone who wants a greater understanding of the orthodox Christian faith. I have benefited from reading this book and recommend it to all who long for a greater understanding of Christianity.

Most of Christianity is considered to be a creedal religion, that is, governed by a specific statement of faith that members of a particular church must assent to (from the Latin credo meaning ‘I believe’). While not emphasized much, the Protestant tradition in which I grew up held to the 7th century Apostle’s Creed. Once I was confirmed into the Catholic faith, I became more aware of the Nicene Creed as well (Catholics pretty much recent one creed or another at the drop of a hat) … and I learned a lot about how these creeds came to be (predominately in response to various heresies that the early Church was struggling with), so I was extremely interest in this book to see if it confirmed what I already knew and if it presented anything new [to learn]. I am happy to report it delivered in spades.

The book is organized into six (6) chapters, each taking part of the Nicene Creed to examine (in broad strokes or themes). Each chapter begins with a general introduction of the over all theme or topic before it is further divided into sections that go into details on a phrase or statement within the chapter theme (such as what it means to say ‘I believe’ or say ‘one God’ et al). Included with the section header are references to the Old Testament, the New Testament and the Catholic Catechism (so obviously this is a very Catholic centric book). Each section generally has four (4) parts: A Theological Exposition to talk about the theology behind this part of the creed, A Witness to the Tradition that references early Church thinking about an element of this theology with source citations (this can repeated for different elements and/or viewpoints), Contemporary Issues that talk about current thinking and/or struggles with this element of the creed, and finally a part called Living the Mystery which talks about how the faithful should live out this part of the creed. There are a generally number of callouts/sidebars under the headed of Lex Orandi that review how a particular element is reflected within the liturgy as well. Finally at the end we get a straight up side buy side comparison of the different creeds, including the latin and greek versions plus a glossary of terms that is simply fantastic on its own … making this book incredibly well researched and organized; I highly recommended it.