The Nicene Creed: An Introduction

This meticulous analysis by philosophy professor Cary (The Meaning of Protestant Theology) looks at the ancient Christian confession of faith known as the Nicene Creed. Offering a line-by-line close reading of the confession, the author explores the galvanizing issues that prompted bishops to gather in the city of Nicaea in 325 CE and write the creed. A primary reason, Cary contends, was to address the pandemonium of heresies that emerged in the aftermath of Jesus’s crucifixion and to clarify the defining tenets of emergent Christianity. The author winnows through the theological assertions and implications behind each word, as when he explains that the bishops aimed to settle a key theological disagreement regarding whether there was a point when Jesus didn’t exist by asserting that Christ is behind the “creation of all things,” equating “God the Father” with “God the Son” to affirm that Christ, like God, has always existed. Such nuances and complexities abound and aid the reader in grasping the strenuous theological exertion that defined the early centuries of the incipient belief system. At once rigorous and fleet, profound and precise, this dynamic chronicle of how the Nicene Creed came to be will make a valuable addition to the libraries of Christian scholars. (Oct.)