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Shadows of Divine Things

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Location: Texas, United States

This site is devoted to theological and philosophical investigations of the spiritual meanings of life, current events, music, spiritual growth, nature, and learning to be attuned to listening to the 'language of God.' The name of this blog comes from one of Jonathan Edwards's journals which he called 'Shadows of Divine Things,' and later renamed 'Images of Divine Things.' As a Christian I am continously on a spiritual journey to grow more into the image of Christ, to understand what it means to be crucified with Christ. To seek the truths of the Christian Faith is of upmost importance, and to know that any truths that are found outside of Christianity are present there because they ultimately point to God. I have an M.A. in theology and apologetics and I completed one year of graduate studies in Philosophy at Marquette University.

Tuesday, December 12, 2006

Early Christian Creeds

Recently I have been researching some of the earliest creeds of Christianity. Interestingly, I have dug up some very old creeds, and what is believed to be the earliest Apostle's Creed or better called Apostolic Creed. The earliest known Apostolic Creed is as follows:

I believe in the Father almighty, - and in Jesus Christ, our Savior; - and in the Holy Spirit, the Paraclete, in the holy Church, and in the remission of sins.

The above creed is dated around 150 A.D. (or C.E.) from a work, which Henry Denzinger declares is, "infested with Gnosticism." However, the creed itself seems fairly orthodox.

One of my favorite Church Creeds is the actual Creed of Nicaea (not to be confused with the Nicene Creed) -

We believe in one God the Father All-sovereign, maker of all things visible and invisible;
And in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Son of God, begotten of the Father, only-begotten, that is, of the substance of the Father, God of God, Light of Light, true God of true God, begotten not made, of one substance with the Father, through whom all things were made, things in heaven and things on the earth; who for us men and for our salvation came down and was made flesh, and became man, suffered, and rose on the third day, ascended into the heavens, is coming to judge the living and the dead. And in the Holy Spirit. And those that say "There was when he was not," and, "Before he was begotten he was not," and that, "He came into being from what is not," of those that allege, that the son of God is "Of another substance or essence" or "created" or "changeable" or "alterable," these the Catholic and Apostolic Church anathematizes.

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