Creeds

Creeds

A creed, also known as a confession of faith, a symbol, or a statement of faith, is a statement of the shared beliefs of a community (often a religious community) in a form which is structured by subjects which summarize its core tenets. The earliest known creed in Christianity, "Jesus is Lord", originated in the writings of Paul the Apostle. One of the most widely used Christian creeds is the Nicene Creed, first formulated in AD 325 at the First Council of Nicaea. It was based on Christian understanding of the canonical gospels, the letters of the New Testament and, to a lesser extent, the Old Testament. Affirmation of this creed, which describes the Trinity, is generally taken as a fundamental test of orthodoxy for most Christian denominations, and was historically purposed against Arianism. A shorter version of the creed, called the Apostles' Creed, is nowadays the most used version in Christian services. Some Christian denominations do not use any of those creeds. Although some say Judaism is non-creedal in nature, others say it recognizes a single creed, the Shema Yisrael, which begins: "Hear, O Israel: the LORD our God, the LORD is one."In Islamic theology, the term most closely corresponding to "creed" is ʿaqīdah (عقيدة).

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