I believe …
Teaching Resources
For The Nicene Creed
& The Apostles’ Creed
Teaching Resources
For The Nicene Creed
& The Apostles’ Creed
Teacher Background
What is a Creed?
A creed is a set of words. It says what a person or group believes in, and helps express the identity of the group. It is a faith put into words.
Throughout its long history, the Catholic Church has pursued a deeper understanding of Jesus and his message. Driven by the human need to name the God who is at the heart of the life experience of believers, the church has many times attempted to sum up the core beliefs of Christianity. The fruit of such attempts is a formal statement of faith called a creed, from the Latin word credo, meaning “I believe”.
Two creeds have taken on particular significance in the Catholic Church: the Apostles’ Creed and the Nicene Creed. The Apostles Creed derives its name from the tradition that it originated from Jesus’ apostles themselves.
The Nicene Creed is named from the ancient city of Nicaea, in which the creed was first originally accepted by a council of the church’s bishops in the year 325CE. It is the creed that is proclaimed by Catholics during every Sunday celebration of the Eucharist. Also, this same creed has been recognised as official teaching not only by Roman Catholics but also by Eastern Orthodox Catholics, Anglicans and all major Protestant churches. For over sixteen hundred years, tens of millions of Christian believers have been solemnly repeating this creed as a summary of their faith in Jesus Christ and the God he revealed to us.
Jesus – Truly God or Just a Good Preacher?
During 2011, a revision of the words we use at Mass was introduced in parishes across Australia and the English speaking world. These changes reflect a closer translation of the original Latin in which the prayers prayed during Eucharist were written.
Many of these prayers, including the responses we pray as the people gathered,