One of the world’s leading theologians offers important insights into the history and significance of Christian creeds.
“A work of keen insight, great learning, and ecumenical generosity.”—Robert Louis Wilken, First Things
“[Pelikan’s] book is learned, indeed massively so, yet because of the lucidity of its prose it is accessible to the general reader.”—Luke Timothy Johnson,Washington Post Book World
“Indispensable. . . . An achievement unlikely to be surpassed.”—Donald K.McKim, Theological Studies
'The scope of this this prolegomena to the recent, comprehensive three-volume Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition is as broad as the history of Christianity itself, describing belief-in-confession, with all the significant periods of creedal formulation of Christendom considered sequentially. Since there are many Christian traditions (and as many definitions and functions of 'creed' within them), and since Creeds develop organically but distinctly, Credo undertakes to give us a guided tour of their origins, political roles, and relation to worship. The book achieves its goal, in what Robert Louis Wilken aptly describes as 'a work of keen insight, great learning and ecumenical generosity.' Pelikan is able, as perhaps no other scholar of the past century, to impress on us the power and necessity of our 'symbols of faith.' In addition to the lucid exposition of the nature and function of creeds in the first three sections, Pelikan wrote the historical narrative contained in the fourth section so that Credo can be used in tandem with his five-volume magnum opus, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine.
'The scope of this this prolegomena to the recent, comprehensive three-volume Creeds and Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition is as broad as the history of Christianity itself, describing belief-in-confession, with all the significant periods of creedal formulation of Christendom considered sequentially. Since there are many Christian traditions (and as many definitions and functions of 'creed' within them), and since Creeds develop organically but distinctly, Credo undertakes to give us a guided tour of their origins, political roles, and relation to worship. The book achieves its goal, in what Robert Louis Wilken aptly describes as 'a work of keen insight, great learning and ecumenical generosity.' Pelikan is able, as perhaps no other scholar of the past century, to impress on us the power and necessity of our 'symbols of faith.' In addition to the lucid exposition of the nature and function of creeds in the first three sections, Pelikan wrote the historical narrative contained in the fourth section so that Credo can be used in tandem with his five-volume magnum opus, The Christian Tradition: A History of the Development of Doctrine.
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