Publisher's Synopsis
Were ancient Christian creeds designed as summaries of Scripture, or, conversely, was the formation of Scripture itself subject to creedal as well as canonical considerations? To what extent were there non-Christian antecedents and analogies to the church's habit of making creeds? The contributors to this volume investigate the relationship between Scripture and ancient Christian creeds. The essays in this volume are divided into four sections devoted to related lines of inquiry. The first asks whether the Christian creeds are sui generis as sometimes claimed, or whether there are close analogies in Jewish and Graeco-Roman antiquity. The second section investigates key critical issues in scholarly study of the creeds. The third turns to case studies illustrating how early Christian writers deploy the creeds in their engagement with scriptural topics. The fourth section turns to thematic studies in the creed.
