The Nicene Creed in Minimal English

Why Christianity Needs Universal Human Concepts

Anna Wierzbicka

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2025
• Print ISBN:
  9783031938788
• eBook ISBN:
  9783031938795
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: German Language
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This book offers an unpacked version of the Nicene Creed, which is the defining statement of belief of mainstream Christianity, and a milestone in human history. The book seeks to clarify this compressed text through the common conceptual language of all people: “Basic Human”. Given the unique power of this language to articulate the tenets of the Creed with clarity and precision, this book will have a wide readership among all people interested in Christianity, as well as among scholars interested in the scope of human understanding and communication. More than that, at a time of “post-Christian spiritual disintegration”, when many are seeking for the threads of meaning to hold things together (as discussed for example by authors like Tom Holland and Ayaan Hirsi Ali), the vision of the Nicene Creed—“the world’s one unchanging Creed“—can offer a new reference point and be a beacon of hope.

Table of contents

• The Nicene Creed in Minimal English
• Acknowledgements
• Contents
• 1. Introduction
• 2. The Nicene Creed in Minimal English
• 3. Commentary on Section 1 “The Nicene Creed: I Believe” (the Christian Confession of Faith)
• 4. Commentary on Section 2 “I Believe in One God”
• 5. Commentary on Section 3 “Father Almighty [All-Holding]”
• 6. Commentary on Section 4 “Maker of Heaven and Earth”
• 7. Commentary on Section 5 “I believe in One Lord Jesus Christ”
• 8. Commentary on Section 6 “Through Him All Things Were Made”
• 9. Commentary on Section 7 “For Us People and for Our Salvation He Came Down from Heaven”
• 10. Commentary on Section 8 “By the Holy Spirit He Was Incarnate of the Virgin Mary and Became Man”
• 11. Commentary on Section 9 “For Our Sake He Was Crucified Under Pontius Pilate, He Suffered Death and Was Buried”
• 12. Commentary on Section 10 “He Rose Again on the Third Day in Accordance with the Scriptures”
• 13. Commentary on Section 11 “And Ascended into Heaven and Seated at the Right Hand of the Father”
• 14. Commentary on Section 12 “He Will Come Again in Glory to Judge the Living and the Dead”
• 15. Commentary on Section 13 “And His Kingdom Will Have No End”
• 16. Commentary on Section 14 “I Believe in the Holy Spirit”
• 17. Commentary on Section 15 “I Believe in One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church”
• 18. Commentary on Section 16 “I Confess One Baptism for the Forgiveness of Sins”
• 19. A Commentary on Section 17 “I Look Forward to the Resurrection of the Dead”
• 20. A Commentary on Section 18 “I Look Forward to the Life of the World to Come”
• Index