Athanasian Creed

E3767

The Athanasian Creed is a Christian statement of faith from the early medieval period that provides a detailed and authoritative formulation of Trinitarian doctrine and the nature of Christ.


Statements (49)
Predicate Object
instanceOf Christian creed
confessional document
statement of faith
affirmsCouncilTeaching Council of Chalcedon
Council of Constantinople
Council of Nicaea
alsoKnownAs Quicunque vult
approximateDate 5th–6th century
authorshipStatus pseudonymous
containsFormula this is the catholic faith
whoever wishes to be saved must hold the catholic faith
containsSection Christological section
Trinitarian section
doctrinalAuthorityStatus highly authoritative in Western tradition
emphasizesDoctrine co-equality of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
co-eternity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit
distinction of divine persons
full divinity of Christ
full humanity of Christ
hypostatic union
unity of divine essence
geographicOrigin Western Christianity
includedIn Book of Concord
languageOfOriginal Latin
lengthComparedToOtherCreeds longer than Apostles Creed
longer than Nicene Creed
likelyRegionOfComposition Gaul
Latin West
liturgicalUse Western liturgy
modernScholarlyViewOfAuthorship not written by Athanasius of Alexandria
namedAfter Athanasius of Alexandria
openingWords Quicunque vult salvus esse
period early medieval period
primaryTheme Christology
Trinitarian doctrine
religiousTradition Christianity
soteriologicalClaim holding the defined faith is necessary for salvation
statusInAnglicanCommunion included in Book of Common Prayer tradition
statusInLutheranChurches included in Book of Concord
statusInRomanCatholicChurch part of traditional corpus of creeds
structure series of doctrinal propositions
theologicalOrientation anti-Arian
anti-Eutychian
anti-Nestorian
traditionalAttribution Athanasius of Alexandria
usedByDenomination Anglican Communion
Lutheran churches
Roman Catholic Church
some Reformed churches


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