Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!swrinde!mips!dimacs.rutgers.edu!aramis.rutgers.edu!athos.rutgers.edu!christian From: jhpb@garage.att.com (Joseph H Buehler) Newsgroups: soc.religion.christian Subject: Re: Apostles' Creed Message-ID: Date: 30 Jun 91 19:01:22 GMT Sender: hedrick@athos.rutgers.edu Organization: AT&T Bell Laboratories Lines: 17 Approved: christian@aramis.rutgers.edu St. Augustine has a work that explains the Apostle's Creed, phrase by phrase. The descent into hell is not included. [Leith's "Creeds of the Churches" gives a number of early creeds from the Roman creedal tradition and related traditions. Apparently there wasn't a single agreed text until fairly late. It was more a credal tradition that was usually associated with Rome. However the variations were fairly small. Most of the creeds Leith gives as representatives do not have the descent into hell. The earliest one he gives that does have it is from Rufinus, based on the baptismal creed of his church, Aquileia. It is from c 404, roughly the same time as Augustine's. The descent into hell is in the final text adopted around 700. Of course this is just for the West. "At the Council of Florence the Eastern representatives declared that they knew nothing of an Apostles' Creed." (Leith) I apologize for an earlier statement that implied that the Eastern church accepts the Apostles' Creed. --clh]