Another book into why or what the Apostle Creed means. I really could have skipped this for I did not gain anything from it.

Another book I could not really get into. Not sure why it was so difficult, but the writing was average and the topic became rather dry.

"Creed" by Adam Hamilton is an accessible, while still scholarly, look at the great Creed of our Church - The Nicene Creed. Following a history of what the Creed is, and how it was put together the author then takes it stanza by stanza and unpacks the meaning behind each one, why we are called to "believe" and the history and biblical components behind the same.

Though I have read Hamilton's work before, and found it full of good take away educational pieces, I also find him to be a bit more of a surface dweller in this teacher. This is why I was so surprised to see him go deeper with the subject of this book. This is, all in all, good news. As I mentioned I found it quite accessible for the non scholarly reader, but it definitely is a bit more "text book" than usual. That positive is that readers from both ends, the casual and the scholar can enjoy and learn from this work. The negative, for me, is that I looked at this as a possibility for a brief five week church course, and the depth that it offers demands a bit more study, which can be a positive or a negative depending which way one looks at it!

All in all I was extremely happy to be taken down again into the depth of understanding around the Nicene Creed. Hamilton does a wonderful job at guiding the reader, and I am already looking forward to his next work on Moses!

Creed: What Christians Believe and Why (Abingdon Press, 2016) is the latest from Rev. Adam Hamilton. This is not the first, nor the last, book written about the Apostles’ Creed. Taking the creed statement by statement, phrase by phrase, Hamilton explains the fundamental meaning of the Creed in an approachable way. He does not limit his discussion to just what Christians believe, but the all important why. It is clear that Hamilton is not just writing for seasoned Christians. The book is good for new Christians, making it not just a resource for Lent, but could be a study for a New Member class. It is clear that Hamilton is striving to bridge a gap between those in the church and those who have turned away from the church (the “nones” and the “dones”).

Creed has a DVD and small group leader guide available as well.