The Forgotten Creed

The first Christian creed said nothing about Christ, God, or salvation. Instead it told the followers of Jesus who they were: Children of God. Among them, distinctions of race, class, and gender would count for nothing. The Forgotten Creed is the story of that first, forgotten creed and its remarkable vision of human solidarity.

Stephen J. Patterson is the George H. Atkinson Professor of Religious and Ethical Studies at Willamette University. A historian of religion, Patterson specializes in the origins of Christianity, especially the hidden histories found in books that were not included in the Bible. He has authored and co-authored nine books and more than a hundred essays, articles, and reviews, including most recently The Gospel of Thomas and Christian Origins (2013) and The Lost Way: How Two Forgotten Gospels are Rewriting the Story of Christian Origins (2014).