The Nicene Creed: Remembering What It Says; Re‐membering What It Forgot to Say

Abstract The year 2025 marks the 1700th anniversary of the Council of Nicaea in 325 CE and the initial draft of the Nicene Creed. The Nicene Creed continues to be recited and used regularly by almost all Christians today. This demonstrates how instrumental it has been for the Christian church. The way in which this creed and the inner relations within the Godhead were interpreted, however, has had serious consequences for the structure of ecclesial communities. Both the East (Greek) and the West (Latin) structured communities based on and justified by its interpretation of the creed. In both, however, Jesus Christ as a particular vision of human society and discipleship goes missing. For Mennonites, this critical missing piece hinders the full and enthusiastic embrace of the Nicene Creed. Jesus the Christ – the person and economic expression of God’s salvation – was largely forgotten in Nicaea’s formulation. This article will highlight both the gift that the Nicene Creed has been and what it failed to provide to the detriment of the Christian church and faith since the 4th century.