The Apostles’ and Athanasian Creeds both affirm that after being crucified Christ descended to the dead—or even into Hell if you go with older translations. While such an affirmation can seem an easy one to gloss over, this article of faith actually offers us that hope that there is truly no place that is too far gone to receive the power of God’s love and the possibility of redemption.

Along with the death of Jesus, the resurrection forms the core of the Gospel proclamation from the earliest days of the Church. This post explores the contours of the Christian claim about Jesus’ resurrection and conquering of death—as well as its implications for the rest of creation—while affirming the limits of our capacity to provide a detailed positive description of resurrection life.

The most universally recognized sign of the Christian faith—the cross—has also been, since its inception, one of the greatest sources of scandal. However, the centrality of the cross and the scandal it generates is unavoidable, emblematic of the scandal of Grace, of a perfectly just God unwilling to abandon God’s creation. Through the cross, God both takes on the penalty of all of humanity’s turning away from God all while condemning those humans who will wield the forces of Death to oppress and harm.

Sin got discussed when talking about human nature, but now the Catechism turns specifically to Sin and what redemption from Sin looks like. Having discussed the nature of Sin and sins earlier, this post looks at the effects of Sin on human life.

The final two questions of the section from the 1979 Catechism offer greater insight into the purpose of this first section on human nature. In particular, the final question implies both the effects of Sin on our knowledge of God as well as how God can be known by humans under the conditions of Sin.

This entry on the 1979 Catechism brings us to the question of why humans beings, created in the image of God, do not live as we were created to. Looking at the two questions and answers about human nature related to Sin, this post looks at how it is that it is possible for humans to misuse their freedom and why all of us in fact do.

Here’s a chance to enter into the 1979 Book of Common Prayer’s first section of the catechism on human nature. Included is an explanation of why human nature may be the first section as well as a description of what it means that human beings are part of creation.