# Do you know the Apostle's Creed from memory? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 6, 2018, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649 "2018-12-06T02:35:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/41 "2018-12-06T13:55:20Z")
To see if I could, I just recited it from memory. But then I realized I was reciting the Lord’s Prayer instead, so I should change my vote. The Apostles Creed was not a major part of my Christian upbringing after all. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/42 "2018-12-06T14:08:18Z")
Catholic. We say the (longer) Nicene Creed nearly every Sunday, so I’ve had plenty of opportunity to memorize that. The Apostles’ Creed is less often used, though, so I always have to use the book for that one. I was a little annoyed when Benny Sixteen changed the Nicene Creed, not only because I had to re-memorize it, but because he added the nonsensical phrase “before all ages”. Someone wasn’t paying enough attention to his Augustine. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 2:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/43 "2018-12-06T14:08:36Z")
Grew up Baptist. Never recited this thing. I read the Apostles Creed this morning. All the points are covered in my church’s sermons. There’s no need to recite it word for word in a ritual. Imho Memorizing Passages and reciting them is common in the Catholic Church. It’s just not common in the Baptist Church. I can’t think of any ritual that includes reciting memorized passages. I don’t disagree with doing it. If that’s what your church likes to do. ---
**Author:** ![not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/not_what_you_d_expect/32/3246_2.png) [@not\_what\_you\_d\_expect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/not_what_you_d_expect)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/44 "2018-12-06T14:10:29Z")
I’ve never heard of it. I wasn’t always an atheist, but the religious teaching I had, did not include it. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/45 "2018-12-06T14:10:37Z")
Catholic and I tend to get a bit mixed with the two Credos when “the short one” is used. I like the long one better, ok? > [@The\_Stainless\_Steel\_Rat](#): > > Raised Catholic, now Agnostic, can recite the first line and pick up the rest with a few words to key me. > > Always seems to be longer when I was little… I suspect your childhood Credos were more often the Nicene Credo, aka “the long one”. ---
**Author:** ![MoonMoon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/moonmoon/32/2959_2.png) [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/46 "2018-12-06T14:16:00Z")
I chose non-Catholic Christian who can recite it from memory, because I learned and memorized it as one (Methodist). I no longer identify as one, but there wasn’t really a choice for that. ---
**Author:** ![Miss\_Mapp](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miss_mapp/32/369_2.png) [@Miss\_Mapp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miss_Mapp)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 2:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/47 "2018-12-06T14:17:29Z")
I could recite it when I used to say rosaries as a little Catholic girl 40 years ago. I stopped being Catholic shortly after that. I just tried to say it now and can remember some of the phrases, but there are gaps. If other people started to say it at a service, I suppose I could go along with them well enough and more of it would come back to me. ---
**Author:** ![kopek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kopek/32/337_2.png) [@kopek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kopek)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/48 "2018-12-06T14:22:43Z")
> [@dalej42](#): > > I picked Catholic and can recite from memory. But I’m an Episcopalian, the service is almost identical. Close to the same thing here. Lutheran; but picked Non-Catholic. Part is that being raised in one of the Orthodox churches I just can’t quite get over the link today between “Catholic” and “Papist”. I have nothing against what most people today think of as Catholics; I just totally despise the office of Pope. ---
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/49 "2018-12-06T14:22:59Z")
Jewish, don’t know what it is. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/50 "2018-12-06T14:43:37Z")
ELCA Lutheran. We recite it every Sunday, so I can repeat it on a moment’s notice. I also memorized the Small Catechism, which explains it, as part of confirmation class. I can also recite the Nicene Creed, but only the older phrasing, because I learned to sing it in my youth group. If you want to be hard-core, memorize the [Athanasian Creed](https://www.crcna.org/welcome/beliefs/creeds/athanasian-creed). I haven’t, mostly because of my semi-heretical ideas about the Trinity. Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![bobot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bobot/32/21622_2.png) [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/51 "2018-12-06T14:44:42Z")
I wasn’t sure how to vote. I was raised Catholic, and I could probably recite it… if someone started it for me. I have absolutely no recollection of how it starts. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 2:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/52 "2018-12-06T14:46:23Z")
I learned it in Sunday school as a child, and have an eidetic memory. Once something gets in there, it never leaves. ---
**Author:** ![EscAlaMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/escalamike/32/4177_2.png) [@EscAlaMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EscAlaMike)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/53 "2018-12-06T14:57:49Z")
The Nicene Creed is typically recited in the Catholic liturgy. It’s longer than the Apostle’s Creed. (I can recite the Nicene Creed from memory too) 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Doyle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doyle/32/439_2.png) [@Doyle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doyle)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/54 "2018-12-06T15:09:40Z")
Life long Episcopalian. I could say it backwards if I needed to. ---
**Author:** ![senoy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/dbc845/32.png) [@senoy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/senoy)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/55 "2018-12-06T15:11:24Z")
> [@Roderick\_Femm](#): > > Is this really it? Because “from thence” is redundant. “Thence” means “from there” or “from that place.” > > In the church I went to as a child (Methodist, in Oregon, very bland and generalized) I never heard or read this. I don’t think I would have been very comfortable saying it even then, certainly not after age 13. I looked it up and it’s ‘From Thence’ Apparently this redundant usage is very old and started at least as early as the Wycliffe Bible translation in 1388. The original Wycliffe in 1382 used ‘thence’ in Mark 6:1. John Purvey took Wycliffe’s translation and made it more accessible adding ‘from thence’ to the passage. The 1382 had “And Jhesus gon out thennis” The 1388 version was “And He yede out fro thennus” The redundant ‘from’ seems then to be a more vernacular form that arose in the 15th century, Wycliffe’s more ‘academic’ translation recognized that, while Purvey’s did not. The ‘from’ likely trickled down into normal language and OED recognizes it as a valid construction. ---
**Author:** ![Bayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bayaker/32/3454_2.png) [@Bayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bayaker)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/56 "2018-12-06T15:23:04Z")
I’m surprised so many Catholics can’t remember it. I can say the Apostles’ Creed in English and Latin(when I say it to myself I default to Latin), and can chant the Nicene Creed in English, Latin, and Church Slavonic. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/57 "2018-12-06T15:23:39Z")
Went to church three times a week for all my upbringing. This hellfire and brimstone variety of church I attended wasn’t big into reciting things so I’ve never heard this creed. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 3:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/58 "2018-12-06T15:44:55Z")
Nope. I’m surprised at the amount of Catholics who could do it. You guys didn’t default to the Nicene Creed? That’s all we ever did at mass, no matter what Catholic church I attended (and I’ve been to probably a hundred). I don’t think I’ve _ever_ recited the Apostle’s Creed. And in the past few years, they changed that up, too, so I don’t quite have it memorized, as I’m a lapsed Catholic these days. ---
**Author:** ![EscAlaMike](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/escalamike/32/4177_2.png) [@EscAlaMike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EscAlaMike)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/59 "2018-12-06T15:51:47Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Nope. I’m surprised at the amount of Catholics who could do it. You guys didn’t default to the Nicene Creed? That’s all we ever did at mass, no matter what Catholic church I attended (and I’ve been to probably a hundred). I don’t think I’ve _ever_ recited the Apostle’s Creed. And in the past few years, they changed that up, too, so I don’t quite have it memorized, as I’m a lapsed Catholic these days. The rosary begins with the Apostles’ Creed. Praying the rosary regularly is a good way to memorize it quickly. The AC is really just a simplified version of the NC. If you know the NC, the AC is a piece of cake. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [December 6, 2018, 3:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649/60 "2018-12-06T15:53:50Z")
The one I grew up with begins: “We believe in one God, the Father and Almighty, maker of heaven and earth, of all that is seen and unseen. We believe in one Lord Jesus Christ, the only Son of God, eternally begotten of the Father; God from God, Light from Light, true God from true God; begotten not made, one in being with the Father.” (Current version is slightly different.) This is not the Apostle’s Creed, which starts: “I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of heaven and earth, and in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary, suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died and was buried;” They have similar verbiage, but they are different. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-know-the-apostles-creed-from-memory/825649.md?page=4)