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Bishop of Hippo (354-430 A.D.). He believed in the Scriptures as our final authority in doctrine, and considered the creeds of the Church as helpful summaries of Scriptural teaching. He wrote regarding the Nicene Creed, "These words which you have heard are in the divine Scriptures scattered up and down: but thence gathered and reduced into one, that the memory of slow persons might not be distressed; that every person may be able to say, able to hold, what he believes."

Elected bishop of Caesarea in A.D. 370. In Letter 189, written to Eustathius, he defended the Scriptures as our final authority in doctrine.

Term which originally meant "universal," and was used in the Apostles' Creed to describe the Church as including all believers from all places and  throughout all of history. The term later came to be used in reference to the Roman Church as an organization, but this was not the original meaning as it was used in the creed.

Bishop of Carthage in the third century. In Epistle 73, he wrote that traditional teachings of the Church should not have more authority than the Scriptures, because the Church can make theological mistakes. In this letter he wrote, "...custom without truth is the antiquity of error."

Early heresy from the first centuries after Christ. Among other things, they believed that material things were evil, including the human body, which was a prison of the human soul. They consequently believed that God would never take on the form of human flesh, and therefore denied that Jesus was both God and man.

Theologian from Rome (c 170 – c 236 A.D.). Wrote Against the Heresy of One Noetus, in which he defended the Scriptures as our final authority in doctrine.

Religion that teaches that Jesus was a true prophet of God, but that He was not crucified or resurrected.

Creed written by a council held in the city of the same name, in 325 A.D. This creed was basically an expansion of the Apostles' Creed.

Early Christian theologian (185-254 A.D.) who taught in Alexandria, Egypt. Wrote commentaries on the Bible and On First Principles, in which he defended the Scriptures as our final authority for Christian doctrine. He produced the Hexapla, a  comparative study of various translations of the Old Testament.

A creed used in Rome in the early centuries after Christ, almost identical to the Apostles' Creed.