Progressive Spirit

Historian of Religion, Stephen Patterson, reconstructs one of the earliest Christian Creeds that Emphasized Radical Egalitarianism.One of the earliest creeds of the Jesus Movement may be embedded in one of the letters of Paul. It is an unusual creed in that it says nothing about the nature of God or salvation, but rather what it means to be human. Historian of religion, Stephen J. Patterson, returns to Progressive Spirit to talk about this creed and his book, The Forgotten Creed: Christianity’s Original Struggle Against Bigotry, Slavery, and Sexism. It was utilized and altered by Paul in Galatians 3:26-28, but Stephen Patterson reconstructs the original creed to be the following:For you are all children of God in the Spirit.There is no Jew or Greek, there is no slave or free,there is no male and female,For you are all one in the Spirit.Dr. Patterson argues that this ancient creed is timely for today as it challenges ethnic, class, and gender divisions.Stephen J. Patterson is the George H. Atkinson Professor o