Comparing Creeds

Today we did a short and simple activity comparing the Apostles' and Nicene Creeds. The Apostles' Creed is the shorter one often said as part of private prayers, at the beginning of the Rosary and so on; the Nicene Creed is the longer one included in the Mass. The Apostles' Creed is the older of the two, and the Nicene Creed includes additions agreed at the Councils of Nicaea in the fourth century. Last week Angel and Star had used the Apostles' Creed as copywork, which is what made me think of this.

I printed out copies of the Nicene Creed, read aloud the Apostles' Creed and got them to highlight the parts of the Nicene Creed that were the same (or almost the same) as the earlier, shorter Creed. Once they had finished it was easy to see that the bulk of the additions focused on two main themes:

(1) The Divine nature and origin of Jesus ... "true God from true God, begotten not made"
(2) The Holy Spirit as part of the Trinity

I found the two creeds set out side by side here. I haven't looked into the history behind the development of the creed, but I'm sure it would be easy to do with a quick Google search.