Every Sunday, millions of Christians recite either the Apostles' or the Nicene Creed. The first evolved over several centuries and first appears in the writings of St. Ambrose in 390 c.e.; the second was formalized by 318 bishops assembled to battle the Arian heresy at the Council of Nicea in 325. Some of us sleepwalk through the exercise of saying the creed, thinking of other things.
The daily accounts of the violence shattering the Holy Land make us wonder if Jerusalem's three religions will ever be able peacefully to coexist there. Bruce Feiler argues that Abraham, the first of the biblical patriarchs, can again become a defining, unifying and hopeful symbol for Jews, Christians and Muslims alike.
