calls “increasing simplification and concentration,” Church authorities finally settled on the three titles found in the earliest creeds: Christ, Lord, and Son of God.12 This historical footnote is intriguing on a number of levels. First, it challenges the assumption that there was some original, primitive simplicity in the way Christians understood the identity of Jesus. It challenges, too, the modern exegetical presumption that creeds and liturgical formulas are later “ecclesial” additions that