The Creed:
Ladder of Faith
with Dr. Sean Innerst
Discover the Creed as a spiritual ladder,
guiding believers step by step toward deeper faith,
transformation, and union with God.
The Creed: Ladder of Faith
with Dr. Sean Innerst, Professor of Theology & Catechetics
First Class – January 6, 2026
Introduction: The Creed as Our Path of Faith
In this opening session, Dr. Sean Innerst will introduce the Creed as the Church’s foundational summary of revealed truth and as a spiritual “ladder” guiding us toward God. Participants will explore how the Creed shapes the Christian life, why the Church professes it in every age, and how its twelve articles form a path of transformation for every believer.
The Creed is the Church’s authoritative summary of divine revelation, expressing the central mysteries of the Christian faith as entrusted by Christ to the apostles
“The Church must be one in faith. The true Church requires a unity of belief, since the profession of the Creed is the first bond of union. For such is the nature of faith that nothing can be more absurd than to accept some things and reject others.” (Satis Cognitum, 9)
Fresco depicting the ‘First Council of Nicaea’ in Sistine Hall, located inside the Vatican Apostolic Library, in Vatican City.
Among the frescoes in the Sistine Hall is the depiction of the First Council of Nicaea, whose 1700th anniversary is being marked this year and which holds a significant place in the history of Christianity.
The Creed: Ladder of Faith
The Creed is the Church’s authoritative summary of divine revelation, expressing the central mysteries of the Christian faith as entrusted by Christ to the apostles. It is not merely a human formulation but a faithful profession of revealed truth, guided and protected by the Holy Spirit throughout the Church’s history.
In this six-part course on our baptismal Creed presents the content of the Faith in a unique way. The Catechism of the Catholic Church tells us that ”There is an organic connection between our spiritual life and the dogmas. Dogmas are lights along the path of faith; they illuminate it and make it secure.” (CCC 89). Following this prompt from the Catechism, we will look at the 12 articles of the Apostles Creed (as well as those of the Nicene Creed) as the “path of faith” by which we make our return to God in heaven. And, because our Lord describes Himself in John 1:51 as the fulfillment of the vision of the Patriarch Jacob who had dreamed of “a ladder…set up on the earth with its top reaching to heaven” (Gen 28:12), in this course we will take as our “path of faith” this Ladder, which we will ascend by way of the twelve “rungs” of the Creed to our heavenly homeland. In short, the primary lesson of this course is that the Faith we profess is best conceived of not simply as vital information (which it certainly is!) but as a divine means of transportation, and even of graced transformation by which we may follow our Lord, the “pioneer and perfector of our faith” (Heb 12:2), in His own ascent to the heavenly Father.
Sean Innerst, D.Th.
Professor of Theology and Catechetics
Dr. Sean Innerst is co-founder and Professor of Theology and Catechetics at the Augustine Institute in Florissant, MO, as well as the founding Provost of St. John Vianney Theological Seminary in Denver, Colorado. In addition to his scholarly work, he is the author of From Blessing to Blessing: The Catechism as a Journey of Faith and the two-part adult study on the Catechism called Pillars: A Journey Through the Catechism, both from Ascension Press. He has also been a writer and presenter for many of the Augustine Studios productions, such as, The Search, Symbolon, Beloved, Reborn, Eternal Rest and, most recently, Foretold, all available at FORMED.org.