In his post One of the Clearest (and Earliest) Summaries of Early Christian Beliefs, Dr. Michael J. Kruger quotes and comments upon a description of Christian beliefs written by Aristides, a converted Athenian philosopher, to the emperor Hadrian around 125 A.D. Dr. Kruger concludes:
This is a surprisingly thorough and wide-ranging summary of core Christian doctrines at a very early point in the life of the church. And it was this form of Christianity that was publicly presented to the Emperor. Once again, we can see that core Christian beliefs were not latecomers that were invented in the fourth century (or later), but appear to have been in place from the very beginning.
