Dr. Swete's book defending the historical and biblical underpinnings of the Apostles' Creed grew out of a particular controversy at the end of the 19th century. Yet it remains an invaluable work that is still referenced in much of the literature on the Apostles' Creed today. Swete traces the origin of each of the doctrines concerned, showing where it's found in Scripture, how it was developed in the early church and how and why it was included in the Creed.
Anyone with an interest in the Christian creeds or desiring to know more about where the creeds came from will find here ample information showing that the creeds were developed in response to specific challenges to orthodoxy and draw heavily upon the authority of Scripture.
Creeds may or may not be part of your church's tradition, but they have certainly played a central role in shaping the beliefs and practices of the Christian church at large. The Apostles' Creed is an early confession of faith widely used in Western Christianity since the third century AD. The Apostles' Creed was initially used in the context of baptism, as a profession of faith required prior to baptism. Later, the creed found a place in Protestant churches, as both Luther and Calvin approved of it as a concise and accurate summary statement of faith. In many churches today, the congregation recites the Apostles' Creed on a regular basis.
The Apostles' Creed: Its Relation to Primitive Christianity was developed from a series of lectures given in 1894 by H. B. Swete, then a professor of divinity at Cambridge. The rhetorical context of the lectures was a major debate over the Apostles' Creed that began a few years earlier. According to the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (1915 Edition) 
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In Germany...quite a fierce controversy broke out in 1892 over the refusal of a Lutheran pastor, named Schrempf, to use the creed in the administration of baptism. He did not believe in its articles about the virgin-birth of Christ, the resurrection of the flesh, etc. The offender was deposed, but a great battle ensued, giving rise to an enormous literature.
Schrempf was joined by Professor Harnack of Berlin and others, who gave voice to a number of concerns about the creed and how it was being used in churches of the day. According to the ISBE article, these men denied that the creed was true to apostolic doctrine and argued that contemporary interpretation of the words in the creed differed from the meaning intended by the original framers.
The Apostles' Creed: Its Relation to Primitive Christianity is Dr. Swete's response to Harnack and Schrempf. Since so many of the articles in the creed were under attack, Swete's defense remains a valuable reference work as it sets out the biblical and historical underpinnings of each article in detail.
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