Origins of the Creed

[lunamoth]

OK, a bit more preface. I've attempted this a couple of times now and keep getting bogged down. But in light of some of the earlier discussion in this thread, I would like to give my understaniding of 'why a Creed.'

22While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take it; this is my body."

23Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, and they all drank from it.

24"This is my blood of the[b] covenant, which is poured out for many," he said to them. 25"I tell you the truth, I will not drink again of the fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it anew in the kingdom of God."

26When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. (Mark 14)

The earliest Christian worship is described above in Mark, and is found in all four Gospels. Eating, drinking and praise. And Paul confirms this: "Is not the cup of thanksgiving for which we give thanks a participation in the blood of Christ? And is not the bread that we break a participation in the body of Christ?" (1 Cor 10:16)

Jesus showed us the Truth by His life and I think that Truth is found in most if not all religions. But He also gave us this distinctive gift; we call it communion. Two things I notice about it. It is communal; a shared meal and shared mystical event. It is physical. It is bread and wine and it is His body. When we participate in it we participate in Christ, we are His Body.

OK, so where am I going with this. We are not Christians alone. We are Christians together. We can be Christians together without agreeing on a lot, although I would suggest that if we can agree on at least a few things upon which we can build a shared language and understanding, it enriches our relationships and builds a familiarity that connect us no matter what culture we come from. It helps us overcome barriers of culture, nationality, class. "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus." (Gal 3:28) Familiarity, family. Haha! Sometimes it's hardest to love our family.

In John's Gospel, Jesus prays that we may all be one and He and the Father are one. Unity is in the very heart of Christianity.

It has been said that the creeds divide us. Sadly this has been true. You don't have to write out a creed until the question of 'well, what exactly do we believe in common' comes up, and some people have one idea and others have another. But the alternative, not agreeing, in a growing community where people on one side of the continent will never meet those on the other, would be dissolution, rather than community. I'm sure there are analysts of some sort out there who could say for sure, but this seems to be a function of size. We don't eat the bread and wine together when we are many miles apart, but we can still share symbols and a certain degree of meaning.

OK, maybe this is just a long-winded way of justifying why I like what I like about the creeds. But just because a scalpel is designed for a healing function does not keep it from being put to destructive uses. Would we be better off without the scalpel because it can be misused?

[lunamoth]

OK, I'll press on. *I hardly ever write one long post, much less three. apologies!*

Back to the Episcopalian view. I'm going to paraphrase from the same source.
*start paraphrasing*

The Creed has to do, first of all with a Trinitarian God. Second of all, the second parapgraph is the longest and has the two themes of the unity of Jesus Christ with God the Father and the human life of Jesus. The belief that the Son of God came into this world and lived a human life is summed up in the word 'incarnation' (coming into flesh). God is best known in a human life.

But notice that the Creed does not explain the Trinity or the Incarnation' it simply asserts their truth....The great ecumenical councils that met in the fourth and fifth centuries considered and rejected (other possibilities) in favor of statements that rule out inadequate explanations without providing an explanation themselves. The Trinity and Incarnation remain mysteries; we can offer possible explanations and suggest ways of thinking about them that may be helpful, but the ultimate nature of God remains beyond human reason. (luna's insert: like a koan perhaps). It is appropriate, therefore, to put the Creed in the liturgy as part of our worship rather than insist on further explanations.

...(leaving out some nice parts here about the Trinity and Incarnation)...

Notice how the Creed as a theological statement functions to set boundaries or guidelines, while, as a part of our worship, it functions to open our lives to the mystery of God. The Creed is not intended to end debate so much as to guide the ongoing search for explanations.' *end paraphrase, emphasis mine*

[Thomas]

Hi Luna -

Notice how the Creed as a theological statement functions to set boundaries or guidelines, while, as a part of our worship, it functions to open our lives to the mystery of God. The Creed is not intended to end debate so much as to guide the ongoing search for explanations.'

Nice and informative posts.

Anselm (11thC) defined theology as 'faith seeking understanding' - and in this way the Creed is not a theological statement, it is a statement of faith, from which all theology flows ... it is the framework within which all thelogical investigation happens, and a safeguard against the speculative excesses of the imagination.

So, as you post, the Creed does not 'curtail' the debate as to give it a firm foundation; if one thinks on the creed, one can't go far wrong, and looking at the works of the doctors, saints, mystics and theologians down through the ages, the sky's the limit! One can hardly define their world as 'limited'.

Thomas