The best ideas are common property
A pilgrim in Castile and León, en route to Santiago de Compostela. In J. R. R. Tolkien’s The Two Towers, the hobbits Frodo and Sam attempt to cross a treacherous swamp called the Dead Marshes. Their guide is Gollum, who murderously craves the Ring of Power that Frodo carries. Apparently reformed, Gollum has promised to lead the …
Continue reading "Less power, more grace: final words on creeds"
Delegates celebrating unity at the 11th Assembly of the World Council of Churches, Karlsruhe, Germany, September 2022. In my last post, I outlined three core purposes of creeds. Here, I outline four more purposes of creeds that guarantee their enduring relevance for the church. First, creeds serve an apologetic purpose. While Judaism has the Shema, Muslims have the Shahadah and Tashahhud, and some …
House of St Ananias, Damascus, said to be the place where Ananias baptised Saul who became Paul the Apostle. Creeds should not be forced upon people nor used for leverage in power disputes. Yet they have the potential to do much good. Creeds are public statements of biblical doctrines through which Christians and churches affirm …
When I moved from Queensland to New South Wales in 1998, it took some time for the NSW Baptists to credential me. In Queensland, where I had been engaged in church planting, the denomination moved quickly to accredit me as a minister of religion so that I could be licensed as a marriage celebrant. It was …
Continue reading "A statement of beliefs commonly held by Baptists"
I have written elsewhere on the danger of dogma. Here, I want to explore the potential weaknesses of (over)reliance on Christian creeds and confessions in the life of the church. Recently, in an unprecedented move, a group of American theologians and pastors within the Southern Baptist Convention (SBC) moved to amend their denomination’s confessional statement, “The …
Continue reading "Should churches enforce conformity to creeds?"
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