Are the Creeds of any Value?
Wonderings around Dogma and Doctrine in a Post-Secular World
Critiquing or discounting creeds and dogmas is fashionable of late. But today, I will make a case for their value in the spirit that we all seek a mature spiritual life.
First, a little history.
Two thousand years ago, the ancient Near East, from Greece to India, down through Egypt, experienced a plethora of philosophies, religious movements, and cults of all kinds of imaginative thinking. On the one hand, it was a fertile engagement of human consciousness but also utter chaos. When the early followers of Jesus of Nazareth began forming communities, they saw the movement as a reforming of Judaism. This is why they started in synagogues, but this shifted with Paul's missionary travels to the Gentiles of the Mediterranean world. As the decades evolved, a whole variety of Christianities (is that a word?) emerged. Some had varied beliefs and teachings, and in some cases, the ideas were 180 degrees in opposition to one another.
As the early Christian faith was taking shape, it became necessary to clarify the teachings of this new faith. This led to the establishment of various statements of teachings, which became creeds and doctrines over time. (I've been reading a helpful overview by Robert Louis Wilken, The Spirit of Early Christian Thought if you are interested) In brief, these creeds, such as the Apostles, Nicene, and Athanasian Creeds, became the cornerstones of the early church. Looking back on this process from today's vantage point, one might offer critiques, noting who was favored and what ideas became dominant. But that's for another day.
But today, it's quite common for even regular church attendees to question aspects of the creeds. 100% affirmation of the Creeds. Seems hard to come by. As I’ve pointed out previously, 21st-century people often say, "I'm Spiritual but not religious because I don't believe in those creeds and dogmas."
Confession
I'll confess to looking at some aspects of these creeds and thinking, “I'm not sure that makes any sense to me, or Nope, I don't buy that line, or Wait, can we pause the worship service because this part of this Creed doesn't make sense to me.”
If you've read to this point and are still getting familiar with any of these Creeds, below are the earliest and the shortest. It's called the Apostle’s Creed and reads as follows:
I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth.
I believe in Jesus Christ, God's only Son, our Lord, who was conceived by the Holy Spirit,
born of the virgin Mary,
suffered under Pontius Pilate, was crucified, died, and was buried; he descended to the dead.*
On the third day he rose again; he ascended into heaven, he is seated at the right hand of the Father,
and he will come to judge the living and the dead.
I believe in the Holy Spirit,
the holy catholic church,
the communion of saints,
the forgiveness of sins,
the resurrection of the body, and the life everlasting. Amen.
*or, "he descended into hell,"
If you are outside or inside the Christian faith, you might wonder about those questions I mentioned above. What do some of these phrases mean?
How can one embrace these creeds, confessions, and doctrines that come from another point in human history? Here are three movements, approaches, tools, or concepts that have helped me through my years of wrestling with creeds and doctrines.
Movement # 1
“A map is not the actual territory.” In 1931, in New Orleans, Louisiana, mathematician Alfred Korzybski used this phrase to describe a particular problem.[1] (Please don't ask me to explain the math. I'm just glad I filed my taxes successfully last weekend.) But the saying has become a helpful way of capturing our use of metaphor. In this case, we must remember that the Creeds, doctrines, and dogmas are maps, but they are not the thing itself. We are attempting to find language that gets us to view God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit.
But, we human beings tend to literalize language. Or, as DH Lawrence once said using the same metaphor, “The map appears to us more real than the land.”[2] In other words, we tend to make the Apostle's Creed to be God or a god.
But that is not the purpose of the Creed. The map is not the territory.
Movement # 2
Author and professor Ann Ulanov tackled this in a Psychology and Religion course at Union Theological Seminary when she described the creeds as a foundational aspect needing our response. That's not her precise language, but it's close. The idea is that we need something to respond to and wrestle with. The creeds serve that purpose. Without them, we are grasping in thin air. A common refrain I hear from parents of young children regarding their decision not to raise them in a particular faith centers around the sentence, "I'll let them make up their mind as they grow up." While I'm all for people finding their way in life, by providing nothing for the children to engage, you aren’t helping them. People, especially children, need a place to put their feet down. Healthy ways to do this include providing flexibility and engagement and encouraging curiosity and wonder.
My point here is the creeds give us something to engage, even argue and fight with. When I taught confirmation to 7th and 8th graders, I often put up a poster of the Creed and said, “ok, find something in here that doesn't make sense to you.” This led to some beautiful conversations. These yutes learned that faith is not static but demands, even hopes, for a robust engagement. Let’s wrestle with this stuff, people! Our lives will be richer.
Movement # 3
Lastly, I'd like to dissect the word ‘believe.”
The Apostles and Nicene Creeds begin with I believe or We believe. When we read this word, we immediately jump to our default hyper-rationalist understanding of the word believe. It's an intellectual ascent or affirmation of what’s written down. “To think that something is true, correct or real,” as the Cambridge Dictionary says. But is that the original intent?
Diana Butler Bass did fine work on this subject in the book Christianity After Religion. She traces the language origins of “belief “ from the ancient Greek and Latin through the old Germanic and English languages. The various translations of the ancient words came down to us in the English-speaking world, with the word ‘believe’ understood as making an intellectual determination weighing evidence between multiple factors. Instead, Bass and other scholars help us revisit the intent of biblical literature and ancient creeds. The original language would translate those words more like ‘belove’ instead of ‘believe.’ When we ‘belove’ something or someone, it roots us in a relationship. More appropriate words for our time would substitute belief with trust, value, and love.
This shifts toward something more like a marriage vow. We say "I do" as a pledge of faithfulness and loving service to and with others. A marriage vow stating, “I believe you exist in a spatial reality standing here in front of me” does not signify the couple's relationship. But, I cherish you, love you, and trust in you is the intent of the vows at a wedding.
This has been helpful for me as I approach the creeds and doctrines of the church. Go back and read the Apostle’s Creed and substitute out the word believe, and in its place, try out trust, cherish, love, and devote. It changes our engagement and moves us toward a relational, experiential dynamic that moves us toward the state and direction of our hearts, souls, and minds.
All three tools have helped me view the Creeds as something akin to poetry. This map of faith gives me a starting point for a conversational relationship with the world; with Life; indeed with God.
I've been hanging out with the Sonnets of Malcolm Guite of late. His book Soundings the Seasons is now my holy book of this season in life and Lent. Below is his Sonnet on the Holy Trinity, one of the central doctrines reflected in the church's Creeds. We could use his Sonnets instead of Creeds in our liturgy on Sunday. Guite would not endorse that suggestion, but it is a way to expand our relationship with the sacred. (click the title of the poem to listen to Guite recite it)
In the Beginning, not in time or space,
But in the quick before both space and time,
In Life, in love, in co-inherent Grace,
In three in one and one in three, in rhyme,
In music, in the whole creation story,
In His own image, His imagination,
The Triune Poet makes us for His glory,
And makes us each the other’s inspiration.
He calls us out of darkness, chaos, chance,
To improvise a music of our own,
To sing the chord that calls us to the dance,
Three notes resounding from a single tone,
To sing the End in whom we all begin;
Our God beyond, beside us and within.
[1] Alfred Korzybski, American Mathematical Society December 28, 1931 http://esgs.free.fr/uk/art/sands-sup3.pdf
[2] D.H. Lawrence, From 'Study of Thomas Hardy,' in Edward D. McDonald (ed.), Phoenix: The Posthumous Papers of D.H. Lawrence (1936). Excerpted in Selected Critical Writings (1998), 20
Yes. That book is especially helpful. I have in mind an essay “Without Jung I Could not be a Christian.” Thanks much
I’m reading Jung’s “Psychology and Western Religion” with its helpful understanding of divine archetypes in the creeds. The idea that each person has their own encounter with the divine energies is powerful, frightful, and humbling. Peace.