Ah, the Creed. That part of the service that seemingly everyone has issues with. Do you say it or not? Do you cross your fingers during parts of it? Do you wish those who can't say it would just be deemed as heretics? As the video above suggests, do we say it like robots, or do we mean it? How about the seeker or newcomer that darkens the door of the Church? Do we expect them to immediately confess this Creed, or do we welcome them by letting them stand there confused while we chant words that seem rather odd to them?
Some of the issue with the Creed deals with the word "believe." So when we say "I believe in the Resurrection," what exactly are we saying? Some would say it means that we assent to the intellectual hypothesis that Jesus was resurrected from the dead. This understand would be the same as someone seeing it rain and saying, "I believe it is raining outside." It's a fact of observation.
This though is not really the intention of the Creed, as it is not a faithful translation of the word "believe." In her book The Case for God, Karen Armstrong does a word study on "believe." She notes that the word in the New Testament is the Greek pisteuo (and note, this is a verb, not a noun), and it means "trust, loyalty, engagement, commitment." This word would be translated into English as faith. But before it got to English, pistis (the noun form of belief) was translated at fides (meaning "loyalty" in Latin). But fides is a noun, and has no verbal form. So when the action was needed, the word credo was used, meaning "I give my heart to." Credo derived from cor do, so you might see the connection to words such as cardiology (heart). There were other words available though, opinor could have been used to convey a sense of opinion or intellectual thought, but credo was preferred. In the King James translation, both pisteuo and credo became "believe," which at the time was a decent translation. But over the years, especially with the rise of science in the 17th century, belief came to be more about opinion that it did action. In Middle English, believe was bileven, meaning "to prize, to hold dear, to value" and was derived from German words related to "belove." Belief was more about theory and the hypothetical than it was about trust.
This word study is important because the word "belief" trips a lot of people up. Today, you can believe that the world is flat and that is valid as a belief, because most people will say things like "belief is your opinion, as as long as your beliefs don't hurt me, you can believe whatever you'd like." But belief is more about what you do and how you do it than what you think.
A better translation of the Creed might be I dedicate myself to God...Jesus...the Holy Spirit. Or instead of dedicate, perhaps "trust," "am loyal to," "live for," or "love." The Creed really is a simple statement, with some explanations attached to it. At it's core, the Creed is "I belove God, I belove Jesus, I belove the Holy Spirit." And who is God? God is the creator of heaven and earth. Who is Jesus? Jesus is the son of God, who died and rose again. Who is the Spirit? The Spirit guides and animates the Church.
It has been said lex orandi, lex credendi- loosely translated as "what you pray will shape what you believe." The words of our liturgy will shape our thoughts about God, as well as our dedication to God. If we pray to God as if God is an angry Father who is hellbent on atonement, then we will live in fear of God and will act as if saving souls is the most important thing in the world. And if we pray to a God who cares for the widows and orphans, then we too will likely take up issues of justice.
And in the same way, if we say the Creed with our fingers crossed, like it's some sort of superstitious incantation, then we're likely going to see God as the old man in the sky who we're not really sure is even there. When we force the Creed to be something it was never meant to be, it becomes destructive, divisive, and confusing.
Remember, we don't worship the Creed, nor is it a lithmus test. Instead, the Creed is a prayer of devotion, an act of trust, words of hope. As Diana Butler Bass says, "a creed is considered a symbol of faith, not the faith itself." And, I think a lot of people's trepidation around the Creed comes from a confusion of these two.
In fact, the word "doctrine" comes from the French word "doctor" meaning "healing teaching." The creeds and other doctrinal statements are not meant to hurt or exclude, but instead to be life-giving instruments for healing division and confusion. Creeds were to draw people deeper into relationship with God, but often they are used as a reason for people to break up with the Church.
But you still might ask, "how do I love/dedicate myself to/trust in the Virgin birth? Our sinful nature that needed redeeming?" You might point out that the Creed comes out of a Greek world view and is obsessed with issues such as homoousios (substances and nature of being), which really aren't part of our worldview any longer. Maybe you're not sure about the final judgment.
Just like the Bible, the Creed was written in history by people with preconceived notions, biases, and agendas. And these people, just like the authors of the Bible, weren't perfect. But they were vessels for the Holy Spirit; and they put a lot of work, thought, blood, and discernment into developing the Creed. The Creed is a holy statement of belief (loving). In the same way that we use Biblical criticism (historical, literary, tradition, redaction, canonical, etc.) to better understand the Bible, we should apply this to the Creed. How we understand the Virgin Birth in the Creed should mirror how we interpret it in Scripture. But just because we have trouble with intellectual assent to the Virgin Birth, doesn't mean that we don't believe it (as in, see Truth in it, even if not historical truth).
Not to go off on a tangent, but whether or not Jesus was literally and historically born of a virgin doesn't mean much. This claim was made about him because, in his time, all savior figures were born of a virgin. For Jesus to be seen as Messiah, he had to have been born of a virgin, in the same way that the Emperor was also born of a virgin. So to claim the truth of the Virgin Birth is to claim it as an actual fact of history; but to claim it as Truth, it testifies to Jesus as Messiah. And this Truth is more important than any historical truth. Historical truths happened, they stay in the past. But Truths transcend time and affect us today. So I'd much rather have a Bible and Creed full of Truth than one full of truth. And this is how I read the Creed- it contains some truths of history, some theological claims that are not rooted in history, but it all points to the Truth of God.
Now how to decide what is historical truth and what isn't? This is where the legacy of Richard Hooker guides me in his speaking of the via media and grounding in scripture, reason, and tradition. I don't decide that the Virgin Birth is metaphor and the Resurrection is historical, or vice versa. I realize that more than speaking about fact in either instance (historical or not), it refers to Truth first and foremost. But beyond that, we debate such issues by being grounded in Scripture which testifies to Jesus as the Word of God, we do it in the community of tradition, and we use our skills of reason and critical thinking.
So back to the point I was making- in the same way that we don't worship the Bible as the word of God, we shouldn't put too much emphasis on the Creed as the be-all, end-all of faith. Instead, our focus should be on the Word of God, and that is Jesus (John 1). The Bible testifies not to itself as word of God, but to Jesus as the Word of God, and the Creed does the same. Jesus it the measuring stick which we measure all things against- Bible, Creed, Church doctrine, etc.
It is with this broader and more nuanced view that I faithfully, confidently, and prayerfully proclaim the Creed in the Daily Office or Sunday Eucharist. The Creed is a product of history, but I do trust that it was faithfully written and guided by the Holy Spirit. I proclaim it because in fact, I do love, dedicate myself to, and trust God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, and the Truth about God conveyed in the Creed.
Questions? Comments? Disagreements?
