A Weblog Dedicated to the Discussion of the Christian Faith and 21st Century Life

A Weblog Dedicated to the Discussion of the Christian Faith and 21st Century Life
___
I do not seek to understand that I may believe, but I believe in order to understand. For this also I believe, –that unless I believed, I should not understand.-- St. Anselm of Canterbury (1033-1109)

Saturday, February 01, 2014

Saturday at the Cinema: Reading Scripture Through the Lens of the Creeds

Richard makes his case recounting his friend Tom Wright's "grumpy reaction" to it. For what it's worth, I side more with Richard on reading Scripture through the lens of the creeds than with Tom's aversion to it; though I am a big fan of Tom Wright. Hays is right-- canon and creed require one another.

3 comments:

bthomas said...

Better, read the creeds through Scripture. No creed is ever authority. It is merely a statement, regardless of those who wrote it or the era in which they wrote.

Robert Cornwall said...

As a Disciple, which is a creedless tradition, I find the creeds a helpful but culturally bound lens. We need to hear that voice, but we must also go back to the source and let it speak anew.

Allan R. Bevere said...

Hi Bob,

Yes, I realize you belong to a creedless creedal tradition. :-)

I agree that creeds come to us in a particular time and place, but so does everything, including Scripture. In postmodern fashion we cannot view anything otherwise.

The issue for me here is that while the creeds are that "culturally bound lens," as you say, they nevertheless deal with issues that strike at the heart of the faith. They deal with questions that we too must answer in the 21st century. To be sure, the creeds are not the final and exhaustive word on Christology, for example, but they present a decisive word that must always be swirling in the background of our theological reflections, even when we debate theological matters the early theologians never considered. The reason this must be is because their questions remain necessary questions for us.