Creed, The. What We Believe and Why It Matters

"...the Christian creed enunciates a powerful and provocative understanding of the world, one that ought to scandalize a world that runs on the accepted truths of Modernity. There is something in the creed to offend virtually every contemporary sensibility. At the same time, it communicates a compelling vision of the world's destiny and humanity's role that challenges the accustomed idolatries and the weary platitudes of current worldly wisdom. Christians who say these words should know what they are doing when they say them and what they are saying when they mean them. This is the precondition to their celebrating a specifically Christian conception of reality, and the presupposition for their challenging the dominant conceptions of the world where they should be challenged." (Luke Timothy Johnson, page 7, in The Creed. What Christians Believe and Why It Matters)

In this nine-part series, we took up the challenge of understanding the powerful and provocative Christian conception of reality that we proclaim each Sunday morning when we recite the Creed.

Also see our series on the Creed based on Hans Küng's book Credo. The Apostles' Creed Explained for Today, and our series on the Creed based on Rowan William's book Tokens of Trust, An Introduction to Christian Belief.

Presentations were by David Monyak.