Creeds: subversive statements, acts of defiance
In a world that wants to reject creeds ("I'm spiritual, but not religious"), Luke Timothy Johnson sees Christian statements of belief as "subversive documents" rather than doctrinal straight-jackets.Martin Marty agrees, arguing further that contemporary anti-creedalism has become a creed in and of itself:
Tell me you are 'spiritual but not religious;' that you are reading gospels that say you are God, or God is in you, or you are in God; and that 'vibrations,' 'connections,' and 'energies' in the universe should be the focus of your ultimate concern; and I can an outline 'your' creed as clearly as you can grasp the Nicene Creed.As a proud proponent of creeds, I've come to think of reciting a statement of belief each Sunday as an act of defiance.
Our implicit cultural creed goes something like this:
We believe in the power of consumption; that purchasing power creates good living; that the purpose of humanity is to consume; that our individual wants should be met by the marketplace; and that the greatest number of product choices equals the highest good.Want an example? I recently heard someone complain about living in Turkey in the 1980's: "You could buy fresh tomatoes for 3 cents a pound, but you couldn't get tomato paste or tomato sauce anywhere. There were absolutely no value-added tomato products. What sort of choices do you have in a place like that?"
What sort of choices do you need in "value-added" tomato products when you can joing friends and family in making your own sauce or paste?
No doubt that the man who made the remark considers himself Christian. But he was looking at Turkey through consumerist eyes, not the eyes of the gospel.
So when a congregation stands in worship to say the Apostle's Creed, the Nicene Creed, or A Brief Statement of Faith (you can find all of these and more here), or when members of a synagogue recite the shema, it's a collective act of defiance against the creed of the culture.
Now: How do we get people to grasp the subversive and defiant nature of our creeds, rather than mumbling them mindlessly as over-familiar formulas of faith?
.: Posted by Duane Bidwell on Wednesday, June 09, 2004
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