Since April 2005 National Public Radio has been running a series called This I Believe . Americans from all walks of life and backgrounds are invited to "share the personal philosophies and core values that guide their daily lives." The program sponsors have a commendable goal: that this will help Americans develop a mutual respect and toleration for the beliefs of others. The series was inspired by a similar radio series in the early 1950s hosted by Edward R. Murrow, in which 25 prominent Americans stated their credos (Credo is the Latin for "I believe").
Hieronymus' first impulse was to submit his credo - the text of the Apostles' Creed or the Nicene Creed. But when I got to the This I Believe Submission Agreement, I found that "by clicking the I ACCEPT button below you affirm that this essay is original to you." Well, I've always taken some comfort in having a credo in common with other Christians, and I'm suspicious of "original" religious ideas. But after all, it was a personal essay they wanted, not a copy of a creed. If you browse through the hundreds of essays on file on the This I Believe website, you will see that a number of Christians have indeed used either the Nicene Creed or the Apostles' Creed as a starting point for their essays. Some of them have done a fine job explaining how these beliefs make a difference in how they live.
Christians through the centuries have said "I believe" in unison. These creeds and confessions have been formulated in response to different situations and historical circumstances, but have been drawn up so that believers could corporately confess their faith. Where can you find copies of these creeds and confessions?
Creeds & Confessions of Faith in the Christian Tradition, edited by Jaroslav Pelikan (1923-2006) and Valerie Hotchkiss (New Haven : Yale University Press, 2003) (Hekman Library BT990 .C653 2003 ) is a 4-volume (with CD-ROM) standard reference work with the following contents:
- v. 1. Rules of faith in the early church. Eastern
Orthodox affirmations of faith. Medieval Western
statements of faith - v. 2. Creeds and confessions of
the Reformation era - v. 3. Statements of faith in
modern Christianity - v. [4]. Credo : historical and theological guide to Creeds and confessions of faith in the Christian tradition. This final volume, written by Pelikan, surveys the history of these creeds and discusses issues and controversies about the function and formulating of creeds.
See the Speaking of Faith radio program, "The Need for Creeds," including Krista Tippett's 2003 interview with Jaroslav Pelikan.
This work by Pelikan and Hotchkiss replaces the standard work by nineteenth-century church historian Philip Schaff, The Creeds of Christendom (originally published in 1877), although Schaff is still worth consulting. The three volumes of Schaff's work are conveniently available through the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL): v. 1 The History of Creeds ; v.2 The Greek and Latin Creeds ; and v. 3 The Evangelical Protestant Creeds .
