Creed
religion
also called confession of faith
Main
an authoritative formulation of the beliefs of a religious community
(or, by transference, of individuals). The terms “creed” and “confession
of faith” are sometimes used interchangeably, but when distinguished
“creed” refers to a brief affirmation of faith employed in public
worship or initiation rites, while “confession of faith” is generally
used to refer to a longer, more detailed, and systematic doctrinal
declaration. The latter term is usually restricted to such declarations
within the Christian faith and is especially associated with churches of
the Protestant Reformation. Both creeds and confessions of faith were
historically called symbols, and the teachings they contain are termed
articles of faith or, sometimes, dogmas.
The role of belief within religion is interpreted differently in the
various empirical disciplines and by the proponents of particular
theological or philosophical positions. Traditionally, it has been
considered the primary factor in religion, but some modern scholars
often regard beliefs as rationales for ritual, that is to say, as
secondary expressions of religious experience or as a posteriori
ideological sanctions for social and cultural patterns. The present
article follows a current anthropological and sociological tendency to
define religion as a symbolic system in which ideas and their
concomitant attitudinal aspects and actions provide to an individual or
group a model of itself and its world. From this perspective, every
religion involves distinctive views or beliefs regarding the nature of
ultimate reality.
Creeds in the major religions » Origins and functions of creeds
These beliefs, however, need not be explicitly articulated but may be
wholly embedded and transmitted in rituals, myths, and social structures
and practices. This is especially true in primitive religions. Even when
differentiated from other factors, beliefs are frequently not stated in
creedal form but are diffusely expressed in sacred writings, legal
codes, liturgical formulas, and theological and philosophical
reflection. This was true in the ancient cultural religions of Egypt,
Mesopotamia, Greece, and Rome, and in traditional Hinduism,
Confucianism, and Taoism. When, however, a religion is transmitted from
one culture to another (as from Semitic to Hellenistic; i.e., Palestine
to Rome) or claims some degree of universal or exclusive truth, formal
creeds often develop as aids in maintaining continuity and identity.
They serve this purpose because the relative abstractness,
comprehensiveness, and concentration of the verbal expressions of
beliefs enable them to serve better than most other forms of religious
symbolism as stable identifying marks in pluralistic, changing,
proselytizing, and missionary situations.
Creeds in the full sense are therefore found only in so-called
universal religions, such as Zoroastrianism, Buddhism, Judaism,
Christianity, Islām, and certain modern Hindu movements (e.g., Brahmo
Samaj). Even here they are of variable importance, with some groups
rejecting all formal creeds. Confessions are less common. They function
to define the distinctive beliefs of opposing or uniting groups within a
given religion or to formulate doctrines appropriate to new
circumstances, and are chiefly a Christian phenomenon during the period
from the Reformation to the present.
Creeds in the major religions » Religions of the East
Related to creeds in the full sense are certain words and phrases which
have partially creedal functions. Terms like tao (literally, the “way”)
in Taoism or li (rules of propriety) and hsiao (filial piety) in
Confucianism summarize fundamental emphases of the religious systems of
which they are a part. The endlessly repeated mantra (evocative sacred
syllables) of magic invocation, Oṃ mani padme hūṃ (“O, the jewel in the
lotus”), especially popular in Tibetan Buddhism, is in one sense a
profession of belief in the Avalokiteśvara (jewel’s) presence in the
world (lotus). Various Hindu mantras, most notably the Gāyatrī prayer
from the Rigveda (Ṛgveda) (3.62.10) that is learned as part of the
initiation rites of Brahmin youth, also serve in part as professions of
faith. Indeed, it is primarily through liturgical utterances (e.g., the
Lord’s Prayer in Christianity), that religious identity is signalized
and faith confessed in most religions.
More specifically creedal is the early thrice-repeated tri-ratna of
Hīnayāna Buddhism: “I take my refuge in the Buddha. I take my refuge in
the dharma (doctrine). I take my refuge in the saṅgha (monastic
community).”
Creeds in the major religions » Religions of the West
Even earlier perhaps are such Zoroastrian formulations as “I profess
myself a Mazdāh-worshipper, a Zarathustrian, enemy of the demons,
servant of the Lord” (Yasna 12,1), whereby the believer declared himself
a monotheist, a member of a specific community, and a dualist.
Creeds in the major religions » Religions of the West » Islām
The intensely anti-polytheistic faith of Islām is summed up in the
shahādah: “there is no God but God; Muḥammad is the Prophet of God.”
This is proclaimed in the daily calls to prayer from every mosque, and
every Muslim must recite it aloud with full comprehension and assent at
least once in his life, and profess it without hesitation until his
death. Doctrinal disputes have contributed to the development of
additional creedal formulations called ʿaqāʾid (singular, ʿaqīdah), but
these do not divide Islām into clearly marked confessional groupings or
denominations such as exist in Christianity.
Creeds in the major religions » Religions of the West » Judaism
In Judaism, the central affirmations of belief are parts of worship;
e.g., the confessions of the oneness of God in the Shema (Deut. 6:4
“Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God is one Lord”) and of the resurrection
of the dead in the amidah (standing prayer). Of the various medieval
attempts to formulate creeds, the most enduring has been Maimonides’
Thirteen Principles of Faith, but these have never become formally
binding. The Reform movement’s doctrinal declarations, such as the
Pittsburgh Platform (1885), have been without lasting influence. The
reason for this paucity of creeds is that Jewish identity has been
chiefly defined in terms of the observance of the commandments and of
the Oral Law, not the acceptance of doctrines.
Creeds in the major religions » Religions of the West » Christianity
In Christianity, in contrast, there are over 150 officially recognized
creeds and confessions. In part this is because the church was from the
beginning doctrinally oriented, making the acceptance of a specific
kerygma (proclamation) a condition for membership. The faith of the
community was expressed in acclamations such as “Jesus is Lord” (e.g.,
Rom. 10:9, I Cor. 12:3) and in longer, partly stereotyped summaries of
essential beliefs (e.g., I Cor. 15:3 ff.) For the New Testament
community, in contrast to some Christian groups in later times, a
creedless Christianity was inconceivable.
Fully formed creeds first developed for use in baptismal rites and
catechetical instruction. They generally had three sections concerned
with God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit, but were
variable in wording and content and only gradually became standardized.
This process culminated in the West in the Apostles’ Creed, which is
now almost universally recognized by Western churches, and is still used
in baptismal rites as well as public worship by Catholics and most
Protestants. This creed is wholly derived from New Testament
affirmations, but the 5th-century legend that the Twelve Apostles were
its authors is without foundation. Not until the 8th century is it
quoted in its present wording. Its sources, however, are to be found in
earlier baptismal creeds, most probably in the Old Roman Symbol, which
appears to go back in its essentials to the 2nd century. As is true of
other creeds, it is in part intended to exclude heretical views. For
example, against Gnosticism and Marcionism (dualistic heresies), it
emphasizes that God, not an evil demiurge, is the creator of the world,
and against docetic views that Jesus was a heavenly being with a phantom
body, it insists that he was born of the Virgin Mary and actually
suffered and died and was buried.
The Nicene Creed exists in two versions and represents a new type of
doctrinal statement. It was first formulated at Nicaea in 325 by the
first of the universal, or ecumenical, councils, after Christianity
became the official religion of the Roman Empire, and was designed not
as a baptismal confession but as a binding standard of orthodox
teachings. Its second version has become the most fully ecumenical of
Christian creeds, accepted in East and West alike, including the major
Protestant bodies. In Eastern churches, it is regularly employed in both
Baptism and eucharistic worship; in the West, only in the Eucharist, and
chiefly by Roman Catholics, Anglicans, and Lutherans.
The first version of this formulary is that promulgated at the
Council of Nicaea in 325, but the second version, the
“Niceno-Constantinopolitan Creed,” which has everywhere become standard
and is generally referred to as the Nicene Creed, was affirmed at the
Council of Chalcedon (451) as the Nicene “faith of the 150 fathers”
(i.e., the Council of Constantinople of ad 381). In 4th- and 5th-century
usage, “the Nicene faith” did not refer to the creed of Nicaea as such,
but rather to its teaching.
Both versions make the same fundamental affirmations against the
Arian heresy that denied the equality of the Father and the Son,
asserting that Jesus Christ, the Son of God, is homoousios (“of one
substance”) with the Father. They are also both derived from Eastern
baptismal formulas, though which ones is in dispute.
The filioque clause, affirming that the Spirit proceeds “from the
Son” as well as the Father, was inserted into the text in Spain during
the 6th century and gradually spread to all Western churches, but was
probably not used in Rome itself until 1014. Eastern Christians continue
to reject this addition, though now they do not generally regard it as
heretical, especially if it is understood in the sense of “through the
Son.”
The Athanasian Creed, also called the Quicumque vult from its initial
words, is the last of what in the West are regarded as the three
catholic or ecumenical creeds. It has received some slight recognition
in the East, but only since the 16th century. While officially accepted
in the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran communions, its liturgical
use has greatly declined in recent centuries. In part this is because it
is in form more a theological exposition than a creed, and in part
because of the damnatory clauses that exclude from salvation all those
who do not accept every detail of its teaching. The main themes are the
nature of Christ and the Trinity, and these are developed in opposition
not only to Arianism but also apparently to later heresies such as
Nestorianism and Eutychianism. While its doctrine can in general be
attributed to the 4th-century Church Father Athanasius, he was not its
author. It probably originated in southern France about 450–500,
although there is no scholarly consensus on this point.
Confessions of the Christian faith » Origins and functions of
confessions
Official doctrine has chiefly developed during later periods of church
history by the formulation of confessions of faith, rather than new
creeds. This process did not begin, however, until the 16th-century
Reformation. During the Middle Ages, dogmas evolved slowly, almost
unconsciously, and then were ratified from time to time by decisions of
the church councils, such as the decision on the seven sacraments at the
Council of Ferrara-Florence in 1439. The Protestant Reformers, however,
were confronted with the need to define and make legitimate their views
over against the established system, and thus issued comprehensive
manifestos that, much more than the early creeds, were not only
catalogues of beliefs but also interpretations and apologies for them.
The Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox churches responded with their
own confessional statements.
Confessions of the Christian faith » Origins and functions of
confessions » Lutheran confessions
The Augsburg Confession (1530) was the first of these statements, and
still remains the most authoritative standard in Lutheran churches. It
(as well as the Apology of the Augsburg Confession of 1531) was written
by Philipp Melanchthon and approved by Martin Luther, and presents an
irenic statement aiming to show that the pope and his allies, not the
Reformers, had departed from Scripture and the tradition of the early
Fathers. Luther’s Small Catechism also enjoys official status in all
Lutheran churches and has been determinative for most Lutheran preaching
and instruction. The Formula of Concord (1577) further defined the
Lutheran position in reference to controversies both within and outside
the ranks. These four writings, together with the Large Catechism
(1529), the Schmalkald Articles, and the Treatise were assembled into
the Book of Concord (1580), which has official status in many Lutheran
churches.
Confessions of the Christian faith » Origins and functions of
confessions » Reformed churches confessions
In the Reformed tradition stemming from John Calvin (1509–64) and
Huldrych Zwingli (1484–1531), each national church produced its own
confessional documents. No one of these is authoritative for all, though
some (e.g., the Heidelberg Catechism; 1563) are widely esteemed and
used. In Switzerland, the First (1536) Helvetic Confession and the
Second (1566) Helvetic Confession are the most generally accepted. The
French Gallican Confession of 1559 is much admired, and in the Low
Countries, the Belgic Confession of 1561 is important. The Netherlands
was also the site of the international Synod of Dort (1619) that
presented an especially rigid statement of Calvinism against Arminianism
(a view that asserted the compatibility of God’s sovereignty and man’s
free will). This same emphasis, combined with Puritan covenantal
theology, is reflected in the English Westminster Confession of 1646
that in Scotland replaced the Scots Confession in 1560, was adopted with
modifications by Congregationalists and many Baptists, and still remains
standard for American Presbyterian churches, though with some revisions.
Confessions of the Christian faith » Origins and functions of
confessions » The Anglican Communion
The Thirty-nine Articles (1563) is the only doctrinal formulation other
than the early creeds recognized in the Church of England and its
offshoots, but its authority is not great. In the Anglican Communion,
The Book of Common Prayer plays the identity-sustaining role served by
confessions in Lutheran and Reformed churches. The Thirty-nine Articles,
abbreviated to 25, are also the chief doctrinal standard in the
Methodist churches, but their authority is uncertain.
Confessions of the Christian faith » Origins and functions of
confessions » Confessions of other Protestant groups
Confessional documents are of little significance for most of the
radical groups (e.g., Anabaptists) coming out of the Reformation. To be
sure, the Anabaptist Schleitheim Confession (1527) was historically
important, the Dordrecht Confession (1632) still has some standing in
Mennonite churches, and various Baptist and Congregationalist statements
could also be mentioned. The general tendency in these churches,
however, has been to oppose formal creeds and confessions for fear of
stifling the workings of the Holy Spirit or imperilling the sole
authority of the Bible or, in theologically liberal circles, endangering
freedom of thought and conscience.
Confessions of the Christian faith » Origins and functions of
confessions » Roman Catholic doctrinal statements
Roman Catholic doctrinal statements are not usually called confessions,
but the presentation of the distinctive points of Catholic dogma in the
Decrees and Canons of the Council of Trent (1564) is as fully elaborated
as are Protestant confessional writings. The dogmatic constitutions of
the first Vatican Council (1869–70) and papal definitions of the dogmas
of the Immaculate Conception (1854) and of the Assumption (1950) also
have some of the character of confessions.
Confessions of the Christian faith » Origins and functions of
confessions » Eastern Orthodox doctrinal statements
Eastern Orthodoxy responded to Protestant and Roman Catholic challenges
with the confessions of Peter Mogila, Metropolitan of Kiev, in 1643 and
of Dosítheos, the Patriarch of Jerusalem, in 1672, both adopted by the
Synod of Jerusalem (1672), as well as with the Catechism of Philaret,
Metropolitan of Moscow, revised and approved by the Holy Synod in 1839.
The Orthodox, however, place little emphasis on these documents, for
they regard only the Nicene Creed with its Chalcedonian additions as
fully authoritative, and in practice also treat their historic liturgies
as doctrinally more important than later statements.
Confessions of the Christian faith » Creeds and confessions today
Recently new types of confessions have begun to emerge. With the decline
of state churches, confessions are no longer legally established norms
and can once again regain their original function of witnessing to basic
convictions. Especially notable in this respect is the Barmen
Declaration, formulated in 1934 by a group of Reformed and Lutheran
churchmen in opposition to the Nazi-influenced “German Christians.”
Because of the advance of the ecumenical movement, recent confessional
statements have usually been unitive rather than divisive. The doctrinal
basis of the World Council of Churches is limited to the affirmation
that it is “a fellowship of churches which accept our Lord Jesus Christ
as God and Savior” (1961). Preparation of joint Protestant and Roman
Catholic official translations into English of the Apostles and Nicene
Creeds commenced in 1969. Another characteristic of contemporary
doctrinal statements, such as those of the Roman Catholic second Vatican
Council (1962–64) and the Presbyterian (U.S.A.) Confession of 1967, is
the attempt to reformulate traditional beliefs in ways appropriate to
modern circumstances.
Despite these developments, creeds and confessions are losing
influence in both Christian and non-Christian groups. They are, among
other things, often attacked as obstacles to the individual’s freedom of
thought. This objection applies with special force against a fideistic
attitude, such as is illustrated in extreme form by the well-known
saying attributed traditionally, though not altogether correctly, to the
2nd-century North African Church Father Tertullian, credo quia absurdum
est, “I believe because it is absurd.” It is less applicable to another
ancient and theologically more common approach summed up in the 11th-
and 12th-century theologian Anselm’s (and, in a somewhat different
wording, Augustine’s) classic phrase, credo ut intelligam, “I believe in
order that I may understand.” The latter view claims that true faith
promotes rather than suppresses inquiry and intellectual liberty.
Yet, whatever the merits of such views, doctrinal convictions are
clearly weakening, even in traditionally creedal and confessional
bodies. The search for creedless religion is widespread. There is the
possibility, however, that this trend may be eventually reversed because
the quest for religious community is also strong, and may require the
formation or re-affirmation of community-identifying beliefs; i.e., of
creeds or confessions.
George Arthur Lindbeck
