Sunday, September 10, 2006

Eis mian hagian, katholiken kai apostoliken ekklesiao

[And I believe] in one Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church
I'd imagine that all the Christian denominations/traditions today affirm the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed, even if it is with some reservations.
The above statement appears in that ancient creed.
A lot of Christian groups are going around trying to help people "believe in the Bible" and encouraging people that they can "believe every word written there". I came across the "Creation Science Club" on campus at SEMO this week. They're there to help college students know that their belief in a literal six-day creation is consistent with the best science.
Also, this week in a discussion about Scripture and Tradition, a friend accused of replacing the Bible with the Church. I'm pretty sure that the Protestant Reformation replaced the Church with the Bible 500 years ago.

This creed, which was affirmed in council by Christian leaders and lay from all over the known world at the time, affirms belief in the Church. How did that that faith come to rest in the Scriptures, instead of the actual Body of Christ, the fullness of Him who fills all in all?

It is not wise to argue from the absence of any statement about the Holy Scriptures in the Creed. However, it should be noted that the Church is treated as an object of faith (eis) just the same as the Persons of the Holy Trinity.

What does this mean for us in our practice/understanding of the faith?

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I'm confused. Are you saying that scripture is not trustworthy and true, or just that we (meaning us protestants i guess) have in some way fallen short of total accuracy by not holding the church on the level with scripture. Or are you saying something altogether different, and I'm missing it entirely.
Nick
PS: I'm asking in all sincerity, to learn, not argue.