The Anti-Creed

There was a humorous moment in Sunday school this week when, in a discussion of the Baptist principle of "soul freedom", someone read from the American Baptist identity statement. In this statement which, when printed out runs about 3 pages, and is clearly longer than the Nicene Creed, we encountered the phrase "We accept no humanly devised confession or creed as binding." And that seemed to cover the "creed" that was being read from - a creed that negates the authority of creeds!

Of course, the irony is only apparent. The American Baptist statement is an attempt to give expression to points of faith, doctrine and practice that most American Baptists share. But it isn't a creed in the sense of an authoritative document that is imposed hierarchically from the top down.

Nevertheless, the apparent tension was striking. It is perhaps matched only by the experience of reading one of Paul's letters in English and getting to the point where he says that the letter kills...