Following Jesus without a creed

I identify myself as a non-creedal Christian. This is an important part of my Baptist tradition. Most Christians have grown up reciting some sort of creed. Typically it is the Apostles’ Creed. Sunday after Sunday the faithful recite the same words. On cue congregations with one voice repeat “I believe in God, the Father almighty, creator of heaven and earth …”

In most Christian churches and denominations, ministers are required at the time of ordination to embrace and uphold the churches’ creedal statements. Faculty members in most denominational seminaries are required to be committed to the creeds.

We Baptists, who are aware and informed about our traditions, speak of the four Baptist freedoms.

1) SOUL FREEDOM. We believe that every person has the freedom and responsibility to relate to God without interference of church, government, creed or clergy.

2) BIBLE FREEDOM. We believe every person is free to read and interpret the Bible and to apply the Bible’s teachings to daily life.

3) CHURCH FREEDOM. We believe the local church is free to determine its membership and the forms of worship and work, to elect its own leadership, and to select and ordain people gifted for special ministries.

4) RELIGIOUS FREEDOM. We advocate freedom of religion for everyone. We believe separation of church and state is healthy for both the church and the state.

Each of the four freedoms is a kind of declaration of independence. Each represents a reaction to experiences of religious oppression. Among Baptists, a favorite Bible quote is from Galatians chapter 5. “For freedom, Christ has set you free. Let no person put a yoke of bondage on you again.”

The most cruel of religious bondages is a creed. Creeds do at least two things. First, they seek to stabilize through conformity. Second, they set boundaries on the thinking of the faithful. They become the standard by which all heresies are measured. They numb the religious imagination.

The most commonly recited creed of the Christian church is the Apostles’ Creed. It is clearly the earliest of all the formal Christian creeds and probably dates back to the second century CE. However, the most influential creed is the Nicene Creed that was formulated in 325 CE at a council called by Constantine. Bishops of the church, reinforced by the Roman Emperor, created the statement with which the faithful could not disagree.

In the past century growing attention has been given to a search for the Jesus of history, the Jesus who grew up in Northern Palestine and became a popular non-conformist teacher. Anyone who becomes serious in the search for the Jesus of history finds himself/herself confronting the creedal Jesus. The stories that he told and the sayings that he left for us to ponder become more important than any creedal statement.

When I began my own intellectual journey to understand my relationship with Jesus of Nazareth, I thankfully did not have a commitment to the Christian creeds as truth. I was a Baptist and did not have the baggage of the creeds. I was an intellectually free person.

In the process, I was free to examine every phrase in the Christian creeds. It was not easy to question virgin birth, blood sacrifice, the resurrection from the dead and an ascension into the heavens. And just where is the right hand of God? Nothing lies outside of questioning and inquiry.

A part of my Baptist heritage is to recognize the freedom of Lutherans to be Lutherans, the Catholics to be Catholics, the Pentecostals to be Pentecostals, the Presbyterians to be Presbyterians, the Methodists to be Methodists, the Seventh Day Adventists to be Seventh Day Adventists, and even the Mormons to be Mormons.

Most Christians will continue to be creedal. They will continue to recite the church’s creeds. The creeds will continue to be the basis of their Christian education and training. Church-sponsored schools from kindergarten through graduate school will be guided by the creeds.

I wanted the readers of this column to know that there are devout followers who have chosen a different path toward understanding the Christian faith.

The Rev. Howard Bess is pastor emeritus of Church of the Covenant, an American Baptist church in Palmer, Alaska. His email address is hdbss@mtaonline.net.