Pelikan on “The Need for Creeds”
Even though I mostly enjoy the interviews on American Public Media’s Speaking of Faith with Krista Tippet, the series is usually a little fuzzy-wuzzy and left-of-center for my taste. Hey, it’s public radio, not EWTN…what do you expect?
That’s why I was pleasantly surprised to see both this topic and interviewee on the show:
The Jaroslav Pelikan on “The Need for Creeds”
Audio of the interview (mp3, 53:27)
Episode webpage
The interview with the late theologian and late-in-life convert to the Orthodox Church from Lutheranism was recorded in 2003. He died on May 13, 2006.
Here’s a transcript of an excerpt I found particularly quotable:
Tippet: So, what is it about Christianity that has needed creeds?
Pelikan: Well, what it is about religious faith that needs creed is that religious faith in general, prayer addressed to “to whom it may concern”, sentiment about some transcendent dimension otherwise undefined does not have any staying power. It’s OK to have that at ten o’clock on a Sunday morning when you’re out with your friends somewhere, but in the darkest hours of life you gotta believe something specific. And that specification is the task of the creed. Because, much as some people may not like it, to believe one thing is also to disbelieve another.
Tippet: *curtly* Huh.
Pelikan: To say yes is also to say no.
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March 28, 2008 at 4:54 am
-Hey, it’s public radio, not EWTN…what do you expect?-
I wish there were something else! I listen to NPR a lot. (I live in Arizona and, when not drinking Heineken, I am usually driving. It’s all about distance in rural Arizona! And the only news station is NPR). There is a “Christian” radio station, and it’s news program is excellent (they simply state the events, what people said , and do not editorialize), but it is available only at certain hours. So, it’s either listen to NPR with my kids, or listen to shake-your-booty on radio.
Of course, sometimes NPR is worse (as when they ridiculed Papa Benedict about homosexuality), but most of the time, I have to listen to National Palestinian Radio…
March 28, 2008 at 1:22 pm
To the point on creeds, I have to go back to a moment on my faith journey that makes what Pelikan had to say ring true for me. In the days of my spiritual wanderings, I remember going to a Unitarian church with a Friend. That particular day was a “communion” service. The medium they used for the Communion was Cornbread, to give homage to the Native Americans, and their spirituality. The Prayer before communion went something like …”Dear God, Allah, Buddha, Vishnu, Great Spirit, Jesus, we ask you to bless this …”
I remember vividly how it was an attempt to be inclusive, and cover all the bases. Which is in “theory” a good thing. However, I couldn’t help but feel that, by appealing to everyone, you actually appeal to no one; if you believe in everything, you believe in nothing, really. As Mr. Pelikan is quoted as saying …”Because, much as some people may not like it, to believe one thing is also to disbelieve another.” This consecration prayer was appealing to differeing world views, and most of those world views are contradictory.
In retrospect, it reminded me of the old athiest syllogisim that, because different religions make contradictory claims, they cannot all be true, and cancel eachother out (algebraically); making none of them true. I can tell you that at least personally, this well-intentioned pastor made me believe less; not more.
It is ironic that the church in question started as a Congregationalist church, and had changed its denominational affiliation to Unitarian. Now, I might get flamed for this, but I have read in more than one place from more than one person (albeit this is a weak rhetorical Appeal to Authority) that the natural devolutionary flow of the Protestant experiment is from Protestantism to Unitarianism; reaching its final terminus in Atheism.
Maybe that’s another story for another day.
March 28, 2008 at 2:22 pm
Tippet: *curtly* Huh.
Perhaps Krista Tippet would have not been caught off guard if pre-interview research had revealed one of Dr. Pelikan’s favorite quotes.
“Was du ererbt von deinen Vaetern hast, Erwirb es um es zu besitzen”
“Take what you have inherited from your fathers and work to make it your own.”
March 28, 2008 at 2:51 pm
Rob: I listen to NPR often (I particularly enjoy Fresh Air and This American Life) and have done so for so long that I automatically adjust my brain for the leftward lean when processing what I’m hearing (a feat which I reverse if when listening to commercial talk radio or on the rare occasion I find myself watching Fox News.)
I don’t, however, expect my kids to be able to do so. Some of the stuff has caused me to shut off the radio or have to have a quick “huh, how do I explain THIS in a age appropriate way?” That’s one of the reason why we usually just listen to the mp3 player when the kids are in tow.
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PMG: It reminds me of the old quip about being so open-mind that your brain falls out. Perhaps one can be so open-hearted that their soul falls out?
I am of the opinion that the Reformation laid the ground work for the skepticism and cynicism that has ended up in the secular, humanistic landscape of the contemporary West. I don’t think that was the point of the exercise for those on both sides who brought that tragedy about, but that’s the way I see it.
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bpfick: Yeah, that “huh” said a mouthful. I was so happy that idea was going out over the airwaves on public radio on Sunday morning.
And, I agree that even if we don’t CHANGE the content of those things which are delivered to us by our fathers, we do have to UNDERSTAND what they said and OWN it. And this requires translating, reflection and, once we become the fathers, transmitting it to the next generation.
March 29, 2008 at 5:28 am
I feel the need…the need for creed! (to abuse Top Gun, the movie of my childhood)
As a severely disaffected, Rome and Constantinople loving Protestant, I have begun to think that Protestantism leads to anti-trinitarianism of various forms (unitarianism, deism, etc) and then finally to atheism. Whether it’s *necessary* or not, that’s the factual history of most Protestant nations since the Reformation. You can trace the intellectual and social history of the rise of modernity back to Luther, and behind him probably to the voluntarists and nominalists of the middle ages.
May 10, 2008 at 11:56 am
It may be a little late to reply, but I want to say that it was the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed that has truly given me confidence in my faith and helped me grow closer to the Holy Trinity. Thanks.
td