The Necessity of Creeds for Common Affirmation - With Special Reference to the Nicene Creed

Paper given to the Scottish Church Theology Society, Crieff, January 1981 and to a joint conference of the Church Service Society and Scottish Church Society, Edinburgh, March 1981. The original Greek used the plural, 'We believe', and is like entering a medieval cathedral, a faith which surrounds our personal belief. The origins of the Creed in the Arian controversy. The filioque clause. The later prominence of the Apostles' Creed in the West, also the Athanasian. The seventeenth century revolt against the Creeds, the modern ecumenical movement recovering their importance. The paper asks, what do we mean by 'creeds', are they necessary, what is the nature of a 'common affirmation'.