I've finally discovered what I've been doing wrong in the Church of England.
All this time I thought that when I said the Creeds I was supposed to agree with them.
Now I've discovered its OK, provided they agreed with me.
No wonder its been a struggle!
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I don't know if it is commonly done in the C of E, but here in the States in liberal parishes the celebrant at Eucharist often introduces the Nicene Creed with the words (not found in even the theologically deficient 1979 BCP): "Now let us profess our faith in the 'historic' words of the Nicene Creed." That allows liberal parishioners and the liberal celebrant to have an "out." They can say the words merely as an "historical" exercise, without believing a syllable of the Creed themselves! The Nicene Creed is the sort of thing people used to believe long ago, after all, but reasonable types these days certainly need not. (Virgin birth? Resurrection of the body? Ha!) Nice touch, eh?
ReplyDeleteBTW, your "Virgin Birth test" for aspiring ordinands undercuts this trick nicely. I highly commend its adoption.
Rev. R.W. Foster
St. Vincent's School
Bedford, TX USA
Diocese of Fort Worth