Re: Nicene Creed

From: George Murphy (gmurphy@raex.com)
Date: Wed Jun 18 2003 - 05:56:30 EDT

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    Iain Strachan wrote:
    >
    > George Murphy:
    >
    > > gordon brown wrote:
    > > >
    > > > I just looked at the ASA web page's link to the Nicene Creed, and it
    > > > raises a question in my mind. The discussion indicates that there is
    > more
    > > > than one version. Which one is intended by our statement of faith--the
    > one
    > > > with the filioque clause or the one without it? In other words, are
    > > > Eastern Orthodox thereby excluded from the ASA?
    > >
    > > I'm glad you brought this up because it does highlight a problem in
    > linking to a
    > > text of the creed. We were deliberately non-specific about this for just
    > the reason you
    > > point out. Our intention was certainly _not_ to exclude Orthodox
    > Christians.
    > > It might be a good idea to drop the link until a proper treatment of this
    > can be
    > > discussed. A suitably placed asterisk may be in order.
    > > FWIW I think that the filioque is correct as a theological opinion but
    > that the
    > > western church had no business unilaterally inserting it in the creed.
    > >
    >
    > But hold on a minute ... even without the link, you can still find the creed
    > if you really want to & possibly get offended by it if you're an Orthodox
    > Christian. The real issue here is whether you want to say you accept the
    > creed at all. It's no good just saying you believe it, but then making it
    > difficult to find because you think someone might get offended by it!

            No, because the Orthodox - with good historical justification - will say that
    the "Nicene Creed" is the text _without_ the filioque, and that the text containing it
    is a much later western interpolation. (Actually it's the Niceo-Constantinopolitan
    Creed that's usually referred to by both east & west as "Nicene".)
                                                                    Shalom,
                                                                    George

    George L. Murphy
    gmurphy@raex.com
    http://web.raex.com/~gmurphy/



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