Jaroslav Pelikan on “the need for creeds”
Jaroslav Pelikan
This morning, American Public Media’s “Speaking of Faith” replayed an interview with the late, great Jaroslav Pelikan on creeds and how they function within religious belief. Excellent stuff. One of Pelikan’s last big projects before his death resulted in the book Credo.
Pelikan once came up with one of the all-time great quotes on this subject: “Tradition is the living faith of the dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of the living.”
Two things strike me about creeds. One, they contain a sparkling minimalism. When you think of all the volumes of Christian theology written over the centuries, the Christian creeds are exceptionally short summaries of belief. That minimalism is even more true of the Jewish shema or Islam’s shahadah.
Two, their spoken power has a poetic resonance. When I listen and speak the Apostles Creed, I hear a unique poetic rhythm at work. Creeds are meant to be sung.
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