![](\"https:\/\/www.eternitynews.com.au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/10\/27840609.jpg\")
<\/a>The Australian Bible Society\u2019s magazine\u00a0Eternity<\/em> features a nice article<\/a> by John Sandeman interviewing\u00a0Ben Myers<\/a> and myself<\/a>, about the Apostles\u2019 Creed, what it was like to write about it, and our favourite lines!<\/p>\nSandeman opens:<\/p>\n
It\u2019s 1629 years old at least and still useful. It\u2019s the Apostles\u2019 Creed \u2013 a short summary of the Christian faith that many reach for when they need a less-than-one-page answer to \u201cwhat do you believe?\u201d This old statement of faith is exciting enough to be the subject of two recent books by Australian leading theologians \u2013 Michael Bird of Ridley College, Melbourne, and Ben Myers of the Millis Institute in Brisbane \u2013 and one currently being written by John Dickson of the \u201cUndeceptions\u201d podcast.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Sandeman writes:<\/p>\n
It surprised both writers. \u201cOh yes,\u201d Bird responds, \u201cthe line about Christ descending to the dead\/hades\/hell has created much confusion. Christ did not go to hell, despite what some late Latin versions of the creed say and their Elizabethan English translations. Christ went to hades, the waiting place of the dead, to break the bonds of death. A Byzantine hymn writer, Romanos the Melodist, imagined hades berating the Devil for being so gullible as to be able to think that he could defeat God and keep the Son of God in the clutches of death: \u2018Your vaunted cross-tree sends tremors through the universe. The earth is quaking, the sky is black; rocks are splitting, the temple veil is in shreds. Those in the tombs are rising up and corpses shout, \u2018Hades, don\u2019t you understand? Adam is beginning his return to Paradise.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
Myers tells\u00a0Eternity<\/em>: \u201cThe biggest surprise came when I started teaching a class on the Apostles\u2019 Creed.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought the class would be about Christian history. But it ended up having a strong apologetic focus. We discussed the problem of suffering, God and gender, violence and the atonement, the fragility of creation, the place of the human body in God\u2019s purposes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese problems seemed to arise naturally as we worked our way through each line of the creed. So the creed gave us a framework for exploring some of the toughest intellectual challenges that Christians face today. And it gave us a way to relate those challenges to a wider context of God\u2019s purposes for creation. I taught that class for several years and it became a really dynamic dialogue between the ancient faith of the church and the contemporary world. That\u2019s the dynamic that I tried to capture in the book.\u201d<\/p>\n
So which bit is Bird\u2019s favourite? \u201cI love the section about the catholic church and the communion of saints. Our faith is not simply assent to belief in God and accepting an offer of salvation from Christ for us as individuals. Faith is about the people created by the gospel of Christ. The church confesses itself in its confession of faith. We are bonded to the Father through Christ and through the Spirit and yet in the same way \u2013 even mystically or mysteriously \u2013 we are bonded to each other as well. As we grow closer to God, we grow closer to each other.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is then no communion with God without a common union with each other. The church is not a dispensable fashion accessory in my personal and private religion. It is not the throw-away packaging of my Jesus-anity. The church cannot be replaced with an iPad app and some Facebook friends.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Australian Bible Society\u2019s magazine\u00a0Eternity features a nice article by John Sandeman interviewing\u00a0Ben Myers and myself, about the Apostles\u2019 Creed, what it was like to write about it, and our favourite lines! Sandeman opens: It\u2019s 1629 years old at least and still useful. It\u2019s the Apostles\u2019 Creed \u2013 a short summary of the Christian faith […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":196,"featured_media":11093,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14649","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n
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