Full Text for Confessions 1- Volume 13 - The Value of the Ecumenical Creeds (Video)

ROUGHLY EDITED COPY CONFESSIONS 1 CON1-Q013 JANUARY 2005 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY: CAPTION FIRST, INC. P.O. BOX 1924 LOMBARD, IL 60148 * * * * * This text is being provided in a rough-draft format. Communications Access Realtime Translation (CART) is provided in order to facilitate communication accessibility and may not be a totally verbatim record of the proceedings. * * * * >> JOSHUA: What is the value of confessing the ecumenical creeds within the liturgy today versus newly written creeds? >> DR. KLAUS DETLEV SHULTZ: Well, Joshua, I thank that the ecumenical creeds, as I have said before, have been given a special status in the church. We have called them creeds instead of confessions to show that they have stood the test of time, that they have not gone away from the church and been replaced by others. But it took centuries for them to find a place where they are now. I would therefore suggest us all of us as pastors of the Lutheran Church and as members, that we take these creeds seriously and to see them in light of the time that they took to come to reach us in the church today. Also, they claim to be catholic which means that they speak on behalf of the entire Christian world. It means also that we, when we compile our own creeds, cannot live up to the same expectations that these creeds have. It is impossible for a single congregation to claim their catholicity as the creeds themselves do. For this reason, I believe, that the creeds themselves take precedence over those statements of faith that we do make today. That is not to say that we, as Christians, should always address situations in our life with a particular statement with which we want to address that situation and clarify it for our members and for all others who are seeking answers. There are some contemporary questions that relate to biomedicine, for example. It means that we can relate to scripture and to the Lutheran Confessions and express our statements of faith in those areas. However, we should always elevate such statements also local creeds to the status of a confession that the catholic church believes is a question of endeavor and not easily done it. As I have said, we as Lutheran Christians affirm that creeds and the confessions of the 16th century have been accepted more widely than just one church body such as the Missouri Synod or a church in Germany. And we want to pay particular respect to that fact. We cannot deny that we have to speak in a context such as saying, what do you believe? At the same time, also, we want to keep clear that the Jesus Christ we confess is the same yesterday, today, and tomorrow.