Creeds and Confessions: Reformed, Evangelical and … Redundant?

Abstract

The Uniting Church has often described itself as an “Evangelical” and “Reformed” church and in its Basis of Union (BOU), it commits itself to careful study of the Apostles’ and Nicene creeds. It also recognises four particular Reformed and Presbyterian confessions, understood as “witnesses,” and pledges to “listen to the preaching of John Wesley in his Forty–Four Sermons.” At the same time, it also “enters into the inheritance of literary, historical and scientific enquiry” and expresses a desire to “learn to sharpen its understanding … by contact with contemporary thought.” These good intentions may be seen as in tension to some extent, since such creeds and confessions are more in the nature of historical theology than “contemporary thought.” Are these source documents, therefore, now simply redundant? If not, how are they to be appropriated today in ways that lead to “fresh words and deeds” in contexts very far removed from their original use and purpose?