The Creed and the Christian Life

This book interprets the Apostles' Creed as a liturgical text rather than as a dogmatic text. If people are baptized and admitted to the eucharist on the basis of their profession of the Creed, professing the Creed must be more than the mere statement of a number of convictions. By professing the Creed one commits oneself to live one's life in worship to the Triune God. Therefore the Creed should be understood on the analogy of a marriage vow rather than as a series of factual statements one accepts as true. In terms of speech act theory, its main purport is commissive rather than constative. This is not to deny that the Creed speaks abundantly about the three Persons of the Trinity and their works. The author understands the Creed as a commitment, and as a worshipping portrayal of the Father, the Son and the Spirit and their works.