We invite you to listen in to episode 3 of Spirituality and Christianity.
Who would imagine a conversation about the Greek word “pistis” (faith) and the Nicene Creed would happen in the tropical rain forest of Panama? Bill Faw and I met there, intending to look for tropical birds; but we fell into conversation about our life experiences, and the way our faith has shaped them. Bill is a former Pastor in the Church of the Brethren and is currently a Professor of Psychology at Brewton-Parker College in Mt. Vernon, GA. 
We were surprised to learn how much faith unites us, even as we hold differing views on what we hold our faith in. While the Council of Nicea was called in 325 A.D. by the Emperor Constantine to set boundaries around the definition of Christianity, the Creed that was established as the definitive norm at the time continues to be problematic for some Christians today. It was fascinating to Bill and me to realize that we both hold our faith to be issues of life and death. Yet at the same time, we could have friendly conversation about our different views, since our faith practices are sincere.
In this podcast, we discuss our take on the Creed itself, and then we explore the importance of the other meaning of “pistis” — faithfulness. It’s the way we live our faith, we decided, that enables us to work out our salvation. And we conclude that the things we believe in can both shape and be shaped by the way we live our beliefs.
Some theological terms used in the podcast:
- Pistis (Greek word)
- Pistis (Used in Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mary Baker Eddy)
- Nicene Creed
- Council of Nicea
- Doctrine of the Trinity
- Homoousia
- and Homoiousia (Greek words)
- Patristics
- Origen
#1 by sandi on February 17th, 2008 - 12:37 am
Shirley, Thanks so much for finding these deeply spiritual people wherever you go - even birding in Panama. And clearly you both felt at ease with your conversation, respecting your differences and appreciating your commonalities.
#2 by Margaret on February 17th, 2008 - 8:04 am
In a world challenging whether God exists it is beautiful to hear down-to-earth conversations about what living the hope, faith, and love that Jesus taught means — particularly found the discussion re trustworthiness and forgiveness inspiring/useful. Seems to me these transcend denominations or doctrines and are the essence of Christian living - very worthy of interdenominational conversations. Thank you!
#3 by cowboymt on February 27th, 2008 - 6:15 pm
Shirley,thank you for covering this topic. I, too, have recently relized that Christian healing stopped early in 300 a.d. First, because the “church” had lowered their standards for joining so that more people could join, & second, because of the Nicene Creed, which declares that Jesus is God & you are not a Christian if you don’t believe that. I have recently joined a Ministerial Alliance & am looking forward to having similar discussions with some of these fine, earnest men & women.
#4 by Shirley Paulson on February 27th, 2008 - 8:43 pm
Glad to hear you like the subject, cowboymt. It has intrigued Christians for thousands of years.
I’m not sure what you mean about the church lowering its standards, though. It seems to me that the purpose of the Nicene Council was to strengthen the meaning of Christianity, and that it was their intent to heighten its standards by removing what was considered heretical views.
I’m also not sure if you’re making a direct claim that the view of Jesus being God is related to the decline in Christian healing. I would be interested to know if anyone has done any research on the subject. I don’t even know if there’s any correlation between the two, other than timing; but if there is, it would be instructive to consider what other factors may have been at play.
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