We invite you to listen in to episode 3 of Spirituality and Christianity.

 

 Faith, Belief, and the Nicene Creed: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

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