ARLINGTON, Texas (ABP) — Creeds have a clarifying role in Christian life but they build barriers between believers when used incorrectly, Baptist leaders told a national leadership conference.
Using human words as a tool for enforcing orthodoxy is a misuse of creeds, said former Baptist seminary president Russell Dilday and Keith Putt, professor of philosophy at Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.
Dilday, chancellor of the new B.H. Carroll Theological Institute in
Arlington, Texas, and Putt addressed biblical authority and the role of creeds during a conference sponsored by the John Newport Foundation, which honors the legacy of the longtime philosophy of religion professor and administrator at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in nearby Fort Worth.
Creeds, Putt said, are correctly utilized as confessions of a relationship between an individual and God, becoming more like testimonies than statements of exclusion.
But incorrect use of creeds occurs when those statements are elevated above traditional means of authority, primarily the Bible and Jesus in Baptist life, said Dilday, former president of Southwestern Seminary. Other denominations would more strongly emphasize tradition, experience and reason.
Creeds are man-created rather than God-inspired like the Bible, Dilday continued. Answers to life questions can be found in the Bible, not in creeds.
Putt advocated that creeds restrict how people can respond to Scripture, adding that often leaders use them as weapons to further an agenda. “We take these creeds, like stones, and build walls with them,” he said.
Rather than using creeds to restrict biblical interpretation, Putt and Dilday suggested Christians use the “theological principle” in interpreting the Bible. This states that believers should look for messages expressed clearly through the entire text, especially in contexts that apply to humanity in all cultures.
The notion may seem simple, but Bible interpreters must know a great deal about the text to do it, the pair agreed.
Interpreters must understand the cultural differences between the biblical Middle East and the contemporary United States. Readers also must recognize the different literary genres that comprise the Bible.
Fortunately for Christians, God provides help, Putt said. The Holy Spirit assists Christians in discerning God's message.
God gave the Bible “for us” to comprehend his nature, Putt said.
But Christians obviously do not interpret the Bible the same way. Though they agree on the authority of the Bible, they make different “cuts” of interpretation that delineate the lines between denominations and believers, Putt said.
Stringent support of biblical authority rather than creeds allows for strong faith with diversity, Putt stressed.
Also, as part of the conference, Howard E. Butt Jr. of San Antonio was named the inaugural recipient of the John Newport Foundation National Leadership Award.
Butt is best known as vice chairman of H.E.B. grocery stores and president of H.E. Butt Foundation, a private foundation that funds Christian camps through its lodges in the Texas Hill Country. He is president of the Laity Lodge Foundation and Laity Renewal Foundation.
An author of numerous books, Butt also was a founding board member of Christianity Today and an early board member of the Billy Graham Evangelistic Association.
Larry Williams, chair of the Newport Foundation board, described Butt as “an innovative leader, businessman and spiritual reformer.” “Both Dr. Newport and Mr. Butt, committed to the faith and committed to excellence in scholarship, have sought to make the biblical worldview relevant in the lives of individuals,” Williams said.
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