The next few lines in the Apostle's Creed are some of the toughest. We read that Jesus “suffered under Pontius Pilate,” “was crucified, died, and was buried” and that “he descended into hell.” Here it's important to remember that we can’t hope to find the meaning of any isolated ‘moment’ in the Creed apart from the whole, just as we can't interpret the Creed apart from the light of Scripture and Tradition. It’s especially impossible to understand the meaning of the statements here apart from what happens next (i.e. resurrection, glorification). With that in mind, while my interpretation here is perhaps surprising, I'm aiming to be perfectly in turn with the broader tradition of the historic orthodox Christian faith. Which brings me to the idea of “irony.” In Matt Bird's illuminating book The Secrets of Story , we find him saying that “Irony is the heart of meaning.” The theorist Kenneth Burke explains irony in very simple terms: Irony is when what goes forth as A re...
So far in this journey through the Apostle's Creed, we've looked at few things regarding how the Creed clues us into some ways of answering the question of finding meaning in life. We've noticed, for instance, that the Creed is a communal statement of faith, which suggests that our need for meaning is connected with our need to belong and our need to find unity. We've learned about the idea that God is our "Father" and how that stresses the role of love in meaning-making; and how God as "maker" suggests our need to receive the gift of creation with thanksgiving and our need to be co-creators with God. That Jesus is the “Son of God” and “our Lord” highlights the relationship between freedom and authority, and suggests that meaning is found in service and responsibility. Of course, all of these ideas speak back to each other, and hints of these ideas are found not just in any single statement but in every statement. One way to think of the Creed is as ...