Core Beliefs
I was recently asked, “What are the core beliefs of The Episcopal Church?” I’ve actually been giving this a lot of thought, if not particularly of The Episcopal Church, of Christianity in general; because I’m teaching a five-week course in the Seminary for Seniors entitled “Basic Christianity.” I want to reflect on that question in a series on this blog over the next few weeks.
I begin with an observation. Any definition of Christianity is partly or wholly dependent on who is doing the defining. For example, I recently received a “Christian Voters’ Guide” that rated candidates for state and Federal offices on a “Faith Friendly” scale. (Curiously, each candidate was either 100% or 0% faith friendly. No one was in between!) The criteria were these: positions on abortion, homosexual rights, Obamacare and birth control.
My point is simply this. I know of no creed, confession of faith, or catechism that defines Christianity or faith based on these criteria. One would be hard pressed to even find them mentioned in Holy Scripture. But the producers of this Voters’ Guide are trying to do just that: define Christian faith in terms of hot-button social issues.
More on “Core Beliefs” in next week’s post in this series.
Christ Church Blog 
You are confusing belief and values. Christians believe Jesus was the Son of God and came to save us from our sins. With this belief, Christians form different values and attempt to follow them. For example, I am pro life while the Episcopal Church is pro abortion.
Yours is exactly my point where the Voter’s Guide claims that the values questions are belief questions. Perhaps I should have been more clear.
John Paddock
To me, Basic Christianity has one tenet: Love One Another. There is really nothing much else to say and little else to do.
OK, I’ll bite. Kennelman’s point is well stated. But (and I recognize that this is an old, old argument) the use of “pro life” and “pro abortion” in the context of how we form our values and attempt to follow them as people of God is especially misleading. I know of no Episcopal Church position or value, official or unofficial, which encourages or celebrates the procedure of abortion. I know of many Episcopal Church positions and values which celebrate life.
I believe the core beliefs should be derived from the bible and further limiting the question to the Episcopal Church bounds the question. Looking forward to hearing more.
You’re correct, Anne. General Convention affirmed that a woman’s right to an abortion should not be abridged. That’s a far cry from being pro abortion.
Value life, yet have a belief in women’s right to terminate the life of a child. Have a belief in the Resurrection, yet value the theories (Bishop Spong etc) calling it a story. If you have a belief, values follow it. The belief in life as sacred, the belief in the Virgin Birth and the Resurrection cannot lead to the values as described above.
One problem with Bible study and with living in a faith community is whether we view the Bible, or the community beliefs (or both) as a lens or as a mirror. Ideally, it should be a lens that helps us see the issues more clearly, and make mature, informed decisions. Too often, the Bible and the churches we choose to attend act as a mirror, reflecting back to us what we already want to believe. Just in terms of salvation, one side wants to make it assent to the intellectual propositions about who Christ is supposed to be, and looks at John 3:16 as a touchstone. The other side looks to Matthew and the parable of the sheeo and the goats to emphasize social action as the saving deeds. Neither is completely true, and both are partly true. It’s only when we use both the Bible and our faith community as a lens that we’ll ever get closer to the real truth.