A Review: The Apostles’ Creed for Today

The Apostles’ Creed for Today
Justo González
Westminster
John Knox Press
$11.96 Cokesbury; $11.21 Amazon.com
ISBN: 0664229336

There is a problem within American Christianity that is
reminiscent of the dilemma that plagued the leaders of the Western church over
1500 years ago: heresy, wayward belief, and disunity. Different beliefs and ideas were swirling
around the Christian world, and thus the leaders of the Western church met and
decided to zero in on what is orthodox Christian belief, and what came about
was the Apostles’ Creed.

Justo González writes about the creed for today’s audience,
weaving between scholarly points and popular theology. González has the right tone and insight into
the lay reader to gently steer them away from some of the wayward beliefs held
in the American church today, particularly the creation/evolution debate, the
virgin birth, unhinged patriotism, and creative
eschatologies.

Everything about this book is gentle yet persuasive, as González
sets out to drive the reader back towards the orthodox intent of the fathers
who wrote the creed. Christian unity is
found only in a creedal belief, as Jaroslav Pelikan has so correctly observed,
and thus the work of the creed today is in González’s writing found in bringing
back the American church to an ancient faith.

This text is not dogmatic but creedal and affirmative, a
comforting tone for such a general and elementary work. González allows wiggle room for such things
as the "virgin birth" and discusses multiple meanings of clauses such
as "he descended to the Dead."
Although there is some doctrinal wiggle room in the explanation of the
creed, González presents the construction of the creed itself as evidence that
the resurrection of Jesus Chrst is the central tenant of the faith, and without
it "there is not much to Christianity" (54). González explains in laymen’s terms how the
creed is set up as a chiastic structure, with resurrection as the center, the
peak of the faith.

González does not stray from the political, and argues that
"God Almighty" carries political connotations that should be picked
up again today in our climate. The creed
is a unifying text much like the Pledge of Allegiance is, and therefore it
should be treated as something that unifies the Body of Christ politically
under Almighty God.

Tied into the discussion of "almighty" is a subtle
polemic against gnosticism throughout the creed and this is discussed within
the book as well with equal subtlety.
González takes great care to emphasize the physical nature of the virgin
birth, the death and resurrection, and the life everlasting. For González, the term "almighty"
(Gr. pantokrator) makes apparent that the writers of the creed used this word
to stress the reign over both physical and spiritual, which was a stand against
the gnostic cults of that era.

Being that this book is for today, the issue of the translation
and history of the Apostles’ Creed comes into play. Although he does not say it out right, the
point is made that the translation of the creed from Greek to Latin caused some
harm to the original meaning and intent of the creed. It appears our understanding of the creed has
some horns on it instead of rays of light (see Michelangelo’s sculpture of Moses for the hilarity that ensues from
poor Greek to Latin translation). Thus
the overall call of the book is an ancient-future call, that this creed is for
today and the future, but that it must also be grounded within the full history
of Christian thought and doctrine surrounding the creed. The Apostles’ Creed is forward looking for
González, and in it is a mighty chorus of the communion of saints who recite
with one voice that which is our good news.