The Apostles' Creed: A Guide to the Ancient Catechism (Christian Essentials)

by Ben Myers

Hardcover, 2018

Call number

270.1

Publication

Lexham Press (2018), 168 pages

Description

"The Christian faith is mysterious not because it is so complicated but because it is so simple. A person does not start with baptism and then advance to higher mysteries. In baptism each believer already possesses the faith in its fullness. ... In the same way, it takes considerable effort to begin to comprehend all that we have received in Christ. Theological thinking does not add a single thing to what we have received. The inheritance remains the same whether we grasp its magnitude or not. But the better we grasp it, the happier we are. So this small book is an invitation to happiness. I have written it with a glad heart, and I hope it will be helpful for others who want to comprehend the mystery of faith in all its 'breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love Christ that surpasses knowledge' (Eph 3:18-19)."--Preface, pages xv-xvi… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member BirdyTheolProf

It is a VERY difficult task to write a book like this, and on the whole it's masterfully done. Myers synthesizes rich scriptural and theological material and distills it in a wonderfully accessible way. The puzzle for me is the surprisingly weak - even cagey - eschatology. Focussing on Origen's

'single person' corporate body approach to the resurrection of the dead...? That's.... a bizarre choice for a book like this. And yes, of course, eternal life is about quality of life not JUST quantity... but Myers chooses to focus almost entirely on quality, to the notable exclusion of a clear statement of ongoing personal existence in that chapter. Taken together it looks very much like he is not able to confidently express the eschatological hope of continuing personal bodily existence in the new creation. I recognize the theological influences behind this choice, but it is unfortunate, especially for a book like this which is intended for non-specialist readers who may not have the background to evaluate the more traditional (and to my mind, scripturally and theologically better-grounded) alternatives behind the positions he has taken here.

Show Less