I am part of a ministry dedicated to planting churches among America's unchurched urban poor. The church model we use here in Wichita is somewhat liturgical. The thinking is that liturgy with its regularity and repetition gives a person from the inner-city both a sense of comfort and a chance for real participation. As part of our weekly service we read the Nicene Creed together. In doing so we have run up against two major problems. First, the simple presence of the term catholic has been difficult for poor Hispanics who have struggled hard to leave Catholicism. No matter how many times we say "catholic just means universal" that word still seems to be a barrier for them. Second, the translation we use is elegant, but terse. It uses several theological terms that require some explanation. Explanation is fine, however, it seems that our translation of the Creed is causing more problems than we can solve.
Solution: A new translation of the Creed. I searched high and low for something like a 'New Living Translation' of the Nicene Creed. I found several translations, however, each one contained both the term catholic and several theological terms that required a great deal of explanation. So I made my own translation of the Nicene Creed. We have been using it our church for the past two weeks. I wanted to post it here and get any feedback you all may have on it. Please please please please tell me what you think.
We believe in one God, the Father Almighty, the maker of heaven and earth, of everything that exists, whether visible or invisible.
We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ, the one and only Son of God, who was begotten of the Father before time. He is God as the Father is God, Light as the Father is Light, truly God as the Father is truly God, begotten, but not a created being. He and the Father are of the same substance. Everything was created through him.
Who for us and for our salvation came down from heaven and took on flesh through the Holy Spirit and the Virgin Mary, and thus became fully human. For our sake, he was crucified under Pontius Pilate, he suffered death and was buried, and he rose again on the third day according to the scriptures. He went up into heaven where he is seated at the right hand of the Father. He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead. His kingdom will never end.
We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, and life-giver. He comes from the Father [and the Son]. He is to be worshipped and glorified with the Father and the Son. He spoke through the prophets.
We believe in one holy worldwide apostolic church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sin. We anticipate the resurrection of the dead and the life of the age to come.
Amen.
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4 comments:
Ryan,
Way to go. Good use of language your congregation is comfortable with. In my opinion I don't think you shifted the meaning of the original creed by using the modern words you did. Great exegesis of the culture regarding the word "catholic" and I appreciated some unpacking of theological terms.
After some thinking, I wonder if your group (or people in general) understand the term "apostolic" - I agree that it is better than "catholic" and maybe the folks in your ministry understand it, but it may be worth reworking the wording. What do other people think?
Great job translating this - accessible language and good flow. I may use them some time if you don't mind.
I suggest "suffered, died, and was buried" rather than "suffered death and was buried." Christ's suffering before he died seems important to maintain.
"worldwide" is is an okay gloss of catholic. What do you think about "whole," "complete," or "universal" instead, in order to include people not currently living in this world?
Let us know how things go for you.
josh,
the choice of 'suffered death' over 'suffered and died' was concious. i was trying to true to the greek, which uses one term here. more traditional translations merely contain 'suffered.'BDAG defines this term when it is unqualified, as it is here, as 'suffered death' (785.3.a.alpha). I agree that the sufferings are a separate happening from the death important in their own right. However, the authors seem to lump the concepts and so I did as well.
The translation of catholikh is the most difficult aspect to make understandable. it seems that only theologically loaded terms like universal work. i chose to highlight one of the most important aspects of the universal church, however you are right, worldwide is inadequate for capturing the full meaning.
thanks,
ryan
bill,
i tried for days to think of another way to say apostolic. to no avail. there is too much there, and unlike the term catholic, the root of the word, i.e. apostle, is absolutely key. it certainly does not remove all need for explanation, but at least there is only one sticking point now :)
ryan
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