The Purpose of Contemporary Creed

John Morris wrote CC for both Christians and non-Christians, as a multi-purpose book to reach 12 types of readers. To read more about that purpose - outlined in the first section below - and about his choice of an original format, click Articles by John Morris on the homepage which will open his article in The Church of England Newspaper. The 12 types of readers who are known to be buying CC are listed below so please choose what suits you:

1. Non-Christians
2. Christians with doubts
3. Christians wanting to improve their faith and knowledge
4. Daily meditation and Bible readers
5. Theology/religious studies students at universities and colleges
6. Those training to be priests, ministers, readers, church leaders
7. Teachers of religious education or trainee-teachers at university
8. Confirmation classes
9. Priests, ministers and others preparing sermons
10. House groups
11. Lent, Good Friday and Easter Services
12. Retreat reflections
13. Terminal illness and bereavement - see "Mayday for a friend" page 140

1. Non-Christians:

The space satellite on the book’s cover is intended to show that there can be a marriage between contemporary science and contemporary faith. Atheists, agnostics and others who have given up churchgoing are often sceptical of Christianity because they think science has killed it. CC attempts to show that view is mistaken. Traditional beliefs are sometimes expressed in a misleading fashion so CC tries to correct those misrepresentations. But CC does admit that some old ideas are unconvincing today, so it honestly faces up to these intellectual problems one by one, and offers possible solutions, to make Christian faith credible in our suffering world of tsunamis, earthquakes, famine, cancer, and other tragedies, where the loudest question is “Why?”.

John often asked himself the same question during his 9 years in Uganda, East Africa, and again in his own family tragedies, and when as a school chaplain there were several bereavements, including the deaths of a pupil and a young teacher. These experiences were part of his motivation in writing CC where he asks if it is credible to believe in a God of Love in our violent universe that has evolved over almost 14 billion years; and if it is sensible to call Jesus our contemporary Saviour.

Sceptics will find in CC not dogmatic evangelism but rational argument, suggesting that the Christian God is a reasonable hypothesis, worth examining by readers in other cultures whether in China, India, the Middle East, or wherever. CC has respect for other world religions, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, etc. Non-Christians are not asked to swallow the whole Christian creed but to go as far as they can, holding on to essentials, not put off by the Christmas wrapping of heavenly choirs, shining stars, and some possibly legendary miracles.

All humans are alike, spiritual at heart, searching for meaning, wanting to make sense of life. Morris shares his own uncertainties, and writes in plain language, not church jargon, for he was a layman until he was 58, when he was ordained as an unpaid clergyman in the Church of England. Unlike most Christian books that are normally sold only in Christian bookshops like SPCK, CC is also stocked in secular bookshops (eg. several branches of Waterstones, Ottakers, Blackwells, Heffers) because CC expresses popular theology for a wider market, turning heavy doctrine into lighter reading for the general reader. So CC is being read by atheists and some clergy use CC for evangelism.

2. Christians with doubts:

Some are Doubting Thomases and want the evidence that CC helps supply as it builds up a reasonable creed, bit by bit. Some are facing family calamities like cancer or their child dies – or is born severely handicapped, like Morris’s own grandson Daniel – so they will start nearer the end of the book at “Mayday for a friend”. Because all of its 60 sections are self-contained units, CC is flexible and can be read in any order.

3. Christians wanting to improve their faith and knowledge:

Some churchgoers would like to become more theologically literate. Some feel there is a gap between their heart and their head and would like to rethink their ideas. Others may wonder if they have created a cosy God, one they would like him/her to be, not how God really is. Perhaps some old views of God no longer hold contemporary water. So CC is challenging, beginning with “What is God?” and “Michelangelo”, which question the idea of an omnipotent and controlling God, replacing it with a more interactive than interventionist God. That interaction places God constantly in the middle, faithful to the physical laws of his universe. Paul’s world view was different from ours but he wisely said “In him we live and move, in him we exist”. Modern science is not earth-bound but probing space and reaching back to moments after the Big Bang so the cover of CC shows a communications satellite in space above our earth. Communication of the Christian vision has to expand to take account of our cosmic context and ancient evolutionary processes, not reducing Genesis to a literal timetable of scientific events. That view of God is too small for our contemporaries.

4. Daily meditation and Bible readers:

Each of the 60 units has a large dose of private Bible study for a quiet time of reflection and prayer. So CC could be studied over 60 days, but those who follow up all the references carefully could spend a year or more covering the ground.

5. Theology/religious studies students at universities and colleges:

CC is an undergraduate’s coursebook, an A-Z overview of many books on long reading lists, covering the ground speedily, without skirting the intellectual difficulties. It is mostly mainstream, middle-of-the-road theology, some of it liberal, some conservative, in this systematic sequence: God and creation; the incarnation; the ministry of Jesus; the death of Jesus and the atonement; the resurrection of Jesus; the Trinity; the Scriptures; Christian living including worshipping, praying, forgiving, working, guidance, soul-making, dying.
One university asked "Is your popular theology going to be of sufficient depth for academic purposes?" Almost any book can be read at different levels. So some readers say they find CC moderately easy to read whereas an American PhD priest wrote: "It is not a book to be whizzed through but to be given the thought it clearly deserves. I find most interesting your wonderfully clear exposition of some pretty sophisticated theological & scriptural issues. For instance, your use of process theology early on."

6. Those training to be priests, ministers, readers, church leaders:

Several theological colleges/seminaries have begun to use CC as a short coursebook, examining problems that students need to face while not skirting the difficulties. It offers both systematic theology and apologetics. See section 5. above.

7. Schools and teachers of religious education or trainee-teachers at university:

Several university courses have started to use CC as a Teachers’ Handbook for Religious Education: it covers a good part of the high school secondary curriculum but in a novel way. There are 60 self-contained units, each starting with the kind of intellectual problem that intelligent students ask, then the author’s original poem attempting to summarise the problem and its solution, then a commentary in prose giving ample background and Bible references. The detailed Contents section helps teachers to find the place where they wish to begin.

CC’s problem-solving method often leaves issues open-ended, giving space for mystery and the reader's own creative thinking. Teachers have 60 units of lesson material which they can adapt to suit their classes, to stimulate discussion, and to promote creative writing, using the writing frameworks /templates of the poems that vary in form, length, and tone. Barbara Wintersgill, HM Inspector for RE in the UK, writes of "weaknesses in teachers' subject knowledge", weaknesses that CC tries to rectify, particularly amongst trainee-teachers. Inter-faith connections are made throughout CC but the last section “Except by me” specially focuses on other faiths.

8. Confirmation classes:

CC is being used by clergy as a problem-solving confirmation course, and by parents/friends as a confirmation present.

9. Priests, ministers and others preparing sermons:

The 60 units are not ready-made sermons but they save preachers some of their homework, so some clergy build on the units and change parts to create their own sermons.

10. House groups:

Some church groups want a systematic course so they spend a year going through from start to finish; other groups start midway, on the section relevant to their lives. No further guidance is needed from a minister, as CC is self-sufficient, providing systematic progression, commentary, and plentiful references for Bible study and discussion.

11. Lent, Good Friday and Easter:

CC has been used in the USA and UK on these occasions, offering a choice of pieces from the sections on “The death of Jesus and the atonement”, and “The resurrection of Jesus”.

12. Retreat reflections:

A choice of 60 units to suit the individual’s experience and pilgrimage.

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