Talking the Creed

First Things contributor, film director, and new media impresario Tim Kelleher gives an interview to Dr. Adam DeVille of LOGOS in which he discusses the content, formation, and impact of the Nicene Creed:

AD: When it comes to the creed, Eastern and Western versions are identical except for one little word that has created huge problems: the ” filioque .” You do not really address that in your film. Why not?

TK: It’s true. I deliberately chose not to address the “ filioque .” Given the time constraint (approx. 30 minutes), I felt I couldn’t justify “stepping out” of a narrative meant to focus on the Creed’s  unifying  charism. Certainly, the filoque is an important and fascinating topic, well worth exploring. Thankfully, it is also an issue that needs no longer pose an obstacle to the existentially urgent request issued so poignantly in  Ut Unum Sint .

AD: Do we take the Creed for granted today? I’m thinking here of the common practice in Orthodox, Catholic, and some Protestant traditions to recite the Creed every Sunday. Do you think that weekly recitation helps with understanding and appreciation of the creed or does it instead tend to encourage a rote-memorization approach that glazes the riches of what the Creed actually says?

TK: I know that for a long time I took it for granted. Certainly, working on this project opened up aspects of the Creed I really hadn’t appreciated before.  In the film, one of our participants puts it very well, calling it “an under-examined, under-utilized, and under-appreciated instrument,” and voices the hope that parishes and all manner of Christian communities will come together to study the Creed. As he says, “It has produced saints of incredible power.” I can’t argue with that.