Monday 24 October 2016

Michael Bird on The Apostles’ Creed


I wrote the following mini review for EG, the quarterly magazine produced by the London Institute for Contemporary Christianity.

Michael F. Bird, What Christians Ought to Believe: An Introduction to Christian Doctrine through The Apostles’ Creed (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2016)

For Michael Bird, a creed is ‘not simply a checklist of things I’m supposed to believe, but a synopsis of the entire sweep of redemptive history that narrates a sequence including God, creation, redemption, and consummation’. As such, creeds can both refresh our faith in God and provide an anchor in what’s truly central – in that which has been recited and believed by Christians across all streams over many centuries.

The bulk of this book is devoted to a careful exposition of each clause of the Apostles’ Creed, showing its value for Christian faith and practice. Bird is one of the most prolific evangelical scholars of our day, but writes accessibly and in a way that seeks to serve the church. This would be a great book to work through with someone else or in a small group.

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