In trying to prepare for a post-Easter PR blitz, I'm formulating some talking points about Wikicreedia. Here they are, right from the promotional materials page, which you didn't know existed- some things to say about Wikicreedia:
*Wikicreedia is the conjuntion of two ideas: one, the rise of wiki technology in giving citizens a voice in secular legislation; and two, the four year discussion that produced the Nicene creed.
*Wikicreedia consists of the Wikicreed, an online 250 word articulation of basic Christian faith in ordinary English, as voiced by any Christian who chooses to participate. Supporting this is the Wikicreedia Project, which is the discussion and ecumenism and social networking that makes the Wikicreed possible over the next four years.
* Wikicreedia prefers the voice of the laity over the administration of the clergy. The lived faith of most believers has more in common with that of other Christians than the formulations of ecclesiastical authority.
*Wikicreedia also assumes that all Christians have more in common on Tuesday than they do on Sunday. We have never found Baptist cubicles, Anglican bakeries or Orthodox strorage lockers. Christ carried to the world is comprehensible and compelling. Wikicreedia is interested in conveying this vitality and authenticity.
* Wikicreedia depends on religious traditions in the same way that American football fans depend on individual teams. Yet we also support a network of people who value the game itself, no matter its specific color or history. Our game is Jesus Christ, and making disciples of his gospel.
* Wikicreedia confesses faith in Jesus Christ in language that we ourselves can understand. Scripture directs us to confess the findings of our heart. Such confession precludes both ignorance and silence. We must say something, and we must know what it is that we say. We would also hope to say it together.
* While truth is not subject to democracy, it is open to discernment and discussion. It pains us that Christianity is a religion of heretics to each other, people who have preferred dissent to consensus, who choose absolutism or relativism rather than community. If we have only Episcopalian or Baptist or Catholic truth, we are clearly doing it wrong.
*We want the Wikicreed to be an instrument of commonality rather than authority. We want to grow in Christ together. We hope that this will be a prayerful process. We ask always for the guidance of the Holy Spirit. We believe, after all, that truth is universal and eternal. The truth of Christ must be accesible to everyone- this is the power of Christ's message for the world.
*Wikicreedia has three advantages over the historic creeds of Christianity. One, that the voice of millions of Christians may prove to be ultimately more authoritative than the pronouncements of the select clerical few. Two, that its reliance on the internet allows it to trascend the geographical barriers that have so often troubled Christianity- gathering strength from Asian, African, and South American perspectives. Three, that it will retain in its webpages its formative discussion and theological context both as it forms and afterwards- things that have since fallen away from the Nicene and Apostle's Creeds.
Any reactions? Send them my way.
2 comments:
Hey Ben
These are great. Thanks for posting them and formulating them. The will be very helpful, bring them as part of the discussion for the group, maybe we could even get them on some kids of big sheet of paper and posted around and make little handouts and what not.
Let the blitz begin.
Here are some functional things to think about. With wikipedia, people can both add and delete from entries. With creedal subjects the deletion of ideas by others might be counterproductive at some points, but necessary at other points, to the process.
Second, does one start with a traditional statement of faith and build from there, or does one start at the heart and Scripture.
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