Last week (18th – 22nd October) Gladstone’s Library hosted 107 people who, over the course of two conferences and one public lecture, reflected on their Christian Faith and considered what is essential to Christian faith and how could it be reframed in the light of Biblical scholarship.
The first course, Being Honest, was led by Ian Bradley and Peter Francis, and the second course and the public lecture by Robert Reiss, based on his book Sceptical Christianity.
The contribution by Robert Reiss marked this year’s Robinson-Spong Fellowship, designed to continue the liberal theological and Biblical exploration for which John Robinson, the author of Honest to God, and Jack Spong are synonymous with. The Library was full for all three occasions reminding people of the necessity of addressing the central tenets of the Christian faith with intellectual frankness and honesty.
Peter Francis asked all three audiences (all those attending were Christians) to look at the 18 clauses of the Apostles' Creed and to tick those that they agreed with. There could be no ’ifs’ or ‘buts’; it had to be a straight ‘yes’ or ‘no’ answer.
65 people took the survey and the results are interesting, with several doctrines getting scant support ('Second Coming': 6 votes, 'Virgin Birth': 7 votes, 'The Ascension': 9 votes and 'The Resurrection of the Body': 13 votes).
The full table of results is printed below:
| Being Honest | Sceptical Christianity | Public Lecture | Total | % | |
| Jesus: Crucified, died and was buried | 24 | 23 | 18 | 65 | 100% |
| Suffered under Pontius Pilate | 23 | 22 | 17 | 62 | 95% |
| Belief in the Holy Spirit | 16 | 18 | 16 | 50 | 77% |
| Belief in the forgiveness of sins | 15 | 20 | 15 | 50 | 77% |
| God: Creator of Heaven and Earth | 12 | 15 | 11 | 38 | 58% |
| Belief in life everlasting | 14 | 10 | 12 | 36 | 55% |
| God, the Father Almighty | 11 | 11 | 8 | 30 | 46% |
| Belief in the communion of saints | 9 | 13 | 4 | 26 | 40% |
| Belief in the Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church | 10 | 11 | 4 | 25 | 38% |
| Jesus Christ: God’s only Son, our Lord | 9 | 6 | 5 | 20 | 31% |
| On the third day, Jesus rose again | 8 | 9 | 3 | 20 | 31% |
| Belief in the resurrection of the body | 7 | 3 | 3 | 13 | 20% |
| Jesus ascended into heaven | 3 | 2 | 4 | 9 | 14% |
| Conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary | 3 | 2 | 2 | 7 | 11% |
| Jesus will judge the living and the dead | 3 | 1 | 3 | 7 | 11% |
| Jesus is seated at the right hand of the Father | 2 | 3 | 2 | 7 | 11% |
| Jesus: Descended into hell | 4 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 9% |
| Jesus will come again | 1 | 2 | 3 | 6 | 9% |