18 November 2025 – Janet Scott

Creeds

Defending the faith or spotting the heretics?

2025 is the 1700th anniversary of the Nicene creed and a good time to ask ask basic credal questions, like what is a creed and what is it for? Janet Scott will explain the problems that led to the writing of the Nicene creed and the extent to which those problems were solved.

As a Quaker, Janet belongs to a movement that has refused all credal statements. This has avoided some of the problems caused by creeds, but led to different ones. How are creeds used today, and what place do they have in the future?

Janet Scott

Janet Scott was brought up Methodist and discovered Quakers in her teens. She read theology at Cambridge (the only woman in her year, a great preparation for ecumenical meetings!), and later did postgraduate work in New Testament at Kings College London and in ecclesiology at Heythrop. Her career was in teaching and training teachers for Religious Education, finishing as Director of Studies for Theology and Religious Studies at Homerton College, Cambridge. On her retirement she worked part time in the Cambridge Theological Federation as Director of the Ecumenical Centre at Westcott House, and as a tutor for Methodist ordinands at Wesley House.

She has served on the Yearly Meeting committee which deals with ecumenical matters three times, including working on responses to WCC documents, Baptism Eucharist and Ministry, and The Nature and Mission of the Church. She was a trustee of CTE for thirteen years and of CTBI for four years. She has represented Friends World Committee for Consultation at the WCC Central Committee, attended four WCC assemblies, and served on the Faith and Order Commission.

She has also represented Friends locally on Churches Together in Cambridgeshire (formerly Cambridgeshire Ecumenical Council) for around twenty five years.