A Conversation with the Ecumenical Creeds   by Leanne Van Dyk, Vice President of Academic Affairs and Professor of Reformed Theology at Western Theological Seminary in Holland, MI.  This article is adapted from her article, "A Conversation with the Ecumenical Creeds" in Conversation with he Confessions, ed. Joseph Small (Louisville: Geneva Pres, 2005).  Van Dyk gives seven functions of the creeds:  1) they identify Christian believers in the faith;  2) they educate persons in their Christian beliefs;  3) they unify Christian believers;  4) they have an apologetic and polemical function;  5) they have a doxological function;  6)  they edify Christians.  7) They comfort Christians.   Nov/Dec 2010 Theology Matters, p. 12